Thank Goodness The Alabama Democratic Party "Stonewalled" The Latest Attempt to Dilute African American Influence in the SDEC

I was pleased to learn the Alabama Democratic Party, under the capable and effective leadership of Acting Chair Nancy Worley, and Minority Affairs Chair Dr. Joe Reed was able to Stonewall the latest attack on African American influence within the SDEC.

H/T Wanted Alabama Democrats for directing me to a summary of the meeting summarized in this video, edited and posted by the staff of the Alabama Political Reporter.

Excerpt the links inserted for emphasis are mine:

Last year, then-party chairman Mark Kennedy and other key employees resigned from their positions, leaving to form the Alabama Democratic Majority, a group whose stated goal is to break the GOP legislative supermajority in the 2014. At the time, Worley – who was then interim chair – complained about ADM's staff taking items and information that belonged to the Democratic Party, not to them, such as login information for software accounts, paper supplies, and even allegedly their website, to which Worley says ADP no longer has access.

Many have characterized the strife as racial, with some pointing to Dr. Joe Reed as the culprit. Dr. Reed, who has long been a top politico in State affairs, has opposed every diversity amendment that has thus far come before the body. Dr. Reed is the minority chair of the party, and is also the chairman of the Alabama Democratic Conference, an activist group whose endorsement can mean more than half of the African American vote in many districts around the Yellowhammer state.

While Dr. Reed claims that his objections are mostly technical – including the fact that women are included when they already comprise half the body – some say that his opposition is only an effort to prevent African American influence in the SDEC from being diluted, even if at the expense of other guaranteed minority representation in the body.

Let's recap, links inserted for emphasis are mine.

A short primer on the issue, with some historical perspective, is necessary to a full understanding of what transpired. There is currently no definition of “minority” in this section. For at least 30 years that I know of, the various state Chairs, including John Baker, Redding Pitt, Joe Turnham, and Judge Kennedy, have held that “minority” in this section means “black.” This section was put in the Bylaws in the 1970’s, over much opposition from the then-George Wallace faction, to assure that blacks had representation on the SDEC commensurate with their proportion of the Democratic vote in general elections. Without the predecessor version of that language, it is possible that George Wallace’s 1974 effort to seize control of the SDEC from Judge Robert Vance, Sr., and the “Loyalist” (as in loyal to the national Party and nominee) caucus, might have been successful. Those of us who were present when Wallace failed recall that it was, as Wellington said of his victory at Waterloo, “a damn close-run thing.”

Again, this is not about diversity, it's about getting rid of Joe Reed and his bunch by some of the same people who supported Artur Davis over Ron Sparks  as the democratic nominee for Governor of Alabama, and, by some of the same people who are welcoming Dr. Parker Griffith back to the Alabama Democratic Party with open lips, I mean, arms.

For those who expend precious time and resources trying to make the Alabama Democratic Party look like the Alabama Republican Party, I wish you would expend the same time and resources fighting with us instead of helping the GOP.

"When all the fingers work together they form a mighty fist."

I'm just saying.....