Update~It's Friday the 13th for those of you who get a kick out of that type of stuff

 

 Fri Nov 13, 2009 at 09:24:18 AM CST

  

I don't care if it's Friday the 13th, 2013 or Friday the 13, 2009,  I will always remember Friday the 13th as the unlucky  day my posting privileges were revoked at Left in Alabama,  and the lucky day I was forced to start my own blog.  It wasn't the first time I first time I was banned/booted/censored, and I'm sure it won't be the last.  Para quoting the great poet Langston Hughes  I swear to the Lord I just can't see why Freedom of Speech means everybody but me.

Speaking of Freedom of Speech, here is your laugh out loud for the day...Talk radio host Dale Jackson has the nerve to scold Huntsville City Councilman Will Culver for "attempting to to chill free speech."

Let's recap gist, emphasis mine.

Conservative talk radio host Dale Jackson came to Thursday’s Huntsville City Council meeting with a stern message for Councilman Will Culver.
During a council meeting on Aug. 22, Culver said he may sue Jackson for alleging that Calhoun Community College hired Culver in 2010 for political reasons. Culver, a former Huntsville police officer and chief city magistrate, spent about two years at Calhoun as a criminal justice instructor.
Jackson said a 1964 U.S. Supreme Court case, New York Times v. Sullivan, “raises the bar very high” for a public figure to successfully sue a citizen or journalist for libel.
“Asking you questions is allowed, and it should be encouraged,” said Jackson. “You should not be attempting to chill free speech. It’s very important. People have died for that right.”
Jackson said legendary University of Alabama football coach Paul “Bear” Bryant is the only public figure from the state in the last 50 years to successfully sue someone for defamation.
“You guys are public officials; don’t (threaten lawsuits) to people,” he said. “It should never happen again.”

That's right (pun intended), Dale Jackson,  the same person who was not a journalist before he was a journalist, who screens callers for his radio show, and censors African American comments on his blog has the nerve to scold the African American City Councilman about Freedom of Speech.  Oh, OK.   Psst Dale!  Your 15 minutes of fame are up, you may sit all the way down now.

People in the Rocket City are celebrating the largely unsung hero's who integrated the public schools 50 years ago.  And that's fine, but if you walk into any Rocket City School 50 years later the student population will look like it did 50 years ago.  Symbolism is nice, but substance is better.

Speaking of symbolism and substance,  why is everyone is acting like they are surprised the University  Greek system has a little race problem, and that bad old habits of the past are not the same bad old habits of the present?

UA's student newspaper The Crimson White broke the story yesterday, reporting that while students at several sororities wanted to recruit a black student, alumnae and advisers overruled them. 
Alumnae from one sorority threatened to pull funding if they admitted the girl, who students called a stellar candidate with a 4.3 high school GPA and close familial ties to the University. 

Left in Alabama's resident Sorority Girl says it's not segregation by the schools, but by the students themselves.

 AKA... (4.00 / 1)

...is a black sorority.  And while there were member who were hassling the poor black girl who joined our white sorority, I can't say for certain (and in fact I doubt) that this was behavior that was encouraged by the chapter itself.  I can certainly say that the national AKA organization does not condone such.
That's why this isn't going to be easy to crack down on.  The University of Alabama when it was integrated had previously had an official policy of discrimination.  The Greek organizations have no such policy and in fact are very diverse in some chapters (though this is rare).  Plus, there's not exactly a stack of complaints from people who have wanted to cross over into other organizations and feel that they were discriminated against.  And even if there were, you'd have to still be able to show that there were not other factors (GPA, conduct, etc.) that contributed to not being accepted.
Affirmative action scenarios are insulting to all parties and are in fact a polar opposite of the very purpose of the Greek system-- which is to be grouped with similar interests.  If you're bringing in a black girl who plays no sports into a white sorority filled with jocks just because she's black, it's going to be miserable for everyone.
I know there have been issues of racism among some members of sororities and fraternities.  Perhaps it would be best to start there.  I know that those are not actions of the organization itself, but that student is just as much a representative of that organization (as well as the school and any other club he/she belongs to) if he's hanging out of the frat house and yelling racial slurs.  That behavior should be reprimanded by both the school and the fraternity.  And if it is not, then we can safely assume that there's a problem, and the group in question can be addressed by the school.  If it is addressed by the organization involved, I don't see any reason to penalize the group than I would denounce all Muslims because of a terrorist who yelled "God is great!" before he blew himself up.  I know that Alpha Delta Pi had conduct codes and a system set up for dealing with such issues.  And I'm willing to bet that most of the others do as well.

WRONG then. WRONG now. The last paragraph hits the nail on it's head. The purpose of the Greek System for African American is public service, not wanna be jocks and debutantes.  Black Greeks can cite examples of recruiting whites. Can white Greek organizations do the same? NO.  Now if  you're black and can play sports and add to their trophy case that's another story.....

"Alabama is now No. 1 in the country and it is hypocritical to cheer the boys on on Saturday afternoon and lock the sisters out of the sorority on Monday," Jackson said in an interview Friday afternoon. "The school should come down hard on those sororities."

Speaking of the bad habits from the past being the same bad habits of the present, remember when some  people (not to be confused with all) said they were withdrawing their financial support from the Alabama Democratic Party as long as Joe Reed had power?

I'm just saying....

"For those of you who are tired of hearing about racism, imagine how much more tired we are constantly experiencing it." - Barbara Smith