In 1970, Bill Baxley became the youngest person in the United States to hold a state attorney generalship. Within one week of being sworn in as Attorney General of Alabama, 29-year-old Baxley reopened the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. “Now I could do what I had sworn to do,” he remembers thinking. “Within two months in office I had set one goal for myself: to solve that bombing case.”
the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) dubbed Alabama’s then-attorney general an “honorary nigger” and basically threatened to kill him. 29-year-old AG Billy Baxley promptly issued his response on official State of Alabama letterhead: “kiss my ass.”
the reason I oppose the republican party has nothing to do with me being a democrat, and I don't oppose republicans just to support democrats. I oppose republicans because the people who perpetrated the 16th Street Baptist Church bombings and other terrorist acts joined the GOP.RedEye
This has been the blackest and most unapologetic Black History Month ever, and it isn’t even over yet. I am personally here for every melanated moment of it. All this Black excellence and Black power… As much as I love “Lift Every Voice & Sing” and enjoyed writing Black history reports, it could never compare to the ebony joy I have felt since the start of the month as a Black woman. A lot has happened, and I may actually have to do a part two post because we still have 11 days to go. For now, here are five reasons why this has been the most unapologetically black Black History Month ever.
“As the cofounder of Black Lives Matter Chicago, I was issued an invitation to this event, and various news outlets have already listed me as an attendee. But as a radical, Black organizer, living and working in a city that is now widely recognized as a symbol of corruption and police violence, I do not feel that a handshake with the president is the best way for me to honor Black History Month or the Black freedom fighters whose labor laid the groundwork for the historic moment we are living in.” — Aislinn PulleyRedEye
Hello this is Hank Sanders, Alabama state Senator, and I’m still mad as hell. I say hell no! I ain’t going back to the cotton fields of Jim Crow days. I’m going forward with Ron Sparks, Jim Folsom and others who would do right by all of us. I hope you are mad as hell and will not go back, and you have the power to choose. I will stand until hell freezes over for Ron Sparks for Governor and Jim Folsom for Lt. Governor on November the 2nd.
Paid for by Alabama New South.
Slavery has been in the news a lot lately. Perhaps it’s because of the increase in human trafficking on American soil or the headlines about income inequality, the mass incarceration of African Americans or discussions about reparations to the descendants of slaves. Several publications have fueled these conversations: Ta-Nehisi Coates’ The Case for Reparations in The Atlantic Monthly, French economist Thomas Picketty’s Capital in the Twenty First Century, historian Edward Baptist’s The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and The Making of American Capitalism, and law professor Bryan A. Stevenson’s Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption.Why Reparations?
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| See the "Closed on Sunday" sign? Check out the Picture of Jesus in the window |
Dana Jones, a found member of the FTC, said it made perfect sense for the flag to be there at the first capital of the Confederacy. Her reasoning? She wants it to spark interest in the role the state of Alabama played in the Civil War. According to Jones, as descendants of the Confederacy, their Confederate lives matter just as the lives of blacks.
When asked if she didn’t think the flag was a “slap in the face” against the predominantly black university, Jones responded: “I’m not prejudiced (or) racist, I am a Christian.”
#BlackHistoryMonth2016
I think the Governor, like little Cindy Lou Who (who was no more than two), is fooled by the Grinch legislature’s Santa Claus costume.
The governor’s speech was ideologically all over the place. I’m beginning to question whether Bentley is the same rock-ribbed Republican who opted not to bring expanded Medicare and Medicaid money into the state under the Affordable Care Act because, well, Obama (who is black).
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| On this date, in 1956, Autherine Lucy became the first African American student to attend the University of Alabama. #History #BlackHistoryMonth |
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| University of Alabama students burn desegregation literature to demonstrate against enrollment of first African American Student, Autherine Lucy in Tuscaloosa on Feb. 6, 1956 Courtesy of Library of Congress. |
50 years ago today, 1,000 schoolchildren arrested in Selma & Marion Alabama during voter registration campaign pic.twitter.com/ztHHAgYjTf
— Ari Berman (@AriBerman) February 3, 2015
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| U.S. Representative John Lewis (left) and Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth lead a group on a tour of Kelly Ingram Park. Congress members toured the park in Birmingham during the annual civil rights event on March 8, 2003. (Jeremy Bales/The Birmingham News) |
He is strong; he is charismatic; he is positive, but he is extremely disappointed. It is not the separation, which hurts him, for he is closer to his family than ever. It is not the lack of freedom, which causes him grief, for he cherishes the time he has to work on his book, coach the young men around him, read, and grow spiritually. He is not crippled by the fact that he has spent more than a year in prison, he is burdened by the greater injustice that surrounds him - the use of the justice system as a political weapon, concealed, quiet, and effective. He wants change.Justice delayed is Justice Denied.
On this day, 45 years ago, three men were killed and 27 were wounded on the campus of South Carolina State College in a violent series of events that would become known as the Orangeburg Massacre.
