a year or two to become final, libby casey, al jazeera, washington. a quick reminder you can keep up to date on all the latest news and analysis and our stories on our website at al jazeera.com. hello, i'm ray suarez. on the subject of law enforcement, the director of the fbi speaks with one of the biggest megaphones in america. and james comey says the country's police officers sometimes do their jobs in a way bias. >> at many points in american history law enforcement enforced the status quo, one that is often brutally unfair to groups. >> law enforcement in the u.s. has to recognise the unjust treatment of minorities.

comey called for a national dialogue. how do we do that? whom would talk to whom, and how do we avoid the pitfalls of conversation about race that ends in recrimination and acrimony. we are glad you found us at our new time and home. it's "inside story". in his talk at george town university director comey touched on a difficult thing to talk about. trying to root it in the world of dispassionate observation rather than accusation, we don't know each other well enough. >> a tragedy of american life, one that most citizens can drive around because this doesn't touch them. it's that young people in those neighbourhoods inherit a legacy

of crime in prison. with that they become part of a police officer's life and shape the way that officer sees the world. changing that legacy is a change so enormous and complicated that it is easier to talk only about the cops - and that is not fair. >> if you don't live in a place touched by the prejudgment of police trying to keep a lid on street crime, if you are are not intimately familiar with neighbourhoods convinced police don't treat suspects and law-abiding citizens with understanding, you can ignore it and shut it out. the director of the fbi says law enforcement has to do better even if it's hard. >> relationships are hard and require work. let's begin that work. it's time to see each other for who and what we really are -

piece, security and understanding are worth the effort. thanks for listening to me. >> half a century ago, j edgar hooverened undercover ates to bug, snoop and spy on black americans, equating their desire for equal sit sonship with sedition, anti-americanism and more. the director said the best way to look up to american values is take a long look at yourself and tell hard truths. today, how would you do that. if you agree with james comey that it is worth doing, how do you avoid pitfalls of discussing what is sometimes called america's sin. >> joining me is john, president of the legal defense fund. nicky jones from the university of

california, and john, chief council and senior director. let me start with you - at some points during the speech the director spoke from the vantage points of the police, and from some, the vantage point of the streets. did he walk that line and tell things to all americans that was worth saying? >> i think he walked that line well. this may be the first step in this conversation on race and policing that we had. for months there's a sense that the opposing side, the police on one, and some in the community on the other have been shouting at each other from opposite sides of the street. not talking to each other. i think this director chooses his words and his intent very carefully, he struck a cord. >> professor jones, have you heard a speech like this from a senior public official. what did you make of it?

>> i was heartened by the director's speech. it's powerful coming from the director of the f.b.i. i was impressed by where he started, starting with a reference to savoury, a reference to racial inequality, and paints a picture of how racial equality, inequality, the history, lingers and influences interactions on the street level that police officers have with civilians. in painting that nuanced picture, he provides an opening for others that may feel a bit defensive when it comes to entering the conversations. >> and, john, this is something that has to be discussed not only when police talk to an individual on the street, but it runs through the court system, through our penal system. through the judiciary. did he give a view of the water

front that gives a starting point for the conversation? >> absolutely. director kony talks about the issue, and the effect it has on the streets, in the courts and throughout american society and the fact we need to confront those things, and not let it affect people in a bias way. >> i thought he was careful to root unconscious bias, inexperience, rather than say the guys go out on the street heartening. >> i thought it was very heartening, it rings true. his speech has the ring of truth. he starts off with the proposition that there has been mistakes, serious ones that got us to this point.

he points out the hard truth, that we harbour biases, and if we cannot commit that we have individual biases, it will be a hard conversation to have. credibility. >> as i look back over the speech as a video and a transcript. i went back and forth myself. i thought "well, it's good to talk about these things." but on the other hand we've been talking about them a lot, for a long time. and it seems a little futile. >> that can be true. we can be impatient with the pace of racial progress. that's happening at this moment. with the comments from president obama, and attorney-general holder, and director comey, we are setting the foundation for a national conversation on this issue, a conversation that the different figures can bring in different segments of the

population, and in some way move the conversation forward and move us forward in the march towards racial progress. >> when people talk about these things, times they shut down. they hear an observation as an accusation. the first response can be "are >>. >> they can't hear any more the content of the observation. when we talk about a national conversation on race using that phrase, are we underestimating how hard this will be to do it. >> we know it will be hard. as you said, in the past, during moments of strife. these issues have come up. there has been moments, moments von lost because people get their backs up. what is interesting and what might be a new direction in terms of what the director is

