CNN: Obama Says Racism Affects Criminal-Justice System
Racism in the criminal-justice system is not a thing of the past, says Barack Obama, citing the recent arrest of black scholar Henry Louis Gates.
As part of CNN’s highly promoted “Black in America 2†investigation, reporter Soledad O’Brien interviewed Gates, who was arrested last Thursday at his Massachusetts home after an observer – who had watched the professor struggling to open the door of the house, and who had seen Gates’ driver forcefully push the door open – called police to report what appeared to be a possible attempted burglary. When Sgt. James Crowley, who is white, arrived at the scene to investigate, he did not recognize Gates and asked to see some identification. According to Crowley, Gates initially refused and then accused the officer of racism. Gates was subsequently arrested. Yesterday President Obama spoke out about the incident:
“I think it’s fair to say, number one, any of us [in Gates’ position] would be pretty angry. Number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home. And number three — what I think we know separate and apart from this incident — is that there is a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately, and that’s just a fact.â€
Obama’s casual assertion that racism continues to infest the criminal-justice system is nothing new for him. In an interview published last December in the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times, Obama stated that one of his top priorities as president would be to eliminate racial discrimination in the justice system. This pledge was consistent with his oft-repeated campaign promise to “eliminate disparities in criminal sentencing,†and to put an end to “certain sentences† that are “based less on the kind of crime you commit than on what you look like and where you come from.â€
If the President is as brilliant and as well-informed as his disciples tell us he is, why, then, is he apparently ignorant of the very vital fact that for several decades, the most reputable criminal-justice research has consistently shown than the severity of offenders’ sentences depends most heavily on such factors as prior criminal records, the seriousness of the crimes in question, the offenders’ demeanor with police, whether weapons were used in the commission of the crimes, and whether the crimes were victim-instigated? Once these variables are factored into the equation, race, by and large, has been found to have no effect whatsoever on arrest rates, conviction rates, or sentencing patterns.
For a detailed exposition of this research, click here.
He will always champion blacks in a contest between the general public interest and black tribal interests.
Whites are victimized every day in Baltimore and guess by who? I guess that’s why there are more police in the Inner Harbor then lamp-post.
Hussein Obama’s remarks are at best miss informed and miss guided. At worst they are out and out raciest!
This statement is to stur up more whit guilt so the criminals get a pass.This is to stir up more real discrimation against white males.
For once I agree with Obummer. Sinse he put that Racist, Muslim loving, Terrorist enableing Holder in as A.G. American Justice has become extremely racist. The Republicans need to do to him that the Racist DummyCrats did to G.W.’s A.G.’s Harrasse them till they quit.
Yup..there has been racism in the justice system. Like when Janet Reno and Eric Holder’s Department of Justice discriminated against white males who applied to be immigration law judges during the Clinton years. See Durnford v. Ashcroft. It cost the taxpayers 11 million dollars in damages.
Amazing that Obama could take time out of his busy schedule of taking over our entire lives and also instantly have the true facts of the situation. (He must be god!)
I’m waiting for the day that he addresses the reality that his ideology and the policies of liberals are the cause of the social, economic, and criminal elements so prevelent in black communities.
If there is question about the racism in USA Why the Europeans never been call European America and still call the Black African American after almost 500 years ??? So I don’t believe racism is done yet .