Posted on 09/15/2013 7:30:29 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- United States Attorney General Eric Holder told a packed crowd at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church that the struggle that began here in Birmingham in 1963 continues today, with the Voting Rights Act under siege by those who would roll it back and civil rights denied by a criminal justice system that does more to perpetuate problems than to resolve them.
"Today, we affirm that it is our duty - and it will always be the responsibility of every American - to confront injustice wherever it is found, to isolate those who act out of hate, and to make real the brighter future, and the more just world, that Addie Mae, Cynthia, Carole, and Denise never had the chance in which to live," Holder said.
Holder spoke at the Sunday afternoon commemoration service on the 50th anniversary of the bombing of the church. From its pulpit he promised that the work of the movement would go on.
That work, Holder said, means prosecuting hate crimes, protecting citizens' right to vote, expanding workplace protections from discrimination, and creating alternatives for incarceration.
"My colleagues and I are determined to invest in proven innovations while safeguarding the achievements that earlier generations worked so hard to secure. We must not - and will not - stand by and allow the slow unraveling of the progress for which so many have sacrificed so much."
The civil rights movement was about patriotism, Holder said, when activists fought to improve a county they loved, even when that country did not always love them.
"It's fitting that we commemorate their contributions in a city that's been both touched by tragedy and defined by progress, where the scars of our past can still be seen and where forward movement is evident," he said.
Except that the DOJ won’t interfere if black panthers
intimidate voters from going to the polls...
“a criminal justice system that does more to perpetuate problems”
Zero’s boy is right-on there. At least for the last 4-5 years, dead-on.
I think he’s one of the most racist men in the United States.
Yeah, Eric. We know what a pit bull you are when it comes to ensuring one's voting rights are not threatened.
“to isolate those who act out of hate”
That’d put Holder out there on an ice floe above the arctic circle with the Frankenstein monster
Unless he's talking about the Black Panthers intimidating white voters, he needs to present some proof or drop the accusation
All code for “Get Whitey!”
Birmingham is now what - the 8th most dangerous city in the US?
If it were not so serious, it would make good stand-up comedy!
holder belongs on death row.
a LOT of Americans (and Mexicans) have been
murdered because of Holder and his corrupt DO”J”.
Yes, in a sane world.
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