 |
| Eric Holder (L) and Barack Obama (R) |
The
Trayvon Martin tragedy has America looking for answers to difficult and
uncomfortable questions. America has struggled with the relationship between
race and the rule of law throughout its history, but never before have the country’s
two chief law enforcement officers - the president and the attorney general -
been men of color. Clearly, President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder’s
legal obligations are no different than those of the other men and women who
have previously held their respective offices but, as African Americans, the
gravity of Obama and Holder’s achievements in racial progress come with new
responsibilities and considerations.
This
past Friday, President Obama spoke
publicly about Trayvon Martin’s death for the first time, expressing how deeply
it affected him as an African American father. He asked all Americans to do
some “soul searching to figure out how does something like this happen” and
discussed what we can do to make it right. Obama’s words, though succinct,
followed a steady theme in his comments on race.
Obama
spoke most famously about race during his
2008 campaign as news outlets heaved with videos of his former pastor, Rev.
Jerimiah Wright, from his Chicago pulpit, blaming America for the attacks on
September 11th. The overriding message of Obama’s speech was that, despite our
history and the original sin of slavery, the content of our Constitution, the
disposition of the American people, and the “long march” of those that have
come before us can enable future generations to succeed in building “a more
perfect union,” a union “perfected over time.”
Obama
hasn’t always navigated racial waters with such aplomb. In 2009, when Dr. Henry
Louis Gates, an African American and a professor at Harvard, was arrested after his attempts to enter his own
locked house were mistakenly interpreted by a neighbor as a burglary attempt,
Obama claimed the arresting Cambridge police
department “acted stupidly.” As details of Gates’ own overreaction and other
circumstances of the case came to light, Obama backtracked, admitting his mistake in speaking
on the subject without knowing all the facts. This misstep may explain the one
month wait between Trayvon Martin’s death and Obama’s comments, allowing local
law enforcement the (squandered) opportunity to right the situation before
weighing in.
President
Obama has asserted in the past that, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, America
missed a “transformative moment,” a moment when the eyes of the nation were
focused on a great injustice and real change could be made. In turning away, he
argues, we “relieve[d] ourselves of the responsibility to make things right.”
He spoke of this responsibility last Friday saying that the Martin family has a
“right to expect that [we will] take this with the seriousness it deserves, and
that we’re going to get to the bottom of exactly what happened.”
After Obama’s election three years
ago, Eric Holder became the first African American attorney general having also
been the first African American deputy attorney general under Janet Reno and
President Clinton. For the most part, Holder is more guarded than his boss in
his public statements and is decidedly less gifted rhetorically. At times,
Holder has struck a more defiant, activist tone in discussing racial politics
and issues and has faced criticism for the Justice Department’s handling of
certain race-related cases. He was notably chided by Obama after describing America as a “nation of cowards”
for shying away from a modern conversation on race in America, although it was
more the clumsiness of the delivery rather than the validity of the statement
that irked the president. In 2009, Holder was accused by a number of
Republicans of reverse discrimination in choosing not to pursue a case against several Black Panther Party members
accused of voter intimidation during the 2008 elections.
Perhaps Holder’s greatest legacy as
it relates to the Trayvon Martin case is a commitment to gun control and the
elimination of gun-related violence. First as attorney general of Washington,
D.C., then as part of an amicus brief in 2008, Holder worked to maintain
the capital’s handgun ban, a cause that was ultimately lost. He has since sought to bring back a Clinton-era ban on
assault weapons that expired under George W. Bush.
In
response to the Trayvon Martin killing, Holder and the Justice Department opened a civil rights inquiry last week,
acknowledging that, at the request of 14 members of the House Judiciary
Committee, they will “explore the applicability” of the federal hate crime
statute. These proceedings are in addition to those already under way at the
state and local level in Florida. Holder, as Obama mentioned in his comments
last Friday, will undoubtedly also examine the controversial “Stand Your
Ground” laws of Florida and nine other states, which allowed George Zimmerman
to claim self-defense in the killing despite first pursuing the unarmed Martin.
Beyond philosophical differences with “Stand Your Ground,” Holder will be able
to point to extensive data showing that in Florida the law costs more
lives than it saves and that the vast majority of those killed in self defense
since the law was enacted were unarmed.
Inevitably,
criticism will find Obama and Holder. Community leaders have questioned the
delay in comment and action, with George Zimmerman still a free man. Political
foes, including the Republican presidential candidates, have predictably
claimed that Obama played the race card in his now famous “if I had a son, he’d
look like Trayvon Martin” line. Newt Gingrich went so far as to say
that the line was “disgraceful,” insinuating that Obama would care less if he
didn’t share a skin tone with Martin. For some, any consideration of race as it
relates to the law is affirmative action or reverse discrimination.
Both
Obama and Holder, however, understand that with any law, one must take into
account both the America that we want and the America that is. Although we may
want a colorblind system that requires no corrective action, the reality is
that we still live in a country and a society filled with prejudice. To enact
and enforce laws which do not take into account our prejudices, whether
conscious or unconscious, is to invite the kind of tragedy that has befallen
Sanford, Florida this past month. Obama and Holder have trod carefully,
recognizing the delicacy of the situation and the stakes at hand. But with the
whole country once again focused on a tragic injustice, the time is now to
continue the long march towards a more perfect union. By making clear that
Trayvon Martin’s killing is both intolerable and avoidable, and backing up that
declaration with incremental but decisive progress, Obama will be able to
fulfill the promise he made to the Martin family.
http://www.policymic.com/articles/6167/how-trayvon-martin-will-impact-the-legacies-of-barack-obama-and-eric-holder
No comments:
Post a Comment