Did the Justice Department Incite the 2012 Trayvon Martin Protests?
The conservative group Judicial Watch says it has documents proving active involvement by a DOJ civil mediation unit As the George Zimmerman trial wraps
up in Sanford, Fla., with the jury readying to decide if he murdered
17-year-old Trayvon Martin or shot him in self-defense, the conservative
group Judicial Watch is taking us back to the events that led to the
trial in the first place.
No, not the shooting death of Martin, as
he was walking back to his father's apartment from the 7-Eleven. Rather,
the national uproar that led to the arrest of Zimmerman, a month and a
half after Martin's death.
Judicial Watch said that it "has
obtained documents in response to local, state, and federal records
requests revealing that a little-known unit of the Department of Justice
(DOJ), the Community Relations Service (CRS),
was deployed to Sanford, Fla., following the Trayvon Martin shooting to
help organize and manage rallies and protests against George
Zimmerman."
That's a pretty explosive charge. "Not only did we have a public statement by the President that might have tainted the jury pool," says Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit, "but now we find the Department of Justice was involved in, basically, organizing a lynch mob?"
That's a pretty explosive charge. "Not only did we have a public statement by the President that might have tainted the jury pool," says Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit, "but now we find the Department of Justice was involved in, basically, organizing a lynch mob?"
Here's what Judicial Watch obtained, among 347 pages of Justice Department documents:
March 25–27,
2012, CRS spent $674.14 upon being "deployed to Sanford, FL, to work
marches, demonstrations, and rallies related to the shooting and death
of an African-American teen by a neighborhood watch captain."
March 25–28,
2012, CRS spent $1,142.84 in Sanford "work marches, demonstrations, and
rallies related to the shooting and death of an African-American teen
by a neighborhood watch captain."
March 30–April 1, 2012, CRS spent $892.55 in Sanford "to provide support for protest deployment in Florida."
March 30–April 1,
2012, CRS spent an additional $751.60 in Sanford "to provide technical
assistance to the City of Sanford, event organizers, and law enforcement
agencies for the march and rally on March 31."
April 3–12,
2012, CRS spent $1,307.40 in Sanford "to provide technical assistance,
conciliation, and onsite mediation during demonstrations planned in
Sanford."
April 11–12,
2012, CRS spent $552.35 in Sanford "to provide technical assistance for
the preparation of possible marches and rallies related to the fatal
shooting of a 17 year old African American male."
Along with the $5,320 in expenses racked
up by the CRS, Judicial Watch also obtained thousands of pages of emails
from Florida officials, including an April 16, 2012, email from
Miami-Dade County community officer Amy Carswell congratulating the CRS
team "for their outstanding and ongoing efforts to reduce tensions and
build bridges of understanding and respect in Sanford, Florida."
Finally, Judicial Watch points to an April 15, 2012, Orlando Sentinel story that alerted the world to the presence of CRS "secretive peacemakers" in Sanford. Here's how the Sentinel's Arelis R. Hernández describes the CRS's activities:
As national figures and sign-waving
protesters grabbed the spotlight after Trayvon's death, federal workers
from a little-known branch of the Department of Justice labored away
behind the scenes, quietly brokering deals between the city officials
and residents to help prevent violence and lay the groundwork for
peace... City officials, local leaders and residents say these
peacekeepers have played a key role in easing tensions during some of
the most heated moments after Trayvon's shooting...
At every rally, community meeting and
march, since the shooting, conciliators were there. In their Navy blue
windbreakers, polo shirts and dark sunglasses, they look like federal
agents. Their caps are embroidered with the Justice Department's seal.
They watch and listen silently. But they say little publicly. When
reporters try to chat them up, they remain stoic, saying simply they
cannot talk to the media. [Orlando Sentinel]
The Judicial Watch documents add enough new information to the Sentinel story, says Ed Morrissey at Hot Air,
that Congress should at least "look into the DOJ's actions to determine
whether they were trying to calm the waters — or trying to bring them
to a boil." From these expense reports, it looks like "the CRS was more
of a participant and organizer of the protests than a mediator of them."
Is this really "another Obama administration scandal, featuring Eric Holder's DOJ?" asks John Hinderaker at PowerLine.
"To me, it doesn't look that way." Sure, it's probable that the CRS
"worked hand in glove with the protesters, but there is little reason to
doubt that they at least purported to carry out their statutory
peacemaking role by working with all parties." The biggest question from
this episode, Hinderaker says, is "why are we taxpayers paying for a
goofy mediation service within the Department of Justice?"
Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs, and Rush Limbaugh don't see that as the biggest question, says David Weigel at Slate.
"On the right, it's becoming conventional wisdom that the Justice
Department worked to bring down Zimmerman" for racially motivated
reasons, and Judicial Watch's narrative seems to fit the bill.
In fact, says Weigel, it undermines the
charge that the Justice Department stirred the embers. The media frenzy
started building March 12, and things exploded March 23-24 when students
at 34 Miami schools walked out to protest Zimmerman not being arrested.
Thanks to Judicial Watch, we now know the CRS didn't step in until
March 25. How you see the CRS involvement in the Trayvon Martin
ultimately depends on your political views:
If you think the government should
materialize when some racial controversy starts boiling, you have no
problem with the CRS. But if you think Obama and Holder are habitual
race-baiters, the CRS's Sanford adventure fits into a pattern.
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