Rand Paul: ‘White Kids Don’t Get the Same Justice’ as Minorities

Senator Rand Paul spoke out today on the suicide of 22-year-old Kalief Browder. Browder was 16 years old when he was arrested and was thrown in Rikers for three years without being once convicted of a crime. He was released in 2013 when the charges were dropped.

Paul, who’s recently been very vocal on criminal justice issues (especially racial disparities in arrests and convictions), was in Baltimore last night, and according to Al Jazeera, he spoke at some length about Browder and criminal justice.

Paul said he’s been talking about Browder’s case for a while now, and asked incredulously, “Are we going to let people be raped and murdered and pillaged in a prison because they’re convicted?”

He told the Baltimore audience that he understands the anger that African-Americans have, even invoking racial targeting in Ferguson:

“Am I saying they did nothing wrong and it’s all racism? No. What I am telling you is that white kids don’t get the same justice.”

Paul has spoken in many forums before about minorities being targeted by racially-charged drug laws.

[image via screengrab]

— —

Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!