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The case stemmed from an incident in Philadelphia during the 2008 presidential election in which two New Black Panther Party members, King Samir Shabazz and Jerry Jackson, stood in the entrance to a polling place wearing paramilitary gear and shouting racial slurs. One of the men had a nightstick.
A criminal investigation into the episode was dropped by the Bush administration, but a civil suit was brought in January 2009 against the men for alleged Voting Rights Act violations. But after a default verdict, the department dropped the charges in May 2009 against all but one of the defendants and reduced the punishment against the last.
Originally posted by airspoon
Could you imagine if the roles were reversed and this was white people? We wouldn't stop hearing about it in the media and in fact, we would be discussing ways in which to pass new laws to make sure that such organizations couldn't exist.
Originally posted by TheWalkingFox
Originally posted by airspoon
Could you imagine if the roles were reversed and this was white people? We wouldn't stop hearing about it in the media and in fact, we would be discussing ways in which to pass new laws to make sure that such organizations couldn't exist.
Yes, I could. It's called the Tea Party. **SNIP** Seriously, I know white people are absolutely desperate to claim they're being "oppressed" in some way, 'cause it makes them feel hip or something, but... you're not being oppressed. Your racist, crazy jackasses aren't being arrested, they're getting elected. So really. Just stop.
At issue is an incident on Nov. 4, 2008 -- the day of the presidential election -- when New Black Pather Party members Jerry Jackson and King Samir Shabazz stood outside a Philadelphia polling place dressed in black military-style uniforms. Shabazz held a nightstick, and the two men were accused of making intimidating remarks to both white and black voters.
On January 7, 2009, a couple weeks before Obama took office, the Department of Justice filed a civil action in federal court accusing the two men, as well as the New Black Panther Party and its leader Malik Zulu Shabazz, of engaging in voter intimidation. Although none of the defendants responded to the complaint, the Department decided last year to drop its case against all but King Samir Shabazz, the one with the nightstick. The department asked for, and got, an injunction prohibiting Shabazz from displaying a weapon within 100 feet of a Philadelphia polling location until 2012.
The Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice, which handles all racially motivated voter intimidation offenses, determined that "the facts did not constitute a prosecutable violation of the federal criminal civil rights statutes," according to testimony provided by Thomas E. Perez , Assistant Attorney General, on May 14, 2010. Justice spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler confirmed to PolitiFact that that determination not to file criminal charges was made prior to the filing of the civil case.
In other words, the decision not to pursue criminal charges was made by the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division prior to the Obama administration.
The Commissioners serve 6-year terms. No Senate confirmation is required. The President may remove a member of the Commission only for neglect of duty or malfeasance in office.
PRESIDENTIAL APPOINTEES
CONGRESSIONAL APPOINTEES
Gerald A. Reynolds (Chairman)
General Counsel - Eastern Division
American Water Works, Inc.
Lexington, KY
POLITICAL AFFILIATION: REPUBLICAN
Abigail Thernstrom (Vice Chair)
Adjunct Scholar, American Enterprise Institute
New York City, New York
POLITICAL AFFILIATION: REPUBLICAN
Peter N. Kirsanow
Partner, Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Arnoff
Cleveland, Ohio
POLITICAL AFFILIATION: REPUBLICAN
Ashley L. Taylor, Jr.
Partner, Troutman Sanders LLP
Richmond, VA
POLITICAL AFFILIATION: REPUBLICAN
Arlan D. Melendez
Chairman and Chief Executive
Reno-Sparks Indian Colony
Reno, Nevada
POLITICAL AFFILIATION: DEMOCRAT
Michael Yaki
MICHAEL YAKI CONSULTING
San Francisco, CA
POLITICAL AFFILIATION: DEMOCRAT
Gail Heriot
Professor of Law, University of San Diego
San Diego, CA
POLITICAL AFFILIATION: INDEPENDENT
Todd F. Gaziano
Senior Fellow in Legal Studies
The Heritage Foundation
Washington, DC
POLITICAL AFFILIATION: INDEPENDENT
Originally posted by airspoon
Could you imagine if the roles were reversed and this was white people?
