US AG Holder asserts civil rights renewal

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US attorney general asserts civil rights renewal

By BILL POOVEY (AP) – 2 hours ago

US attorney general asserts civil rights renewal

By BILL POOVEY (AP) – 2 hours ago


MEMPHIS, Tenn. — U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder used a Southern civil rights landmark as a backdrop Wednesday as he told hundreds of black prosecutors that the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division is "back and open for business."

Speaking at a National Black Prosecutors Association conference in Memphis, not far from where the Rev. Martin Luther King was slain, the nation's top law enforcement officer said that as attorney general he has made it a priority to ensure that the division has the "people, the resources and the will to defend the hard-won progress of the civil rights era."

"We can never forget that Dr. King and all of those who joined the fight for civil rights were aided by the lawyers and leaders of the Civil Rights Division," Holder said, his remarks repeatedly interrupted by applause. "That is a legacy I not only honor, but also one that I am committed to reinvigorating."

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Holder, who declined to speak to reporters, said he also has a Justice Department team working on sentencing disparities, such as the gap for crack and powder cocaine crimes that hits black defendants the hardest. Under current law, it takes 100 times more powdered cocaine than crack cocaine to trigger the same mandatory minimum sentences.

The most recent government figures show that 82 percent of crack offenders are black, while 9 percent of them are white.

"Although some may seek to impose the "soft-on-crime" label on anyone who speaks the truth about this issue, we all know that this egregious difference in punishment is simply wrong," Holder said.

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