J. Christian Adams: Why the Left Shouldn’t Defend the New Black Panther Dismissal
It would be foolish to imagine that the dismissal hasn’t already affected DOJ policy and altered their approach to other matters. It certainly will make them gun shy going forward in future elections. Cases which could have been brought in the future won’t be. They know that the public, and lawyers for defendants, will use the dismissal of the New Black Panther case against them.
It is a genuine tragedy that should concern those on the left.
You can see why the corrupt dismissal is a blow to the rule of law and the sanctity of the ballot box. Defenders on the left who agree with me that the right to vote is sacred should have the foresight to see past partisan instincts, and look a few steps down the road to where the dismissal takes this nation. What a colossal strategic error to revert to personal attacks when something so precious is at stake.
What happens when more and more come forward to corroborate my account? Perhaps then, they will see we share the same goal — to protect the ballot box from all thuggery — and start talking about solutions.
The second reason that the left should care about the dismissal is because it undermines support for a broad civil rights agenda. I have been doing dozens of radio and television shows across this nation, and will do more. And I can tell you that Americans are furious that some in Washington don’t think they are protected by civil rights laws, particularly voting laws, because their skin color disqualifies them.
Do not underestimate the damage the dismissal is doing to broad support for civil rights laws, particularly in voting.
If Christopher Coates were allowed to comply with the lawful subpoena served upon him by the Civil Rights Commission, I’m pretty sure he would tell the Commission what he told the entire voting section at his going away party. He said it better than I could:
America is increasingly a multiracial, multiethnic, and multicultural society. For such a diverse group of people to be able to live and function together in a democratic society, there have to be certain common standards that we are bound by and that protect us all. In fact, as we become more diverse, it is even more important that our national standards of non-discrimination are enforced by the federal government. One of these most basic standards is equal protection under the law. When that is violated, America does not live up to the true meaning of its creed. When it is followed, the country functions the way it was intended to.
For the Department of Justice to enforce the Voting Rights Act only to protect members of certain minority groups breaches the fundamental guarantee of equal protection, and could substantially erode public support for the Voting Rights Act itself. My fourth reason for this kind of law enforcement is very simple: Selective enforcement of the law, including the Voting Rights Act, on the basis of race is just not fair and does not achieve justice.
“Substantially erode public support,” indeed.
Why should a group of people support a vigorous civil rights agenda when evidence mounts that they are not intended by many to be protected? The extraordinary moral authority wielded by the civil rights movement came from a vision of genuine equality. All men are created equal by God, and therefore all are entitled to be treated equally by law. The authors of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments had a radical and noble purpose — to level the law so that for the first time on earth, all races were treated with equality and dignity by a sovereign. The authors knew firsthand the sacrifice in blood and treasure given to achieve this radical agenda, for towns across the South remained in ruins, and bodies were still left unburied in places like the Wilderness and Chickamauga when these three Amendments were ratified.
As evidenced by his speech, Coates also understands the importance of equal enforcement of the law to the broad support for the Voting Rights Act and civil rights laws. Those on the left defending the dismissal should recognize the damage they do to our shared agenda of vigorous enforcement of equality. Many Americans will rightfully become hostile toward enforcement of civil rights laws if they believe the laws do not protect them also. Is that the America you on the left want?
If history shows us anything, once one group of people feel they are excluded from the guarantees of equal protection, they wield enormous moral authority in their grievance. The “arc of history” inevitably “bends toward justice” in their direction. Hopefully, the rabid defenders of the New Black Panther dismissal will eventually recognize they are hurting their own cause. It will be more difficult to stop future voter intimidation, and fewer people will support the Voting Rights Act if they feel excluded from its protections.
Let us get past the personal attacks and move onto a substantive discussion of how to fix things inside the DOJ.
I have read other sources claiming that the Bush DOJ reduced the charges from a criminal matter to a civil rights matter in January 2009. It raises a legitimate question, why did the Bush DOJ reduce charges? If that’s true, then there is reason to believe this story is being over hyped.
Hyped? You have it backwards. It’s the same lawyers who made that decision. Far from being hyped that decision underlines the fact that there is a culture of discrimination in the DOJ.
Hi Holly,
Thsi claim was promoted by the Obama DOJ and has been completely discredited.
