Updated ~WTF did Joe Reed do to you?

 I've noticed a renewed interest in this post which gave me the opportunity to correct some typo's and update some links. The original content is unchanged.

Looking back I have to wonder how Left in Alabama feels about Joe Reed now. Their candidate, Artur Davis ,was anti AEA and pro privatizing  public education in Alabama, and he was backed by the business community in and outside of the state.  That's a group with little love for entitlements, I mean,  social programs such as access to quality, affordable health care, equal access to a quality public education, a poor woman's right to choose to have a safe, legal abortion, access to birth control, LBGT rights, and the right to vote, and have that vote count.  ~RedEye

That is the question I would like answered by those *ahem* democrats who resent (for lack of a better word) Joe Reed for the power he wields as chairman of the Alabama Democratic Conference.

The Democratic Party has had considerable political power in Alabama for a long time. As head of the ADC, Reed has had a big share of that power -- he derives it from his apparent ability to deliver votes and campaign workers.

Uh NO. Joe Reed doesn't have the ability to "deliver votes and campaign workers", he has the ability to get out the vote and recruit campaign volunteers. It's his J-O-B to get out the vote.

Since 1960 ADC’s basis mission has been to organize and unify the black vote and to have it respected by candidates and elected officials alike. Initially the organization moved its mission through a network of committed volunteers who traveled across the state establishing local chapters, holding district meetings, and educating voters. It took at least one decade for ADC to consolidate the black vote, build credibility, and create political clout in the state.

Also known as "community organizing".

Community organizing is a process where people who live in proximity to each other come together into an organization that acts in their shared self-interest. Unlike those who promote more-consensual community building, community organizers generally assume that social change necessarily involves conflict and social struggle in order to generate collective power for the powerless. A core goal of community organizing is to generate durable power for an organization representing the community, allowing it to influence key decision-makers on a range of issues over time. In the ideal, for example, this can get community organizing groups a place at the table before important decisions are made.^[1] Community organizers work with and develop new local leaders, facilitating coalitions and assisting in the development of campaigns.

So, what's the problem with Joe Reed wielding power? What power is he wielding? Who/what is he wielding power over?

So, what's the problem with Joe Reed getting out the vote and recruiting campaign workers?

So, what has Joe Reed done to satisfy his need and desire for total control ? Total control of what? Total control of whom?

So, what has Joe Reed done to severely damage the Alabama Democratic Party?

Is the "change that's afoot in the democratic party" about white insecurity because a black man "wields power"?

reed's focus is so dominated by control of what there is, what's going to be left means nothing to him so long as he controls it. and there still is no real solution.

Go ahead and just spit it out, I want to know why Joe Reed is considered by some to be the evil enemy of the Alabama Democratic Party.  in the African American community Joe Reed is known as a fighter for fairness,  not some power hungry, racist, dictator.

Joe Reed is known as a “fighter for fairness” for black representation. In 1975, Joe Reed led the efforts to get equitable representation for blacks on the Montgomery City Council. His efforts resulted in four (4) blacks of nine (9) being elected. He served on the Montgomery City Council for 24 years. In the Democratic Party today, Alabama’s black representation exceeds all other states in the nation. For over 40 years he has led the effort to get more blacks elected and appointed to public office, including federal marshals, federal and state judges, members of the boards of registrars, legislators, county commissioners, city councils, and school boards. Due largely to his leadership, today Alabama has more black elected officials than any state in the nation. He drafted two (2) plans that increased black representation in the Alabama House of Representatives from 13 to 27; and in the Senate from 3 to 8 in 1982, and 1992, respectively. He also drew a reapportionment plan that provided for 25% (two of eight) majority black districts on the State Board of Education. Alabama is the only state in the nation where the Legislature reflects the state’s population of blacks and whites. Dr. Reed’s congressional plan also led to Alabama’s gaining a black congressional seat

Seriously, some of y'all are beginning to remind me of the Obama is a Kenya born/Muslim/Socialist/Nazi/Dictator gang.

I have been troubled lately by the ADC, New South and especially Joe Reed. Artur was damned if he did, and damned if he didn't by courting either of them! And like you, I thought it took guts to say "I don't need you to tell me that I'm Black, care about Blacks" but instead, his campaign said, "I am like you and this is 2010 and I care about all Alabamians. I care about a better Health Care Bill."

