Eric Holder Exit Interview: Why He'll Always Be an African American Icon

[DonViejo]

Joshua DuBois

The outgoing attorney general talks to The Daily Beast about his ‘signature achievement,’ his vicious opponents, and why he isn’t done yet: ‘I don’t just want to give speeches.’

In an exit interview today, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder looked back at his tenure as the nation’s top law-enforcement officer and saw a lot of to be proud of. And if the reaction from community leaders around the country is any indicator, others are proud as well.

“Holder is up there with the greats—including Bobby Kennedy,” said Joseph Lowery, who co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with Martin Luther King Jr. “I don’t know anyone who has been more diligent and thoughtful on matters of civil rights.”

The attorney general announced that he would step down from his post as soon as his successor is confirmed. I spoke with Holder about his legacy, what’s next for him, and how he dealt with often-intense criticism from the House GOP.

Holder called his work on criminal-justice reform his “signature achievement,” telling me, “After years of over-reliance on incarceration as a criminal-justice strategy, we finally started to turn this aircraft carrier around.” The attorney general pointed to a decline in the federal prison population this year by more than 4,800 inmates—projected to reach 10,000 inmates by 2016, or the equivalent of five newly empty federal prisons—as evidence of reform, following changes last year that reduced prison terms for nonviolent drug offenders.

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http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/09/25/eric-holder-we-finally-started-to-turn-this-aircraft-carrier-around.html

[samsingh]

1. i don't understand what people see as good about his war on medical marijuana

his refusal to go after white collar cimininals, his refusal to hold anybody in the bush regime accountable for anything.

i think he was a conservative man using liberal support to further a slightly to the right agenda.