The call to not pursue criminal charges was made by the career head of the criminal division, Mark Kappelhoff. Interestingly, he is a major donor to democrats and was promptly appointed to a political position by Obama after the inauguration.
For a full explanation read this analysis.
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZTA4M2NmNzY5N2FkZGEyMGI4ODkwNjYyNzgxYTAzMDQ=
Thanks for the link to Hans von Spakovsky’s National Review Online piece, explaining the total canard from Cynthia Tucker (what a surprise!) that ‘it’s Bush’s fault’ yet again, this time for dropping charges against the Black Panthers. Please, anybody who has teh remotest idea (from the Left’s propaganda barrage) that there were plenty of similar violations when Bush was president, check out this detailed account for a complete refutation of this nonsense.
We saw your talking points on HuffPO yesterday. you lying sack of sheet. Busted. You canm run back and tell Arianna and her poodles there (and Soros) we are watching for your lies.
Hi holly. If you think this was over hyped then answer what your opinion be if it was the exact same situation just the colors reversed? Its a real easy litmus test on racism. If something would be racist if white did it for black then why wouldn’t it be racist if. Black does it to white? That’s the problem with social justice. It aims to get even for crimes and trials of the past percieved or real. Social justice forces its supporters to be perpetual victims in order to retain power. Its the adult equivilent of rewarding a child who throws a temper tantrum with a new toy everytime they do it. And we all know how well that does not work
“That’s the problem with social justice. It aims to get even for crimes and trials of the past percieved or real.”
Bingo! That is the motivating factor for social justice. And it’s entirely all wrong. It exacts a pound of flesh from one for the crimes of another. There is no justice in that.
It’s how I feel about “hate crimes” too. Sentencing someone to 40 years in prison for murdering someone and adding another ten years for hating their victim?
Beyond that, “Social Justice” also seeks to punish those who had no part in the original crimes, and to help those who were never hurt by the original crimes, regardless of whether the original crimes ever occurred.
“Social justice” is based on the idea that two wrongs are a right.
Those with a “mental disorder” often exhibit self destructive behaviour!
Sometimes this is caused by rebellion because maybe they perhaps resented their mother…or resent their financial lack of status…
Those with a “mental disorder” have a propensity to “believe”/worship all sorts of rubbish (jiberalism/progressivescisim)…particularly if they are “religiously secular”… or “ultra religiously secular”…
Unfortunately, Mr. Adams’ logical argument probably will do little in persuading the far left. He assumes that the left is interested in equality under the law. The left cares little about logic and nothing about equality. Select minorities are always the victims and to point out abuses by members of a minority is an attack on a liberal absolute. Such an attack will not be tolerated and logical arguments to the contrary are irrelevant. The very idea that Acorn and the Democrats would work together to rig an election would be dismissed out of hand, not because it can’t be proven but because it is an attack on liberal thought. Liberals attack anyone they see as a threat to their world view and the greatest threat are those who present logical arguments. Mr. Adams is speaking a language that liberals do not understand.
Looking for an honest intellectual on the left, someone who can see past winning a PR victory or the next election, will truly be a challenge. They don’t apply the same standards to all and never have. These are the people who are out there saying what a success the economic stimulus has been and how “Bush lied us into war” when he was saying exactly the same thing Democrats were about WMDs prior to the Iraq invasion. Voter intimidation is only bad when it discourages their friends, compatriots and allies from voting. If the President and his minions thought Hispanics would mostly vote Republican, they’d have already built a 20-foot high fence the length of our southern border.
You act as though the left is interested in a substantive debate of the issue. Or, for that matter, that they are at all concerned about fairness. They are not. Anything that erodes the fabric that makes up society, whether it is kowtowing to Muslim strong-arm tactics, or Black ones. It’s no different to those in leadership. Bring it all down, man. That’s there only motto.
Essentially correct…true whether intentional/not intentional… that is the result but not necessarily the motto of “all” adherents, many “well to do with a vested interest in their economic status quo” voted, in spite of specific warnings, for Harol Hill Obama.
