M artin L uther K ing J r .
Page 30
2017 special edition
O PINION
January 11, 2017
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Awash in Racially-Motivated Confrontations
Standing out
among the
others
“Mr. Paladi-
no is an elected
official charged
with the respon-
sibility to repre-
sent children and
families in a dis-
trict comprised of over 70 percent
black, brown, Asian, immigrant
and other minority students and
families; And, Mr. Paladino took
an oath to ensure that students are
afforded an environment which
is free from fear and respects di-
versity within the school district
and the community and is subject
to all district policies; …. These
unambiguously racist, morally
repugnant, flagrantly disrespect-
ful, inflammatory and inexcusable
comments by Mr. Paladino have
garnered both local, national,
and international attention that
reflects negatively on the Buffa-
lo Board of Education, the City
of Buffalo and its leadership and
its citizens, the State of New York,
and every decent human being
in America and abroad who has
been shocked and offended by his
words.” -- Resolution by the Buf-
falo School Board demanding
Carl Paladino’s resignation
by M arc h. M orial
The national wave of racist,
vicious invective unleashed by
the 2016 Presidential campaign
is well-documented. Hundreds of
hate crimes have been reported to
watchdog groups like the South-
ern Poverty Law Center. Social
media is awash in cell-phone vid-
eo of racially-motivated confron-
tations invoking the name of the
President-elect.
But the recent hateful tirade
of failed New York gubernatorial
candidate Carl Paladino stands out
among the others. Warning: his
words are difficult to read.
When the Buffalo weekly
newspaper Artvoice asked locals
their hopes for 2017, many gave
positive, community-minded an-
swers: “A return to shopping in
communities and brick-and-mor-
tar stores,” “the Bills get in the
playoffs,” or “more kindness.”
Carl Paladino hopes President
“Obama catches mad cow dis-
ease after being caught having
relations with a Hereford. He dies
before his trial and is buried in a
cow pasture next to Valerie Jarret,
who died weeks prior, after being
convicted of sedition and treason,
when a Jihady cell mate mistook
her for being a nice person and de-
capitated her.”
What do Buffalonians want
to see go away in 2017? “Hate.”
“Discrimination.” “Preconceived
stereotypes.” Carl Palidino wants
to see Michelle Obama “return to
being a male and let loose in the
outback of Zimbabwe where she
lives comfortably in a cave with
Maxie, the gorilla.”
In response to the horrified
national outcry over his repre-
hensible remarks, Paladino first
rebuffed inquiring journalists with
an obscenity, then penned a defi-
ant non-apology, defending his
words as “deprecating humor.”
Paladino is certainly no strang-
er to this brand of so-called “hu-
mor.” During his failed 2010 gu-
bernatorial run, a local news site
exposed racist and pornographic
emails Paladino had shared with
associates. While he lost the elec-
tion in a landslide, garnering only
a third of the vote, he managed to
be elected to the Buffalo School
Board in 2013.
The Buffalo School Board is
to be commended for its swift re-
jection of Paladino’s hateful state-
ments, and its recognition that a
man who holds such views cannot
be entrusted with the education
of children. If Paladino does not
heed the demands of the Board
and resign, we expect NYS Edu-
cation Commissioner MaryEllen
Elia to pursue his removal.
The president and chief execu-
tive of our Urban League affiliate in
Buffalo, Brenda W. McDuffie, has
been outspoken on this issue, and
we urge the entire Urban League
community to unite in opposition
to Paladino’s hatefulness by signing
the petition urging his removal.
In fairness, when ArtVoice
asked Investigative Post editor
Jim Heaney what he’s like to see
go away in 2017, Heaney respond-
ed, “Carl Paladino.” We couldn’t
agree more.
Marc H. Morial is president
and chief executive officer of the
National Urban League.
Precisely the Wrong Man to Lead Justice Department
Opposing
the Sessions
nomination
c ornell W illiaMS b rookS
America yet stands at the
beginning of presidential ad-
ministration but also in the
middle of a Twitter age civil
rights movement based on old
divisions. Sen. Jefferson Be-
auregard Sessions is among the
worst possible nominees to serve
as Attorney General amidst some
of the worst times for civil rights
in recent memory.
