filed under Election 2008 | National Media
CNN Debate Coverage: Obama on Criminal Justice Reform
11:25PM ON
01/21/2008
BY
Ariel Werner
Catfighting aside, tonight’s debate was awesome for at least one reason: Forced to court South Carolina’s black electorate, Barack Obama touched on the criminal justice reform issues that have been pivotal in locking in my support for him. He said:
So for example, if we know that in our criminal justice system, African-Americans and whites, for the same crime, receive — are arrested at very different rates, are convicted at very different rates, receive very different sentences. (APPLAUSE). That is something that we have to talk about. But that’s a substantive issue and it has to do with how do we pursue racial justice. If I am president, I will have a civil rights division that is working with local law enforcement so that they are enforcing laws fairly and justly.
And tonight was far from the first instance of Obama’s ardent support for criminal justice reform. At Howard University on September 28, 2007, Obama declared:
We have a system that locks away too many young, first-time, non-violent offenders for the better part of their lives - a decision that’s made not by a judge in a courtroom, but by politicians in Washington. It reminds us that we have certain sentences that are based less on the kind of crime you commit than on what you look like and where you come from. It reminds us that we have a Justice Department whose idea of prosecuting civil rights violations is trying to rollback affirmative action programs at our college and universities; a Justice Department whose idea of prosecuting voting rights violations is to look for voting fraud in black and Latino communities where it doesn’t exist.
Barack Obama sponsored 112 separate criminal justice reform bills while serving in the Illinois State Senate, including bills that repaired the State’s broken death penalty procedures, mandated that homicide interviews be filmed, kept juveniles out of the adult system, and prosecuted police brutality.
Other highlights from the most ridiculous moments of tonight’s debate:
- CLINTON: Now, I just — I just want to be clear about this. In an editorial board with the Reno newspaper, you said two different things, because I have read the transcript. You talked about Ronald Reagan being a transformative political leader. I did not mention his name.OBAMA: Your husband did.CLINTON: Well, I’m here. He’s not. And…OBAMA: OK. Well, I can’t tell who I’m running against sometimes.
- EDWARDS: What I want to say first is, are there three people in this debate, not two?
- OBAMA: Well, first of all, Charlie’s absolutely right that African-Americans should vote for what’s best for them, their children, and this country, and the same way that I think Hillary…(APPLAUSE)… you know, Hillary feels that women should vote for what’s best for them, their children, and their country.EDWARDS: Would you mind saying that…
OBAMA: And the same way that John…
EDWARDS: Say that a little more often.
OBAMA: Absolutely. Same way that John, I think, he wants white males to vote for…
- OBAMA: And, I mean, I’m not entirely faulting the media because, look, race is a factor in our society. There’s no doubt that in a race where you’ve got an African-American, and a woman, and John…
- Bill Clinton, “This is our first black president, blacker than any actual black person who could ever be elected in our children’s lifetime.” Do you think Bill Clinton was our first black president? OBAMA: Well, I think Bill Clinton did have an enormous affinity with the African-American community, and still does. And I think that’s well earned. Like John, one of the things that I’m always inspired by — no, I’m — this I’m serious about. I’m always inspired by young men and women who grew up in the South when segregation was still taking place, when, you know, the transformations that are still incomplete but at least had begun had not yet begun. And to see that transformations in their own lives I think that is powerful, and it is hopeful, because what it indicates is that people can change. And each successive generation can, you know, create a different vision of how, you know, we have to treat each other. And I think Bill Clinton embodies that. I think he deserves credit for that. Now, I haven’t… (APPLAUSE)OBAMA: I have to say that, you know, I would have to, you know, investigate more of Bill’s dancing abilities. You know, and some of this other stuff before I accurately judge whether he was in fact a brother. But… (APPLAUSE)
Finally, footage of Obama singing “We Shall Overcome” at MLK’s Ebenezer Baptist Church.
[youtube:http://youtube.com/watch?v=wbv24MWa_jg]
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