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Attorney General Eric Holder
Photo: Chris Graythen/Getty Images
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America, says Atty. Gen.
Eric Holder, no longer tolerates blatant racism. “Over the last few weeks and months,” he recently said, “we’ve
seen occasional, jarring reminders of the discrimination -- and the isolated,
repugnant, racist views -- that in some places have yet to be overcome. These
incidents have received substantial media coverage. And they have rightly been
condemned by leaders, commentators, and citizens from all backgrounds and walks
of life.”
Without mentioning
his name, Holder referred to the owner of the L.A. Clippers, Donald Sterling, who
faces banishment from the NBA over the racially offensive comments. “These
outbursts of bigotry, while deplorable,” said Holder, “are not the true markers
of the struggle that still must be waged, or the work that still needs to be
done -- because the greatest threats do not announce themselves in screaming
headlines. They are more subtle. They cut deeper. … This is the concern we must
contend with today: policies that impede equal opportunity in fact, if not in
form. … This is the work that truly matters -- because policies that
disenfranchise specific groups are more pernicious
[emphasis added] than hateful rants. ”
Specifically, what are
the “pernicious” racist policies to which Holder refers?
In his speech, he cited three
examples: Suspension/expulsion rates for black students; the push for voter ID;
and the assertion that black defendants receive longer sentences than white
defendants who commit the same crime.
Let’s examine them.
First, Holder talks about
the disparate disciplinary rates for black students.
Holder correctly noted that
black students, when compared to their percentage in the school's population, are
suspended disproportionally higher. To Holder, this spells racism: “Codified segregation of public schools has been barred since
Brown. But in too many of our school districts, significant divisions persist
and segregation has reoccurred -- including zero-tolerance school discipline
practices that, while well-intentioned and aimed at promoting school safety,
affect black males at a rate three times higher than their white peers.”
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, too, complains about allegedly racist
educators who suspend black kids more frequently than they do white ones. Teachers,
especially those who work in the inner city, are overwhelmingly left wing, voted
for Obama twice and believe in "progressive" liberal values and social
justice. Yet they stand accused of racism or, in the case of black teachers,
self-hatred.
In 1999, Jackson filed
suit against the Decatur, Illinois school board over allegations of racism. Seven
black high school students were expelled for inciting a brawl at a high school
football game. Enter Jackson. “This isn’t about black and white,” he insisted,
“but wrong and right.”
Jackson demanded the
immediate re-enrollment of the students, arguing that the punishment did not
fit the crime. Then, oops, a video of the fight surfaced, and Jackson’s initial
description of a “simple fistfight” did not bear up.
It looked ugly.
Many more people could
have been hurt. It turned out the seven students, collectively, had previously
missed over 300 days in their high school careers. Further, the school board pointed
to previous behavioral problems on the part of some of the students. The
students had gang ties, and one was arrested two more times following his suspension. Still, the
under-pressure school board agreed to cut the suspensions to one year. The
governor of Illinois agreed to change policy and allow the students to enroll
in an alternative school and receive credit -- all so that the seniors involved
could still graduate “on time.”
Unappeased, Jackson
forced authorities to arrest him when he showed up, students in hand, and to
demand their immediate re-enrollment. “The schools are 48 percent black and
brown,” said Jackson, “the teachers and the school board are 90 percent white.
This is what happens when you have these culture gaps and stereotypes, and
unfounded fears.”
Jackson's Rainbow/PUSH
Coalition sued the predominantly white Decatur school district, claiming they disproportionately
expelled black students, who were 48 percent of the student body but accounted
for 82 percent of expulsions.
But Jackson had a big
problem in proving his case. Data showed that black kids were disproportionately
expelled in even in liberal cities like Oakland and San Francisco. The seven-member
board of education in San Francisco -- ground zero for “compassionate
liberalism” -- contained one Latino, two Asians and one black. Blacks were then
16 percent of the student population, but 52 percent of the suspensions and
expulsions. Similarly, the ten-member Oakland school board -- which once
announced an ill-conceived, much-criticized Ebonics program to enable teachers
to “relate” to its disadvantaged students -- included four blacks, two Latinos
and two Asians. Yet blacks comprised 52 percent of the students and 73 percent
of the suspensions and expulsions.
“Pernicious” racism”?
Related: Eric Holder’s Three Examples Of ‘Pernicious’ Racism Don’t Hold Up, Part II By Larry Elder
Related: Eric Holder’s Three Examples Of ‘Pernicious’ Racism Don’t Hold Up, Part III By Larry Elder
Related: Eric Holder’s Three Examples Of ‘Pernicious’ Racism Don’t Hold Up, Part III By Larry Elder
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