Holder Plays The Race Card

[RockX]

(NYT) — For nearly three years, Republicans have attacked Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on national security and civil rights issues. For months, they have criticized him over a gun-trafficking investigation gone awry, with dozens of leaders calling for his resignation. Last week, more than 75 members of Congress co-sponsored a House resolution expressing “no confidence” in his leadership. [...]


In the interview, Mr. Holder offered a glimpse of how he viewed the criticism. He said he thought some critics — like Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who favors allowing the military to handle terrorism suspects over the criminal justice system — are expressing “good faith” arguments about their policy disagreements.


But Mr. Holder contended that many of his other critics — not only elected Republicans but also a broader universe of conservative commentators and bloggers — were instead playing “Washington gotcha” games, portraying them as frequently “conflating things, conveniently leaving some stuff out, construing things to make it seem not quite what it was” to paint him and other department figures in the worst possible light.


Of that group of critics, Mr. Holder said he believed that a few — the “more extreme segment” — were motivated by animus against Mr. Obama and that he served as a stand-in for him. “This is a way to get at the president because of the way I can be identified with him,” he said, “both due to the nature of our relationship and, you know, the fact that we’re both African-American.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/18/us/politics/under-partisan-fire-eric-holder-soldiers-on.html?_r=3


Well....looks like he’s really reaching the end....desperation is setting in...

 

[poet]

(NYT) — For nearly three years, Republicans have attacked Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on national security and civil rights issues. For months, they have criticized him over a gun-trafficking investigation gone awry, with dozens of leaders calling for his resignation. Last week, more than 75 members of Congress co-sponsored a House resolution expressing “no confidence” in his leadership. [...]


In the interview, Mr. Holder offered a glimpse of how he viewed the criticism. He said he thought some critics — like Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who favors allowing the military to handle terrorism suspects over the criminal justice system — are expressing “good faith” arguments about their policy disagreements.


But Mr. Holder contended that many of his other critics — not only elected Republicans but also a broader universe of conservative commentators and bloggers — were instead playing “Washington gotcha” games, portraying them as frequently “conflating things, conveniently leaving some stuff out, construing things to make it seem not quite what it was” to paint him and other department figures in the worst possible light.


Of that group of critics, Mr. Holder said he believed that a few — the “more extreme segment” — were motivated by animus against Mr. Obama and that he served as a stand-in for him. “This is a way to get at the president because of the way I can be identified with him,” he said, “both due to the nature of our relationship and, you know, the fact that we’re both African-American.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/18/us/politics/under-partisan-fire-eric-holder-soldiers-on.html?_r=3


Well....looks like he’s really reaching the end....desperation is setting in...

Good cop, bad cop....it comes with the territory. But he wasn't playing any "race card". African-Americans don't play the "race card"....they get the "race card", played against them. It's called "the reality card".....

 

[The Dude]

Oh they play it often, now African Americans hold the two highest positions. They most certainly are not facing discrimination but will roll out the card politically when they reach the hum a de humeda moment.

 

[poet]

Oh they play it often, now African Americans hold the two highest positions. They most certainly are not facing discrimination but will roll out the card politically when they reach the hum a de humeda moment.

Well, no one here ever gave you props for being the sharpest knife in the drawer. Your statement, of course, makes no sense.

 

[Phantasmal]

Oh they play it often, now African Americans hold the two highest positions. They most certainly are not facing discrimination but will roll out the card politically when they reach the hum a de humeda moment.

Oh, come on, they do too face discrimination, to say they don't is denying the fact that there are many who still judge them for the color of their skin.

 

[Alias]

Oh, come on, they do too face discrimination, to say they don't is denying the fact that there are many who still judge them for the color of their skin.

So the Justice Department should use race?

 

[SmarterthanYou]

minorities can, and often do, pull the race card. anyone else telling you they don't or can't is selling you bullshit.

you know Holder is desperately trying to avoid fast and furious repercussions if he's pulling the race card and invoking obama. it's a good tactic too, since most liberals are retarded anyway.

 

[Alias]

minorities can, and often do, pull the race card. anyone else telling you they don't or can't is selling you bullshit.

you know Holder is desperately trying to avoid fast and furious repercussions if he's pulling the race card and invoking obama. it's a good tactic too, since most liberals are retarded anyway.

A good liberal will always fall for the race card. They're easily duped by street hustlers. Educated dummies. Sharpton, Jackson, et al, made a good living using the race card on stupid liberals.

