The Need for Change in Philadelphia – Not Threatening Voters

Posted January 22nd, 2009 at 10.02am in Rule of Law.

Prior to the November election, the media was full of stories and claims that John McCain and those terrible Republicans would be trying to intimidate voters in order to win the election. Barack Obama’s lawyer even wrote a letter to the Justice Department demanding that a special prosecutor be appointed to investigate McCain and other Republican officials for talking about voter fraud because it was an obvious attempt to “suppress” the vote of minorities.

All of these claims, of course, were composed of nothing more substantial than moonshine. The only real case of voter intimidation that surfaced was captured by Fox News on election day. One of their reporters shot video of members of the New Black Panther Party in military-style uniforms at a polling place in Philadelphia. The Justice Department recently filed suit against the New Black Panther Party as well as individual members like Jerry Jackson for violating Section 11(b) of the Voting Rights Act for engaging “in coercion, threats, and intimidation” of voters, including “racial threats and racial insults” as well as brandishing “a deadly weapon. The weapon deployed was a nightstick, or baton.” Mr. Jackson is also a Democratic Committeeman of the 14th Ward in Philadelphia who was elected in 2006

Section 11 of the VRA is rarely used these days by the Justice Department because these kinds of physical threats against voters that were common in the 1960’s rarely happen anymore. So the filing of such a lawsuit should be big news, especially given the fears expressed prior to the election that such events would occur.

Think again. When the Justice Department put out a press release on its filing of this case, and made a copy of its complaint available, there was virtually no coverage of this new lawsuit by the mainstream press. Does anyone have any doubt that if the Republican Party had been accused of this kind of behavior, it would have been front page news at the Washington Post and the New York Times? I guess it is just that the wrong party with the wrong ideology that got caught threatening voters.

Tagged with New Black Panther Party
voting rights

6 Comments

January 22, 2009 Dan Work writes:

This is not change what are you talking about

January 22, 2009 Jem writes:

The link on the DOJ page to the complaint itself doesn’t appear to be working. Let’s hope it’s just a temporary glitch, rather than an indication the complaint is being withdrawn now that the new Administration is in town.

January 22, 2009 Tom, Philadelphia writes:

The southern Poverty Law Center lists the New Black Panther Party as a hate group. The leader of the group, Shabaaz, is often found outside Philadelphia City Hall preaching hate against white and hispanic americans as they pass by. While Mr. Jackson may be a member of the New Black Panthers and the Democratic Party, it is unfair to say that the actions of the NBPP during the elections is one of the same with the Democratic Party just becuase Mr. Jackson is a member of both.

If we do this, then we can say that the republican party has the same values as the KKK becuase of one its member, David Duke.

January 22, 2009 Mark , Houston writes:

Hey , those “black panther” goons were just practicing for OBAMA,S civillian police force. Gee , sounds fun doesn’t it .

January 22, 2009 Cary, Va. writes:

Here is a link to the complaint - just appears to be a type in the URL.

http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/voting/misc/philadelphia_bpp_comp.php

January 22, 2009 Spiritof76, New Hampshire writes:

How about pursuing those in Ohio government for snooping and releasing illegally personal information of Joe the Plumber? I just forgot! He is a Republican and so, does not have the same Constitutional protection to privacy as the terrorists in Gitmo under the Obama administration.

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