Tuesday, Feb. 5, 9:54 a.m. EST: Sanford, Fla., celebrates Trayvon's 18th birthday: Trayvon Martin would have turned 18 years old today. To mark the occasion, community leaders in Sanford, Fla., will host a "Banding Together for Peace" program designed to recognize the need for community healing and solidarity. The event, held in Goldsboro, a historically black part of the city, will include the Sanford Police Department, the NAACP, local city officials and Martin family attorney Benjamin Crump
What continues to shock me isn’t so much how widely held the negative view of him is, it is how openly people express their racism. Thanks to Wonkette, we know about Todd Kincannon. He is the former general counsel and executive director of the South Carolina Republican Party who felt compelled to mention Trayvon in a raunchy tweet about the Super Bowl. After reading his obnoxious Twitter feed, feel free to reach for the Purell. As if Kincannon’s first Trayvon tweet weren’t bad enough, the filterless fellow went even farther in another shameful tweet.Let us remember Trayvon Martin and 7 black men who should be alive today, and their families.
.@DAWNCATHERINE I appreciate you! I agree that Trayvon Martin was a dangerous thug who needed to be put down like a rabid dog.
Funny how people see things that don’t exist – time and time again. Problem is: It would only seem to happen when the suspected person is a Black male in the United States. Martin had no gun and no criminal record. The Martin incident indicates that to some, a Black male doesn’t have to actually be doing anything unlawful to be murdered. A Black male need only be walking while carrying an iced tea and a pack of Skittles to become the subject of attention.
Focusing on the extraordinary women behind the two men who would change history, "Betty & Coretta" tells the similar true stories of Coretta Scott King (Angela Bassett), wife of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (Malik Yoba), and Dr. Betty Shabazz (Mary J. Blige), wife of Malcolm X (Lindsay Owen Pierre). When their husbands were tragically assassinated, these two women not only inherited the mantle of the civil rights movement in America, each also found herself to be a single mother who had to find a way to raise and support her children with no husband or father, resulting in a relationship like no other that spanned more than three decades.
Yes, February is the shortest month of the year. However, Kwanzaa runs from December 26 to January 1, and no sooner is it over, than we begin to think of Martin Luther King whose birthday is celebrated on the second Monday in January. And right after the King holiday, we begin to prepare for Black History Month. Therefore, the 64 days between December 26 and February 28, are, in reality, Black History Season. Thus, for the bulk of the winter we have the opportunity, and the encouragement, to celebrate and meditate upon what we have accomplished against all odds.RedEye signing out....for now
U.S. corporate media coverage of the unfolding events in Egypt provide little or no window into the true social and political dynamics of the country – who the actual popular actors are in this history-shaking drama. The author describes the people and movements behind the revolt.
West is one of only two black Republicans in the House.
"You endured the relentless and hostile attacks from the liberal left, such as being called racist," West told the conservative activists. "Perhaps they should see who is standing here as your keynote speaker."
Attempting to repeal insurance reform would be bad enough. Attempting draconian budget cuts during a halting recovery from a deep recession would be bad enough. Making fools of themselves by wasting time reading selections from the Constitution while doing absolutely nothing to create jobs would be bad enough. Launching a war on women would be bad enough. Whining about deficits while proposing policies that would actually increase them would be bad enough. The entire Republican approach of knowing nothing and doing nothing, unless it is to attempt a return to the prevailing values of the Thirteenth Century, is so corrupt and irresponsible that it would defy credulity, were we not already so accustomed to it as to take it for granted. But it's even worse.
Incensed over BP ads claiming that the spilled oil is gone and the Gulf's beaches are clean, Hurricane Creekkeeper John Wathen of Alabama set out to document the truth.
Imagine this. You are asleep in a basement apartment with your roommate. You are both Rutgers students. One of you is white, the other an Arab American, and you are both 19. One of you has a father who was a cop. Police in New Brunswick, NJ have a warrant for a different student living in a different apartment in the same building. You have no police record. You are not identified on the warrant. It's 4:30 in the morning. Guess what happened next:
I am sending you $1 today. This is not a donation to your Presidential reelection bid. it is a request you buy me a lottery ticket the next time it reaches $100 million. I have no problem splitting it w/ you and voluntarily paying %30 in federal taxes.
I am sure you are looking at this w/ your W-T-F face the First lady has seen after you come down from talking to PM Netanyahu and are asked to walk Bo. The one where you are thinking I'm been listening to it now I have to go clean it up!
Hopefully, you have gotten past that and are reading the rest of this. I am asking because you know you have to be the luckiest man alive. You are running for re-election after dealing w/ a racist American Taliban and media assault that can not even admit you came into the job w/ the worst possible fires on the stove short of the stove going nuclear on you. You belong to a party that can't organize itself to have a press conference to announce a policy w/o sounding like they are cleaning up after Bo; eyweeww! you have opposition for the job in tow men. One isn't liked by anybody but those w/ money. In fact, he can't even win an election w/o cheating(Maine and Iowa). and now in his 3rd home state, he has to bring in Donald Trump to help beat the Ayatollah. Two, the other is a card-carrying Ayatollah who believes you worship trees. I'll bet there are members of your own party begging you to come campaign in their district just so they can look good by the company they keep, though I doubt they'll let you in the house w/o putting away the silver.
So as you can see there is solid proof you are the luckiest pol ever. I would just like a piece of that change.
PS if you don't want to go to acknowledge this letter by buying a ticket could you at least tell me if this series of numbers work; 3/12/47 & 5/10/58. They are Mittens and Lil' Ricky's birth dates.