Rand Paul meets with black leaders in Ferguson

[jct74]

Rand Paul meets with black leaders in Ferguson

By JAMES HOHMANN | 10/10/14 11:12 AM EDT

FERGUSON, Mo. — With racial tensions flaring anew on the heels of another police shooting of a young African-American man, Republican Sen. Rand Paul came here Friday for a “listening session” with local black leaders.

The Kentucky senator, who has made GOP outreach to minorities a cornerstone of his message for a likely 2016 presidential campaign, met with 20 local black leaders. It was the first time a White House hopeful of either party has visited this town of 21,000, which dominated headlines over the summer after a white Ferguson police officer shot and killed Michael Brown, an 18-year-old unarmed African-American.

Paul met for 45 minutes with a group that included pastors, local businessmen and representatives of the NAACP, the Urban League and the Anti-Defamation League.

The session, which took place in a store front on the main drag of town amid pouring rain, came after a second night of street protests in next-door St. Louis after a white off-duty cop, in uniform and moonlighting as a security guard, killed another 18-year-old African-American. Authorities say that the teen, Vonderrit Deondre Myers, fired three pistol shots at the officer, who fired back 17 times.

...

read more:
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/10/rand-paul-meets-with-black-leaders-in-ferguson-111772.html


more from TIME:
http://time.com/3490123/rand-paul-ferguson/

 

[Vanguard101]

I wonder what's gonna happen when republicans attack rand for outreach

 

[jct74]

Sen. Paul Holds Listening Session in Ferguson

Oct 10, 2014


WASHINGTON, D.C. - TODAY, Sen. Rand Paul visited Ferguson, Missouri to attend a listening session with local leaders in the wake of the civil unrest over the past two months. The NAACP, the Urban League and several local business and church leaders participated in the event. The discussion centered around Sen. Paul's belief that the underlying problem in Ferguson-and many other troubled areas of our country-is a broken criminal justice system that unfairly targets minorities.

"I came to Ferguson today to listen to leaders in the community and to learn more about how we can fix the problems of criminal injustice together," Sen. Paul said.

"Senator Paul's decision to meet with the St. Louis county NAACP and local leadership in Ferguson speaks volumes about the NAACP's strength and influence in the civil rights community. Local leadership was encouraged by his decision to call a meeting with us to have a round table discussion and discuss common sense solutions. We were honored to have an informative discussion about the Senator regarding ways that he can help to assist our civil rights agenda in Washington and help to end police militarization," said John Gaskin III, spokesman for St. Louis County NAACP​

Senator Paul has previously noted that anyone who thinks that race does not still, even if inadvertently, skew the application of criminal justice in this country is just not paying close enough attention. He has often noted that prisons are full of men and women of color who are serving inappropriately long and harsh sentences for non-violent, youthful mistakes.

"Given the over-militarization of our law enforcement and the racial disparities in our criminal justice system, it is impossible for minority communities not to feel like their government is particularly targeting them, " noted Senior Advisor, Doug Stafford. "Senator Paul will continue to work to fix the broken system and in the meantime, let us continue to pray for the people of Ferguson, citizens, police and officials alike."​

Senator Paul has introduced six pieces of federal legislation that reforms the federal criminal justice system and addresses the underlying economic reasons for high crime areas:

• Justice Safety Valve Act - S.619 - The bill introduced on March 20, 2013, and cosponsored by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) would allow a federal judge to depart from mandatory minimum sentences under certain circumstances.
• Economic Freedom Zones Act - S.1852 - The bill, introduced on December 18, 2013, would provide for the establishment of free market enterprise zones in economically distressed areas.
• Civil Rights Voting Restoration Act - S.2550 - The bill, introduced on June 26, 2014, and cosponsored by Sen. Maj. Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) would restore the voting rights for every non-violent offender in federal elections upon release.
• REDEEM Act - S.2567 - The bill, introduced on July 8, 2014, and cosponsored by Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) would create a judicial process for adults to seal non-violent records on the federal level and an automatic process to expunge records for non-violent juveniles.
• FAIR Act - S.2644 --- The bill, introduced on July 23, 2014, raised the standard for the federal government to seize property in criminal investigations to raise the standard to clear and convincing evidence as a means to protect individuals found not guilty of crime.
• RESET Act - S.2657 - The bill, introduced on July 24, 2014, would reclassify simple possession drug crimes of small amounts as misdemeanors from felonies and eliminates the distinction between crack and powder cocaine for sentencing purposes because of the unfair outcomes of the distinction.​

http://www.paul.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=1228

 

[nayjevin]

The discussion centered around Sen. Paul's belief that the underlying problem in Ferguson-and many other troubled areas of our country-is a broken criminal justice system that unfairly targets minorities.

It feels unfair because it is.

 

[supermario21]

If anyone wants lots of facepalms, just look at the comments on his Senator Rand Paul facebook page...

 

[jct74]

If anyone wants lots of facepalms, just look at the comments on his Senator Rand Paul facebook page...

this one is pretty bad:
https://www.facebook.com/SenatorRandPaul/posts/836643199721818

the 2nd post has some good comments at the top though:
https://www.facebook.com/SenatorRandPaul/posts/836662576386547

and here's a third one just posted if anyone wants to get in early:
https://www.facebook.com/SenatorRandPaul/posts/836678159718322

 

[devil21]

If anyone wants lots of facepalms, just look at the comments on his Senator Rand Paul facebook page...