talking about, is the concept of unconscious bias. it's not the fact that people are explicitly racist. it's that we harbour certain views and a lot of time we act on them without realising that we act on them. this a way, you are putting less blame on individuals for having unconscious bias, maybe that can help in terms of a more productive conversation, in terms of how do we minimise the has. >> seems the notion of unconscious bias is one of the toughest parts of what the director had to say. it's hard for people to admit to harbouring them, acting on them, having that default mode thinking, wet aren't the stakes higher when it's a police

officer on the streets. >> absolutely. if you were to poll police officers today, they would take the view that the president of the united states and attorney-general of the united states and others in their statements spoke to their unconscious bias and painted law enforcement with the same brush. accusing them as racism. that is a troubling starting point for people in law enforcement. >> is that a fair observation. >> i don't think that characterizes the conversation. it speaks to defensiveness that people can have at teems. i think the conversation is more complicated than that, and i - i think that the conversation naturally has to be more complicated with that. the reason why the director - whether or not this actually moves us forward will depend on what the director does next.

we know the fbi is responsible for training state and local level la enforce: the question is whether or not the director believes, what he shares in the speech, makes its way down to training. >> we'll talk more about that in the next section of the programme. when politicians talk about race, how is it heard by different americans. if we embark on a reckoning on how law enforcement works in this country, is there a downside to honesty. stay with us, it's "inside story".

welcome back to "inside story" on al jazeera america. i'm ray suarez, we are taking a closer look at the federal bureau of investigation's director speech on race and law enforce. at georgetown university. in his address, one of the

nation's important law enforcement officers offered what he called hard truths. >> much research points to the widespread existence of unconscious bias. many people have unconscious racial biases and react differently to a white face than a black face. in fact, we all - white and black - carry various biases around with us. >> a few weeks ago the mayor of new york, bill de blasio, at a time of racial tension in his city, talked about different conversations about race inside his own mixed race family. >> for so many of our families there's a fear. i had to worry over the years, elaine has had to worry is dante safe. there are so many families in this city that feel each and every night "is my child safe?" and not just from some of the

painful reality crime and violence in some of our neighbourhoods, but safe from the people they want to have faith in as their protectors. >> the reaction to that speech, from police unions, commentators and political adversaries was ferocious. the mayor of new york turned their backs on police, and they turned their backs on him. mayor bill de blasio had blood on their hands, sided with criminals, played the race card and used his own son to do it. how do we have that national conversation director comey is talking about. how do we make it more productive and informative than such conversations in the past. john green bomb the fbi is well fixed to investigate crime, world class evidence technicians, fabulous friendsics and computer systems. i wonder if they are equipped to

be the spear head of a national conversation on race? >> well, they can be out there. they don't need to do it alone. there are a lot of people ready to have that conversation. it will be successful. it will not just be the f.b.i. it will be a lot of people working toot. >> like who? >> to talk about the issues. people in communities, in dementia, at various organizations like mine. people on the police side. you'll have to have people at all different sides of the table talking about the issues, having the opportunity to express feelings in a genuine freeway, and to think about what is it better. >> when you heard about the suggestion, how did you picture it. is it a formal thing, does it live somewhere, is it an organised thing or is it people talking to people over the fence and on the street and at work? >> well i agree with john, it's not one conversation. it's conversations plural.

they are difficult conversations in different domains. we can think. black lives matter movement as a movement that encourage the conversation, pushing it forward. even though it may make some uncomfortable. it's not just one conversation. where we really move forward is in training areas. if you really want to change how police officers and civilians interact. you have to get into the training of law enforce: which is why director comey's speech is important, if it's an indicator of priorities. >> the week that the mayor made the speech, there were columns, commentaries, radio programs, website. talking about "the talk." that black families have inside about how young men should behave when they are around the police. it was seen that bill de blasio went a step too far when he,

effect, opened up the talk to a wider audience, and many police heard it as a betrayal. was that fair . i struggled with the talk. as a father of two kids, particularly a son, i had to talk to my own son. the talk is about being respectful to the place. police. this conversation, a national conversation is a multilateral conversation. there needs to be many voices around a table, including the voices of adults concerned about their kids, who are telling kids and raising people to be respectful of the law, respectful of police. if we want to ipp okayulate our citizens, and prevent them from dying at the hands of police, there's a good way to do that. that is not to fight the police.

