Julián Castro has been slowly making his way into night two of the second round of Democratic debates in Detroit. Unfortunately, Castro doesn’t stick out as much as John Delaney and has had a harder time getting CNN moderators’ attention. When the subject of criminal justice came up and the 1994 crime bill that Biden has never atoned for, Sen. Booker and Vice President Biden got into it. When CNN moderators tried to get Castro to pile on, he deftly used his time to discuss the need for law enforcement reform.
Castro: I'm proud that i'm the only candidate that has put forward a police reform plan. Because we have a police system that is broken and we need to fix it. And whether it's the case of someone like Tamir Rice or Michael Brown, or Eric Garner—where the Trump justice department decided not to pursue charges, we need to insure we have a national use of force standard and that we end qualified immunity for police officers so we can hold them accountable.
Washington Governor Jay Inslee spoke up about the criminal justice reforms that Washington state has attempted but Castro did not let up on the gas peddle.
Castro: It's much more that. This was a great example, the other day, the Department of Justice not going after the officer—officer Pantaleo—officer Pantaleo used a choke hold that was prohibited by NYPD. He did that for seven seconds, 11 different times Eric Garner said he couldn't breathe. He knew what he was doing, that he was killing Eric Garner, and yet he has not been brought to justice. That police officer should be off the streets.
The crowd erupts, arguably the loudest response of the night. RIP Eric Garner.
Part 2