The Left elites are interested only in the acquisition, retention and the naked exercise of power – absolute power to be precise. They are monsters – killers without conscience. The ideas that animate these people are the same ones that have influenced recent history’s worst mass murderers. And if that seems extreme, remember that 0bama is surrounded by those who admire and excuse those same mass murderers – Mao, Pol Pot, Stalin. They regard human beings as little more than cattle – and some of them have said as much.
Reason, facts, logic, the Rule of Law and the Constitution – mere obstacles to be overcome on the way to absolute rule. Look up Antonio Gramsci – then you’ll acquire some notion as to how these monsters operate – and where they plan to take us. Recall this from Orwell’s 1984? Orwell understood that mentality perfectly:
That’s who we’re dealing with. And there’s only one way this can end.
Holly – The Bush DOJ reduced nothing. Criminal charges could and still should be filed. More for you:
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZTA4M2NmNzY5N2FkZGEyMGI4ODkwNjYyNzgxYTAzMDQ=
Mr. Adams: Thank you for your continued efforts on this front. The Washington Post and other “news” outlets ought to heed the second and third order effects that Mr. Adams outlines here and in previous posts–the dismissal of this case threatens cases down the road, cases that would outrage the left if races were reverses. This is not a left-right, black-white issue—it is a right and wrong issue. Voter intimidation is clearly wrong and unjust. Egregiously condoning unjustice is a recipe for disaster and a threat to liberty that all citizens ought to stand up against. I am going to urge my congressman/Senators again to do their job to secure our liberties and further investigate the DOJ and this case.
Mr. Adams—thank you.
“It is a genuine tragedy that should concern those on the left.”
Except that the left know full well that they’re the only ones who actually engage in things like election fraud and voter intimidation at any detectable level, so would be the only ones to suffer the consequences if prosecution would take place and lead to convictions.
Therefore, in their world view, allowing this case to go ahead now would harm their agenda. When they’ve reached the stage where elections are no longer necessary, they can do whatever they like and enforce any law with impunity and selectively so as to apply only to their opponents (whomever they may be at that time, most likely mainly other leftist groups).
Amen! I know there some on both sides who simple want to do the right thing. It’s an easy test. Reverse the races and ask if you’re still comfortable withnthe decision.
As I was reading this article the same thing was going through my head as what Rik and Bob and Jim posted. Double-standards are par for the course in liberal politics. They re-write the rule book to suit their immediate needs and use the race card as a shield anytime someone cries FOUL. Logic is a four letter word and can’t be tolerated. The shoe is never on the other foot. There is no flip-side to the liberal coin…only tails.
God bless you for trying JCA! Your article was thoughtful, logical, even-handed. Given the demographic you were attempting to reach, you might as well have been speaking Klingon.
Oh wait…bad analogy…methinks Klingon might actually have a chance of being comprehended by that demographic!
My absentee ballots have not been counted in 40 years due to horse trading by the parties at all levels of government (just look at the 2000 and 2004 elections).
So I don’t expect EVER to be given a fair shake at the polls.
Is there any hope that I’ll get equal justice for entitlements? Hah!
Jim, Bob, Rik, FearMonger, IMHO we are beyond “double-standards” and full into the divided country. Those who faithfully follow MSM, et al. and those who now follow these websites and the people who comment on them. These are two different Americas. So sad.
Humorous cartoon titled “If Mamma Grizzlies acted like Black Panthers” at http://drawfortruth.wordpress.com/category/mamma-grizzlies/
Thanks for that link. Great site.
Left/liberal racists are still racists… it’s an equal opportaunity field, ironically. Unequal enforcement of the law on the basis of race is still racist, no matter how much “payback” some redistributionist thinks is owed. Fair is fair and this racist bullcrap isn’t.
By dismissing the black panthers case the DoJ has followed the
RULES OF SUBVERSION 101:
- it has not punished the thugs who support the left
- it has created the terrain for future intimidations
- it has increased the level of chaos, division, anger
By thinking that the left TODAY thinks the way YOU think, you make a mistake.
We are facing a SUBVERSIVE left, whose only goal is chaos.
Because chaos weakens America, and for the subversive left America is the great satan.
Your way of thinking shows that you are a good man, a true Patriot, dedicated to justice for all.
Don’t assume that you share these positive characteristics with the administration in power, who calls the Police “stupid” and invites “not to run to conclusions” when the muslim terrorists murder American Warriors.
