Update: "Well Behaved Women Rarely Make History" and "Well Done Protest is Always Inappropriate" #BlackHistoryMonth2016

Update:  Clinton apologizes for 1996 remarks on 'super-predators' after encounter with activist.

In case you haven't heard, the woman who is attempting the break the already cracked glass ceiling to  become the first female President of the United States of America was confronted by a young, black, female activist at a private, $500.00 per person fundraiser in Charleston, SC last night.  Yes, the interruption was rude and disruptive, but so was Hillary's response.

For those who have been living under a rock, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are in a fight to the finish for the black vote.  Both of them, as my Daddy used to say, are N-wording up.

With the Democratic candidates’ first test in the South approaching, a battle of high-profile surrogates is intensifying as Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Sanders vie for the support of African-American voters, who are expected to make up more than half of the primary electorate in the Palmetto State.

As Super Tuesday draws near EYE am still undecided which democratic candidate EYE will vote for.  Just when EYE think my mind is made up, one of the candidates, or their supporters, do or say something that brings me right back to being undecided.

 

EYE don't know who is advising Hillary, but EYE HOPE it's not the same people who advised President Obama and others to pander to those who might vote for them at the expense of those who did, and will vote for them.  It was  not a good look to be campaigning with the Mothers of victims of gun and police violence one day and marginalize their daughters the next day.  

Listen up Bernie and Hillary, the young people are sick and tired of photo ops and lip service.

Pulley said Thursday she was not interested in being a part of what she called "a photo opportunity and a 90-second sound bite for the president."
"I was under the impression that a meeting was being organized to facilitate a genuine exchange on the matters facing millions of Black and Brown people in the United States," Pulley wrote in an op-ed piece. "I could not, with any integrity, participate in such a sham that would only serve to legitimize the false narrative that the government is working to end police brutality and the institutional racism that fuels it. For the increasing number of families fighting for justice and dignity for their kin slain by police, I refuse to give its perpetrators and enablers political cover by making an appearance among them."

The young people aren't the only ones who are sick and tired of being sick and tired. If either of you really want to understand the fear, yes EYE said fear, of being black in America, and the significance of the Black Lives Matter Movement, yes, EYE said Movement, as in the Civil Rights Movement both of you like to use as props, watch last nights' episode of black-ish, then go out and earn the Black vote.

We want our HOPE for Change we can Believe in Back.

#BlackHistoryMonth2016

In honor of Black History Month and since South Carolina is Ground Zero for the battle for the hearts and minds of Black voters, here an excerpt from a previous post reminding us about the history of South Carolina.

So now it's on to the racist, I mean conservative, Christian, red, republican, Confederate, slave state of South Carolina. Which may explain why Willard starting slinging red meat in his victory speech,accusing President Obama of not knowing what it means to be an American, who wants to turn America into a European-style entitlement society. Code for birth certificate, welfare, food stamps. 

Here are some facts about the conservative state of South Carolina, which according to the Talking TeeVee Pundit Heads, is known for it's bare knuckles politics.

South Carolina is the home of The Orangeburg Massacre at South Carolina State University where three black students were shot and killed by police during a peaceful protest. 

South Carolina is the home of former republican U.S. Senator Strom Thurmon, racist by day, hypocrite by night. 

South Carolina is the home of current republican U.S Senator Jim "Waterloo" Demint. 

South Carolina is the home of U.S. Congressman Joe "You Lie" Wilson. Speaking of Congressman Joe "You Lie" Wilson, he will address a group of defense and military leaders at a $1,000.00 per person luncheon in Huntsville, AL today. Dale "voter suppression with the state seal of approvall" Jackson will introduce Congressman Mo "I will do anything short of shooting them" Brooks who I'm assuming will introduce Wilson. What's up with out of state/city Congress Critters raising money in North Alabama? 

South Carolina is the state vowing to sue the United States Department of Justice, to enact a state voter ID law, which they have already said punishes black voters.
South Carolina is the state where republican Governor Nikki Haley rejects the NAACP push to remove the Confederate Flag from atop the Statehouse. 

