Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA) pushed Republican Attorney General Jeff Sessions on his blindness regarding white identity extremists while he focuses his department on black identity extremists.
Sessions, unable to name a white identity extremist group, claimed “this department will not unlawfully target people.”
Asked if Black Lives Matter is a “black identity extremist group,” AG Jeff Sessions said, “I’m not able to comment on that.”
Watch a clip from C-SPAN here:
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Bass, a Los Angeles Democrat, was asking Sessions about a FBI report that said “black identity extremists” were intent on killing law enforcement officers.
Sessions didn’t seem to know much about it, saying, “It would be interesting to see the conclusion of that report, but I’m aware there are groups that do have extra commitment to their racial identity.”
Bass, noting that the activist groups listed in the report were active decades ago, asked Sessions if there was a similar report on white identity extremists — you know, those groups active right now, like the Sovereign Citizens who have targeted police officers or white supremacists, KKK and neo-Nazis who protested in Charlottesville, Virginia and one of whom killed a woman.
Sessions admitted that they did not do a similar report on “white identity extremists.”
Session was unable to recall any racial identity white movements by name, although he conceded that there are some. “It’s not coming to me at this moment,” the Republican offered, before tossing the term “skinheads” into the mix.
Sessions, perhaps wisely, did not want to rely upon his seemingly very faulty memory.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions has a long history of racial bias, and he is now using the power of his current position to enact policies harmful to people of color.
Although Sessions claimed the office would not target anyone, there is no other way to explain ordering a report on black racial extremist groups using decades old organizations, while not doing the same for the actual current, actual danger posed by white extremist groups.
Unable to name a black identity extremist group currently operating, Sessions tried to justify the report by citing several instances of black people killing police officers. Bass pointed out that those instances were not people who were members of black identity groups.
While all of the other attacks on liberty and justice continue unabated, we are also witnessing a dark return to days we hoped were long gone.
Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-LA) asked Sessions if we are going toward inclusion and diversity or going back. The answer was glaringly obvious when Sessions confirmed that he had not hired a senior staff member who is African American.
Democrats tried to actually hold Sessions accountable for his biased application of the law today. It won’t grab headlines, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a huge story. It is. This is the deliberate suffocating of the alleged blindness of Lady Justice and should not be allowed to stand.
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