Opinion
Holder’s Legacy: No Coward on Race
“Challenging People to Shape
a Better Future Now”
B ERNIE F OSTER
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P.O. Box 5455, Portland, OR 97228.
A
fter being confirmed as the
nation’s first African
American U.S. attorney
general, Eric H. Holder, Jr. wasted
little time putting everyone on
notice that he would not tip-toe
around the volatile subject of race.
“Though this nation has proudly
thought of itself as an ethnic melt-
ing pot, in things racial we have
always been and continue to be, in
too many ways, essentially a
nation of cowards,” Holder
declared in a speech at the Justice
Department.
There was the predictable uproar
on the right and President Obama,
while not repudiating his new
appointee, told the New York
Times, “I think it’s fair to say that
if I had been advising my attorney
general, we would have used dif-
ferent language.”
And that’s precisely the point.
Holder was courageous in directly
taking on the issue of race while
Obama, in the words of George-
town
University
Professor
Michael Eric Dyson, “runs from
race like a Black man runs from a
cop.”
Holder’s deeds, not his words,
are what made him such an excep-
tional attorney general.
He fought for criminal-justice
reform, saying the overrepresenta-
tion of Blacks in the criminal
justice system “isn’t just unaccept-
able; it’s shameful.” He said, “Too
many Americans go to too many
prisons for far too long, and for no
truly good law enforcement rea-
son.”
He favored a 2010 law that elim-
inated the sentencing disparities
between crack and powder
cocaine. And he led a successful
effort to reduce prison sentences
In his zeal to plug national secu-
rity leaks, the Justice Department
T HE C URRY obtained the phone records of
R EPORT
journalists performing their jobs.
Last year, Holder backtracked,
promising that the Justice Depart-
George E.
ment “will not prosecute any
Curry
reporter doing his or her job.”
Republicans highlighted the fail-
ure of Operation Fast and Furious,
an Arizona-based Bureau of Alco-
for low-level, non-violent drug hol, Tobacco, Firearms and
offenders.
Explosives (ATF) project to track
Arguably his most lasting weapons purchased by Mexican
imprint was in the area of voting drug cartels. Not only did ATF fail
rights. When the Supreme Court to account for more than 1,000
struck down a key section of the firearms that had been purchased
1965 Voting Rights Act, Holder by straw buyers, two of the miss-
said the ruling could not be used ing weapons were linked to the
for the wholesale disenfranchise- killing of Brian Terry, a U.S. Bor-
Holder’s deeds, not his words, are
what made him such an exceptional
attorney general
ment of people of color. He sued
Texas over its voter ID law and
challenged North Carolina in court
over its law to restrict early voting
and same-day registration.
Holder further revitalized a sec-
tor of the Democratic Party by
supporting same-sex marriage and
his refusal to defend the Defense
of Marriage Act, which holds that
marriage is strictly between a
woman and a man.
There were some disappoint-
ments as well.
He supported the FBI’s right to
track U.S. citizens without obtain-
ing a warrant. He also approved of
the National Security Agency’s
authority to collect millions of
phone records of Americans not
accused of any crime
der Patrol agent.
When Holder, citing executive
privilege, refused to turn over cer-
tain Fast and Furious records to
Congress, the House held him in
contempt, the first for a sitting
cabinet member.
Both conservatives and liberals
criticized Holder for his failure to
prosecute individuals connected to
the Wall Street financial crisis in
2008. While some firms deemed
“too big to fail” were subjected to
record fines, no Wall Street execu-
tives were prosecuted. They were
derisively labeled “too big to jail.”
Most African Americans will
remember the bold stances and
actions Holder took following
killing of Trayvon Martin by
George Zimmerman in Florida
and the Aug. 9 killing of 18-year-
old Michael Brown, Jr. by Darren
Wilson, a White police officer, in
Ferguson, Mo. Brown was shot at
least six times.
He criticized Florida’s Stand
Your Ground law, telling NAACP
delegates, “These laws try to fix
something that was never broken.”
Holder visited Ferguson, sharing
his own personal experiences of
being profiled by police. Follow-
ing his visit to Ferguson, Holder
ordered a federal civil rights
investigation of the predominantly
White police department. He said
the investigation would determine
whether Ferguson officers had
“engaged in a pattern or practice
of violations of the U.S. Constitu-
tion or federal law.”
