Attention

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not represent our advertisers

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Special Protection For Black Panthers

Racial cowardice, thy name is Eric Holder.

For those who don't remember, Attorney General H. Holder Jr. had the gall last February to claim that Americans form "a nation of cowards" with regard to racial issues. Saying that this nation must examine its "racial soul" and that "we, average Americans, simply do not talk enough with each other about race," Mr. Holder explicitly vowed to "have frank conversations about the racial matters that continue to divide us." In that same context, he also vowed repeatedly last year to "restore" the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division to a supposedly renewed focus on protecting minority rights.

Yet Mr. Holder was far from explicit about exactly what he meant. Judging from the Civil Rights Division's actions - and now from a highly revealing speech by a newly exiled member of the division - it appears that the civil rights of blacks and Latinos will be protected but those of whites and Asians are treated as irrelevant.

Far from having a "frank conversation" about that highly problematic change in policy, Mr. Holder's Justice Department instead is hiding the change behind bureaucratic smokescreens, spurious claims of legal "privileges" and outright gag orders.

Mr. Holder knows that his sea change in law enforcement would be highly unpopular if discussed openly - and would be subject to serious legal challenge if openly tested in a court of law. Hence his fear, his cowardice, on the issue.

The smoking gun is the department's refusal to fully sanction members of the New Black Panther Party who were charged with voter intimidation for brandishing a nightstick and using threatening racial language at a polling place during the 2008 presidential election. In this case, Mr. Holder appeared to be undermining equal justice under the law by refusing to protect the civil rights of white voters. Now comes one of the key attorneys in that case to confirm that analysis.

The attorney in question, Christopher Coates, was transferred suddenly to South Carolina after the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights tried to subpoena his testimony with regard to the Black Panther case, which Mr. Coates helped oversee. Mr. Coates is known to have objected to the Obama-Holder team's decision to drop three of the four charges and play softball on the fourth.

Mr. Coates ought to have great credibility because nobody can accuse him of being a conservative ideologue. A former American Civil Liberties Union attorney who has won major awards from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Georgia Environmental Organization and the Justice Department itself, Mr. Coates has made a career of advocating for the rights of black Americans.

Yet when he tried to do the same for white voters (and some black ones, too) intimidated by the weapon-wielding Black Panthers, he was hounded, ordered to ignore a subpoena and ultimately exiled.

More from The Washington Times..

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

You can say or do anything you want under this criminal administration, unless you happen to be white and/or Christian.

Anonymous said...

The KKK has been pretty much nonexistent for the last 40 years if not more . I can see a resurgence in the group with actions or should I say non actions by this criminal administration !

Anonymous said...

Anon 9:38-

are you actually saying that you are in favor of the hate/terrorist group the KKK?!?! I mean- you are presumably on the eastern shore so I guess I'm not surprised. I only hope your daughters marry the biggest, friendliest black guys out there! haha good luck living with your hate, I cant imagine how awfull that must be.

Anonymous said...

Did the move to SC result in lower pay or a demotion. If you don't know this or if niether occurred, the move is hardly "exile". #2 you've dropped some pretty damning claim and drawn alot of conclusions based off of your disagreement about 1 case

Anonymous said...

Come and join the white lions of America. The most powerful in the world.

Anonymous said...

The black panthers are a bunch of uneducated thugs that can't do anything on their own. The are nothing more than a legalized Negro
gang , or colored people gang , or black gang , or african american gang ,or what ever they call themselves this year.

Chimera said...

9:38 is NOT condoning the KKK he or she is only stating what should be glaringly obvious and that is that if these extremist groups like BPP are given carte blanche to terrorize and intimidate,all the white supremacist groups are going to start building up their ranks and becoming more visible in our country.Both the black and white racists wopuld love nothing more to start a big ugly race war and if you dont realize that,you are naive..

Anonymous said...

10:15 You shouldn't respond if you can't read . No-one said anything about supporting the klan the point was by not prosecuting these thugs the result out of frustration might be joining the klan or one like it . As for the Eastern shore I know of no klan around here and never have met anyone associated with the klan .I not sure what your problem is with people of the eastern shore is but the one's I know are hard working tax paying Americans who just want to live their lives without the government telling them what to do . As for my daughter she was raised by two parents from a loving family and feels no need to follow the liberal medias example !