"America was founded on the principle that all men are created equal. Throughout our history we have not always lived up to that self-evident truth. This has been especially true in our criminal justice system."

"A federal grand jury has indicted the four former Minneapolis police officers involved in George Floyd's arrest and death accusing them of willfully violating the Black man's constitutional rights as he was restrained face-down on the pavement and gasping for air."

"Colorado's attorney general said Wednesday that a grand jury indicted three officers and two paramedics in the death of Elijah McClain a Black man who was put in a chokehold and injected with a powerful sedative two years ago in suburban Denver."

"President-elect Joe Biden will be under tremendous pressure to take action toward greater racial justice throughout the country on Day 1 of his presidency following massive nationwide protests sparked by the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor along with other incidents of violence against Black Americans."

In a recently published piece in the Nation magazine, author and scholar Barbara Smith proposes a a comprehensive racial justice program even more sweeping than the Marshall Plan to combat white supremacy and resulting systemic racism. Smith talks to HMM correspondent Corinne Carey about her proposa

Journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones says 250 years of slavery and 100 years of legalized segregation robbed Black Americans of the ability to accumulate wealth; cash payments would help repair the damage.

"Chief justices identify ways to implement reforms as part of modernization efforts"

The Minneapolis City Council on Monday approved an agreement with the federal government to overhaul the city's police training and use-of-force policies in the wake of the murder of George Floyd.

STRONG BUSINESS LEADERSHIP AND CONTINUED OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT IN ADVANCING RACIAL AND ECONOMIC EQUITY

"A new survey released by the ABA on Thursday found stark divisions based on age and race when it comes to believing that there are racial biases built into the rules procedures and practices of the justice system."

"25 years ago in the shadows of Apartheid in South Africa the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was formed to properly address generations of racial injustice that had been all but ignored. It's time for the United States to do the same. In spite of all of our movements for change the thing we call the justice system in the United States has never been a reliable competent compassionate professional respectful tool for justice for tens of millions of Americans. Instead it has often been a cruel and oppressive force of injustice for African Americans Native Americans Latinos immigrants members of the LGBTQIA community and all marginalized communities. Consequently when marginalized people have needed to finally rely on this system for justice it has routinely failed them in the worst ways imaginable. This isn't a bug in the system but a feature. It's operating exactly the way it was designed and built to function. That's why we're imagining and building something new. Today in partnership with the District Attorneys of San Francisco Philadelphia and Boston we are announcing the formation of the Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission to actually process and address the injustices of the past that simply were not given the time attention and dignity that they deserved."

The University of Arizona Innocence Project has received a $1.5 million grant from the Department of Justice to enhance its efforts in investigating wrongful convictions, particularly through DNA evidence analysis.

Candice Hammons' journey and the plight of her ancestors will become an exhibit by the African American Museum of Southern Arizona on October 17