“I am gladly escaping the ‘Plantation,”

wrote one African-American 33-year veteran of the Justice Department upon her retirement from the Civil Rights division. The division, and the voting rights section in particular, “has seen a dramatic drain in African-American staff over the past few years. And a number of those who have remained have alleged discrimination — according to a knowledgable source, at least two African-American employees have filed Equal Employment Opportunity complaints against their supervisors, claiming they’ve routinely been passed over for promotions given to white staff.”