Edit: Correcting some factually incorrect information regarding Dr. John Cashin and Dr. Joe Reed

My Daddy says if you can't say anything good about the dead just say they are dead, good. My late Mother used to say if you can't say something nice don't say anything at all. It's too bad a commenter at Left in Alabama didn't hear those parental words of wisdom, choosing instead to say relay some factually incorrect information about the late Dr. John L. Cashin who was eulogized on page 4 of the New York Times today, and use his death as another opportunity to bash fellow Alabama Civil Rights Activist, Dr. Joe L. Reed, Sr.

In 2009, The Huntsville Times in Alabama called Dr. Cashin “one of the most ferocious civil rights lions in Alabama back in the day.”

Dr. Cashin founded the National Democratic Party of Alabama in 1968 and was its chairman until it disbanded in 1976. A predominantly black splinter party, it was conceived in opposition to the fervently anti-integrationist Democratic Party embodied in the region by Wallace, who had been governor from 1963 to 1967 and by 1970 was seeking a second term.

Since I was banished from Left in Alabama for posting alleged factually incorrect information on its front pages, then barred from posting after I whined about it (like that's a bad thing), I would like to use this blog to set the record straight.

First the factually incorrect information;

I got to know John Cashin about 15 years ago when he called me to discuss and debate a political letter to the ed of the huntsville times i wrote. had some long and some short conversations with him over the years after that. mostly he tried to proselyte me and i jousted thoughts and ideas with him. We used to run into each other at the Salvation Army store used book shop. he'd usually find a couple of books worth reading. he was frustrated, angry about politics, and the way public life had treated him. his huge mistake was keeping on collecting his mother's teacher pension after she died. he got caught. if it had been anyone else he'd have been made to pay it back with a fine and or interest but since he was Doctor Cashin -- rabble rouser -- it got broke off in him and he was tried, convicted, sent to jail. pure political revenge.

The facts;

Partly because of his civil rights activities, Dr. Cashin’s life had no small share of turmoil. As his daughter’s memoir recounts, he was long monitored by the F.B.I. The Internal Revenue Service pursued a case against him for years, saying he owed hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes. (The amount was later greatly reduced.)

Although Dr. Cashin had been “moderately wealthy,” as The New York Times wrote in 1970, he poured nearly all of his personal resources into the party he founded, leaving his family in vastly reduced circumstances, Ms. Cashin wrote. In April 1982, Dr. Cashin was convicted of perjury in federal court in New York. He had been charged with giving false statements to a judge while trying to arrange bail for a narcotics dealer. He was sentenced to four months in prison.

Later that April, Dr. Cashin pleaded guilty in an Alabama court to two counts of second-degree theft for having cashed his mother’s Social Security and pension checks for at least several years after her death. As The Huntsville Times reported, he served 17 months in a minimum-security prison.

The commenter and I agree on one thing, Dr. Cashin was prosecuted and prosecuted because he was a "rabble-rouser" because that's what they do to rabble-rousers in Sweet Home Alabama.

Joe Reed, John Cashin, George Wallace and the formation of the NDPA

Rev Jack Zylman, retired Bham Unitarian minister, was very involved in the leadership of the black movement to run candidates in the Democratic primary and in the formation of the party John Cashin ran for gov under. Joe Reed, now the head of ADC, was then Wallace's "emissary" to black democratic activists, and preached the wallace message of not now -- it's too soon. Jack helped put together the rival black democratic unit that got many blacks elected around alabama for the first time. John was in the front ranks in that fight.

The facts about Joe Reed, John Cashin, George Wallace and the formation of the NDPA

Back in 1966, after an election in which, having won voting rights after the 1965 Selma to Montgomery March, in which I lost two dear friend, Rev Jim Reeb and Viola Liuzzo, blacks rushed to register to vote and to run for office, most considered themselves to be Democrats . Gov Wallace (a democrat) refused to allow them to run for office as Democrats. To combat the continuing absolute racism of the Alabama Democratic Party, some of us created another Democratic Party, the National Democratic Party of Alabama (NDPA), went through a difficult struggle, and elected the first blacks to office in Alabama as Democrats! But the ADP fought as a fully segregated party for almost 10 years as the NDPA came to hold over 100 elected offices,more than any other state!!! Then and only then did the ADP want us, and we forgivingly moved into the ADP. But of course its leadership remained fully racist and we have been struggling to change that ever since. But racists continued to run for and hold office as Democrats. It never fully changed. That makes it clear why people are still very suspicious of attitudes in the ADP.

Contrary to being the black version of George Wallace, Dr. Joe Reed is the alter ego of Dr. John Cashin.

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

Dr. John Cashin and Dr. Joe Reed are admired and respected in the African American Community for their commitment and the personal sacrifices made in the name of equal rights, civil rights, and human rights. They aren't worshipped or idolized as Gods. But respected and admired for the sum total of their r contributions to humanity. As human beings we all make mistakes. God forgives the sins) and the sinner(s).

What Jim Bains said;

The State of Alabama and the nation owe Dr Cashin a debt that can only be repaid by those of us left carrying on his work. The Struggle continues...

Amen and Amen.