Interesting. Holly oviously gets her (dis) information from progressive sites. I wonder how she managed to wander in her to try to peddle the latest plastic turkey story defaming Mr. Bush. Also intersting that hers is the very first post, suggesting that someone some place is watching very very carefully what is being said about this case.
I guess it’s a good thing that she found Pajamas Media … right?
Mr. Adams, sir. Permit me to attempt to describe my vision of political reality, July 19, 2010. A tad different from yours.
But first, let me introduce myself. My name is Rachel Peepers. And, although this is all more than a game to me, more like deadly serious stuff, I can’t help at times make light of it. Or I’ll start crying. And light of you, J. Christian Adams, too. Your naivete. Just a smidgen of naivete perhaps. But enough to catch my eye. Not really a bad thing. But I have a point of view you should be exposed to at least. Maybe because I’m a little older than you. And maybe a little more battle weary than you.
Let’s see, how do I explain my version of political reality to someone with your education, moral upbringing, courage, integrity, and patriotism? And that touch of naivete?
Well, it might not hurt if I shared a little known fact about Rachel Peepers. She’s the product of a writer father and a very liberal mother, one who’s favorite singer was satchmo, Mr. Louis Armstrong. My Mom was almost a one woman civil rights protest before there was civil rights. And there are words in the English language, bad, nasty, hateful words that people use initials to represent that I have never in all my years uttered out of respect for her and respect for all Americans.
But I digress.
Sir, did you see the 1993 movie, “The Fugitive” when Tommy Lee Jones is chasing Harrison Ford. Ford says he’s not guilty of killing his wife, and the cop, Tommy Lee, says, “I don’t care?”
Mr. Adams, that’s precisely how the left feels about the implications of defending voter rights.
The left doesn’t care about them. Not anymore. If ACORN were able to steal every election from the George Bushes and Sarah Palins and Alan Wests of the world, they’d be delighted about it. The left no longer gives a tinker’s damn about the Constitution or equal rights or freedom of the press or the first ten amendments or about their fellow man. The golden rule is dead to them. Justice is irrelevant. Dr. Martin Luther King, one of history’s greatest men, most eloquent heroes, God’s gift to mankind, to today’s left, is irrelevant, too.
Mr. Adams, you’re going on the assumption that the terrible effects of selective law enforcement, most often based on race and politics is a concern of the left when this couldn’t be further from the truth.
They’re in this to push the Saul Alinsky agenda. They’re in it for the personal power and the money. Our greater good, yours and mine and my mom’s God rest her soul, don’t matter.
Barack Obama is authoring a corrupt administration on a ton of levels. Where people once were willing to lay their lives on the line for civil rights, today’s left wouldn’t lay down a plug nickle to correct a moral wrong. They’re a different animal. I’ll end this writing with your words, then add few of my own.
“The second reason that the left should care about the dismissal is because it undermines support for a broad civil rights agenda. I have been doing dozens of radio and television shows across this nation, and will do more. And I can tell you that Americans are furious that some in Washington don’t think they are protected by civil rights laws, particularly voting laws, because their skin color disqualifies them.
Do not underestimate the damage the dismissal is doing to broad support for civil rights laws, particularly in voting.”
Mr. Adams, what I believe the left is intending to do at all costs is to tear the fabric of our nation to shreds. About the words you speak, Mr. Adams, these people feel like Tommy lee in the movie. They just don’t care.
If my Mom was still here, she’d care. She’d stand with you shoulder to shoulder. Dr. King would care. I weep for this country as in my feeble way I try to thank you for your good work. Your parents must be very, very proud of you. As you must be of them.
Thank you, Rachel. As you and so many others have pointed out (quite correctly), Obama and his thugs don’t give a rat’s ass about the law or civil rights.
It’s all about power.
This country is starting to remind me of Russia. 1916 Russia.
Adams is a lawyer. Lawyers tend to stick to what they can demonstrate in court, and understate what they know and suspect in open conversation or in writing.
