Daily Caller: As Student at Columbia, Eric Holder Participated in Occupation of ROTC Office with Students Described as “Armed”
And now he’s the Attorney General:
As a freshman at Columbia University in 1970, future Attorney General Eric Holder participated in a five-day occupation of an abandoned Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) headquarters with a group of black students later described by the university’s Black Students’ Organization as “armed,” The Daily Caller has learned.
Department of Justice spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler has not responded to questions from The Daily Caller about whether Holder himself was armed — and if so, with what sort of weapon.
Holder was then among the leaders of the Student Afro-American Society (SAAS), which demanded that the former ROTC office be renamed the “Malcolm X Lounge.” The change, the group insisted, was to be made “in honor of a man who recognized the importance of territory as a basis for nationhood.”
Before Holder came to campus, the group had apparently armed themselves with guns and held a dean of the school hostage. Holder thought to himself: this is the group I need to join.
The SAAS was part of a radicalized portion of the Columbia student body whose protest roots were hardened in the late 1960s. Its members collaborated with the SDS to stage a series of protests on the New York City campus in 1968, the year before Eric Holder arrived on campus.
Those earlier protests culminated in a separate armed takeover of Dean Henry Coleman’s office in which students held him hostage and stopped the construction of a gymnasium in the Morningside Heights neighborhood, near the campus.
The BSO reported on its website as recently as 2010 that those students were “armed with guns.”
Emboldened by their successes, SAAS leaders continued to press their demands, eventually working with local black radicals who were not college students. A young Eric Holder joined the fray in 1969 as a college freshman.
Read it all. The article explains how Holder’s group supported Black Panthers charged with plotting violent terrorism:
In March 1970 the SAAS released a statement supporting twenty-one Black Panthers charged with plotting to blow up department stores, railroad tracks, a police station and the New York Botanical Gardens.
The SAAS, along with the SDS and other radical campus groups, staged a campus rally on March 12, 1970 featuring Afeni Shakur — one of the Panthers out on bail and the future mother of rapper Tupac Shakur.
The rally’s purpose, The Columbia Daily Spectator reported, was to raise bail money for the twenty other Panthers and to call on District Attorney Frank Hogan to drop the charges.
Luckily Holder’s attitudes could never have an attitude on how he treated cases involving (New) Black Panthers as the Attorney General.
It will be interesting to see what reaction there is to this story, if any. When I was at Cornell University, the school “celebrated” the 20th anniversary of an armed takeover of the Willard Straight Hall student union by black student activists. I was appalled that the leader of the takeover was invited to the school as a featured speaker, as if he were a returning hero. But such is the nature of campus activism.
I’m not sure the typical American voter reacts the same way. Stories about Holder’s radical past may not change too many minds, but the possible involvement of weapons is unlikely to be received with humor by the average voter — to the extent he hears about it.
It’s your job to see that he does. Please spread the story far and wide. This is one that I knew was coming for a few weeks, and I’m happy to see it finally hitting public view. I hope it gets the attention it deserves.
Racists
Patterico (83033d) — 9/30/2012 @ 11:51 pmWow, and he was confirmed.
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 10/1/2012 @ 1:21 amWe have people riding in Air Force one who, in areasonable society, should not be able to get on board a commercial airplane.
James McEnanly (ca8981) — 10/1/2012 @ 1:29 amThe enemy is already in the white house, just like the enemy is on the inside in Afghanistan. Were in deep shit folks. Good Luck to all.
mg (44de53) — 10/1/2012 @ 3:10 amNineteen year old students do get weird ideas. But not fighting in Vietnam is pretty logical, I think.
Who wants to defend the Vietnam War?
nk (875f57) — 10/1/2012 @ 3:21 amNo. I will not turn the subject around to the Vietnam War.
I will leave it to the discussion of a college freshman. Eighteen or nineteen.
nk (875f57) — 10/1/2012 @ 3:26 amdid he also study with edward said and was he a pal of bill ayers?
reliapundit (6b406e) — 10/1/2012 @ 4:42 am6. Yeah, I was a frosh in ’70. What’s your point? Dope and guns should be decriminalized?
