He’s looking at you Tea Party bitter clinger racists!
(SLT) — Borrowing President Barack Obama’s campaign reference to “the fierce urgency of now,” U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder called on Utahns to fight for the “endearing fairness” of equal justice — hearkening to the spirit and message of slain civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr.
“Let’s be clear — we have not yet reached the promised land,” Holder, the nation’s first black attorney general, told a packed Salt Lake City hotel ballroom during Friday’s Martin Luther King Jr. Human Rights Commission luncheon.
“Each one of us has the power and the obligation to improve the lives of others,” he said in a speech that lasted fewer than 15 minutes.
Holder said he has the privilege and “solemn duty” of enforcing the reforms King pioneered. He also pointed to progress, noting the Justice Department, on his watch, has filed a record number of civil cases. Justice, he added, has also launched a “groundbreaking” initiative to make legal services available to all comers.
Holder stressed that his civil rights division has strengthened the King-promoted Voting Rights Act to ensure every soldier, senior and student has the right to cast ballots. And he pledged to protect the rights of all Americans, referencing military members serving abroad, the disabled and those facing language barriers.
“This is in keeping with the arc of American history,” he told the crowd, “which is always geared toward inclusion, not exclusion.”