Mr Adams, the Eric the Aholders WANT to use the “justice” systems for politicial reasons, just like the communists did under Khrushev AND Breznev and Hitler used to round up the Jews. Mr Adams, Im glad to see there are at least some decent lawyers out there. Unfortunatley, Aholder and Dumbama and those who work for them(Kagan,Koh, etc) are ideological communists who hate freedom and think they know anything better than anyone else does. These men will not accept anything that the constitution says, they want to destroy it. Men like this must be crushed, defeated thoroughly. Law must return to its constitutional roots, something unlikley under trash Like Dumbama,Aholder and Koh.
I think the NAACP should be asked to make a statement rejecting the black panther organization. It would be interesting to see if they would denounce the black panthers as racists (which they are) as readily as the NAACP voted to denounce the “tea party” movement as racist.
I’m sure the “tea party” constituents reject the KKK and would yell it from the rooftops if asked to. The NAACP probably won’t bring itself to reject the black panthers EVER.
By the way-Mr Adams worry about setting a bad precedent is quite valid. Look at what Bubbas lying under oath did-the number of perjury cases essentially dismissed skyrocketed.
Sadly its not that hard to understand. Why the doj did what it did. The new mantra of the left is not equal justice but social justice. Which is another term for revenge. Remember the only way these people have power is by perpetuating the myth that they are opressed. The left needs an enemy and “racism” provides the perfect cover. Its easily used even without proof, versitile in its application and nearly impossible to refute. they need social justice to give them power and a cause. Equal justice only makes them look like the whiney failures they are.
There is an interesting video At Ace of Apades http://ace.mu.nu/ of an Obama bureaucratic speaking to the NAACP and bragging about how she treated a white farmer who asked for help.
Faced with a white farmer whose farm was in Chapter 12, she decided she wouldn’t do “the full force” of what she could do to help him, because she was concerned about black folks losing their farms. She admits here she did “enough” so that if he spoke to others in the Department of Agriculture, he would have to admit she’d done something. But that’s it.
She took him to one of “his own,” a white lawyer, regarding Chapter 12. Apparently that federal money was personally earmarked by Sherrod for the exclusive use of black farmers.
That’s a pretty explosive admission. Is it lawsuit time yet?
It is being reported that the bureaucratic resigned. The question to be asked is, did she take an early Gov. retirement with a 80% pay and benefits package?
Another interesting part of this speech that most people are missing, is how the woman explains that while the guy was explaining his problems to her, in her words, all she heard was the guy telling her how superior he was compared to her.
Her racism is so complete, that she no longer hears what whites say, but replaces it with what she believes him to be thinking.
The other sad thing was how her audience was reacting to her story of sticking it to this white man.
It undermines racial trust, and exposes Black America as not seeking equality before the law, but to impose Jim Crow on White America. In other words, payback is large on their minds.
If this comes to be commonly understood as the goal or a position that most Black Americans sympathize with, which is hid under rhetoric and “diversity” code wordism, it will get very ugly for Black America, very quickly.
Tread carefully.
JCA, there is a large cultural divide when it comes to application of certain laws in this land of ours and it does not appear as if there is an easy application of remedies to bridge that divide.
Almost all of us are aware of “jury nullification” and the very clear line drawn in the OJ case along racial lines regarding how the facts and the application of the law was seen.
The need to “remedy” past grievances is so strongly felt and ingrained, that what appears to be clear abuse on its face to one segment of our culture, is seen as necessary by the other. The left uses this divide to their own benefit. In fact, they do everything they can to exacerbate it.
The reason that their is a “disconnect” between the two cultures, is that there is not foundational agreement that “race neutral” application of the law is necessary or beneficial. The cognitive dissonance that a “fair is fair, right is right, wrong is wrong” prosecutor feels, makes no difference to those seeking “redistribution of justice”.
If you believe that “redistributive justice” is a legitimate means toward an end of “leveling a four hundred year old unlevel playing field”, then you will not be offended by the failure to prosecute the case against the New Black Panthers bullying and intimidation tactics at a polling place…or at the lack of a conviction at a double murder…as long as the victims were not in the “redistributive’s protected class”.
It is no longer simply jury nullification, but also legislative nullification, executive nullification, and now…prosecutorial nullification that applies in measured doses, who gets benefit of our redistributed justice, legislation, benefits, rights, privileges and protections.
