What was Larry Krasner’s biggest offense? Correctly calling out a racist criminal justice system.

The Republican-led Pennsylvania House has approved articles of Impeachment against Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, and while the Republicans claim the impeachment is about Krasner’s failure to stop gun violence, I’m convinced that it’s about his attempt to address racism.

Krasner is accused of obstruction and “misbehavior in office,” an impeachable albeit vague offense under the Pennsylvania Constitution. After the 107-85 vote to move forward with a trial in the state Senate, a two-thirds majority vote in the upper house would be required to remove him from office.

While state legislators publicly seek to blame Krasner for the increase in gun violence in Philadelphia, I suspect their true motive is to punish him as a racial traitor. Krasner, you see, is a white man who had the temerity to challenge a racist criminal justice system that routinely puts innocent Black people in jail. In the eyes of the individuals and institutions that thrive on the current power structure, Krasner has challenged racism itself, and for that, he must be punished.

In a city where the death penalty was once the order of the day under prosecutors like Lynne Abraham, Krasner has brought significant change. He has exonerated the wrongly convicted, eschewed the testimony of crooked cops, and charged police officers who have killed unarmed citizens from Philadelphia’s poorest, most marginalized communities.

That willingness to challenge police corruption and racial violence carried out under the color of law has earned the respect of those who seek justice, including this writer. But it has also drawn the ire of those who seek to maintain the status quo, including the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5, Philadelphia’s local police union.

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The FOP, a 14,000-member union that has long been a political force in Philadelphia, sought to remove Krasner from office by backing Carlos Vega to run against him in the 2021 Democratic primary. The union heavily funded Vega’s campaign, and FOP President John McNesby was a vocal Krasner critic.

None of it mattered. Krasner, who was not endorsed by the local Democratic party, trounced Vega with the backing of Black voters, brown voters, and progressives. He then did the same in the general election, when he faced Republican A. Charles Peruto.

As the FOP, the Republican Party, and even some Democrats sought another path to remove the left-leaning Philadelphia district attorney, the city’s increasing gun violence provided them with a message: Blame Krasner, even as police failed to make arrests in the majority of shootings with young Black male victims. Blame Krasner, even as the state showed no interest in allowing Philadelphia to enact its own gun laws. Blame Krasner, and undo the will of voters of color and anyone misguided enough to support them.

Make no mistake. This impeachment is not about addressing gun violence in our city. It’s about upholding racism. It’s about dismantling Black political power. In short, this impeachment is about keeping a system in place that has never erased violence from our most vulnerable communities. Instead, it has erased the people who live there.

This impeachment is about keeping a system in place that has never erased violence from our most vulnerable communities.

That’s why it’s no surprise that when the FOP failed to remove Krasner by conventional means, it turned to State Rep. Martina White (R, Philadelphia), who is in office thanks largely to the support of the FOP and labor unions.

White represents the 170th Legislative District in the far Northeast, which is 70% white. Her constituents couldn’t get their preferred district attorney through the electoral process. In a city that is majority minority, they don’t have the numbers to win at the ballot box. But with Martina White introducing articles of impeachment against the district attorney that Black and brown people put in office, the residents of the far Northeast, and other predominantly white areas of the state, could undercut voters of color.

That’s racism, and we must fight against it with all our being, because if we allow white conservatives to undo the will of Philadelphia’s Black, brown, and progressive electorate, Philadelphia may as well stop pretending to be the birthplace of democracy. Instead, we should bill ourselves as the birthplace of injustice.