Now it’s about Holder’s skin color?

By Mychal Massie

It had to happen: Al Sharpton has weighed in on Eric Holder being held in contempt of Congress. And as reasonable minds would anticipate, Sharpton has made it about color of skin. Following is part of what he had to say.

“The highest officer of law and order in this nation has been ridiculed, scapegoated and handled as some sort of criminal throughout this ‘investigation.’ Turning over thousands of documents and overextending himself, AG Holder was spoken to and mistreated as if he were a child, and reminded that despite his esteemed position, he can and would be profiled. AG Holder was in essence ‘stopped and frisked’ without probable cause, and after he cooperated, he was made an example of. What [Rep.] Issa just showed us is that no matter what our stature in this world, someone can easily try to ‘put us in our place.’ What could be more outrageous?” (“Attorney General Eric Holder Has Been ‘Stopped and Frisked'”; Huffington Post; June 20, 2012)

In response to Sharpton’s question, “What could be more outrageous?” – I’ll be glad to answer.

America is a nation of laws, and apart from child abuse and human trafficking, what greater crimes are there than murder, a government-sponsored illegal enterprise that results in murder and an attempt to subvert the Constitution of the United States by those sworn to uphold and defend it?


As it now stands, we know the results of the aforementioned, but we do not know the participants. Ergo, it is imperative to leave no slip of paper unturned in the investigation of same. As is the case with any criminal investigation, that means everyone and everything must be looked at for the purpose of determining their and/or its involvement in the crime. And it is important to keep in mind that Operation Fast and Furious was not a botched gunrunning sting; it was an illegal gunrunning operation disguised as a gunrunning sting.

Federal government employees and hundreds of other innocent people were murdered as a direct result of the more than 2,000 assault weapons covertly placed in the hands of the most violent drug cartels. Gun-shop owners were illegally coerced into going along with actions they knew to be illegal.

This was not the act of a lone gunman or a rogue agent. It is incestuously intertwined in the highest offices in the federal government. Those responsible for these acts must be found, arrested and brought to justice for the sake of those murdered and for the sanctity of justice.

There is also the very important issue of ensuring the sanctity of not just our system of laws, but, even more important, ensuring that the ongoing sanctity of the Constitution not be undermined by ruthless Euro-socialist anarchists bent on subverting it.

Sharpton should know that and he, of all people, should support that. In America, criminal investigations are not based on status, wealth, position, or color. They are based on getting to the bottom of the crime and bringing the offenders to justice.

It is not about race – and shame on Sharpton for attempting to make it so. How dare he use race as a ploy to prevent Holder from cooperating with Congress and any other law enforcement agency that deems it necessary to investigate his role in the commission of a crime. The idea that Holder is somehow above the law or that he is protected from having to comply with the investigation in totality flies in the face of our system of jurisprudence.

President Nixon and all of his senior staff had to comply with the investigation into Watergate; all those involved in the savings and loan scandal known as the Keating Five had to comply – to mention but two incidents. But Sharpton would have us believe that because Holder is black and the attorney general he is somehow above this. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was held in contempt of Congress and was forced to comply with the congressional investigation into the firing of Justice Department attorneys.

I repeat: We are a nation of laws, and no one is above them regardless of what Obama and Holder believe and regardless of Sharpton’s claims that it is wrong for a black man who holds high elected office to comply with a congressional investigation. Neither Holder’s color nor his position permits him to decide what papers he will turn over and/or in what way he cooperates with a criminal investigation to determine the involvement of his department.

Mychal Massie

Mychal Massie is founder and chairman of the Racial Policy Center (http://racialpolicycenter.org), a conservative think tank that advocates for a colorblind society. He was recognized as the 2008 Conservative Man of the Year by the Conservative Party of Suffolk County, New York. He is a nationally recognized political activist, pundit and columnist. Massie has appeared on cable news and talk-radio programming worldwide. He is also the founder and publisher of The Daily Rant: mychal-massie.com. His latest book is "I Feel the Presence of the Lord." Read more of Mychal Massie's articles here.


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