I can't wait to see which candidate will emerge victorious in the Battle for South Carolina.

RedEye

Note:  The quotes in the title are by  Laurel Thatcher Ulrich and Matthew Williams

#BlackBrunchATL #Republicans #Conservatives can't hide the truth any more! #RNC #GOP

#BlackBrunchATL  #Republicans #Conservatives can't hide the truth any more!  pic.twitter.com/mxMK2bL84a #RNC #GOP
— Larry  (@crazylary51) March 29, 2015

In protest, we extend the crisis to those who otherwise would ignore it. In protest, we confront deadly complacency. #BlackBrunchATL
— deray mckesson (@deray) March 29, 2015

I love this RT @AUCShutItDown: White man says were scaring her children. Ours are scared too. #BlackBrunchATL pic.twitter.com/5k40Y4Vu9D
— #BlackExperience (@kidnoble) March 29, 2015

"Hands Up Don't Shoot" Was Not Built on a Lie

You know how I feel on the DOJ report re: the killing of Mike Brown? I want a trial. That's how I feel. Let's see the conclusion post-trial.
— deray mckesson (@deray) March 16, 2015

Ferguson Message is as powerful as ever.

" No Justice No Peace Until We ALL Can Breathe" #HandsUpDontShoot #BlackLivesMatter

@miserablecitytv An Homage to the Lives of Diallo, Bell, Martin, Brown, Garner, Boyd, Rice, Crawford, Gurley http://t.co/uWmfYppIPa
— Masai Mitchell (@HarlemKnights82) December 19, 2014

Rest in Power

"Standing Their Ground" --> #BlackLivesMatter #p2 pic.twitter.com/aYVqG2EagZ
— Eric Wolfson (@EricWolfson) December 7, 2014

#VestorVote

Post by Dream Defenders.

"He was shot like an animal" #MikeBrown

"When Trayvon Martin was first shot, I said that this could have been my son,"

President Obama finally issued a statement regarding the death of Michael Brown, asking people to remember Micheal Brown  with reflections and understanding.


Oh, OK.

Reflect on THIS:

 By all accounts, [Michael] Brown was One Of The Good Ones. But laying all this out, explaining all the ways in which he didn't deserve to die like a dog in the street, is in itself disgraceful. Arguing whether Brown was a good kid or not is functionally arguing over whether he specifically deserved to die, a way of acknowledging that some black men ought to be executed.

 Understand THIS

Officers have tanks now. They have drones. They have automatic rifles, and planes, and helicopters, and they go through military-style boot camp training. It's a constant complaint from what remains of this country's civil liberties caucus. Just this last June, the ACLU issued a report on how police departments now possess arsenals in need of a use. Few paid attention, as usually happens.

The worst part of outfitting our police officers as soldiers has been psychological. Give a man access to drones, tanks, and body armor, and he'll reasonably think that his job isn't simply to maintain peace, but to eradicate danger. Instead of protecting and serving, police are searching and destroying.

If officers are soldiers, it follows that the neighborhoods they patrol are battlefields. And if they're working battlefields, it follows that the population is the enemy. And because of correlations, rooted in historical injustice, between crime and income and income and race, the enemy population will consist largely of people of color, and especially of black men. Throughout the country, police officers are capturing, imprisoning, and killing black males at a ridiculous clip, waging a very literal war on people like Michael Brown.

THIS is why we're mad about the shooting of Mike Brown.

As a black person in America, it's getting exhausting to still have to explain, in the year 2014, your right to exist in this country. To explain that you are a human being whose value sits no lower than anyone else's. To explain our basic humanity. And perhaps worst of all, to explain exactly why we are outraged.

Hey America!  Can you please stop killing our (usually) innocent black male children now? 

#MikeBrown

#Trayvon Martin

#Ferguson

 #I'mGonnaVote

Know Justice, Know Peace...

