The African American Task Force Safety and Justice Subcommittee met for the first time Tuesday.
The subcommittee’s goal is to gather experiences from many Delaware departments and organizations regarding community violence and racial justice and prompt legislative action next year.
Chair State Rep. Nnamdi Chukwuocha (D-Wilmington) says many of these issues were previously confined to certain communities, but have since spread like a virus throughout the First State.
“We have to work together and realize that this impact, almost like the pandemic itself, it’s not being contained," said Chukwuocha. "This is truly a statewide problem, it is an area which impacts all of us: it impacts our health as a state, it impacts our economic growth as a state, it impacts our children’s future, the education of our children. It’s all impacted by these areas.”
The committee is composed of people from the Delaware Attorney General's office, the Wilmington Police Department and community and business leaders.
The group is expected to further divide and focus on specific areas of concern, such as justice reform, guns or community violence.
Chukwuocha expects members to return in October prepared to offer legislation proposals they can give to the task force at large.
