“We are heartbroken by the killing of Jordan Edwards. We send our sympathy and prayers to his family, his friends, his classmates and his community. The full details of this case must come out, but the most basic truth of it is already known -- Jordan Edwards was 15 years old and he did not deserve to die. 

“His tragic shooting at the hands of the Balch Springs Police Department is an all too familiar reminder of the painful injustices faced by communities of color in the United States, injustices that have been named with stark clarity by the #BlackLivesMatter movement.  Of the dozens of unarmed people killed this year by police, Jordan Edwards was the youngest. 

“Over the past few years, that movement has been successful in winning some progress in reforming the policies and practices of police departments across the country. The implementation of consent decrees, along with other police reforms, have allowed greater accountability and supervision of local law enforcement nationwide.

“Despicably, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has sought to reverse this progress by, for example, blocking pending consent decrees and obstructing the creation of new ones. Such actions will make it more difficult to hold police officers accountable and could deny justice to victims like Jordan Edwards and their families.  Rolling back these small improvements only escalates the extreme danger that people of color across the country already face in their interactions with law enforcement.

“As Jews, we believe in creating a society where equality, fairness and dignity are a reality for all people. As we mourn the loss of Jordan Edwards, and other innocent Black men who’ve been similarly taken, we continue to pursue equal justice for communities of color and oppose the efforts of Sessions and the Trump administration to institute counterproductive policing policies and block needed reforms.”

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