Could the problem be:

1. They don't like educated black men unless they are Artur Davis.
2. They don't think that Blacks are capable of being in charge unless they are Artur Davis
3. They resent the fact that a black IS in charge unless it's Artur Davis.

Bottom line, history tells us Joe Reed would move heaven and earth to keep ADC from endorsing Artur Davis. Ditto Hank Sanders and New South Coalition. It's the status quo vs. a new way of doing business in Alabama, and the folks who wield power with the current system aren't going to give it up quietly.

Ron Sparks will happily kow-tow and they'll endorse him. No surprise there.

I'm tired of hearing the  ADP is comparable to a social club of good old boys; why include anything new or different when they're exactly where they want to be - in charge and in power, even though theirs is a shrinking, failing club.

I'm tired of the threats to leave the party because of Joe Reed. Where are you going to go? The gop? Are you going to start your own party? What to do and where to go? 

forming a new democratic party from scratch would be legally very complicated and formers would be accused of racism, regardless of make-up of initiators group. But, the coalition that produced the statement could study initiating a law suit on the basis that the makeup of the state democratic committee is disproprtionately minority, and that the fact of disproprtionate minority detracts from the electability of Democrats of any race. So, the court is asked to find that the racial make up of the committee deprives citiznes of their ability to nominate and elect persons of the majority's choosing. and, following up, the court should decree that a plan proposed by the new south coalition for allocating seats on the state cttee be adopted.

I'm tired of pretending the criticism against Joe Reed isn't rooted in prejudice. I know I'm going to be accused of playing the race card, but I don't care. For most white Americans slavery, segregation and Jim Crow are ancient history and they want to just forget about it and move on. But for me and mine,  that history is as close as my children, my parents, my grandparents and my great grandparents. I don't have to do a google search to recall America's racial history. I live it everyday. So yes, I can be hypersensitive about racial issues, I guess that's why I take the vilification of Joe Reed personally. I don't feel like it's just Joe Reed is being attacked, I feel like it's an attack on all black leaders and all of the members of the ADC. You call them black gate keepers, I call them black freedom fighters.

The Alabama Democratic Conference (the Black Political Caucus of Alabama) was founded in 1960 by a small group of black citizens who banded together that year in an effort to influence black voters to support the Democratic presidential ticket of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. Among the founders were: Arthur Shores, a highly respected civil rights lawyer in Birmingham; Rufus Lewis, a successful Montgomery businessman and former coach at Alabama State University; Dr. C. G. Gomillion, a college professor and activist at Tuskegee Institute; Q. D. Adams a gifted salesman and civic promoter from Gadsden; Isom Clemon, a powerful labor leader among Mobile County longshoremen; and Beulah Johnson, a feisty Tuskegee educator.

I was raised by educated parents who taught me I could be anything I wanted to be if I worked hard and played by the rules. I grew up in an environment where respected black leaders promised one day I would be judged by the content of my character not the color of my skin. I'm still waiting on that day.

So please tell me WTF Joe Reed did to you? I asked this question on Left in Alabama before I was banned, Here is what I wrote. Click on the link to read the comments.

Something to think about today by: Redeye Tue Sep 01, 2009 at 09:41:52 AM CDT


Postings and comments will be light for me today as I have some personal, family health issues to deal with, but I've noticed a "trend" here on LiA that I want to bring to your attention (because I'm sure you're not aware of it), and hopefully give you something to think and comment about.
I have noticed that true liberals/progressives/community organizers/those that stand up and fight for the rights of the "little people" get bashed, slammed and held to a higher level of accountability than those who are and do the opposite.

Take Joe Reed and Paul Hubbert for example. I don't understand the animosity (for lack of a better word) and distrust (also for lack of a better word) coming from progressives.

Joe Reed and Paul Hubbert are the duly elected leaders of the Alabama Education Association. They have spent most of their lives representing the interest of Alabama school students, teachers, administrators and support staff. What pray tell is so wrong with that?

My Mom says Reed and Hubbert are hated (for lack of a better word) because they are powerful. If true, what's wrong with them being powerful?

Think about it and get back to me.

Redeye