There would be massive protests and continous media coverage damning the very genes of these people
However, they were black
especially with neo-liberals like Bush
Anyone who thinks different should just ask themselves what would happen if the KKK did the same a polling station down the street.
Liberty
Originally posted by airspoon
On another note, it's pretty funny how the media was constantly buzzing about ignorant, racist white people who wouldn't vote for Obama due to his skin color, and while I semi agree with them, nobody though to apply that same logic to the many, many more people who would and did actually vote for Obama, simply due to his skin color. Wouldn't they too be ignorant and racist? Well, not in this society with an obvious double standard.
I support their right to be black panthers and I even support their right to be racist, though I don't support their actions of posting up at a polling station with a militant poise in an effort to clearly intimidate.
Tea Party Nation President Says It ‘Makes A Lot Of Sense’ To Restrict Voting Only To Property Owners
PHILLIPS: The Founding Fathers originally said, they put certain restrictions on who gets the right to vote. It wasn’t you were just a citizen and you got to vote. Some of the restrictions, you know, you obviously would not think about today. But one of those was you had to be a property owner. And that makes a lot of sense, because if you’re a property owner you actually have a vested stake in the community. If you’re not a property owner, you know, I’m sorry but property owners have a little bit more of a vested interest in the community than non-property owners.
This case is more thn 2 years old now, it involved two idiots standing outside a polling place hurling insults. They were eventually removed by the police:
Are you so sure that Blacks should have been feeling they were well represented by the predominantly white parliament over the last fifty years?
Originally posted by airspoon
It was a little more than two idiots standing outside a polling station hurling insults. It was two radical racist extremists with weapons,
When I can't even park in the parking lot of a polling station because of a bumper sticker or I can't even have a tiny little button on my shirt,
Look, what I care about is the double standard, not how they were punished. You can't honestly tell me that if the roles were reversed and those were KKK members or skinheads,
Originally posted by airspoon
reply to post by Southern Guardian
If Tea Partiers were doing it a polling station in a clear attempt to intimidate voters in voting for their candidate, then yes, they should be prosecuted in the same way.
Furthermore, my issue is of the double standard. The Tea Party doesn't forward a racist agenda or racist ideologies.
The Tea Party, a political activist group and the black panthers, a racial extremist group, are two entirely different entities
with two entirely different subjects. The Tea Party can be likened to any other political group, such as the Democrats or Republicans,
Comparing the Tea Party at a rally, exercizing their god-given and Constitution potected rights,
What makes this all the more crazy, is the clear double standard. Remember all of the talk before the election when the media was all over the idea that some people may not vote for Obama because of his skin color? Yeah, well the media seemed to simply ignore the very fact that many, many more people actually voted for Obama due simply to the color of his skin.
These racist thugs were clearly doing what they were doing because there was a candidate who had the same skin color. Had skin heads or KKK members done the same,
Originally posted by ModernAcademia
Liberals keep talking about the racist element in the Tea Party when they aren't even racist.
People NEED to remember, if you want to end being discriminated upon you can't just be anti-discrimination against blacks, you have to be anti-discrimination period!
Originally posted by Southern Guardian
reply to post by Heyyo_yoyo
He is a racist and said horrible things, so you want to lock him up because that? Really? I am well aware of this individual and I saw the documentary. His horrible views does not constitute to him automatically being locked up. Equally horrible things have been said by many people but really, you gotta grow some skin and realize that kind of mentality exists. It ain't enough to lock em' up.
Originally posted by sara123123
Are you playing dumb here? It is not that he says racist stuff. It is that he parked his nasty self out front of a voting place
He violated people's civil rights.
Yes, even white people have civil rights.
Obama and his homies
More Lefty racist trash.
Originally posted by TheWalkingFox
I know white people are absolutely desperate to claim they're being "oppressed" in some way, 'cause it makes them feel hip or something, but... you're not being oppressed.