 

I hate to sound cynical, but I have no confidence in the justice system when it comes to African Americans. When it comes to us, justice is either a 50/50 crap shoot, or down right elusive.  The case may not turn on facts or truth, but on relationships.  And therein lies the problem with the court ordered mediation,  and the current legal matters pending before the court regarding the desegregation of the Huntsville City School system.

"The Court strongly suspects that the district has chosen not to share many of the reasons for the choices that it made as it shaped its student assignment plan. The Court got a glimpse into the superintendent's thinking when the United States's cross-examined him about his objections to the government's rezoning proposals. When asked whether Hereford (Elementary) students would not benefit from attending Huntsville High, the superintendent, in an unguarded moment, replied '[t]hey [would] be going into schools that are not accustomed to dealing with students who are below grade level.'

Damn the courts,  HCS superintendent Casey Wardynski is going full speed ahead with his plans with a military, take no prisoners attitude,  just like The New Captain Bligh on the New Ship of Fools.  

Casey you have to break the mold and prove you're not afraid of minorities, democrats, liberals, aclu (sic) types and the entire entitlement crowd! Do that, and you'll be doing the job you were hired to do! Oh yeah, not to mention striking down all racial transfers. And that includes allowing not allowing whites to racially transfer either. If you don't like where your child goes to school, move to where they can be zoned into a school of your preference, that's what I had to do!

This superintendent and this board can dish it out but they can't take it.  They like to throw rocks and hide their hands.  That was why they instigated a new policy of requiring all questions from the public during the work session part of the meeting to be submitted in writing (that they then refused to read out loud).

It has come to my attention that in addition to the new north middle/high school being located less than half a mile from an active rock quarry, it backs up to a huge drainage ditch that students will have to cross to access the school.
 
The only reason a new school is being built in north Huntsville is because is because south Huntsville wanted a new school.  What south Huntsville wants, south Huntsville gets. Don't get me wrong, I don't begrudge south Huntsville  for getting a new school, or for getting to keep their name, I just don't believe it should be at the expense of the lives of north Huntsville students and staff. 

No justice, no peace.

Stupid is......as Stupid does....

What's behind the sagging pants trend?

Stupid Is......

With all the pressing issues facing the city of Huntsville, and the state of Alabama, there is a petition being circulated asking the city of Huntsville to pass an ordinance for a $25-$50 fine and community service to children and adults wearing "saggin pants" in public.

Before I type another word let me make if perfectly clear I think sagging pants are a sloppy fashion trend, and adds to the negative perception of black youth.  That said, what part of you can't legislate personal behavior don't you understand?  If you don't like sagging pants, don't wear sagging pants.   It's like telling a woman she can't choose to have an abortion.  It's like telling gay people they can't serve in the military.  It''s like telling women they can't wear pants to work.  It's like telling grown folks they can't gamble  in their own state, with their own damn money.  It's like telling Michelle Obama she can't show her arms.  It's like telling someone you can't drink alcohol on Sunday.  You get my drift?

The Declaration of Independence declares We the People are entitled to Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  If wearing sagging pants makes someone happy, so be it.  If they can't get a job because their pants are sagging that's on them.  If they can't run from danger because their pants fall down around their knees and trip them up, that's on them.  If an airline won't let them  board the plane with sagging pants, that's on them.  You feel me?

Note the race of the young men (?) in the picture above. This is a another way to target young black men, putting them at risk for subjective profiling, something they already face disproportionately.

.....As Stupid does

 

The Women's Business Center of North Alabama and Bradley Arant Boult Cummings hosted a seminar focusing on bringing your guns to work a year after Alabama began enforcing a law allowing concealed carry permit holders to keep firearms in their vehicles while on the job.  

No charges are expected to filed in the case of the downtown Huntsville shooting at the skate park that left one injured and children running for cover.  As the shooter said  "I think it's a pretty clear-cut case of self-defense,"  Oh, OK.

