Saturday, August 22, 2009

Is the Obama Administration Shielding The Black Panthers?

I am inclined to think it is and here is why. During the elections, men were filmed standing in front of the doors of a polling location; wearing jackboots and uniforms and both men held batons...and from time to time were seen slapping them menancingly into the palms of their hands. The police were called and arrests were made. The case made its way through the courts and here is what has happened since.




From the WSJ:

1. The episode—which Bartle Bull, a former civil rights lawyer and publisher of the left-wing Village Voice, calls "the most blatant form of voter intimidation I've ever seen"—began on Election Day 2008. Mr. Bull and others witnessed two Black Panthers in paramilitary garb at a polling place near downtown Philadelphia. (Some of this behavior is on YouTube.)

One of them, they say, brandished a nightstick at the entrance and pointed it at voters and both made racial threats. Mr. Bull says he heard one yell "You are about to be ruled by the black man, cracker!"

2. In the first week of January, the Justice Department(still under Bush's watch)filed a civil lawsuit against the New Black Panther Party and three of its members, saying they violated the 1965 Voting Rights Act by scaring voters with the weapon, uniforms and racial slurs. In March, Mr. Bull submitted an affidavit at Justice's request to support its lawsuit.

3. When none of the defendants filed any response to the complaint or appeared in federal district court in Philadelphia to answer the suit, it appeared almost certain Justice would have prevailed by default.

4...the department in May suddenly allowed the party and two of the three defendants to walk away. Against the third defendant, Minister King Samir Shabazz, it sought only an injunction barring him from displaying a weapon within 100 feet of a Philadelphia polling place for the next three years—action that's already illegal under existing law.

5. one of the defendants who walked was Jerry Jackson, a member of Philadelphia's 14th Ward Democratic Committee and a credentialed poll watcher for the Democratic Party last Election Day.

6. on July 30 six career lawyers at Justice who had recommended continuing to pursue the case were overruled by Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli—a top administration political appointee

7. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights voted on Aug.7 to send a letter to Justice expanding its own investigation and demanding more complete answers. "We believe the Department's defense of its actions thus far undermines respect for rule of law," its letter stated. It noted "the peculiar logic" of one Justice argument, that defendants' failure to show up in court was a reason for dismissing the case: "Such an argument sends a perverse message to wrongdoers—that attempts at voter suppression will be tolerated so long as the persons who engage in them are careful not to appear in court to answer the government's complaint."

8. Black Panther Party Chairman Malik Zulu Shabazz, said on Fox News just after the election that his activities at the polling station were part of a nationwide effort. Mr. Shabazz added that the Black Panther activities in Philadelphia were justified due to "an emergency situation."

You can read the rest of the article at WSJ, but those are the main points.

Why is Eric(Americans are cowards) Holder protecting the Black Panthers? Why were these thugs allowed to intimidate American citizens at polling places? Finally, a question that has been gnawing at me for some time---are we, the average American citizen on our own now when not even the Department of Justice will prosecute blatant thuggery?

3 comments:

  1. My daughter lived 3 or 4 blocks from this polling place. She said the attitude on election day among Obama supporters was one of arrogance. While most others in her office were allowed off that day or allowed to wear t-shirts of who they supported she was not. The difference?

    1) she was white

    2) she supported McCain

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  2. Hi MR--I thought about you all back when I first heard about all the ruckus. For their sake, I'm just glad this didn't happen at your polling place while you were trying to vote. But, then again, bullies always pick their targets pretty carefully and would know instantly you aren't anyone's victim. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yeah, that would have gotten pretty ugly. . .

    ReplyDelete

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