Following a divisive presiden-
tial campaign, hate crimes ris-
ing, police videos sickening the
stomach while quickening the
conscience, protesters march-
ing in the streets and politicians
mouthing the myth of voter fraud
while denying the reality of voter
suppression, Sen. Sessions is pre-
cisely the wrong man to lead the
Justice Department. The NAACP,
as the nation’s oldest and largest
civil rights organization, opposes
the nomination of Sen. Sessions to
become U.S. Attorney General for
the following reasons: a record on
voting rights that is unreliable at
best and hostile at worse; a failing
record on other civil rights; a re-
cord of racially offensive remarks
and behavior; and dismal record
on criminal justice reform issues.
Sen. Sessions supported the
re-authorization of the 1965 Vot-
by
ing Rights Act in 2006, but called
the bill “a piece of intrusive leg-
islation” just months earlier. Ses-
sions has con-
sistently voted
in favor of strict
voter ID laws
that place extra
burdens on the
poor and resi-
dents of color,
and drive vot-
er suppression
seeking to dismantle them. When
Shelby County v. Holder gutted
the protections of the VRA, Sen.
Sessions cheered. For decades, he
has pursued the rare and mystical
unicorn of voter fraud, while turn-
ing a blind eye to the ever-grow-
ing issue of voter suppression.
While Sen. Sessions’ histori-
cal record on civil rights remains
one of dismay, it is his unrepen-
tant stance against the vote that
remains our issue. The threat of
Civil Rights Movement, then-At-
torney General Nicholas Katzen-
bach’s commitment to democracy
allowed him to help write the Vot-
ing Rights Act. Today, our nation
stands on the verge of selecting
an AG who has never shown the
slightest commitment to enforcing
the protections Katzenbach and
others wrote into law.
How can our communities who
have born the both historical and
current brunt of the attacks on the
Rather than enforcing voting rights protections, Sen.
Sessions has instead made a career of seeking to dismantle
them. When Shelby County v. Holder gutted the protections
of the VRA, Sen. Sessions cheered. For decades, he has
pursued the rare and mystical unicorn of voter fraud,
while turning a blind eye to the ever-growing issue of voter
suppression.
across the country. When the Su-
preme Court struck down federal
protections in 2012 that prevent-
ed thousands of discriminatory
state laws from taking effect since
1965, Sessions declared it was “a
good thing for the South.” As a
prosecutor in 1985, Sessions ma-
liciously prosecuted a former aide
to Martin Luther King for helping
senior citizens file absentee bal-
lots in Alabama.
Rather than enforcing voting
rights protections, Sen. Sessions
has instead made a career of
voter suppression is not a histor-
ical but current challenge. At least
10 times in the past 10 months,
the NAACP defended voting
rights against coordinated cam-
paigns by legislators targeting Af-
rican-American voters in Texas,
North Carolina, Wisconsin, and
many other states.
While the NAACP could gain
the assistance of the Justice De-
partment in fighting back against
voter suppression, a Sessions-led
DOJ would likely lead to the exact
opposite. During the height of the
right to vote, sit idly by while an
enemy to the vote is now given
the responsibility of enforcing this
right? The simple answer is that
we can’t.
Since 1997, Sen. Sessions has
received an F every year on the
NAACP’s federal legislative civ-
il rights report cards. He’s voted
against our policy positions nearly
90 percent of the time. Sen. Ses-
sions has repeatedly supported
lawsuits and attempts to overturn
desegregation while shamelessly
voting against federal Hate Crime
legislation four times from 2000
to 2009.
Notwithstanding, he has also
repeatedly voted against the Vio-
lence Against Women Act that ex-
panded protection for victims of
domestic violence and repeatedly
stood on the wrong side of immi-
gration and LGBT issues.
During his failed 1986 feder-
al judgeship hearing, four DOJ
attorneys and colleagues of Sen.
Sessions testified that he made
several racist statements. J. Gerald
Hebert testified that Sessions had
referred to the NAACP and the
American Civil Liberties Union as
“un-American” and “Communist
inspired” because they “forced
civil rights down the throats of
people.”
Additional accusations of racist
behavior were attributed to Sen.
Sessions by Thomas Figures, an
African American Assistant U.S.
Attorney, who testified that Ses-
sions said he thought the Ku Klux
Klan was “OK until I found out
they smoked pot.” Sessions lat-
er said that the comment was not
serious, but did apologize for it.
Mr. Figures also testified that on
one occasion, Sen. Sessions railed
against civil rights cases, threw a
file on the table and called him the
derogatory racist term “boy,” and
later advised him to watch what he
said to white people.
In a time of expanding pro-
tests against the scourge of police
c onTinued on P age 39