The “racial solidarity” of the Department of Justice: Judicial Watch has released documents showing the latest abuse of power by the Department of Justice (DOJ): helping “organize and manage rallies and protests against George Zimmerman.” Whatever one may think about the guilt or innocence of Zimmerman in his ongoing trial, we should all agree that the chief law enforcement agency of the federal government should not be involved in stage-managing public protests. Yet according to the documents obtained by Judicial Watch through a Freedom of Information Act request, the Community Relations Service at Eric Holder’s DOJ “deployed to Sanford, FL, to work marches, demonstrations, and rallies related to the shooting and death of an African-American teen". The Community Relations Service provided “support for protest deployment” and “technical assistance” to event organizers for a march and rally, and its staff even helped organize a meeting between the city of Sanford and the local NAACP that resulted in the temporary resignation of police chief Bill Lee. If the Community Relations Service was helping train and organize protesters against Zimmerman, not only was the DOJ potentially interfering in a local law enforcement investigation and prosecution, but the service was violating its own mandate. Its website explains that it is the “peacemaker” for community conflicts, providing “impartial conciliation and meditation services”, assisting in “preventing and resolving racial and ethnic tensions, incidents, and civil disorders”, and in “restoring racial stability and harmony.” It is not supposed to be raising racial tensions by helping to organize protests. Apparently, it failed to provide “impartial” services in Sanford, Florida. At least one employee in that division has a sign expressing racial solidarity with Trayvon Martin on her office door. Congress needs to hold an oversight hearing regarding the Community Relations Service’s potentially unethical involvement in the Zimmerman case. It should force DOJ to provide all of its internal documents and emails related to its activities in Sanford, and ask the director of the Community Relations Service why it violated its own rules to take sides in a local dispute and foment racial protests — the exact opposite of the kind of actions it is supposed to take. blog.heritage.org/2013/07/10/zimmerman-trial-the-holder-justice-departments-latest-abuse-of-power/
Posted on: Sat, 13 Jul 2013 18:33:56 +0000
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