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 10/1/2012 @ 4:45 amJoe DiGenova and Victoria Toensing do not approve this message…
Colonel Haiku (c9aabc) — 10/1/2012 @ 5:14 amSo boring. Prez palled around with Bill Ayers, so what?
“the future mother of rapper Tupac Shakur.” Shows just how cool he was before he was cool.
I was appalled that the leader of the takeover was invited to the school as a featured speaker, as if he were a returning hero. But such is the nature of campus activism.
A few years ago some grad students (I think) at Madison made a little film* retrospective of the 1970 bombing. They blamed the death of the grad student on the school’s administration for not giving in to student protest demands.
And as Dennis Prager points out, we pay money to have our children go to be (re)educated at such institutions.
I am hoping that Univision is influential, that a lot of people who were enthusiastic about Obama in 2008 are not anymore, and that anyone and everyone who doesn’t like Obama gets out to vote.
And that cheating on votes gets discovered and punished. No more Al Frankens.
* It’s often not “film” anymore, nor is it “video”. “Moving digital images”?
MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 10/1/2012 @ 5:24 am#2 Why not? He fits perfectly into this Administration’s view of the law.
Rodney King's Spirit (9ce6d4) — 10/1/2012 @ 5:29 amThis funny stuff. Tax cheats, truthers, and law breakers. I present the Obama Administration.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 10/1/2012 @ 5:46 amIs there a Malcolm X Lounge at the DOJ yet?
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 10/1/2012 @ 5:56 am#13 Mt Rushmore along with Obama.
They will scrub out (chisel?) the racist slave owners first.
Rodney King's Spirit (9ce6d4) — 10/1/2012 @ 5:59 amThe Department of Payback, as Thomas Sowell called Holder’s roost.
The Sanity Inspector (93bc4f) — 10/1/2012 @ 6:50 amMan, this country is gone.
j curtis (efea95) — 10/1/2012 @ 7:18 amGee, ya mean Billy Clontoon’s Bag Man isn’t pure as the driven snow?
Go figure.
Space Cockroach (8096f2) — 10/1/2012 @ 7:51 amThose are “my people.”
Eric Holder's Brain (e1d89d) — 10/1/2012 @ 8:47 amPS: “Armed” takeover of an abandoned building?
How tough could that be?
Space Cockroach (8096f2) — 10/1/2012 @ 9:12 amOops, 7 meant to reference 5, not 6.
At my school one in 7 was a Doctor’s kid. They all had a sit in in the Union. Fashion.
But their crime was whitewashing criminal offenses as “just being kids”. Ayers or Dohrn a hero? They should have died in prison.
And no way Holder should have gotten a Republican vote.
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 10/1/2012 @ 9:33 am#12 Is there a Malcolm X Lounge at the DOJ yet?
Yeah, It’s in the Huey P. Newton atrium.
MikeHu (1a2353) — 10/1/2012 @ 9:34 amActually, from what I know, Malcolm X in his time before his assassination, was much more in favor of racial reconciliation and a force for reform within the Nation of Islam, hence he had to die, and he knew it was going to happen, but took his stand anyway.
But that does not mean everyone who said his name is due the same respect.
MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 10/1/2012 @ 10:06 amI was a surgery resident at that time. One of our OR techs was studying for her RN and she told me the BSU invaded a classroom where she was taking a criminal justice class. The room was full of cops, most of whom were armed. The takeover ended quickly.
I used to help her with her homework while she got the ORs running on Saturday night. She was the OR supervisor about 10 years later. She thought the BSU invading a class room full of cops was hilarious.
Mike K (326cba) — 10/1/2012 @ 10:09 amComment by Mike K — 10/1/2012 @ 10:09 am
Thanks for sharing that. Too bad Smart phones were not around then, would have made a great YouTube video. “Oops! Uh, carry on, excuse us…”
MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 10/1/2012 @ 10:18 amTea Partiers protesting with guns: Good!
