A high-profile minister and commentator for Fox News, CNN and MSNBC who has been described as the “antidote to Jesse Jackson” is calling today for more arrests in the Trayvon Martin case in Florida. But the ones who should be in handcuffs, according to Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, are members of the New Black Panther Party.
Peterson, founder of the Brotherhood Organization of A New Destiny, as well as the affiliated BOND Action, has written to Attorney General Eric Holder asking for the arrests.
“The New Black Panther Party has been emboldened by the Justice Department’s refusal to prosecute them for past and current crimes,” he said. “They must be stopped now before their incitement to violence and bloodshed becomes a tragic reality in Florida and across this nation. Swift and aggressive action by your office would show that the DOJ is still committed to protecting the civil rights of all Americans, not just blacks, and that you’re seeking justice for all parties involved in this unfortunate case. I hope that you’ll do the right thing. The nation is watching.”
Peterson cited the “$10,000 bounty” that the party placed on the life of George Zimmerman, who has been arrested in the death of Trayvon Martin. The party also has “distributed flyers called for his capture ‘dead or alive.’”
“Even though George Zimmerman is now in custody and has been charged with second-degree murder, the blood lust and inflammatory remarks by New Black Panther Party leaders still rages. As you know, the New Black Panther Party is a racist organization – similar to the Ku-Klux-Klan,” wrote Peterson, who has been a driving force behind the national boycott of the NAACP and author of “SCAM: How the Black Leadership Exploits Black America” and “From Rage to Responsibility.”
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Peterson’s letter cited the bounty offered by the New Black Panther Party as well as comments from Michelle Williams, chief of staff for the party.
Williams said, “Let me tell you, the things that’s about to happen, to these honkeys, these crackers, these pigs, these pink people, these – people. It has been long overdue.”
She also said, “My prize right now this evening … is gonna be the bounty, the arrest, dead or alive, for George Zimmerman. You feel me?” later adding, “It’s in me to fight. It’s in me to raise up soldiers. It’s in me that every time my feet touch the ground [in] the state of Florida – these crackers – they scared.”
Also, Peterson noted, Malik Zulu Shabazz, chairman of the New Black Panther Party said, “We’re going soon within a few weeks [to Sanford, Fla.]…. We have to raise up an army of black men and black people who will patrol and defend the community and we have to have a ministry of defense in Florida.”
In addition to the letter to Holder, Peterson is raising a petition for Americans to join together in his cause.
The petition explains: “During the investigation into the shooting of Trayvon Martin, New Black Panther Party members have taken it upon themselves to seek vigilante justice and intimidate the citizens of Florida. They’ve put a $10,000 bounty on George Zimmerman’s life and have distributed flyers calling for his capture.”
It continues, “The New Black Panther Party is pouring gasoline onto an already inflamed situation.”
Peterson pointed out that there have been other incidents involving the New Black Panthers that Americans have questioned, including the Department of Justice decision to back out of a case against party members for allegedly intimidating voters in 2008.
That decision, wrote Peterson, “has led to allegations that this Department of Justice under the Obama administration is unwilling to prosecute blacks for civil rights violations and hate crimes against whites.”
Peterson said, “As the leading law enforcement official in this nation, you know that every American is guaranteed due process and should be presumed innocent until proven guilty.”
On the question of the Obama administration’s treatment of the party, Les Kinsolving, WND’s correspondent at the White House, recently sought answers.
He wanted to know, “Does the president believe it is legal for the New Black Panthers to offer $10,000 ‘dead or alive’ for George Zimmerman, who they called a ‘child killer’ and warned Zimmerman ‘should be fearful for his life?’”
At the daily White House press briefing, he also was prepared to ask, “Has the president any regret about his intervention in the case, when he said, ‘If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon?”
White House press secretary Jay Carney did not let him even ask the questions.
The issue was, however, raised in the Washington Times.
In an editorial there, the newspaper asked, “What is it about the Justice Department and the Black Panthers?”
“On March 24, Mikhail Muhammad, leader of the New Black Panther Party, offered a $10,000 bounty for the ‘capture’ of George Zimmerman, who shot and killed Trayvon Martin. The Panthers distributed wanted posters, calling him a ‘child killer’ and offering the bounty ‘dead or alive.’ Muhammad warned that Mr. Zimmerman ‘should be fearful for his life.’”
Continued the editorial, “These acts were almost certainly criminal. Florida Code 787.01 makes it a felony to threaten someone or abduct them with the intent to terrorize. Florida Code 777.04 further criminalizes solicitation which ‘commands, encourages, hires or requests another person’ to engage in criminal activity such as kidnapping.”
The issue reflects some of the fundamental beliefs of Obama, the commentary said.
“This scandal offers an opportunity for the Obama administration to show it can act impartially and calm racial tensions. So far, the White House has failed to lead on the issue. President Obama’s high-profile public statement – ‘If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon’ – was bizarre and seemed to show undue bias. Taking swift action against those who seek to incite racial violence would demonstrate that the federal government enforces the law without prejudice.”
The commentary noted Zimmerman’s family has asked Holder why has his office not arrested the New Black Panther Party members for hate crimes.
“Since when can a group of people put a bounty on someone’s head, circulate Wanted posters publicly, and still be walking the streets?” the newspaper asked.
An earlier Obama DOJ statement on the same party came shortly after the 2008 election.
See the video:
In Philadelphia a case was brought against the organization and several individuals who witnesses say derided voters with catcalls of “white devil” and “cracker” and told them they should prepare to be “ruled by the black man.”
One poll watcher called police after he reportedly saw one of the men brandishing a nightstick to threaten voters.
“As I walked up, they closed ranks, next to each other,” the witness told Fox News at the time. “So I walked directly in between them, went inside and found the poll watchers. They said they’d been here for about an hour. And they told us not to come outside because a black man is going to win this election no matter what.”
He said the man with a nightstick told him, “‘We’re tired of white supremacy,’ and he starts tapping the nightstick in his hand. At which point I said, ‘OK, we’re not going to get in a fistfight right here,’ and I called the police.”
Subsequently, former DOJ attorney J. Christian Adams testified before the U.S. Civil Rights Commission that the Voting Section of Holder’s agency is dominated by a “culture of hostility” toward bringing cases against blacks and other minorities who violate voting-rights laws.
Further, two other former U.S. Department of Justice attorneys later corroborated key elements of the explosive allegations by Adams.
One of Adams’ DOJ colleagues, former Voting Section trial attorney Hans A. von Spakovsky, told WND he saw Adams was being attacked in the media for lack of corroboration. He said he knew Adams was telling the truth, so he decided on his own to step forward.
Adams was ordered by his superiors to drop the case prosecutors already had won against the New Black Panthers. When they were ordered to stop prosecution, Adams and the team of DOJ lawyers had already won the case by default because the New Black Panthers declined to defend themselves in court. At that point in the proceedings, the DOJ team was simply waiting for the judge to assign penalties against the New Black Panthers.
