Holder Resignation Catches Civil Rights Leaders Off Guard by Hazel Trice Edney

Sept. 29, 2014

Holder Resignation Catches Civil Rights Leaders Off Guard
Sudden Announcement Causes Need to Regroup

By Hazel Trice Edney

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – When the news broke that Attorney General Eric Holder had decided to resign from his seat after six years, civil rights leaders were in the middle of a press conference Sept. 25 alongside the parents of Ferguson police shooting victim Michael Brown and the mother of Staton Island police choking victim Eric Garner.

At the beginning of that one-hour press conference, the civil rights leaders all praised Holder and expressed high expectations of his participation in the fight against the “pandemic of police misconduct,” as described by NAACP President/CEO Cornell William Brooks. But, as text messages of the resignation began circulating among reporters and civil rights leaders at the National Press Club, it became clear that they had no clue whether Holder would even be there long enough to carry out their requests.

“I would hope that if the report is true, that the attorney general intervenes and looks directly into what we have said today about the Justice Department taking the criminal investigation of the killing of Michael Brown and the killing of Eric Garner,” said the Rev. Al Sharpton upon receiving the news. “I might add that Attorney General Eric Holder, who we all know, there is no attorney general that has  demonstrated a civil rights record equal to Eric Holder,” he said to applause.

Hours later, the news was confirmed as President Obama stood by Holder, the nation’s first Black attorney general, to publicly announce that he would be leaving as soon as his successor is nominated by the President and confirmed by the U. S. Senate.

Calling the moment “bittersweet”, Obama lauded Holder for agreeing to stay until his successor is in place although he had said publicly that he was ready to leave at the beginning of Obama’s second term.

“So all told, Eric has served at the Justice Department under six Presidents of both parties,” Obama said, “including a several-day stint as acting Attorney General at the start of George W. Bush’s first term.  And through it all, he’s shown a deep and abiding fidelity to one of our most cherished ideals as a people, and that is equal justice under the law.”

Standing by the President, Holder said, “I come to this moment with very mixed emotions:  proud of what the men and women of the Department of Justice have accomplished over the last six years, and at the same time, very sad that I will not be a formal part - a formal part - of the great things that this Department and this President will accomplish over the next two.”

Although his formal public service is coming to an end, he hinted that he will continue to fight for civil rights in other venues.

“In the months ahead, I will leave the Department of Justice, but I will never - I will never - leave the work. I will continue to serve and try to find ways to make our nation even more true to its founding ideals,” he said.

Though Holder has received high praises from civil rights leaders for his commitment, they now have a litany of requests of his office that remain outstanding.

“In short, in recent weeks and months, confidence around the concept of justice for all in our nation has plunged to the lowest levels we’ve seen in a generation,” said Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League giving the reason for the press conference.

Morial recounted the past two months of police killings of unarmed citizens.  He described July 17 when 43-year-old unarmed Eric Garner of Staton Island, N.Y., an asthmatic father of six, was confronted by plain-clothed police officer Daniel Pantaleo who ultimately put Garner into a chokehold, which killed him as he gasped for breath and repeatedly pleaded, “I can’t breathe.”

He then recounted the Aug. 5 death of 22-year-old John Crawford in Beaver Creek, Ohio, shot and killed by officers inside a Walmart store as he carried a BB gun that he had picked up from a store shelf. The officers were not indicted.

Then he described Aug. 9 when 18-year-old unarmed Michael Brown was shot six times and killed by Ferguson, Mo., police officer Darren Wilson while Brown was running away; then turning around and kneeling with raised hands.

“Today, we come to demand justice, we come to demand fairness, and we come to demand a full and complete investigation by the United States Department of Justice into Michael Brown’s death and Eric Garner’s murders,” Morial said. “And very importantly, we come collectively unified as civil rights social justice and concerned men and women to stand with these families who’ve lost loved ones.”

Brooks, Sharpton, Morial, Black Women’s Roundtable Convenor Melanie Campbell; ACLU Washington Director Laura Murphy and Michael Brown’s family attorney Benjamin Crump, among the parents of Brown and Garner, stood before cameras listing plans of action which required Justice Department involvement, including the Brown and Garner investigations, which have already begun. The question is whether Holder will be able to finish the work that he has started and whether his successor will be as dedicated.

With his pending departure, some say civil rights leaders must now change their strategies.

“What I feel is that a tremendous burden just shifted to us and we lost a significant ally in the sense that Eric wasn’t just performing the role of attorney general. He took a leadership role. I think that we’re going to have to have some serious internal discussions. We’ve really got to regroup,” said Barbara Arnwine, president of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. She praised Holder’s work against voter suppression.

“We can’t do business as usual. We’ve got to find some new styles,” Arnwine said. “We’ve got to really, seriously figure out how to use our best resources.”

The next attorney general will also have a much shorter time to do the work that Holder had as the Obama presidential term ends in two years.

Harvard Law School professor Charles Ogletree agrees the next attorney general must have unique qualities.

“It will be difficult if not impossible to replace him, but it must be done,” Ogletree says. “The next Attorney General will have to establish a relationship with the African-American community and let people know that he is tough on crime but a firm believer in racial justice. Holder's successor will have to be committed to service and spent many hours in visiting members of the community, as Holder has done, rather than simply punishing those charged with crimes.”

Meanwhile, civil rights leaders will likely strategize.

“We are going to have to really, seriously regroup,” says Arnwine. “You can be assured that there will be tremendous internal dialog going on in the civil rights community about next steps.”

Morial concludes, “We will not quit and we will not rest. We will continue to fight.”