I suspect where one stands in the divide…will determine what they think about it. It is quite clear where the left stands. They benefit tremendously by keeping us apart, dividing us, …and then pointing at the friction that results, rubbing salt in the wounds and preventing us from healing.
I think all the conspiracy mongering does us a disservice. Just stick to Mr. Adams’ premise and you’ll be fine.
The fact is, the left IS interested in equal enforcement of civil rights laws. However, from their skewed perspective black people are still far, far behind in their quest for equal treatment under the law. They believe that voting rights laws and other measures designed to help minorities are precisely that: designed to help minorities, *NOT EVERYONE*. They believe those laws must be very narrowly applied. They are to be used only in cases where minorities are denied voting rights or other political rights by white people, not the other way around. To them, prosecuting a black person for violating a civil rights law is simply illogical.
I happen to disagree with that perspective. At this point, I’d have to ask what (if anything) the Supreme Court has to say about the issue. Are voting rights laws for EVERYONE, or only for black people? If the Supreme Court has never said anything, maybe it’s about time for it to weigh in.
The reason this is so important is that you either get (fair) ballots or you get bullets. If we don’t get this solved, then we will become the Balkins.
Mr. Adams,
Your article was excellent. I am so proud of you for having the courage to stand for what is right. I am so glad that you exposed this corruption. You are so right that it hurts all races when laws are not applied equally. We have progressed so much in the last fifty years in race relations. I believe the Obama administration is deliberately stirring up racial tensions in order to advance their agenda. It is a shame that Obama isn’t using this historic opportunity to promote racial harmony and prosperity for all Americans.
Lets see 400 years and blacks and whites have almost no common ground
Despite 50 years of forced intergration and forced busing black kids
and white kids separate as soon as they are free to do so. “Openminded”
whites will brag that blacks are “some of my best friends”..but they
never spend any time with these “best friends”. They cannot remember
when they even made a phone call to their “best friends” Hollywood
will produce hundreds of movies with blacks and white police teams,
black and white best buddies, or blacks and whites chumming at sporting events, or laughing it up in a bar. But no one can remember when they have ever seen anything like that in real life. Or ever felt like
doing anything like that. And yet they praise these movies as “realistic”
This is because the entire MultiCulturalism project is a lie. Race trumps all
cards. Every race will pursue its own interest with no apologies..as Obama
has proven. Only whites are brainwashed enough to have ever believed otherwise..
And so whites will agree to more Mulitculturalism, more open borders, more mass immigration, more witchhunts for racists. And they will be the only ones astounded when
it all collapses…by which time its too late and whites have irrevocably given away their majority status, their security, their wealth and in the
end their lives.
Still trying to make mountain out of a shadow, eh?
Sorry, BC; you will not be able to convince people that this great mountain of institutional discrimination in the administration of equal justice is a tiny molehill of mistake. Mainly because it ain’t.
To Salamantis: It’s not even a molehill compared to, say, some of the past shenanigans in Florida. This is no more than another Fox Special to rouse the usual clueless rabble of a demographic audience they have.
It would be foolish to imagine that the dismissal hasn’t already affected DOJ policy and altered their approach to other matters. It certainly will make them gun shy going forward in future elections. Cases which could have been brought in the future won’t be. They know that the public, and lawyers for defendants, will use the dismissal of the New Black Panther case against them.
It is a genuine tragedy that should concern those on the left.
Sir, you plainly do not understand the Left in the slightest degree.
While this is indeed a tragedy for all of us, for the Left it’s a goal. By indiscriminate and cynical overuse, they seek to devalue and obliterate not merely the term, but the very concept of actual racism, from the mainstream mind.
Once this is achieved, the Left can finally drop the mask of anti-racism it’s been wearing as damage control ever since the essence of National Socialism was exposed to the world — and one one will care.
After all, they’ve kept it on for over 70 years, and the inexorable logic of the underlying ideas — that the Left is fundamentaly collectivist, and that racism is a species of collectivism — cannot be denied forever.
We’ve been seeing this happen in Europe, where anti-Semitism continues its creep back into the mainstream Left there; it’s just a matter of time before the American Left also drops the mask.
In a world that is turned on it’s head –
it’s important to keep yours.
why wasnt my comment published and how do you expect us to expose these people unless you help us i will assume all responsibility for my post please make it available online