In a speech earlier this month at
New York University, Holder said
that as a former U.S. attorney and
the brother of a longtime police
officer, he has nothing but respect
for police officers. But he said he
is also an African American man
“who has been stopped and
searched by police in situations
where such action was not war-
ranted.” Consequently, he said, “I
also carry with me the mistrust
that some citizens harbor for those
who wear the badge.”
Under Holder, the Justice
Department has initiated twice as
many police reviews for possible
constitutional violations than any
other attorney general. At least 34
other departments are under feder-
al investigation for possible civil
rights violations.
Conservatives have pilloried
Holder for being so aggressive on
civil rights. But he has not backed
down for one simple reason – he is
no coward.
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More Blacks are Headed to Congress
T
here are 44 African Ameri-
can members of Congress.
Next year, five more are
expected to join them, bringing the
total to 49. That will represent the
highest number of Blacks in Con-
gress in American history. But will
it make a difference? Can they
leverage their numbers?
Another record-breaking devel-
opment in the record-breaking
114th Congress will be that all of
the new Black members will be
women. It is likely that as many as
20 Black women could take the
oath of office on Capitol Hill,
which is also a record.
That’s the good news. The bad
news is that as we’ve seen in state-
houses throughout the South,
when Democrats become a minor-
ity in a legislative chamber, that
means less clout for everyone in
the party, including African Amer-
icans.
Depending on how many House
Democrats there are in 2015 (there
are now 199), the Black Caucus
could become 25 percent of the
House Democratic Caucus. As the
Tea Party members in the House
Republican Caucus have proven
over and over, a voting bloc of just
25 members can leverage a great
deal of power.
Despite the large percentages
and the voting power within the
Democratic Caucus that could
help drive a Black agenda, the
Page 2 The Portland and Seattle Skanner October 1, 2014
NNPA
C OLUMNIST
Lauren
Victoria
Burke
biggest issue that can block Black
power is that all but three Black
members are likely to serve in the
minority in the U.S. House from
2015 and 2016. Unless there is an
(D-Ohio) announced a new strate-
gy to make sure that Black voters
are aware of the importance of the
midterm elections. The plan is to
contact more than 3,000 pastors in
battleground states and make sure
they urge their parishioners to
vote. “Freedom Sundays” was
launched on September 21 and the
goal is to reach more than 1 mil-
lion voters. More than $250,000
was spent on the launch day alone
for the get-out-the-vote effort.
The upcoming midterm elec-
tions on November 4 feature what
It is likely that as many as 20 Black
women could take the oath of office
on Capitol Hill, which is also a record
unexpected shock on November 4,
Black Caucus members may have
to wait until 2017 to use the full
force of their power.
The 1993 class of Black mem-
bers, who arrived after many
minority-majority districts were
created, is also set to control at
least six committees in the House.
Six African American chairman-
ships would also be yet another
historic
benchmark.
That’s if Democrats can regain
control of the House.
But will it happen?
Last week, Congressional Black
Caucus Chair Rep. Marcia Fudge
are expected to be very close
statewide races in states that fea-
ture and high percentage of
African American voters. They
include Georgia, North Carolina,
Florida, Louisiana and Arkansas.
In all of these states and a few oth-
ers, Black voters literally have the
fate of control of the U.S. Senate
and a few governor’s offices in
their hands. Many primaries over
this past year and several elections
over the last few cycles have fea-
tured races that have come down
to only one or two percentage
points.
To punctuate the importance of
midterm voting, Barbara R. Arn-
wine, executive director, of the
Lawyers Committee on Civil
Rights Under Law, announced that
her group will send out “voter
toolkits” to thousands of commu-
nity
groups
and
civic
organizations ahead of November
4. Arnwine is stressing that
November’s election is the first
since and slew of changes in sev-
eral states became law. The efforts
at voter protection by the Congres-
sional Black Caucus and the
Lawyers Committee are earlier
than usual in an off-year election
cycle. In past cycles, there has
been lots of criticism that get out
the vote efforts get underway too
late to be effective.
At some point, the changing
demographics in the U.S. will
have to show up not only on Elec-
tion Day turnout stats but in the
complexion of members of Con-
gress. Though Hispanics are the
largest minority group in America
at 16 percent, the face of Congress
still has not reflected the number.
The Congressional Hispanic Cau-
cus has 28 members, 16 members
less than the Congressional Black
Caucus.
Next year, as the Congressional
Black Caucus grows to the largest
number in their history, they will
also have to work to adopt a strat-
egy that will solidify their power.