Black Panthers protesting with guns: Bad!
And we need college students to be able to carry guns on campus…
… unless it’s these liberal guys. Fascist Thugs!!
Leviticus (297f09) — 10/1/2012 @ 9:44 pmToo late to make any difference in the election. Holder is gone in January regardless.
miked (04e8ba) — 10/1/2012 @ 9:47 pmTea Partiers protesting with guns: Good!
Black Panthers protesting with guns: Bad!
Oh stop it, Leviticus. This is beneath you.
Tea Partiers are legally permitted to open carry where they have been sighted. They are not brandishing weapons, nor resorting to thuggery tactics to intimidate voters, nor are they threatening anyone let alone holding taking hostages. Heck, they’re not even spitting on Congressmen.
But then, you know all of this.
Dana (292dcf) — 10/1/2012 @ 9:49 pmTea Partiers have not killed my neighbor’s son sniping him from the rooftops of Cabrini green.
That was one “good” thing about the Vietnam draft. Taught poor black boys how to shoot cops.
nk (875f57) — 10/1/2012 @ 9:54 pmMaybe they were pissed they couldn’t afford a deferment or five.
Leviticus (297f09) — 10/1/2012 @ 10:02 pmI doubt the Black Panthers or the Black P Stone Rangers would qualify for any deferment other than conviction of a felony. But back then juvie records under the age of eighteen did not count.
nk (875f57) — 10/1/2012 @ 10:11 pm__________________________________________
Oh stop it, Leviticus. This is beneath you.
Yea, a pretty lame bit of moral equivalence on his part. But a person fueled by foolhardy liberalism when still rather young is one thing. But to see such nonsense coming from the mind of a Barack Obama (51 years old) or an Eric Holder (61 years old) is a different matter. Then it becomes flat-out ridiculous and pathetic.
Mark (6d5e0d) — 10/1/2012 @ 10:11 pmMark twangs the Dumb Liberal banjo. Color me surprised.
Leviticus (297f09) — 10/1/2012 @ 10:17 pmLeviticus, you don’t know ’68 or ’69, and for sure you don’t know ’73.
It was a time when the country was split apart. And it was not over opposite side of the street parking.
nk (875f57) — 10/1/2012 @ 10:23 pmIt would be funny, if people had not died. America has lost only two wars. Against the Mormons of Utah Territory and against North Viet Nam.
nk (875f57) — 10/1/2012 @ 10:28 pmIs it too late for our little buddy to transfer to clown college? Because, seriously, he’s got the “miming of leftist memes” thing down pat.
Icy (a8d089) — 10/2/2012 @ 6:25 amCan you show me an example of tea partiers using weapons to occupy someone’s office the way Democrat Eric Holder reportedly did?
Dustin (73fead) — 10/2/2012 @ 6:26 amThat was an apples to aardvarks comparison, Leviticus.
JD (ab8eee) — 10/2/2012 @ 6:30 amSo he’s a sell out?
unskew (6181a3) — 10/2/2012 @ 6:57 pmLeviticus-
You need to find and watch a documentary called The War at Home, not a silly TV show by that name, but a documentary about the UW-Madison campus at the height of the protests, prior to the bombing (of the campus).
There were some serious anarchists who wanted to see things blow up and burn and people die. For them it wasn’t really about protesting Vietnam, it was about armed revolution, even if that seems too crazy to contemplate. Don’t begin to compare that to Tea Party rallies.
MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 10/2/2012 @ 7:04 pmThat is why, I took the Madison protests, more serious than most, MD, we’ve seen what happens there, when the fire is ‘turned up’
narciso (ee31f1) — 10/2/2012 @ 7:06 pmHolder told Columbia University’s graduating law students during a 2010 commencement speech that the 1970 incident happened “during my senior year,” but Holder was a freshman at the time.
That’s a strange mistake. Do we know for certain that Holder actually attended Columbia after his freshman year?
j curtis (8781de) — 10/2/2012 @ 8:21 pm