 

[The Dude]

Poet is a dropout and it shows. Like the web ways and bravos of the right he's shallow as curb water.

 

[christiefan915]

minorities can, and often do, pull the race card. anyone else telling you they don't or can't is selling you bullshit.

you know Holder is desperately trying to avoid fast and furious repercussions if he's pulling the race card and invoking obama. it's a good tactic too, since most liberals are retarded anyway.

So much for your comment that you criticize the left and right equally.

 

[NOVA]

Poet is a dropout and it shows. Like the web ways and bravos of the right he's shallow as curb water.

I'm shallow ??? Thats wasn't fair Dude.....but you do call it like you see it.....

Like Mr. Twain said....."The trouble with the world is not that people know too little, but that they know so many things that aren't true."

That certainly applies to you....

 

[SmarterthanYou]

So much for your comment that you criticize the left and right equally.

I do, you just need to pay better attention

 

[christiefan915]

I do, you just need to pay better attention

I'm looking for one of your posts that says "...since most conservatives are retarded anyway."

 

[SmarterthanYou]

I'm looking for one of your posts that says "...since most conservatives are retarded anyway."

you want exact wording then? i'm sorry. i'll start using that instead of jack booted thuggish republicans or authoritarians. authoritarians being a much harsher word, in my opinion. that's because I question all authority anyway.

 

[poet]

minorities can, and often do, pull the race card. anyone else telling you they don't or can't is selling you bullshit.

you know Holder is desperately trying to avoid fast and furious repercussions if he's pulling the race card and invoking obama. it's a good tactic too, since most liberals are retarded anyway.

Look, DimmerThanMost, how can you pull a "card" that you wear on your skin? Folks can see "the card", before it's "played", if it ever is.
http://www.clutchmagonline.com/2011/06/race-is-not-a-card-its-a-reality/
Race Is Not A Card, Its A Reality

Friday Jun 10, 2011 – by Jamilah Lemieux


When I was a high school sophomore, I read a short bio of Huey P.Newton over my school’s loudspeaker during some sort of Black History Month activity. Later that day, my (Jewish) English teacher made a “joke” about my omission of the details of Newton’s death (he was allegedly killed while purchasing crack in 1989). I didn’t find this funny at all. Up until this point, he had been one of my favorite teachers. I decided to write him a letter expressing my feelings and at the end, I quoted Langston Hughes’ “Theme For English B:”

You are white—yet a part of me, as I am a part of you. That’s American. Sometimes perhaps you don’t want to be a part of me. Nor do I often want to be a part of you. But we are, that’s true! As I learn from you, I guess you learn from me—although you’re older—and white—and somewhat more free.

I felt mature and thoughtful…until he returned it to me with his response: “…if you play the race card, you’ll oft be ignored.”

While I understood his argument that he’d mocked the Puritans, Homer and plenty of other White folks…he’d only taught us about White folks. Most of whom were also male. This had been the case in most of my History classes as well: Whiteness at the center. So I took my opportunity to share some Black facts with my classmates very seriously. But even if the teacher couldn’t handle my critique of his words, the fact that he accused me–a 16-year-old–of “pulling the race card” upset me greatly. That was the last time I registered for one of his classes. By senior year, we no longer spoke when we passed one another in the hallway.

The “race card” is a concept that has been used to silence people of color who attempt to speak out when they feel that race has been used unfairly in determining how people are treated. It is one of the most dangerous weapons in the White privilege toolbox, for it implies that a non-POC would know better when something is truly racist than someone who is constantly subjected to racism. That said, it isn’t that people of color can never be wrong about denouncing something as racism, but that they should be treated with a level of deference when expressing their concerns. Instead of having something dismissed as someone pulling a card, these complaints should be respectfully analyzed and received. If someone is truly committed to being non-racist, the appropriate reaction to a charge of racism is “I don’t feel like what I did was racist. Can you help me understand why you feel that way?”, not accusing someone of using race to be manipulative or deceitful.

But, alas, in a world of White privilege where is the incentive to say “You’re right, that was racist of me”? or “I didn’t mean to be racially insensitive”? And for even those who pride themselves in being non-racist, where would a non-Black person be taught the difference? If racism doesn’t negatively impact you in a very obvious way, it’s quite a task to say, “hey, let me learn about this so I make sure that I’m not out here supporting an unfair system of advantage that benefits me.”

