WaPo: Opinions: James Comey’s candor on race

WaPo: Opinions: James Comey’s candor on race by E.J. Dionne:

Last Thursday’s speech by FBI Director James Comey at Georgetown University was remarkable on its own terms, but revolutionary in the context of his agency’s history. You wonder if Hoover would have accused Comey of subversive intent.

“All of us in law enforcement must be honest enough to acknowledge that much of our history is not pretty,” Comey said. “At many points in American history, law enforcement enforced the status quo, a status quo that was often brutally unfair to disfavored groups.”

He explained why a copy of Attorney General Robert Kennedy’s approval of Hoover’s request to wiretap Dr. King sits on his desk: “The entire application is five sentences long, it is without fact or substance, and is predicated on the naked assertion that there is ‘Communist influence in the racial situation.’” He calls agents’ attention to the document, he said, “to ensure that we remember our mistakes and that we learn from them.”

And who would think an FBI director would cite “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist,” a song from the Broadway hit “Avenue Q?” His point: “Many people in our white-majority culture have unconscious racial biases and react differently to a white face than a black face.”