But let's talk about all the drugs, gun violence, and crime in north .......Huntsville.

Two career readiness seminars will be held soon in Huntsville to help job seekers find work at Remington Outdoor, Toyota and the Huntsville Police Department. Remington announced in February it will create 2,000 jobs over 10 years at its new gun plant in the former Chrysler building near Huntsville International Airport.

Expect more gun makers to follow.

RedEye tiptoeing away from the computer muttering  life is like a box of chocolates....

The InJustice of the century, one year later #J4TM

#Trayvon Martin

Today marks the one year anniversary of the miscarriage of justice of the century,  when the 5 white and 1 Hispanic, all female jury,  acquitted George Zimmerman for the murder of Trayvon Martin. 

 What we do know is that the Trayvon Martin case says a lot about the state of our politics at the moment.  It’s not very post-racial and, yes, it is very tense and polarized.  Certain elements in the political process, including decision makers from state legislatures to Capitol Hill, are holding the gun.  People of color are in the cross-hairs.  And the only thing we seem to be armed with these days is a high unemployment rate and a sense that the future is not looking as bright.

One year later, the jury is still anonymous.

 To date, little is known about the mainly faceless jurors who deliberated for more than 16 hours before rendering George Zimmerman's fate. Five white women and one black Hispanic woman were on the main panel; four alternate jurors, two men and two women, were also selected. Juror B29 told ABC she believed Zimmerman "got away with murder" but that she had to "grab our hearts and put it aside and look at the evidence." Alternate juror E54 told WOFL he "supported the verdict." Juror B37, the first juror to speak, told CNN that Zimmerman was "justified in shooting Trayvon Martin" but that he "had good in his heart, he just went overboard." She initially planned to write a book about her experience but withdrew after major backlash against her comments.

One year later, violence against unarmed black people continues.

Spare us the invocations of "black-on-black crime." I will not respect the lie. I would rather be thought insane. The most mendacious phrase in the American language is "black-on-black crime," which is uttered as though the same hands that drew red lines around the ghettoes of Chicago are not the same hands that drew red lines around the life of Jordan Davis, as though black people authored North Lawndale and policy does not exist. That which mandates the murder of our Hadiya Pendletons necessarily mandates the murder of Jordan Davis. I will not respect any difference. I will not respect the lie. I would rather be thought crazy.

One year later, Rachel Jeantal blames herself for the jury's actions.

Immediately, I heard newscasters referring to her prior testimony, which I had watched on video, as combative and aggressive. And I felt my pressure start to rise.
These kinds of terms – combat, aggression, anger – stalk black women, especially black women who are dark-skinned and plus-sized like Rachel, at every turn seeking to discredit the validity of our experiences and render invisible our traumas. By painting Rachel Jeantel as the aggressor, as the one prone to telling lies and spreading untruths, it became easy for the white male defense attorney to treat this 19-year-old, working-class black girl, a witness to the murder of her friend, as hostile, as a threat, as the one who needed to be regulated and contained and put in her place.

One year later,  we still have Stand Your Ground Laws, as a matter of fact, Stand Your Ground  laws were  expanded in Florida.

One year later,  neither President Barack Obama, the media, or any racial incident has forced the nation to talk about race in any sort of serious way.

So yes, let's have a real discussion about race and racism.  I mean a real hope-to-die, get it all out in the open discussion.  It's times to drain the poison off, so that this nation can heal.  The whole world is watching.  I don't know about you people, but I don't plan to set my clock back, I plan to set it forward.

One year later, The Justice Department is still investigating the death of Trayvon Martin.

One year later and Trayvon Martin is till dead.

We are the ones that failed.

Truth first then justice.
We’re the ones that failed. Not us specifically, but the people who knew and understood the truth and common sense and had the format to speak out about it. We let another narrative take place so we can avoid calling what we are seeing what it really is.

"Trayvon belongs to all of  America and until you see him as your child too, we all remain in bondage."

Rest in Freedom Sweet Child, we will never forget you.