Looks like that's where the "law and order copsuckers" of the GOP draw a line on outreach. Kinda like how the GOP wants our votes but gets defensive if we try to change anything.

Or they're a bunch of shills. Hard to tell these days, really.

 

[orenbus]

+Rep for Rand.

It's things like this that will make it easier, at least for me, to argue the case why he should be President to immediate friends and family.

He doesn't need to do this to win the primary, but he's doing it anyway because it's the right thing to do.

 

[alucard13mm]

Has anyone became POTTS and after they are done, return to senate or govern or?

 

[RandallFan]

He should go and meet the black homeschoolers network, not political agitators.

You think it is only Tea Party people who hate the looting and acting out of the clowns in Ferguson. You think moderate white and moderate Hispanic voters think the Ferguson clowns are being picked on unfairly.

Rand should ask Obama, Chris Matthews and Mayor De Blasio what perceived ethnic pandering does to their approval ratings.

 

[Inkblots]

He should go and meet the black homeschoolers network, not political agitators.

Why not both?

Also, if they're "agitators", what exactly do you think we're doing around here?

 

[RonPaulFanInGA]

If anyone wants lots of facepalms, just look at the comments on his Senator Rand Paul facebook page...

All politicians' Facebook pages are infested with trolls. Thank God they're merely a loud minority, and that internet comments do not represent well the public at large.

 

[jmdrake]

this one is pretty bad:
https://www.facebook.com/SenatorRandPaul/posts/836643199721818

the 2nd post has some good comments at the top though:
https://www.facebook.com/SenatorRandPaul/posts/836662576386547

and here's a third one just posted if anyone wants to get in early:
https://www.facebook.com/SenatorRandPaul/posts/836678159718322

Actually that's good. People like this probably wouldn't vote for Rand in the first place. They didn't like Ron because he wasn't anti mooselum enough for their liking and they don't like Rand because he isn't towing the "Black people bring every bad thing that happens to them down on themselves" line. We all know Rand is going to get attacked over the Civil Rights Act and his father's newsletters. This should balance that off.

 

[outspoken]

Actually that's good. People like this probably wouldn't vote for Rand in the first place. They didn't like Ron because he wasn't anti mooselum enough for their liking and they don't like Rand because he isn't towing the "Black people bring every bad thing that happens to them down on themselves" line. We all know Rand is going to get attacked over the Civil Rights Act and his father's newsletters. This should balance that off.

I wouldn't bank on it. Sharpton and Maddow are sharpening there pitchforks and filling their torches with oil as we speak. The only saving grace might be that so few people actually watch their shows deceminating their lies.

 

[philipped]

Utterly disgusted by the comments on Rand's page...

 

[GunnyFreedom]

this one is pretty bad:
https://www.facebook.com/SenatorRandPaul/posts/836643199721818

I posted this:

I am sure the Pharicons and Neocons on that thread are just gonna LOVE it.

the 2nd post has some good comments at the top though:
https://www.facebook.com/SenatorRandPaul/posts/836662576386547

and here's a third one just posted if anyone wants to get in early:
https://www.facebook.com/SenatorRandPaul/posts/836678159718322

 

[Danke]

[video]http://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play;_ylt=A2KLqIRR1jlUWiUA5kP7w8QF;_ylu=X3oDMTByZW c0dGJtBHNlYwNzcgRzbGsDdmlkBHZ0aWQDBGdwb3MDMQ--?p=david+cole+on+holocaust&vid=ea9faa9bcb5281ffeb722e4875e775b6&l=53%3A16&turl=http%3A%2F%2Fts3.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DVN.6 08049339433943890%26pid%3D15.1&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3Dz3 TveySBlkQ&tit=David+Cole%3A+A+jew+Exposing+the+Holocaust&c=0&sigr=11a9cpd55&sigt=118qjkedt&age=0&fr=ipad&tt=b[/video]

 

[jmdrake]

I wouldn't bank on it. Sharpton and Maddow are sharpening there pitchforks and filling their torches with oil as we speak. The only saving grace might be that so few people actually watch their shows deceminating their lies.

Ummmm....how did anything you just wrote contradict what I wrote? I said "We all know Rand is going to get attacked over the Civil Rights Act and his father's newsletters." So...knowing that such an attack is most definitely coming...the best thing to do is to get your own narrative about who you are out there before the attack comes. It's common sense.

 

[jmdrake]

I posted this:

I am sure the Pharicons and Neocons on that thread are just gonna LOVE it.

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to GunnyFreedom again.

 

[philipped]

Ummmm....how did anything you just wrote contradict what I wrote? I said "We all know Rand is going to get attacked over the Civil Rights Act and his father's newsletters." So...knowing that such an attack is most definitely coming...the best thing to do is to get your own narrative about who you are out there before the attack comes. It's common sense.

Executed very well if you ask me. I wish Rand could go to some of the biggest hoods in like every potential 2016 competitive state with ministers, local leaders and even elected officials and pitch the economic freedom zones to their city with the numbers tailored for there zone. Build a new county GOP building not too far in hope of just a MINOR boost in black registration. And he could make an official campaign sight not too far from there ;D and see what would happen...I don't wanna sound too hypebeast but I have a really good feeling about this if no one is saying he's NOT coming off well.