A Black Agenda Radio commentary by executive editor Glen Ford
Attorney General Eric Holder claims to have just discovered racial disparities in prosecution and sentencing in the United States. That’s like Robert E. Lee claiming to be surprised at the existence of slavery. Holder is making noises like a prison reformer to divert attention from the fact that Obama’s budget calls for increased funding for prisons, in the midst of austerity. It’s a con game.
Eric Holder's Ploy to Divert Attention from Obama's Expanded Prisons Budget
A Black Agenda Radio commentary by executive editor Glen Ford
“Holder claims to have experienced a revelation about the impact of race on crime and punishment in this country.”
Eric Holder Holder has been the top law enforcement officer of the United States for more than four years, overseeing a federal prison system of almost 220,000 inmates and with responsibility to protect the rights of two million more prisoners under state and local jurisdiction. All of these populations are disproportionately Black – and have been so for longer than Eric Holder has been alive. Yet, the attorney general pretends to have only just discovered that prosecutors are tougher on Black defendants, and that judges give Blacks longer sentences than whites
(Well, then again, they do follow Al Sharpton, and might believe anything.)
Still, Eric Holder has some nerve, acting as if he’s a newcomer to the criminal justice system when, in fact, the buck stops with him and President Obama when it comes to law and order in the United States. Now in his and Obama’s second term, Holder claims to have experienced a revelation about the impact of race on crime and punishment in this country. With a straight face, he declared: “It is time to ask ourselves some fundamental questions about our criminal justice system.”
“He is requesting more money for the federal prison system.”
Actually, Holder is a couple of centuries late in asking those questions, which have been answered over and over again in studies and reports too numerous to mention, virtually all of which have concluded that Blacks are surveilled and stopped more than whites, charged with harsher offenses than whites for the same behavior, prosecuted more vigorously, sentenced to more time for the same crimes, and forced to serve their sentences in worse conditions. These are facts that have been established through generations of research. Holder’s pretense of ignorance is beyond contempt. The next thing you know, Obama’s Secretary of Labor will claim to have just discovered that Black unemployment has been roughly twice that of whites for most of the last half century.
Holder is simply following his boss’s lead. The Obama style is to make little noises or gestures that appear vaguely liberal – like acknowledging the existence of unfairness – and then turn around and do something that makes the situation worse. For instance, Obama gave lots of eloquent speeches on the vital role that Social Security and other entitlements play in society –and then wound up trying to gut these same programs. Even as Obama cuts deep into the bone and marrow of vital government services, he is requesting more money for the federal prison system, including funding for a brand new state-of-the-art supermax prison
For Black Agenda Radio, I’m Glen Ford. On the web, go to BlackAgendaReport.com.
BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com .
It comes as no surprise that elements among the left continue to do the bidding of Western imperialist forces. The recent statement from the Ukrainian Solidarity Network exemplifies the left's…
In this week’s segment, we learn about the continuing violence against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, despite the ceasefire. But first, we discuss the NYPD gang database, which ensnares…
Proposed legislation in the New York City Council, Intro 798, seeks to dismantle the NYPD’s Gang Database, ensuring that individuals unjustly labeled as “gang members” receive notice and access to…
The ceasefire in Gaza has not ended the suffering of the people there or in the West Bank. The violent occupation against Palestinians continues.
We must be able to acknowledge that Donald Trump has created a serious constitutional crisis while also recognizing that changing the U.S. relationship with Russia is groundbreaking and a necessity.
