Current U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch gave a grim prognosis to Americans at a speech in Birmingham, AL on Sunday during her final public event before leaving the office.
"Fifty years after the civil rights movement finally put an end to so much of the state-sanctioned discrimination and the regime of racial violence that terrorized our country for decades, we still see our fellow Americans targeted simply because of who they are - not only for their race, but for their religion, sexual orientation and gender identity, as well," Lynch said during an event at the infamous 16th Street Baptist in Birmingham.
"Fifty years after the passage of the Voting Rights Act, we see new attempts to erect barriers to the voting booth. And 50 years after this very church was bombed for its role in the civil rights movement - an unspeakable act of malice that killed four little girls - we see anti-Semitic slurs painted on the walls of synagogues. We see bomb threats and arson directed at mosques. And as we stand here today in this holy place, we cannot help but remember the tragic shooting that claimed nine innocent lives during Bible study at Mother Emanuel AME in Charleston in 2015," she continued.
Her final diagnosis for Americans before turning over the office to President-elect Trump and Jeff Sessions was one of serious doubt.
"Waves of hatred, waves of intolerance and injustice that are still blowing in this country, and they seem to grow stronger the more that we achieve,” Lynch said.
Some in the congregation saw reality in a much different light.
“I cried. I cried. I never thought in my lifetime I would live to see the day that there was an African-American president,” Tara Banks said.
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