President-elect Trump’s intention to nominate Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., is particularly good news for black communities. A former United States attorney and long-time member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sessions is a highly-qualified and inspired selection that confirms Trump’s commitment to restoring rule of law to the Department of Justice and to restrain lawlessness in our country.
Nevertheless, Sessions’ political opponents have already trotted out old false claims of alleged racism to taint Sessions and damage his reputation with minorities and the black community as a way to build opposition to him in the Senate’s nomination process. Blind charges of “Racism!” have been the Left’s knee-jerk response to Trump’s election and cabinet appointments thus far. In the case of Sessions, they couldn’t be more off-base.
As attorney general, Sessions will be poised to help the black community in ways that many on the Left seem unwilling to accept or comprehend.
First, Sessions’ appointment signals a willingness to fight “ghost voting” and other types of voter fraud. Unlike his predecessors in the Obama administration who actively undermined state efforts to discourage voter fraud, Sessions supports voter ID laws that help secure the voting rights of black Americans.
“Ghost” votes and other fraudulent ballots cast by “ghosts,” illegal immigrants and convicted felons drown out the authentic voice of black American voters. Is it ironic that these mystery votes overwhelmingly oppose school choice, enterprise zones and the so-called gig economy, all of which are key mechanisms for black achievement and success? Unabated voter fraud thwarts lawful residents from choosing their own leaders and preferred policies in the same way that segregation once prevented blacks from exercising their rights of self-determination during Jim Crow.
Many states wisely require voters to show identification at the polls, as they clamp down on early-and-often voting schemes and other fraud-ridden election law loopholes. Under President Obama, a politically-charged DOJ resisted these common-sense efforts and ignored legitimate concerns that illegal voting dilutes the political will of the electorate. In fact, as Project 21 noted, many of the places where voter fraud was most frequent occurred in jurisdictions like Philadelphia and New Orleans, places the DOJ completely ignored.
Sessions, on the other hand, will take these concerns seriously and offer federal backing to state initiatives designed to protect legal voters. Hopefully, he’ll consider opening federal investigations where systemic fraud has been identified.
Second, Sessions will help restore the principle of equal opportunity under the law. Tragically, the Obama administration’s DOJ emphasized crony racial preferences over equal opportunity for all. Like crony capitalism, political or racial preferences give advantages and opportunities to the few over the many and ultimately leave the undeniable impression that government only serves the chosen, the select and the politically-preferred.
Whether it’s the DOJ’s tacit endorsement of Black Lives Matters over law enforcement or its politically-motivated efforts to claim that disparate impact should be considered over intentionality, the crony-racialism prefers a small minority of blacks over the majority of law-abiding and hard-working blacks. One key lesson from the most recent election is that identity politics isn’t a political winner. Sessions will see to it that the DOJ no longer creates that impression or be in the business of preferring one racial group to others.
Equal opportunity and protection under the law is vital to the success of black Americans and growth in our communities. Sessions, unlike the Obama administration, stands prepared to restore that equality and provide justice for all, not just for some.
Finally, Sessions has shown himself tough on one of the black community’s biggest challenges: urban crime. As chief federal law enforcement officer, Sessions will lead teams of federal prosecutors across the country ready to combat criminals in America’s roughest neighborhoods, many of them black. Like his willingness to prosecute a Klansman as U.S. attorney, Sessions is poised to take the same resolve against the burgeoning crime epidemic that the outgoing administration largely ignored.
It is no secret that high-crime areas lead to urban blight, shuttered shops and closed businesses, slow job growth, high unemployment and a lower standard of living that lags behind the rest of the country. Crime hinders education, damages lives and reputations, and cuts off opportunities and prospects for otherwise talented youth. With its unwillingness to take on urban criminals, the Obama administration turned its back on many black communities, leaving them to fend for themselves.
But when Sessions is confirmed as the next attorney general, we’ll have a new sheriff in town — one willing to defend the rights of all Americans, black and white, against the fraudster, the insider and the common criminal. Moreover, defending these rights, restoring voice, restoring equal opportunity and restoring safety to all our communities will go a long way toward making America great again.
Horace Cooper is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is co-chair of Project 21 and an adjunct fellow with the National Center for Public Policy Research. Thinking of submitting an op-ed to the Washington Examiner? Be sure to read our guidelines on submissions.
