Presidential candidate for the 2020 election Julián Castro addressed police brutality during the Democratic debate Tuesday, defining police violence as a form of gun violence.
Castro brought up the issue when he was asked about mandatory and voluntary gun buyback programs.
“There are two problems I have with mandatory buybacks,” Castro said. “Number one, folks can’t define it, and if you’re not going door-to-door then it’s not really mandatory. But also, in the places that I grew up in, we weren’t exactly looking for another reason for cops to come banging on the door.”
Castro cited the recent death of Atatiana Jefferson, who was shot and killed in her own home by a police officer in Forth Worth, Texas.
"A cop showed up at two in the morning in her house when she was playing video games with her nephew," Castro said. "He didn't even announce himself. Within four seconds, he shot her and killed her through her home window. She was in her own home."
Castro said he doesn't want to give police officers another reason to go door-to-door in certain communities.
"Police violence is also gun violence and we need to address that," he said.
Julián Castro: "I am not going to give these police officers another reason to go door-to-door in certain communities because police violence is also gun violence and we need to address that" #DemDebate
pic.twitter.com/Afix0ApDcJ— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) October 16, 2019
The 45-year-old presidential candidate also discussed police brutality this past summer when he released his People First Policing plan.
Castro's proposed solution is focused on ending over-aggressive policing and combating racially discriminatory policing, as well as holding police accountable and starting the healing process between communities and law enforcement.
"If police in Charleston, South Carolina can arrest Dylann Roof after he murdered nine people worshiping at Bible study, without hurting him, then don't tell me that Michael Brown and Tamir Rice and Aiyana Jones and Eric Garner and Jason Pero and Stephon Clark and Sandra Bland shouldn't still be alive today, too," Castro said in a statement earlier this year.
According to HuffPost, Castro is one of the only candidates who is addressing police brutality while discussing gun violence.
The Guardian published a report in 2015, saying 102 people killed by police that year were unarmed.
Black Americans are more than twice as likely to be unarmed when killed by police, The Guardian reported.
