If you watched the news last Election Day (2008-11-04), you probably recall the coverage regarding a member of the New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense (NBPPSD) standing directly in front of the entrance to a Philadelphia polling place (1221 Fairmount Avenue) … wielding a nightstick and intimidating voters. The three videos below document the ordeal.
The government sued the man (King Samir Shabazz) and two associates (Malik Zulu Shabazz and Jerry Jackson), saying they violated the 1965 Voting Rights Act by scaring would-be voters with a weapon, racial slurs, and military-style uniforms. Jackson was an official poll watcher that day, representing the 14th Ward Democratic Committee.
After none of the men appeared in court to face the charges, the government sought a default judgment against them. But, according to interviews and documents obtained by the Times, the lawyers were later ordered to reverse themselves by the Department of Justice and to ask for the cases against Malik Zulu Shabazz and Jerry Jackson to be dismissed. A default judgment was pursued against King Samir Shabazz to simply prohibit him from displaying a weapon within 100 feet of an open polling place until November 15, 2012.
The DOJ has not only dismissed the case legally, but they have actually dismissed that notion that threatening voters as they enter a polling place is unacceptable behavior … as long as you’re a Black Panther.
What’s the long-term implication of this failure to prosecute?
According to a well-established axiom of modern psychology, “Behavior is a function of its consequences.” In other words, people, in general, tend to not duplicate behavior for which there is punishment … and they are inclined to repeat behavior for which there is little or no punishment particularly without regard to its moral, ethical, or legal acceptance.
In effect, our current DOJ now appears to encourage voter intimidation. Future elections may be quite different than those we’ve enjoyed for the last 40 years.
Related References:
LukeAmerica2020's: Other Published Posts Member Profile Page
This entry was posted by LukeAmerica2020 on Friday; May 29th, 2009 at 7:00 pm and is filed under Department of Justice, News, Politics, Videos.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.
Word count: 415.
Tags: Jerry Jackson, King Samir Shabazz, Malik Zulu Shabazz, New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, voter intimidation.
.
