We’re proud of our justice system in this country. We don’t imprison Nobel Peace Prize winners like China does, unless you count that whole Martin Luther King Jr. situation when we threw the book at him for being black.
And we spit on the ground near any country that doesn’t follow our coveted “innocent until proven guilty” judicial mantra.
Except if you’re Muslim, brown-skinned or remotely look like you might be from any of those –stan countries. No, then you’re a terrorist, and we need to shackle you up.
The American Civil Liberties Union will certainly be delighted as the Supreme Court agreed Monday to intervene in a case dealing with the issue of falsely labeling someone who looks Middle Eastern as a terrorist as the civil rights organization keeps trying to sue members of the Bush Administration for abusing the law.
Saying former Attorney General John Ashcroft used a “gross abuse” of his authority as the nation’s top attorney by arresting and shackling Muslim-looking assumed terrorists in airports and around town, particularly Lavoni Kidd in 2005, the ACLU wants Ashcroft to be held accountable for his woefully incompetent misuse of the law to arrest Americans without any probable cause.
But apparently to some people, having brown skin is enough probable cause.
The fact of the matter is the Bush Administration, particularly Ashcroft, abused the laws intended to protect our citizens.
It’s time to face the fire. The people in charge of falsely labeling Middle Easterners as terrorists need to be held accountable for using race as probable cause.
