By Walter Hilliard III
Isn’t it hilarious how self-serving President Barack Obama and his “political homey,” U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, are when it comes to their crying about racism about how difficult it has been to deal with Republican obstructionism as they have tried to carry out their government duties?
Holder said he and Obama have been victims of “unprecedented, unwarranted, ugly and divisive adversity from critics . . . . Forget about me — you look at the way the attorney general of the United States was treated yesterday by a House committee. Had nothing to do with me — what attorney general has ever had to deal with that kind of treatment? What president has ever had to deal with that kind of treatment?”
And not long ago, the president was whining about being sued by the RepubliCons, although he hasn’t directly stated that it’s because he’s Black in this particular situation; however, he did tell New Yorker Magazine in January of 2014: “There’s no doubt that there’s some folks who just really dislike me because they don’t like the idea of a Black president.”
Really?
In regards to other issues related to race, Obama and Holder haven’ done much of anything beyond paying lip service, but in Obama’s second term they have addressed prison sentencing disparities as they relate to mass incarceration in the criminal justice system. But even as they considered the sentencing of non-violent offenders who could possibly be released early, they then turned around and fought to limit the reduced sentencing changes to only apply to those who are locked up retroactive to 2010 only, meaning thousands upon thousands of Blacks will continue serving racist long-term sentences. The changes only apply to the federal prison system, which houses 216,000 inmates, and the reduced sentencing will only affect about 6,500 eligible prisoners whose sentences will be reduced by an average of a measly 11 months. The purpose is to reduce the overall federal prison population and the associated costs, cost that take up about 25 percent of the federal prison budget.
Eric Holder, who isn’t quite as bad as Obama when it comes to addressing race, once called America “a nation of cowards” regarding their unwillingness to address race. He also told ABC news that “This president has been treated differently. there’s a racial animus . . . . There’s a certain level of vehemence directed at me, directed at the president . . . talking about they want to take their country back.”
However, when Black people finally started complaining about how Obama was ignoring them during his first term, he had the nerve to play the Race Card on his own people at a Congressional Black Caucus event and us to “stop cryin’ . . . take of your bedroom slippers.“
Sure, we know that Obama and Holder are being treated in a racist manner by conservatives – even former President Jimmy Carter said the extreme opposition to Obama has to do with racism. However, the real question is what is more racist or anti-Black, Obama and Holder ignoring thousands of young Black men dying in inner cities because of gun violence, or the fact that their being criticized for racist reasons?
Of course the racist indifference Obama and Holder are showing to their own people dying in inner cities is worse. Yes, finally we have a Black president and attorney general and they have done little to nothing to stop their own people from being killed.
Hypocrites!
