Eric Holder’s parting shot: Police abuse scandals mean the nation has “failed” (Salon)
Holders frank comments, plus the president opening up about being mistaken for a valet, show a new candor on race
Attorney General Eric Holder got himself virtually muzzled early in President Obamas first term, when he called the U.S. a nation of cowards for our inability to deal frankly with issues of race. On his way out the door, hes not worried about his critics. He told MSNBCs Joy Reid that ongoing troubles in limiting police violence mean we, as a nation, have failed. Its as simple as that. We have failed.
Its a grim verdict, but its hard to quarrel. Holder was a deputy U.S. attorney back in 2001, when the Justice Department announced it would not prosecute the New York police officers who famously fired 41 shots at unarmed immigrant Amadou Diallo, hitting him 19 times. Though Justice concluded it couldnt make a civil rights case against the officers, Holder warned at the time: We must learn from this deeply troubling incident. Mr. Diallo, an unarmed individual who committed no crime and no act of aggression, unnecessarily lost his life.
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On the same day the president opened up to People and said Theres no black male my age, whos a professional who hasnt been mistaken for a parking valet, Holders exit interview shows a new comfort with candor about race in Obamas second term. It may make heads on the right explode, but so be it. Michelle Malkin is already howling about first lady Michelle Obamas story of being mistaken for a store clerk by a Target shopper on her incognito trip there in 2011.
In the interview with Reid which is running in New York magazine and airing on The Reid Report Holder talks passionately about voting rights setbacks in recent years, calling out the Republican Party for its support of voter suppression measures, while praising GOP Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner for his work to restore the Voting Rights Act.
Link:
http://www.salon.com/2014/12/17/eric_holders_parting_shot_police_abuse_scandals_mean_the_nation_has_failed/