It’s an amazingly duplicitous thing, to flip racism around so that the person who is the victim now looks like the guilty party because of their observations of someone’s behavior. A Black woman who feels that she has been passed over for a raise because of her background may be told that she is ‘pulling the race card’ and that racism will never end so long as people like her “see race in everything.” But how can you not see something that is constantly there?

The race card concept implies that the true racial power in this country lies in the hands of minorities, and that as soon as we “cry racism,” we will then be allowed to get away with anything or to unjustly persecute innocent White people. This is so infrequently the case. We holler “race” because so often it IS about race. While racism should not instill in Black folks a sense of paranoia, we must be constantly diligent and aware of how we are being treated. I do not wish to be color-blind. I am glad that I am aware of the racial climate that I live in, so that I may arm myself accordingly for whatever may come my way. We will never end or even lessen racism so long as we are made to be afraid to challenge it. Thus, I understand that the “race card” that I carry is not some get-out-of-culpability trump card, but instead, a challenging reality that I have been dealt.

 

[poet]

Poet is a dropout and it shows. Like the web ways and bravos of the right he's shallow as curb water.

A college dropout...after 2 years, due to finances. But, guess what? I'm one of the smartest posters in this or any forum....and you can't keep up, Sybil. One day a comrade, the next, a hater. Women are free to change their minds, not men. Oops.

 

[SmarterthanYou]

The race card concept implies that the true racial power in this country lies in the hands of minorities, and that as soon as we “cry racism,” we will then be allowed to get away with anything or to unjustly persecute innocent White people. This is so infrequently the case. We holler “race” because so often it IS about race.

you holler race because you THINK it will shut other people up. You pull it way too often against most everybody knowing full damn well that at least half if not more of the people you pull it against are not racist. You call almost everyone here a racist, including me, yet you have not shown a single bit of damned proof that i've made racist comments. the ONLY thing you think makes me a racist is my belief and membership in certain organizations and your idiotic notions that everyone in those groups is racist, therefore I must be too.

no, there is a race card, it's pulled way too often, and as beautiful as miss lemieux is, she is doing a huge disservice to the entire planet for not recognizing her own proclivities to use race instead of acknowledging a dubious practice. shame on you.

 

[poet]

you holler race because you THINK it will shut other people up. You pull it way too often against most everybody knowing full damn well that at least half if not more of the people you pull it against are not racist. You call almost everyone here a racist, including me, yet you have not shown a single bit of damned proof that i've made racist comments. the ONLY thing you think makes me a racist is my belief and membership in certain organizations and your idiotic notions that everyone in those groups is racist, therefore I must be too.

no, there is a race card, it's pulled way too often, and as beautiful as miss lemieux is, she is doing a huge disservice to the entire planet for not recognizing her own proclivities to use race instead of acknowledging a dubious practice. shame on you.

I don't "holler race". And people can talk if they want to. And I can only go by the words you post and the opinions you offer up. You're a tea bagger, aren't you? Well, most tea baggers are racist. Don't want to be grouped in with the rest of them...then don't hang out with them or espouse their spiel.

Excuse me...but according to the article, black people "playing the race card", is a rarity. More often, it's used by whites to shut black people up about pointing out racism. Or didn't you garner that from the article?

 

[SmarterthanYou]

I don't "holler race". And people can talk if they want to. And I can only go by the words you post and the opinions you offer up. You're a tea bagger, aren't you? Well, most tea baggers are racist. Don't want to be grouped in with the rest of them...then don't hang out with them or espouse their spiel.

If any member of my local TEA party espoused racism, I would be gone. they don't, so we aren't. don't let facts get in the way of your clouded judgement. generalization of groups bites you in the ass, or don't you remember getting burnt over that awhile back?

Excuse me...but according to the article, black people "playing the race card", is a rarity. More often, it's used by whites to shut black people up about pointing out racism. Or didn't you garner that from the article?

i've seen more black people play the race card than I have white people. the only thin I garnered from the article is, like you, ms. lemeiux only likes to look at one facet of an issue and roll with it.

 

[poet]

If any member of my local TEA party espoused racism, I would be gone. they don't, so we aren't. don't let facts get in the way of your clouded judgement. generalization of groups bites you in the ass, or don't you remember getting burnt over that awhile back?

i've seen more black people play the race card than I have white people. the only thin I garnered from the article is, like you, ms. lemeiux only likes to look at one facet of an issue and roll with it.

Really? And how do black people play the race card, STY? What have you witnessed?