It's been 5 years since the Mother Emmanual AME Church Massacre

#SayTheirNames

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Remembering the 9 people murdered at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston 5 years ago today. Praying for their families, communities, and city.

Let there be Love. pic.twitter.com/4AYIG4g9NI

— Be A King (@BerniceKing) June 17, 2020

RedEye's Midweek Rundown

Real life and Blogging Life are on a collision course today, as it should be, real life won, so please accept this rundown for your reading pleasure until EYE return.

Donald Trump turns full racist and the other GOP candidates seem like the voice of reason.  Don't fall for the Okey Doke.  This is who/what they are.

So, the  United States Supreme Court that stopped the Florida recount in 2000, and, overturned Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act because Obama ,is poised to overturn one man one vote.

What If Christians were seen like Muslims?  

EYE am just saying....

Update~ #AllLivesMatter My Donkey #KeepingItReal

 It's official.  EYE am scared.  Not of Isis, Al Queda, the Taliban, so called illegal immigrants, or Syrian Refugees.  Nope.   EYE am scared of the people who hate us for our freedom and their enablers.

Five People Shot at Black Lives Matter Protest in Minneapolis http://bit.ly/1R47sFt

EYE knew this day was coming.  We (African Americans) are being terrorized, treated like illegal immigrants in our own county.  A country that was built on the backs of our labor.  

They called me n*****, monkey, and they shouted ‘all lives matter’ while they were kicking and punching me.

This is what happens when the white, male dominated, mainstream media ,enables lies, demagoguery, and negative racial stereotypes, under the guise of being fair and balanced.  Eye HOPE they are happy because this blood is on their hands. 

The demonstrators have criticized the police response to Monday night’s shooting on Twitter, saying officers staged outside of the scene for several minutes before coming to the aid of the gunshot victims. They also say officers maced protesters who were filming them.

Decoding the Code Words

“It was just a sea of white faces,” he told Think Progress. “A lady kicked me in the stomach. A man kicked me in the chest. They called me n*****, monkey, and they shouted ‘all lives matter’ while they were kicking and punching me. So for all the people who are still confused at this point, they proved what ‘all lives matter’ meant. It means, ‘Shut up, n*****.'”

B-But it's not Terrorism 

I chose Charleston because it is most historic city in my state, and at one time had the highest ratio of blacks to Whites in the country. We have no skinheads, no real KKK, no one doing anything but talking on the internet. Well someone has to have the bravery to take it to the real world, and I guess that has to be me.

Time will tell the truth. 

After all, a show needs an audience. And the GOP and their supporters have given Trump an audience for far too long. It is time that they step up and stop indulging this dog and pony show. If Donald Trump truly represents the GOP, then they need to consider changing their name to the Nazi party because it would mean that they are trying to elect the next Hitler to power.

If he does not represent the true nature of the GOP, then they need to speak up because right now they are allowing Trump to define who they are.

Does Donald Trump intend to Make America Great Again by bringing back Slavery?

People can sit back thinking that it will never happen, but think about this, it happened after Reconstruction and there were those who thought the same thing. People it is time to stand up and say ENOUGH! Skip the empty apologies.

GOP Party trying to kill us softly with evidence of things not seen..

Five Righteous RedEye Rants on #IndigenousPeoplesDay

EYE am pi$$ed about so many things on this day that EYE don't know where to start.  Warning, this rant is going to make some of you uncomfortable, and for that EYE offer no apologies.  If the rant fits, deal with it. If it doesn't apply to you, shrug.

RedEyeRant #1   Outside Investigators say the shooting of Tamir Rice not criminal because police officer Tim Loehmann acted properly within the constraints of his training.  You want to know how EYE know this is some straight up Bull Crap?  Because Dylan Storm Roof… the suspected killer of the Charleston Nine… was apprehended safely, given a bullet proof vest, and flown back to South Carolina on a private jet.  If law enforcement officers are trained to roll up on black men/women/children, shoot first and ask questions later that is a, strike that, the problem.

RedEyeRant #2  Cops Taser kneeling black councilman in Texas Town where Sandra Bland was arrested, and, it just happened to be the same cop that was involved in the arrest of Sandra Bland.  Coincidence, or a pattern of behavior?  See, this is what happens when you give some high school losers a gun,  a badge, and some authority.

