On Tuesday, February 16^th 2010, the Justice Department announced that there was not enough evidence to prosecute the New York City Police Department (NYPD) officers involved in the slaughter of Sean Bell for violating his civil rights.  While many of my fellow African Americans are probably disappointed in Eric Holder, (America’s first Black Attorney General), I am not.  After reading the official statement given by the Justice Department, I must say that I was impressed by the way the situation was handled.  I was impressed that representatives of the Justice Department met with the family to explain why they could not move forward.  While I feel strongly that the death of Sean Bell was a heinous crime and violation of his human rights, it was not a violation of his civil rights.  The problem here is that people do not understand the difference and Al Sharpton is either incapable of or has no desire to articulate the difference. 

When doing research for my previous article on Governor Paterson’s  claims of racist media bias, I examined every front page from the New York Post from the Day he was appointed, on March 17^th 2008, to September 31^st 2009.  I was able to identify 33 cover stories that related to Governor Paterson.  Out of thirty-three stories, only two of them are semi-positive.  The reason I call them semi-positive is the way that they are told.   

New York’s first African American Governor, the legally blind David Paterson, was recently blindsided by the Obama Administration as rumors of resignation requests began to surface shortly before the President visited the state for the UN General Assembly meeting. The public justification behind the President’s slap in the face was Governor Paterson’s abysmal approval ratings. However I feel that is just too simple an answer. The Governor recently drew the ire of President Obama when he attributed his poor poll numbers and the caustic national health care debate to racial bias in the media. Paterson was besieged for playing the “Race Card,” and the ensuing negative media coverage forced the Obama administration to try and distance itself from the beleaguered Governor. The last thing the Obama administration wants to be drawn into is a discussion on Race. However, I have to agree with the Governor. Furthermore several television pundits have said that there are racial overtones to the Health Care debate, further confirmed by Congressman Joe Wilson’s behavior.

 The question is being asked a lot lately, especially within the American conservative movement. The self-reflection began after the 2006 electoral beat-down, and continued in 2008 when they realized they’d screwed the pooch so badly Americans preferred to elect a black nationalist fascist socialist secretly Muslim president rather than give the GOP another chance. The conservatives retreated, and conferred, and a consensus finally began to emerge earlier this year: they decided that they lost the 2008 presidential election because—wait for it—they were not conservative enough. Sure, okay, if they say so, but the question then becomes what exactly do conservatives believe?