Credit: SesamePlaceWiki
Things were probably a little less controversial all those years ago when Debo Adegbile was a child actor on “Sesame Street.” However, he’s since grown into a successful civil rights lawyer attorney, one that was nominated by President Barack Obama recently to lead the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
As Adegbile works his way through confirmation hearings, he was blasted Thursday by Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick (R-8).
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“Respectfully, I could not be more incensed and confounded by the nomination of Mr. Debo Adegbile as the next Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice,” Fitzpatrick said in a letter to the president.
Fitzpatrick is upset because Adegbile worked for the Legal Defense and Educational Fund of the NAACP. During his time at the fund, “Adegbile argued that there was racial discrimination in the jury selection for Abu-Jamal,” who was found guilty of murder Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner in December 1981, according to a Philadelphia Inquirer story posted on Philly.com.
From the Washington Post:
Adegbile and other fund lawyers filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the Supreme Court in 2009 asserting that the conviction was invalid because of racial discrimination in jury selection. They directly represented Abu-Jamal when prosecutors asked the Supreme Court to reinstate his death sentence, which had been thrown out because of problems with jury instructions. He is serving life in prison without parole.
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“This nomination is a direct affront to the thousands of law enforcement officials who serve in harm’s way to protect our families, and the communities who rely on their service and sacrifice,” Fitzpatrick wrote in his letter.
The National Fraternal Order of Police has also sent a strongly-worded letter this week to present.
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“His sentence – death – was undone by your nominee and others like him who turned the justice system on its head with unfounded and unproven allegations of racism,” National FOP President Chuck Canterbury wrote in his letter.
The confirmation process for Adegbile is not yet over and will continue.
Adegbile was an actor of ‘Sesame Street’ from the time he was a child until he was in high school. He enjoyed some celebrity and has told media outlets he found his experience on the show beneficial.
