[April 2012] When racial tensions flared in Sanford, a league of secretive peacemakers reached out to the city’s spiritual and civic leaders to help cool heated emotions after 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was shot and killed in February.
[…] At every rally, community meeting and march, since the shooting, conciliators were there. (link)
[…] When reporters try to chat them up, they remain stoic, saying simply they cannot talk to the media. (link)
[…] According to Federal DOJ, officials are barred from revealing the identity of parties participating in negotiations overseen by the CRS. (link)
[2012] Under President Obama, the group’s mission has expanded substantially. Officials are permitted to take on a more aggressive role, moving from a “reactionary” to a “preventative” stance, CRS Director Ondray Harris told the website Main Justice.
[December 2012] This week, Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr., formally installed Grande H. Lum as the ninth Director of the Justice Department’s Community Relations Service (CRS). See the press release here.
1992 “Black Enterprise Magazine”
[August 2008] It started innocently enough when a friend invited me to an Obama event that she was co-hosting in San Francisco soon after he announced he was running for President. We were all classmates at Harvard Law School, though I was in only one class with Obama and would say hi in the hallways, but that was about it. (link)
Obama’s famous San Francisco “Bitterclingers” speech
“You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them,” Obama said. “And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”
[October 2008] Obama is ushering in an age of reasonableness. The country’s citizens are signaling that they are tired of the partisan rancor and the unfair attacks. This nation faces financial crises, international conflicts, and a wealth of other challenges. A President Obama would truly understand the complexity of individuals, groups and issues and mediate amongst them all to create the best possible solutions. I can’t wait. (link)
(VIA WH Dossier) A largely unknown group of Justice Department officials has inserted itself into the local Florida protest movement surrounding the killing of Trayvon Martin, assisting the protestors and attending their meetings and rallies.
Under President Obama, the group’s mission has expanded substantially. Officials are permitted to take on a more aggressive role, moving from a “reactionary” to a “preventative” stance, CRS Director Ondray Harris told the website Main Justice.
The Community Relations Service (CRS) is an agency created within the U.S. Department of Justice by the Civil Rights Act of 1964. At the time of its inception, CRS worked with Dr. Martin Luther King and other civil rights leaders to address tensions arising from differences of race, color and national origin. CRS continues that work today, and pursuant to the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009, supports local efforts to prevent and respond to violent hate crimes committed on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion or disability.
[…] The agency is often the Justice Department’s first responders to community conflict. CRS’ conciliators help build trust and bridges where there is distrust between communities, law enforcement and government. The Community Relations Service is known as the U.S. Department of Justice’s “Peacemaker” and is neither a law enforcement agency nor a prosecutorial authority. CRS conciliation specialists build bridges by enhancing communication and building relationships.
The Community Relations Service is statutorily required to provide its’ services impartially and in confidence. The Agency’s staff is comprised of individuals with professional backgrounds in law enforcement, human rights, mediation, psychology, business and other disciplines. (link)
Ann & Gordon Getty and Carolyn Davis & Alex Mehran Berit Ashla • Joe Beninato • Jeff Bleich • Justin Buell • Marisa Chun • Chuck Collins • Charles Couric Carolyn Davis & Alex Mehran • Becky Draper • Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe • Abe Friedman Geoffrey Taylor Gibbs • Lauren Hall & David Hearth • Jim Halligan • Jonathan Joseph Sandra & Shep Maher • Monique & Charles Moore • Bill Orrick • Bryan Parker Jonathan Perdue • Lorna Ho Randlett & Wade Randlett • Janine & Alan Reid Susie & John Roos • Nan & Norm Rosenblatt • Nan Santiago & Grande H Lum Helen & Dick Spalding • Dorine & Jon Streeter • Ayelet Waldman & Michael Chabon Wendy Wanderman & Mark Gorenberg • Dana Welch & Scott Adams • Douglas Weil Tony West • Steve Westly
*Committee information*
Cordially invite you to join them in honoring
Senator Barack Obama
at a reception benefiting
Obama For America
5:00pm – Reception at the home of Gordon and Ann Getty
$2,300 per person
…”Under President Obama, the group’s mission has expanded substantially. Officials are permitted to take on a more aggressive role, moving from a “reactionary” to a “preventative” stance”… (link)
HatTip O’TheIceburg…. more to follow