Right now, this is a BIG DEAL Story over in Fox Land. It apparently goes like this, on election day 2008 members of the New Black Panther party (at the direction of Shabazz himself as he admits in the video) were dispatched to various polling places around the country to act as a deterrent to police intimidation of black voters during the Presidential Election.
The event in question occurred in Philadelphia, a city which has had a long and troubled history between it's black citizens and police going all the way back to the Move Bombing in the early 80's.
Black Panther member Samir Shabazz with one other appeared at the polling place. Samir had the temerity to bring - A Stick. This is when the hijinks ensue as shown here...
Hey is that a Billy Club in your hand or are you just glad to see me?
As documented by this "Student" and Poll Watcher who decided to question and confront the two Panthers in front of the polling station with "What's going on?" and "Why do you have a stick in your hand... don't you think that's a bit intimidating?"
The response he received was "Who are you to say?" He wasn't threatened, he wasn't shooed away, you can see in the video that other people behind them are entering the polling place unfettered and unrestricted. In fact, they simply answered his questions with "We're Security" then began to ignore him.
Wow - Scary.
Despite this several other Poll Watchers complained that Samir (aka Stick-man) said some things to the effect of "Now you're going to see what's it's like to be ruled by a Black Man, Cracker!".
(Just as a side note: I have to say that that's one of the most pathetic racial epithets on earth. Cracker? What are you calling him a "Saltine" - a "Waffer"? Where's the insulting part of that IMO? Not that I'm condoning it, I'm just saying - after 360 years of slavery and oppression - "Cracker" is the best you got? Frankly that's just embarassing! I'm waiting for the guy who'se gonna be traumatized, break down and cry cause somebody called them "Cracker!" Please.)
Other videos provided by Kelly show Samir making far more racially charged remarks about "Killing Crackers" and such. Let me say this, clearly Samir is a bit of a DICKHEAD and a bigot - but that doesn't mean he broke the law.
In her reports - which she hyped for nearly an hour prior to interviewing Shabazz - Kelly admits that No Voters Complained about being intimidated at the polls, only so-called "Poll Watchers". I've worked my local polls as a Poll-Worker (not Watcher, Worker - I did things to help people vote) that Poll-Watcher's aren't just innocent bystanders, they're Partisans. They are sent by one campaign or the other to document what is going on or read the posted voter roster to see who hasn't voted yet in order to target their GOTV efforts. Let me also point out You Can't Film inside a polling place without permission of the people you are filming, and it's only because this occurred Outside that the photographer wasn't in violation.
Also I will note that no Poll Workers issued a complaint, but a couple Poll-Watchers did and called the police. Reportedly the Police arrived and Made No Arrests!.
Just this week Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has signed a law allowing people to carry guns in church. Other states have decided to allow people to carry guns in bars. Apparently none of that is in any way intimidating, But a man can't carry A STICK on public property?
"Hey do you have a license and a permit for that Stick!? What's the serial number for Your Stick!, Dude?"
Interesting that all the hard core 2nd Amendment guys seem to forget that a STICK is also a form of "arms" and is also protected by the Constitution. So is being a verbal jerk by the 1st Amendment.
I bring this up because I don't see Fox News or Megyn Kelly up in arms about THIS GUY... who brought an AR-15 to a Presidential Town Hall for questionable religious reasons.
Some of the things Samir has said are pretty hateful, yet it seems what a Right-Winger says something horrible about - well, anyone - they don't seem to care so much.
During the same election when Pastor Hagee was lambasted for Racist, Anti-Semetic, Anti-Catholic comments then Candidate John McCain DEFENDED the Pastor and said he was taken Out of Context.
More recently when the Military Dis-invited a Christian Evangelist Franklin Graham to an event because of his comments that Islam is a "Wicked and Evil" Religion, Fox news got upset.
@SarahPalinUSA even tweeted "The Army's Loss in Dis-inviting a Good Man..."
As media matters notes, but FOX NEWS HASN'T MENTIONED the case against Samir Shabazz was dropped by the Bush Administration Department of Justice in 2008. They also chose not to pursue similar cases against members of the Minutemen.
There was a subsequent lawsuit on which Samir Defaulted - which means HE DIDN'T EVEN SHOW UP - and was slapped with an injunction baring him from ever going near any polling place in the country with a Stick. This judgment was later downgraded to just polling places in Philadelphia until 2012.
Now Fox has been highlighting a Whistle-Blower who claims that political appointees at the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Dept deliberately dropped the case and have put forth an edict that voting rights cases against Black People will not be pursued.
But this Whistle-Blower, Christian Adams, as again FOX HAS FAILED TO REPORT is hardly a non-partisan actor in this drama... h/t MediaMatters
# Adams is a long-time right-wing activist, who is known for filing an ethics complaint against Hugh Rodham that was subsequently dismissed, served as a Bush poll watcher in Florida 2004, and reportedly volunteered for a Republican group that trains lawyers to fight "racially tinged battles over voting rights";
# Adams was hired to the Justice Department in 2005 by Bradley Schlozman, who was found by the Department of Justice Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility to have improperly considered political affiliation when hiring career attorneys -- the former head of the DOJ voting rights section reportedly said that Adams was "exhibit A of the type of people hired by Schlozman";
# Adams has admitted that he does not have first-hand knowledge of the events, conversations, and decisions that he is citing to advance his accusations;
Adams is an Acolyte of Schlozman, and I think Media Matters actually downplayed the importance of that. Schlozman almost single-handed purged the Appellate Section of the Civil Rights Division of Black, Minority and Female attorneys bringing their level of participation in that Department down to a level that was less than it was 30 years ago.
Also remember during that time you had situations like that of David Iglesias, who was summarily FIRED by the Bush Administration for refusing to pursue Bogus Voting Fraud Charges Against ACORN.
You want to know who Megyn Kelly talked to about her interview with Malik Shabazz immediately after it was over? Karl Rove.
I don't know exactly what the political appointee that Adam's is talking about said - (and he probably doesn't either since he wasn't in the room at the time) - but if it was something like "We're not going to pursue anymore of these Bogus ACORN cases..." I wouldn't have a problem with that.
Let also recall one more thing - just how much has Fox Reported about Voter Caging by the RNC? Anybody remember Monica Goodling testifying to Congress that former Rove Assistant Tim Griffin was involved in Voter Caging?
What's that? This...
Voting rights attorney Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has called for prison time for the new US Attorney for Arkansas, Timothy Griffin and investigation of Griffin’s former boss, Karl Rove, chief political advisor to President Bush.
“Timothy Griffin,” said Kennedy,”who is the new US attorney in Arkansas, was actually the mastermind behind the voter fraud efforts by the Bush Administration to disenfranchise over a million voters through ‘caging’ techniques - which are illegal.”
Caging is a direct mail trick, where a registered letter is sent to the address of an absentee voter and if they don't respond to that letter within a specific period of time they are placed on a "Challenge List" so that when their absentee ballot comes in - IT WON'T BE COUNTED. Griffin did this specifically to African American Servicemen who were stationed in Iraq during the 2004 Election, afterward he was rewarded with a Patriot Act approved appointment as a U.S. Attorney without being Confirmed by the Senate.
When Griffin did this Caging for the RNC, there was already a Court Ordered Consent Decree blocking them from doing so - so he not only violated the Law, he violated a Court Order.
And is Fox All Up In ARMS because thousands upon thousands of (Black) Voters may have been disenfranchized by the RNC?
Uh, not such much.
They rather froth at the mouth about what one guy with a STICK didn't do two years ago - which wasn't illegal.
Vyan
1 comment:
Thanks for thiis
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