RedEyeRant #3  Here we go again. A  Mississippi family wants answers after man dies in holding cell. EYE am sure they will get the answers they are looking for after the police investigate themselves. Snark

RedEyeRant #4  You didn't see it on TeeVee, or read about it in the mainstream press because it didn't involve a bunch of anti Obama, gun toting, Confederate Flag waving Tea Party people, or government issued, taxpayer funded military weapons, or Donald Trump, but Thousands of people peacefully assembled in Washington D.C. on the 20th Anniversary of the Million Man March to demand #JusticeOrElse or #NotOneDime will we spend. This is what happens when we dare complain about

RedEyeRant #5  The white, male, dominated media is responsible for this sad, sorry, state of affairs. Yes,  EYE said it.  When they can't make us look bad they don't show us at all.  They coddled, enabled, and mainstreamed the racism with their media driven racial stereotypes, now they are wringing their hands and trying to figure out how to put the Genie back into the bottle.  It's the media that are cowards when it comes to discussions about race.  IMHO it all started when the media forced President Obama to renounce, reject, and repudiate Reverend Jeremiah Wright and Louis Farrakhan. The white male dominated media  refuses to allow to have an honest and open discussion about race because that would be too much like right.  If the media were liberal we wouldn't be in this mess.  

RedEye Rant Over and Out.  For now.

#BernieSanders Supporters can dish out the name calling, personal attacks, insults and lies, but they can't take them. #ThereIsMoreThanAWhiffOfHypocrisy

8 Reasons Why the Mainstream Media's Propagation of the Forgiveness Narrative is Problematic for Black People

#FeelTheBern?  Sanders supporters continue to attack the messenger because they can't attack the message.  Their personal attacks on the Black Lives Matter Movement's female activist are every bit as offensive and sexist as Donald Trumps attack on Megyn Kelly.  Their attempt to discredit the Black Lives Matter Movement,  define the real Black Lives Matter Movement. and discredit the character of the activist is pure paternalism, which is another form of racism.  

Notably, it wasn’t two Black women who kept Bernie from speaking in Seattle. It was a White man, a Bernie supporter, who organized the event who shut it down, said the event was over, and informed the crowd that Sanders would not be speaking because he couldn’t agree with the “methods of direct action” of the Black women in front of him.

Let me give it to you straight, Bernie Sanders supporters don't decide who/what is best for Black people.  We don't need you to "take care of us".  We will decide who are leaders are.   

Respectability politics definitely play a role here. The argument goes: If these loud, destructive, rude protesters would only mellow out, they'd realize that you catch more flies with honey. Don't upset or alienate your white allies. Don't piss on your best friend. Don't put your best friend in a compromising position. He can't help you until he gets on the inside. So be nice, play fair, and wait your turn. You're making black people look bad.

Bernie Sanders, or any other democratic candidate will not win the primary without the vote of black women.  Fact.  Calling young black women who are trying to make a difference idiots and childish, horrible, brats, is not the way to win the black female vote.  These young women are the Rosa Parks and Fannie Lou Hammers of our time.  They are our daughters, sisters, mothers, aunts, cousins, friends, and nieces. We stand by them and with them.  Stop with the angry black woman narrative. Yes, we are angry because we are tired of crying over the graves of our loved ones.  You will never know our fear, or our pain. therefore you don't get to decide how we express it.  You got that?

Don't condemn our anger. Don't denounce our pain as savage. What's savage is the cruel inhumanity and brutality of the police. Condemn that.~Amandla Stenberg

Bernie Sanders supporters just don't get it.  Why should black women support him after this?  How are we to believe he is the person who will best address our concerns when his supporters call us ignorant and delusional because we won't go along to get along?  Your progressiveness is not enough, we need more. 

