Former DoJ Voting Rights Chief John Tanner kinda apologizes to Professor Mary Frances Berry for his recently publicized racist email about her (from Talking Points Memo):
And University of Pennsylvania Professor Mary Frances Berry briefly responds:
Tanner has a history of ridiculous apologies as evidenced by the following exchange with Rep. Keith Ellison during Congressional hearings spurred by other racist comments he made which I caught on videotape:
The first chapter from Glenn Greenwald's new book, "Great American Hypocrites: Toppling the Big Myths of Republican Politics", is all about John Wayne, or as Greenwald calls him, the "Pioneer of the Great American Hypocrite". And while the "Duke" was unquestionably a conservative Republican and a hypocrite, what really stands out is what a deplorable human being he was. A few shocking excerpts:
John Wayne in a 1971 Playboy interview:
"We can't all of a sudden get down on our knees and turn everything over to the leadership of the blacks. I believe in white supremacy until the blacks are educated to a point of responsibility. I don't believe in giving authority and positions of leadership to irresponsible people."
Wayne was also an anti-communist McCarthyite in the 1950's who regularly accused Hollywood figures of being communist. But even worse, Wayne held his despicable views long after the "Red Scare" ended. In 1969 he told a Time reporter the following:
"I think those blacklisted people should have been sent over to Russia. They'd have been taken care of over there, and if the Commies ever won over here, why hell, those guys would be the first ones they'd take care of -- after me."
And despite being a draft-dodger during WWII when almost everyone served in the military -- including fellow actors James Stewart, Clark Gable and Henry Fonda -- Wayne called teenagers who fled for Canada or Europe during the Vietnam War "cowards," "traitors," and "Communists."
Is there any question that Wayne would be a perfect fit in today's Republican Party?
"Great American Hypocrites: Toppling the Big Myths of Republican Politics" (Glenn Greenwald)
Technorati Tags: Conservative, Glenn Greenwald, Hypocrite, John Wayne, McCarthyism, Racist, Republican, White Supremacy
“Loser Take All: Election Fraud and The Subversion of Democracy, 20002008” (Ig Publishing)
Steven Rosenfeld's contribution the new Mark Crispin Miller anthology on “The Subversion of Democracy” can and should be read at AlterNet:
Jim Crow has returned to American elections, only in the twenty-first century, instead of men in white robes or a barrel-chested sheriff menacingly patrolling voting precincts, we are more likely to see a lawyer carrying a folder filled with briefing papers and proposed legislation about “voter fraud” and other measures to supposedly protect the sanctity of the vote.
Since the 2004 election, activist lawyers with ties to the Republican Party and its presidential campaigns, Republican legislators, and even the Supreme Court -- in a largely unnoticed ruling in 2006 -- have been aggressively regulating most aspects of the voting process. Collectively, these efforts are undoing the gains of the civil rights era that brought voting rights to minorities and the poor, groups that tend to support Democrats.
In addition, the Department of Justice (DOJ), which for decades had fought to ensure that all eligible citizens could vote, now encourages states to take steps in the opposite direction. Political appointees who advocate for stringent requirements before ballots are cast and votes are counted have driven much of the DOJ's Voting Section's recent agenda. As a result, the Department has pushed states to purge voter lists, and to adopt newly restrictive voter ID and provisional ballot laws. In addition, during most of George W. Bush's tenure, the DOJ has stopped enforcing federal laws designed to aid registration, such as the requirement that state welfare offices offer public aid recipients the opportunity to register to vote.
Continue reading the article at AlterNet.
Rosenfeld's piece goes into great detail about the role of the Civil Rights Division of the Voting Rights Section at the DoJ in disenfranchising millions of voters. The recent head of the department, until he was forced to resign after I captured him on video making racially inflammatory comments which I posted at Brad Blog, was John Tanner. In the video below The Washington Post's Dana Milbank repeatedly credits the one line (from my video) for Tanner's downfall.
Technorati Tags: abrams, Bush League Justice, election integrity, Elections, John Tanner, Justice, JIm Crow, voter ID, voter suppression, Voting
The above video (1:09) has 2.5 million views on YouTube in the last month which makes it one of the most popular videos to ever come out of the UK. And while the short ad is ultimately a public service announcement warning drivers to watch out for bicyclists, it evidences important shortcomings in the human brain. Specifically, there is much in life that we miss or get wrong and yet remain convinced of our correctness.
For example, the brain often plays similar tricks on us when it comes to eyewitness identification during crimes and then at criminal trials. Every year an estimated 77,000 people become criminal defendants after being identified by a witness. Further, studies have shown that juries convict at a far greater rate (68%) with eyewitness testimony than without (18%). Legal experts note that next to a smoking gun, “nothing carries as much weight with a jury as the testimony of an actual witness.”
The above numbers are highly problematic when, contrary to conventional wisdom, studies show error rates as high as 50% when people are asked to identify people they saw for a relatively short period of time. Worse, wrongful identification skyrockets (70% in one study) when people are asked to identify a person of a different race.
Scientific experiments involving brain scans have provided some answers to why this occurs. White people, for starters, tend to “look at someone's hair and eye color” which is “not very helpful if they're being asked to distinguish amongst black people or Asians” where “hair color and eye color really don't vary too much”, says one Stanford scientist.
The real world consequences of this are devastating. According to the Innocence Project, 75% of convictions overturned through DNA testing involve eyewitness misidentification. And thousands of innocent people like Julius Earl Ruffin (middle), who spent 21 years in prison for a rape he did not commit, are incarcerated every year because of faulty eyewitness testimony.
So the next time one sits on a jury or, god forbid, witnesses a crime, remember the video above and that things are not always as they seem.
“Eyewitness Testimony: With a new preface by the author” (Elizabeth F. Loftus)
“Searching for Memory: The Brain, the Mind, and the Past” (Daniel L. Schacter)
Technorati Tags: civil_liberties, Crimes, Eyewitness Testimony, incarceration, Brain
Barack Obama's landmark speech about race and religion. Do not miss this powerful speech (37:39) that will likely be remembered for a long time to come.
“The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream” (Barack Obama)
Technorati Tags: Barack Obama, race, religion
John Tanner, the voting section chief of the Justice Department Civil Rights Division was the star witness in House hearings yesterday spurred by my original video footage and blog post (with much heavy lifting and additional reporting from Brad Friedman). As the two short videos below illustrate, Tanner was smacked hard by Artur Davis (D-Alabama) and Keith Ellison (D-Minnesota,) leading to more calls for his resignation.
Rep. Artur Davis questions Tanner
Rep. Keith Ellison questions Tanner
Brad has much much more on yesterday's hearing including a post on the lack of attribution from the mainstream press for our original report and a post which includes the entire post hearing statement from John Conyers (D-Michigan), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. Finally, be sure to check out Brad's live blogging post which covers the entire hearing.