that is not to resist the police. if we take that away from the equation, deaths at the hands of police drop to near zero. >> do you know what has discouraging about the reaction to the bill de blasio talk, he was relaying a truth that i think is felt by a lot of american families, and risking something by doing that. the reaction was so ferocious that the lesson you may take away from that is better not to things. >> and i am sure that he was sincere in his talk and how he related. my point is this is a broader conversation. the talk is a broader discussion, and it's about respecting our society and respect for law enforcement. without that respect, the situation will decay, and we'll have this conversation again in 10 years. professor jones, about the talk, this was something that mayor

bill de blasio's minority constituents probably sat in the living room and nodded their heads over, and it got a harsh reaction from people who heard it as undermining the police, and embedded in the idea, accusing them of being brutal to young minority men. >> the response highlights how emotional a topic it is. given that, how much we - maturity we have to bring to the conversation. we, as the adults in particular. have to take a step back, and a broader view and talk in still ways about difficult and complicated issues. >> in debates over policing of minority communities, we are sure that if you see the street through a beat cop's eyes, you understand how important the job is. when we come back after a quick break we talk about how to recruit and train overs, whether

the problems require tweaking or a top to bottom reconsideration of how we make citizens into police officers. >> there's more to financial news than the ups and downs of the dow. for instance, could striking workers in greece delay your retirement? i'm here to make the connections to your money real. >> "real money with ali velshi". tonight at 10:30 eastern. only on al jazeera america.

you're watching "inside story," on al jazeera america. in a speech last week on race and law enforcement at georgetown university, the director of the fbi gave an unusually frank assessment of the way law enforcement is unfurl in the country. it must include better informed police work. >> perhaps the reason we struggle as a nation is because we come to see what we represent at face value, instead of who we are. we must see the people we serve. we simply must find a way to see each other more clearly. part of that has to involve

collecting and sharing better information about violent citizens. >> can you counsel your way out of current problems. command your way out? train your way out. with me, ron, president of the law enforcement legal defense fund, nicky jones, a professor of american-african studies, and john green bomb. senior director for the lawyers committee for civil rights under law. what do you think? if we took a look at the people coming into academy, saying "i want to be a police officer, what should we tell them? what should we teach them. what should we look for as they train, to make sure on graduation day we are sending a better officer on to the street in this regard. >> a starting point is what is preached.

internal policies and procedures that respect the constitution. he puts new ate's classes, bringing them to the ml king memorial. to have an prooshz of how our world can turn bad. that's a step forward. it's hiring the rite team. secondly, the professor referred to it earlier, trying to grow the professionalism. it means constant training, regular legal training. regular firearms training so if i had to shoot, i could shoot accurately. we had policies and procedures a mile teen. you need professionalism up and down so there's accountability when an officer does bad. you need to turn it in the right

direction. so that you are building a force that has the trust of the community. this is not easy. because half the departments in the united states have 10 or fewer employees, badged employees. how do you get to the small departments before there's a crisis. and for all the training of the federal bureau of investigation agent, there's a lot of people wading into fights in schools, making traffic stops, sobriety checks and high touch policing where there's a lot of stress and confrontation. can we train our way out of this, can we do this better. >> that's a great point. they are fundamentally face to face encounters. we talk about bringing respect to interaction on the side of the civilian and the police officers. sometimes in the high-stake interactions it can be miz

construed. an officer in the beginning of the encounter wants to figure out information. but a civilians wants to know why they are stopped. the officer may see talking back as a form of resistance, and that can escalate an encounter. and that is something we see in research. we have been on both sides of the dividing line. but to remember that these are fundamentally face to face encounters, and train officers in way that is give them more control. not justifies ebbingal control, more control. encounter in ways that are likely to improve the sense of trust on the part of the civilian and officer safety. that nuts and bolts string snigs to ongoing training on the biases and cultural sensitivities is important. >> they are kind of sociologist of the sidewalk police.

we ask them to do a lot, and also ask them to keep everyone safe even as we protect the rites of the accused. is this a tougher job today than it was at another time. >> i don't know if it was tougher at another time. it was tough. >> you have a variety of situations, potentially dangerous situations, weapons that are dangerous. you have a lot of larger jurisdictions where police officers may not know the people in the community as well. there are a lot of challenges out there. people are under a lot of stress. it is - there's no doubt that it's a stuff job. i think everybody would agree to that. we need to do it. we need to do everything to make sure that police officers are able to do their job effectively, and part of doing their job effectively is doing it in a way that makes it safe for all - all the individuals

that they are dealing with have we redefined what resisting arrest is, that's a big part of the encounters that has gotten attention. >> one of the things with the modern day, and the fact that people take videos of things. we are able to see a lot more from different perspectives than before. if 20 years ago most of the time all you had was a police report. you may only get one side. story. now you have a lot of encounters taken by video tape, and you have police departments using video of their open. that can have an effect making sure people on all sides can import themselves better. >> thank you all for talking to me today. good conversation. thank you for joining us on

inside story. get in touch on facebook, twitter, watch us next time. in washington, i'm ray suarez. >> the mountains of west virginia have provided generations with jobs in coal. but on january 9th, 2014, the state woke up to an example of the costs of it's industrial economy. a tank containing a chemical used the process of coal production had leaked its contents into the elk river,