This Ridiculous DOJ Action Is Going to Harm Black Americans

Tom Sullivan, over at the shebeen run by the redoubtable Digby, points us toward some ominous reporting from Asheville Watchdog about the length and breadth of the administration’s fanatical effort to reestablish white-supremacist views of American history.

It seems that the good citizens of Asheville and the surrounding area have put together the Asheville-Buncombe Community Reparations Commission in order to bring some measure of justice to the Black citizens of the area. Last week, the organization presented its recommendation to the Buncombe County Commission. In Washington, the Department of Justice went immediately onto the highest level of White Alert. From the Watchdog:

Citing potential violations of federal civil rights laws, the U.S. Department of Justice has sent a letter to Buncombe County threatening to investigate and take enforcement against the county if it approves recommendations from the Asheville-Buncombe Community Reparations Commission, according to a DOJ letter obtained Friday by Asheville Watchdog.

“The U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division has recently become aware of concerning recommendations presented to you by the Asheville-Buncombe County Community Reparations Commission,” the DOJ letter read. “After our initial review, we are deeply concerned that many of the recommendations, if implemented, would violate federal civil rights laws,” the letter continued, citing both the federal Fair Housing Act and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

(The letter bears the signature of one Harmeet K. Dhillon, a real piece of work now working as an assistant attorney general. Dhillon has made a career out of banging the “reverse discrimination” tin drum and, more recently, as a vigorous election denialist. Her anti-choice and anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric was considered a bonus.)

“According to media statements by the county’s Chief Equity and Human Rights Officer, Dr. Noreal F. Armstrong, the county has already set aside more than $2.9 million toward implementing the recommendations,” the letter stated. “My office will be closely monitoring your actions. To the extent these recommendations are formally adopted, you are now on notice that my office stands ready to investigate and enforce violations of federal civil rights laws to the fullest extent possible.”

And, as it turns out, Dhillon already has marshaled the DOJ’s civil-rights division against Buncombe County once before.

In March, the city of Asheville’s Housing and Urban Development’s $225 million plan for disaster recovery fell under similar scrutiny because it prioritized assistance for Minority and Women Owned Business. One day before Dhillon issued her letter, she posted on X, “The folks in Buncombe County and Asheville NC have heard from @CivilRights tonight. If they pass an illegal, race-based program, they will Find Out … we are serious about ending DEI racism in America!”

The post was in response to a post, tagged to Dhillon’s office, from the far-right Libs of TikTok’s account, which blasted the reparations commission’s proposals while including a number of inaccuracies. The Libs of TikTok post also included a screenshot not from the reparations recommendations but from 2024’s Cease Harm Comprehensive Assessment Impacting the African American Community. The assessment was done for Buncombe County and the city of Asheville by a Florida-based outside consultant. “How is this real,” Libs of TikTok posted. “Asheville, NC passed a $2.9 million reparations policy. Includes free transportation only for Black pregnant women and funding for housing only for Black people. This isn’t legal!” Contrary to the Libs of TikTok post, the city of Asheville has not passed a reparations policy.

It’s hard to imagine that Buncombe County has the wherewithal to fight an extended legal battle with the federal government, so it’s tragically likely that its attempts to do right by its Black citizens will be money-whipped into submission by a federal government now being run by the dregs of American conservatism, which kept itself afloat for decades on the flotsam left behind by American apartheid, which it is now using to rebuild it.