Loretta Lynch

In a world that is more interconnected and interdependent than ever before, it is critical that we work together to uphold the norms and statutes that keep our citizens safe, our countries secure, and our economies fair.

We don't always choose moments. You know, sometimes they choose us.

Instead of turning away from our neighbors, our friends, our colleagues, let us instead learn from our history and avoid repeating the mistakes of our past.

Particularly over the last few decades, technological innovation has offered opportunities to bring people and nations together - but it has also created significant new challenges to law enforcement.

We must continue working to build trust between communities and law enforcement. We must continue working to guarantee every person in this country equal justice under the law. And we must take a hard look at the ease with which wrongdoers can get their hands on deadly weapons and the frequency with which they use them.

Members of organized crime continue to exploit their victims the old-fashioned way - through violence, threats and intimidation. As law enforcement has so successfully done before, we will employ our own time-tested techniques to bring them to justice to account for their crimes.

Almost one in three Americans has had some contact with the criminal justice system. When you reach that saturation point, people begin to understand, in a very visceral way, the difficulties of reentry.

Let us reflect on the obvious but often neglected lesson that state-sanctioned discrimination never looks good in hindsight.

What I have realized is I cannot guarantee the absence of discrimination or hatred or prejudice, but I can guarantee the presence of justice.

What is the price of justice? What is the price of justice? When bail is set unreasonably high, people are behind bars only because they are poor. Not because they're a danger or a flight risk - only because they are poor. They don't have money to get out of jail and they certainly don't have money to flee anywhere.

The sentence imposed on Abdul Kadir sends a powerful and clear message. We will bring to justice those who plot to attack the United States of America.

Let me say that if the political arena is your choice as you work to keep our democracy strong and our essential freedoms accessible for all, then that is what you should do, and I salute you. We need champions in all walks of our civic discourse.