by Allanah Leahy – EM TV Online
The United States government swore in a new attorney general on Monday.
Loretta Lynch is the first African-American woman to take up office.
The Baltimore riots are high on the new attorney general’s agenda, as more broke just hours after her swearing in. US Attorney General Loretta Lynch is the first African-American woman to take the country’s top law enforcement post. Her appointment comes at a critical time, as thousands took to the streets at the weekend to protest the death of Freddie Gray, the latest victim of a series of deadly and questionable encounters between police and mostly African-American males.
Following an outbreak of riots, Lynch issued a statement condemning the escalating violence and looting:
“I condemn the senseless acts of violence by some individuals in Baltimore that have resulted in harm to law enforcement officers, destruction of property and a shattering of the peace in the city of Baltimore.
“I will bring the full resources of the Department of Justice to bear in protecting those under threat, investigating wrongdoing, and securing an end to violence.”
Lynch is Harvard-educated, and grew up in North Carolina during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s; her father, who was a Baptist preacher, would take her along to the courthouse to witness important cases.
“I know that this can be done because I am here to tell you: if a little girl from North Carolina, who used to tell her grandfather in the fields to lift her up on [the] back of his mule so she could see way up high, granddaddy could grow up to become the chief law enforcement officer of the USA, we can do anything,” said Attorney General Lynch in her commemoration speech.
Source: Reuters, US Department of Justice
