M artin L uther K ing J r .
January 11, 2017
2017 special edition
Precisely the Wrong Man to Lead
c onTinued froM P age 30
brutality, Sen. Sessions stands on
opposite ground. He has repeated
stood against the consent decree,
a main tool of the DOJ to reel in
racist and unaccountable police
departments. In a report by the Al-
abama Policy Institute, Sen. Ses-
sions called consent decrees: “One
of the most dangerous, and rarely
discussed, exercises of raw power
is the issuance of expansive court
decrees. Consent decrees have a
profound effect on our legal sys-
tem as they constitute an end run
around the democratic process.”
While under the administration
of President Barack Obama, the
DOJ’s Civil Rights Division made
investigating police departments
charged with racism and police
brutality a key focus by interven-
ing in high-profile cases in Fer-
guson, Missouri and Baltimore,
Maryland to impose consent de-
crees and reforms to correct mis-
behavior and the violation of citi-
zen’s civil rights.
Sen. Sessions would become
the Attorney General under a pres-
ident who supports nationalizing
the racist and disproven “stop and
frisk,” strategy. Both Sessions and
the incoming president are sup-
porters of the DOD 1033 program
which allows police department’s
access to surplus military equip-
ment including tanks, armored
vehicles, grenade launchers and
more. He also opposes the re-
moval of mandatory minimum
sentences and blocked efforts to
reduce nonviolent drug sentenc-
ing despite wide bi-partisan sup-
port for doing so. If not enough,
Sen. Sessions has repeatedly vot-
ed against safe, sane, and sensible
measures to stem the tide of gun
violence.
Given that these are issues
our nation the attorney general is
sworn to protect and enforce his
nomination represents an ongoing
and dangerous threat to our civic
birthrights –particularly, and the
right to vote.
We call upon the Senate to
reject Sessions and for Presi-
dent-elect Donald J. Trump to
replace Sessions with a nominee
with a record of inclusion and
commitment to protecting the civ-
il rights of the American majority.
The NAACP does not believe
that an election where the incom-
ing president lost the popular vote
by nearly 3 million votes rep-
resents a mandate to overhaul the
America of the Majority. The vote
remains the most important re-
source in making democracy real
for all people.
As we have since 1909, the
NAACP will continue to stand
against Senator Sessions and any
attempts to unravel the progress
earned through the blood, sweat
and tears of our people to enjoy
the same rights under law as all
Americans.
Cornell William Brooks is pres-
ident and chief executive officer of
the NAACP.
Greater Truth of One Planet, One Humanity
c onTinued froM P age 31
threaten our ideals of freedom and
equality. We must come togeth-
er and fight back before he takes
these dangerous, hateful and un-
constitutional ideas any further.
“We pledge to stand together
with Muslims across the country,
and around the world. Because
when we stand as one, no Amer-
ican can be singled out by their
race, religion, income, gender
identity or sexual orientation.”
If such a movement grows,
its effect would not be simply to
defeat a bad plan and return the
country to some sort of pre-Trump
normal, but rather to push the
nation further beyond the us-vs.-
Page 39
them mentality that still imprisons
it and keeps it tied to fear and —
yes, oh Lord — war. Trump could
foment a revolution that is the
opposite of the one his campaign
rhetoric called out for.
I believe a larger consciousness
is waiting to lay claim on Ameri-
can politics.
Trump says build a wall. Even
if the wall is mostly a metaphor,
the effect of that metaphor is to
lock in consciousness, as though
“America” is the only truth Ameri-
cans are capable of understanding:
Fifty states and that’s it. We’re ex-
ceptional and the rest of you, keep
out. Locked-in consciousness
never keeps people safe, but it
does keep them scared. You might
call it patriotic absolutism, which
yields fear, violence and war.
Trump or no Trump, this caged
thinking has had its day. The pri-
mary characteristic of truth, some-
one once said, is that it willingly
yields to greater truth. It’s con-
venient to organize a nation state
around the lesser truth of us vs.
them and the ever-lurking pres-
ence of The Enemy, but the time
has come for this truth to yield to
the greater truth of one planet, one
humanity.
Perhaps it begins with these
words: “I am a Muslim.”
Robert Koehler, syndicat-
ed by PeaceVoice, is a Chicago
award-winning journalist and ed-
itor.
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