Racial Politics

Racial Politics

I had high hopes that the election of a black man to the highest office in the land would mean that Americans could put racial politics behind them. Apparently not--the problem is getting worse. Members of the the New Black Panthers Party dressed in pseudo-military uniforms, carrying weapons, and using racial epithets, intimidated voters in Philadelphia at the last election as part of their effort to make sure that Obama got elected--and they will not be punished for it. From the May 29, 2009 Washington Times:

Justice Department political appointees overruled career lawyers and ended a civil complaint accusing three members of the New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense of wielding a nightstick and intimidating voters at a Philadelphia polling place last Election Day, according to documents and interviews.
The incident - which gained national attention when it was captured on videotape and distributed on YouTube - had prompted the government to sue the men, saying they violated the 1965 Voting Rights Act by scaring would-be voters with the weapon, racial slurs and military-style uniforms.
Career lawyers pursued the case for months, including obtaining an affidavit from a prominent 1960s civil rights activist who witnessed the confrontation and described it as "the most blatant form of voter intimidation" that he had seen, even during the voting rights crisis in Mississippi a half-century ago.
...
The career Justice lawyers were on the verge of securing sanctions against the men earlier this month when their superiors ordered them to reverse course, according to interviews and documents. The court had already entered a default judgment against the men on April 20.
A Justice Department spokesman on Thursday confirmed that the agency had dropped the case, dismissing two of the men from the lawsuit with no penalty and winning an order against the third man that simply prohibits him from bringing a weapon to a polling place in future elections.

What concerns me is that the Obama Administration seems to be playing both sides of the fence--simultaneously talking about a post-racial America, while taking actions that demonstrate a willingness to not just engage in subtle promotion of racial hatred, but ignoring the law when racism is directed at white people. Imagine if Klansmen had stood outside a polling place in the South wearing robes and hoods, and holding nooses, and making racially offensive remarks. Does anyone seriously doubt that there would have been prosecution?

If the Democrats insist on playing racial politics this blatantly, it is going to produce a backlash, of that I am sure. And then Democrats will insist that America is still a profoundly racist country--because of their best efforts to make that happen.