Black Panthers, Part II

Rarely do I respond to my own posts, but I confess I have found some of the
commentary in need of rebuttal.

First, the facts speak for themselves in this
case:

(1) Two members of the New Black Panthers stood before a polling station
in Philadelphia on Election Day of 2008. One of the men was clearly seen
brandishing a nightstick — a weapon the Justice Department itself has
characterized as a deadly weapon.

(2) After watching video reports of the
incident, the Department of Justice filed suit on Jan. 7, 2009.

Here are two
of the videos in question.
 
Now, many of my critics have asserted that I have made a partisan political
argument or that this is somehow the work of Karl Rove. Interesting to note that
the lawyers who filed suit on behalf of the United States against the New
Black Panthers were civil service, rather than political appointees of the Bush administration. In fact, Tom Perez, the assistant attorney general of the Civil
Rights Division of the Department of Justice had this to say about the handling
of the New Black Panther Party case in testimony before the House Judiciary Committee
on Dec. 3, 2009:
 
“The [NBPP] case was reviewed by two attorneys … who have a combined
total of 60 years of experience, and they made [the] determination that — based
on the law of the 3rd Circuit — that the case against the person who wielded
the stick, that we should indeed seek the maximum penalty, and that the maximum
penalty was sought and obtained.”
 
Important to point out here that Perez is the individual President Obama
nominated to his position as assistant attorney general and that he was confirmed by
the Senate in October 2009. He is a Democrat. A Democrat who previously served
as secretary of Labor, Licensing and Regulation under current Maryland Gov.
Martin O’Malley, also a Democrat.
 
So President Obama’s political appointee, the assistant attorney general for civil rights at the Justice Department, felt comfortable in pressing for the
maximum charges for violations of the Voting Rights Act for voter intimidation
in 2009 … before they were dropped by the Obama administration without comment
to the Congress, the Commission on Civil Rights and the American people?
 
It amazes me that if two members of the KKK had stood before the same polling
place in their robes brandishing a nightstick, the outcry in the media would
have been entirely different.
 
So somehow a Democrat assistant attorney general defending the work of his
civil service, non-political employees is turned into the work of George W.
Bush and the Republicans? This needs to stop: Americans need to honestly
evaluate the facts before them fairly rather than seeking to score political
points.
 
My criticism of the president and his attorney general lies in the fact that
there are credible allegations of a culture within the Department of Justice
that members of one race are treated differently under the color of law. That
is wrong, regardless of the occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.