Will Eric Holder Right Racial Wrongs?

Washington Post: Many Hope New Attorney General Will Bring Balance To U.S. Justice

(Washingtonpost.com)  At one of the group's fundraisers, Holder met his wife, prominent Washington obstetrician Sharon Malone. He still makes financial contributions to the organization, said Executive Director George L. Garrow Jr.

"We like to believe that we've helped him keep in touch with the community," Garrow said.

Holder's presence at the top of the Justice Department, along with his history, sends a powerful signal, said Larry Thompson, who succeeded Holder as the second black deputy attorney general.

"You bring your full self to the job, your experiences, your background," he said.

President Obama and Holder have vowed to restore public faith in the department, which was plagued by political hiring scandals during the years that George W. Bush was president. Last month, Inspector General Glenn A. Fine exposed hiring abuses and racial insults at the civil rights division, underscoring persistent complaints from Democrats that it had lost its way as the nation's premier protector of the rights of African Americans.

The black community's relationship with the department has long been complicated. The distrust of law enforcement organizations was increased by the FBI, which for years harassed and spied on the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

At the same time, activists have taken pride in the glory days of the civil rights division, which was established in 1957. Over the next decade, the department helped protect Freedom Riders and students seeking to break color barriers at state universities.

For criminal justice activists, a pressing concern has been sentencing disparities for convicts caught with crack cocaine versus powder cocaine. Possession of crack carries longer criminal penalties, and 80 percent of people prosecuted for crack offenses have been African American, according to the Sentencing Project. Obama has said repeatedly that he wants to end the sentencing disparity.

But when Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.) asked Holder at his confirmation hearing to work with Congress to promote more fairness in sentencing laws, he responded with the cool of a longtime judge and prosecutor: "We have to be tough. We have to be smart. And we have to be fair. Our criminal justice system has to be fair. It has to be viewed as being fair."

The sentence disparities have combined with social and economic factors to lead to the increasing number of African Americans in prison, a figure that has grown from 100,000 in 1954 -- the year of the Supreme Court's seminal school desegregation case -- to 900,000 today, according to the Sentencing Project, a research and advocacy group.

"When we look at the prison system, it's a much worse situation than we had seen before the rise of the modern-day civil rights movement," said Mark Mauer, executive director of the group. "If current trends continue, one of every three black males today can expect to go to prison in their lifetime. It is one in every six for Hispanic men."

Locally, four out of five D.C. prisoners are black men.

Holder seldom broaches the topic of race directly, but in a 1997 National Public Radio interview conducted soon after his appointment as the Justice Department's second in command, he shared a quote by the late Samuel Proctor, a pastor in Harlem, that he carried in his wallet.

"It says that blackness is another issue entirely apart from class in America," Holder said. "No matter how affluent, educated and mobile a black person becomes, his race defines him more particularly than anything else."

[chyenna-2009]

If blacks are spending more time in prison than a white man for the same crime then fix that problem.

[sheiladog-2009]

Gregory B. Craig, Obama''s pathetic attorney will probably advise Holder to issue a blanket pardon.

[wardoglrs]

Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add ''within the limits of the law'' because law is often but the tyrant''s will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual. - Thomas Jefferson

It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brushfires of freedom in the minds of men. Samuel Adams, Father of the American Revolution

In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way. Franklin D. Roosevelt, Father of the Welfare State



The Democracy will cease to exist when you take from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not "TJ"

The Natural progress of things for liberty to yield and government to gain ground "TJ"

"Reform cannot be achieved by a well-intentioned leader who recruits his followers from the very people whose moral confusion is the cause of the disorder." - Socrates


A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine. - Thomas Jefferson

*** Cheney was questioned on ABC about whether the fact that two thirds of Americans were opposed to the Iraq War had any influence on decision-making, he basically said that the American people get to make their input every four years and after that they can be ignored.

[runningralph]

scienceman1, I didn''t change my position. I did acknowledge deathofusa''s opinion. I couldn''t read the theif''s mind, I just say it was a black on white crime and I hope Holder or Obama can do something about the number of crimes committed by blacks. As far as having backbone, refusing to look at different sides of an argument is stupidity, not bravery.

[scienceman1-2009]

its amazing how quickly you changed you position runningralph - when confronted by someone on this issue ??? This shows you have NO BACKBONE runningralph!

[scienceman1-2009]

When the power shifts to another race - all the other races will be mistreated / neglected no matter what race is in power.

[downsteamjm]

Now we will get more Latinos and Asians in the NBA.

[runningralph]

deathofusa, You could be right, but I don''t think so. All he took from me was a bottle of beer. There were 30 or forty people around all black and he didn''t bother anyone else. Whatever his reason it was another black on white crime. I truly hope Mr. Holder or Obama can do something about it. Let''s see some of that "change we can believe in."

[endrepubs]

That is not his job to right racial wrongs. He and Obama are in positions of power now so what wrong can he right?

[deathofusa]

Everybody agreed that the only reason for the crime was because I am white.
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Posted by runningralph at 04:54 PM : Feb 05, 2009


I don''t agree with you. He robbed you because he is a thief. It didn''t matter what color your skin was. He''s a thief and he is going to take what he wants.