Yes, Mr. Holder, words matter By Frank Salvato In February of 2008, then-Senator Barack Obama spoke to a campaign rally crowd in Wisconsin and declared that "words matter." In shaping the image that was the centerpiece of the "idea of Obama," he ginned-up an air of intellectualism using the tactic of manipulating through emotion, a potent tool in the Progressive war chest. "Don't tell me words don't matter," he said. "I have a dream. Just words. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. Just words. We have nothing to fear but fear itself. Just words...just speeches." Indeed, Mr. Obama is absolutely correct, a rare point where I agree with him. The problem is this. If we hold him to his own words, then the statements of his closest ally, Attorney General Eric Holder, must be taken literally. This is where I find myself very concerned. The events in Ferguson, Missouri, are serious on many levels. We have the death of a young man. We have the brutal beating of a police officer at the hand of this dead young man. We have a community that exists on the head of a racial powder keg, begging for a spark to light the fuse. And we have perhaps the most politically motivated – and many would say, and rightfully so, divisive – United States Attorney's General in the history of our nation in Eric Holder, injecting himself into this delicate situation; usurping the authority of local, county and state law enforcement and making some statements where words certainly do matter. In an op-ed in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Mr. Holder attempted to present a balanced approach, calling for calm and temperance on both sides of the issue. But hidden in his words – and let's remember, this administration insists that "words matter" – was a declaration that literally reserved the final opinion on the matter to the Department of Justice and, in fact, the Attorney's General himself:
If someone makes a pledge to someone, or to a group, it is – usually – a declaration of intention: "I pledge to be there," "I pledge not to let you down," "I pledge to adhere to the law," "I pledge to do my best." In Mr. Holder's crafted statement he declares that the investigation into the events in Ferguson, Missouri "will be," as if to say "it will be what we determine it to be." Wouldn't a more appropriately crafted statement be worded to say, "This is my pledge to the people of Ferguson: I will do everything in my power to make sure that the investigation into this matter is done to the fullest extent and I will insist, at every turn, that it be done in a fair and just manner for everyone involved..." Now, there are those who will roll their eyes and say that I am splitting hairs; being too critical of Mr. Holder and his attempt to quell the discord between the "warring factions" in Ferguson. Perhaps I am. But I have been delivered to this point because of Mr. Holder's words and actions. Put bluntly, just as the race-baiters in Ferguson seek to remove the duly-elected county prosecutor because – suddenly – he isn't qualified to prosecute capital murder cases (does that mean all the convictions before this need to be "investigated?"), I do not trust Eric Holder and his racial activist DoJ attorneys not to inject prejudice into their investigation; into their opinion of what "full" and "fair" actually constitute in the end. This distrust is not without reason. From the very beginning Mr. Holder has injected race into every domestic issue his office has touched. From the non-prosecution of the New Black Panthers who intimidated White voters at a polling place in Philadelphia in 2008, to his statement about hundreds of millions of Americans being "cowards" on the issue of racism in America, to his explanation of why Congress held him in Contempt of Congress for perjuring himself before a congressional committee investigating Operation Fast & Furious and obstructing their investigation, there hasn't been – not once – an instance where he, or his closest deputies, haven't injected race into their calculations and efforts. Race, for the Holder Justice Department, is a deciding factor. In fact, J. Christian Adams, a former attorney for the Voting Rights Section of the Department of Justice, writes at PJMedia.com:
It is for exactly this reason that Mr. Holder and his crew cannot be trusted to be "full" in their investigation or "fair" in their findings. And this is exactly why the declarations that, "Our investigation into this matter will be full, it will be fair..." cannot be seen as a statement of truth. Mr. Holder's idea of "fair" is skewed because he is a racist, or at least hobbled by the idea of rampant racism in the United States. Perhaps a little background on Mr. Holder's mindset is in order. The Daily Caller reports:
It is obvious, given Mr. Holder's radical past – and his debilitating obsession with racism, that he has not evolved along with almost two generations of Americans who have learned to see past the cultural malady of racism. It is obvious that he sees everything through the lenses of racism; an age when hooded thugs (yes, thugs can be white...and Democrat) hunted the Black man and White people who stood up for evolving into a culture that sees no race but, instead, judges people by the content of their character. This is one of the main criticism society has with the gangsta thug culture prevalent in the urban Black communities. Far from where Mr. Holder believes we exist as a society on the issue of racism, we exist as a culture that has grown past the sins of generations past; this is where we live, in a colorblind society, where character counts and excuses for acting violently and without intellectual measure are the song of victimhood. What is not obvious is how Congress allows this man to remain seated as the United States Attorney's General. And what is assured, sadly, is this. Eric Holder's DoJ will define what justice is in Ferguson. And justice for all will not be served. Frank Salvato is the Executive Director for BasicsProject.org a grassroots, non-partisan, research and education initiative focusing on Constitutional Literacy, and internal and external threats facing Western Civilization. He is featured at FrankJSalvato.com: Because Our Republic Is Worth It. Mr. Salvato sits on the board of directors for Founders Alliance USA, a solutions-oriented non-profit organization. He also serves as the managing editor for NewMediaJournal.us. Mr. Salvato has appeared on The O'Reilly Factor on FOX News Channel and is a regular guest on talk radio across the country. Mr. Salvato is available for public speaking engagements. He can be contacted at franksalvato@basicsproject.org.
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