By Peter Baker-The New York Times -- Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., left, joined Republican and Democratic lawmakers to watch President Obama sign the legislation.President Obama signed legislation on Tuesday reducing longstanding federal sentencing disparities between those caught with crack and those arrested with powder cocaine, finalizing a bipartisan consensus addressing a racially polarizing law enforcement debate.
Mr. Obama made no comments as he signed the bill, but during his 2008 presidential campaign, he said that the old law disproportionately affected young African-American and Hispanic drug users. In a speech last week, he said the new legislation would “help right a longstanding wrong” and was “the right thing to do.”
The legislation was a compromise reached by Democrats and Republicans who agreed that the old law imposed unduly harsh sentences for crack violations, which effected minorities in particular, compared with powder cocaine violations. For the full story click here.
By ERRIN HAINES (AP) ATLANTA — After nearly 10 months of silence, the Rev. Bernice King urged the Southern Christian Leadership Conference on Tuesday to end the bitter infighting that has split the group she was elected to lead.
King said at a news conference she still plans to lead the civil rights group but declined to say when she would take the post. She has indicated she would wait out the bickering and legal wrangling.
"I believe that the time is now for us to come together in unity as one SCLC," King said. "A house divided against itself cannot stand. The SCLC family must be about the business of restoring, rebuilding and redeeming its own internal soul as we continue in our quest to redeem the soul of America."
Shortly after her election in October by a unified SCLC, the leadership of the group co-founded by her father, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., split into two factions that have since met and made decisions separately. The SCLC is awaiting a decision from a judge as to which faction controls the group. Click here for the full story.
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