Thursday, July 22, 2010

Courageous' Justice Official Testifies Against Dismissal of New Black Panther Party Case

July 8, 2010

Media Contact: Lauren Slepian

609-744-4794 or lslepian@tfdf.org

Courageous' Justice Official Testifies Against Dismissal of New Black Panther Party Case NORTH

CAROLINA - Timothy Johnson, Chairman and Founder of the Frederick Douglass Foundation, today called former Justice official J. Christian Adams 'courageous' for coming forward against his former superiors at the Justice Department to reveal the truth about the circumstances surrounding the dismissal of a voter intimidation case against members of the New Black Panther Party.

J. Christian Adams testified in front of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on Wednesday that high-ranking Department of Justice officials instructed attorneys not to bring forward cases where voter intimidation victims were white and perpetrators were black.

"This attorney was a courageous whistleblower, shedding light on the real reasons why the Obama Administration dismissed charges against the thugs of the New Black Panther Party who were caught on tape intimidating voters in 2008, " Timothy Johnson said.

Six career lawyers at Justice, including Christopher Coates, former chief of the Justice Department's voting section, also favored pursuing the case against the New Black Panther Party.
One of the career attorneys, Appellate Chief Diana Flynn, had urged in an internal memo that a judgment be pressed against the defendants to "prevent the paramilitary style intimidation of voters" in the future.

All of the career attorneys were overruled by Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli, an Obama appointee."It should sicken Americans of any race that the Obama Administration is uninterested in justice when the perpetrators are minorities.

These double standards are unacceptable.

The Frederick Douglass Foundation unequivocally denounces them, and encourages other predominately black organizations to follow our lead," Johnson stated.

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