Two Black women called for a moment of silence for Mike Brown a year after he was gunned down, left bleeding in the street for 4.5 hours, and White “progressives” shouted, booed, and chanted the name of a White man throughout that moment.
How much more committed to a “negative peace” can we get than literally shouting down the memory of a Black youth whose murder helped to spark this movement?
And how much more “devoted to ‘order'” can we be than to lecture Black people about what direct actions are and are not “hurting your cause”? (Notably, this language I’ve seen from countless White folks shows that we do not see the cause of racial justice as OUR cause – it’s that cause over there that we will tolerate so long as it doesn’t disrupt our Bernie rally.)
And how much more of a “stumbling block” can our self-proclaimed “allyship” be to racial justice when it’s so feeble as to proclaim, “I am a strong ally of the Black Lives Matter movement, but I’m not sure how to be an ally when they are this disrespectful to the only candidate that has actually done anything for minorities” (actual quote from one of the 15 or so social media threads I’m following as I write this article)?

Black Lives Matter is not a moment, it's a movement. A movement created by three strong, black, bold, intelligent, brave, young women.  They are our hope for the future of our republic.  EYE stand by them and with them all the darn way, all the darn day.  As much as it pains me to quote Dubya, you're either with us, or you're against us.

Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.~Frederick Douglas

Sanders needs to, as the young people say, get some of his supporters in check, before they drive more supporters like me away.

Marissa Janae Johnson Speaks: #BLM, Sanders & White Progressives™ | #TWIBnation

Listen and learn about what really happened at the Bernie Sanders rally in Seattle.  The Black Lives Matter Seattle Activist are under a vicious and sustained, media enabled attack.  EYE stand with them and for what they stand for.

And how much more “devoted to ‘order'” can we be than to lecture Black people about what direct actions are and are not “hurting your cause”? (Notably, this language I’ve seen from countless White folks shows that we do not see the cause of racial justice as OUR cause – it’s that cause over there that we will tolerate so long as it doesn’t disrupt our Bernie rally.)

"The reaction to these protesters shed light on the hidden Seattle that most black people know well — the Seattle that prefers politeness to true progress, the Seattle that is more offended by raised voices than by systemic oppression, the Seattle that prioritizes the comfort of middle-class white liberals over justice for people of color."

Was blind but now I see

On this, nearly the one year anniversary of the ruthless murder of Mike Brown, we honor Black lives lost by doing the unthinkable, the unapologetic, and the unrespectable. Out of radical love for our Black brothers and sisters, we put our lives and our bodies on the line to testify to their persecution and resilience. We join together in Black love to #SayHerName and declare that #BlackLivesMatter, understanding that our love will disrupt the complicity and corruption of our anti-Black society; GOP, Democrat, and otherwise.

There is no business as usual while Black lives are lost. We will ensure this by any means necessary.

With the strength of our ancestors and for the future of our children,

Black Lives Matter Seattle Co-Founders

Marissa Johnson and Mara Willaford

#BowDownBernie
#SayHerName
#IfIDieInPoliceCustody
‪#‎NotOneMoreDeportation‬
‪#‎FreePalestine‬
‪#‎MikeBrown‬
#BlackLivesMatter

"Our tactics have ALWAYS been questioned. Our voices...our humanity is more important than rules, convenience, and political correctness".~Black Lives Matter Also-BIRMINGHAM

Edit~ The #ConfederateFlag has been taken down in South Carolina, It's too bad it took a #Massacre to #TakeItDown

Meanwhile back in Washington D.C. fresh from leading a Congressional Delegation to the funeral for one the #CharlestonMassacre victims, State Senator Rev. ClementaPickney, the "clowns in Washington are actually debating whether it is appropriate to remove that very same flag from National Park Service run cemeteries and federal lands". There is more than a whiff of hypocrisy.

For those who don't know The Heart of Dixie, aka, Sweet Home Alabama... had not one, but four #ConfederateFlags flying on the grounds of the State Capitol. Although Governor Robert Bentley is being credited for suddenly developing a spine and removing the flag out of the kindness of his heart, it's really a vindication for former democratic governor Jim Folsom Jr.,  Alabama State Senator Alvin Holmes  and 14 other black lawmakers who tried for years to remove the Confederate Flag from the capital grounds.

1976: Alvin Holmes filed a suit against Wallace and others to prohibit the flying of the Confederate flag over the Capitol. The federal district court ruled against Holmes.
1988: The NAACP, Alvin Holmes and others filed a lawsuit against Gov. Guy Hunt seeking to remove the Confederate battle flag from the State Capitol grounds. The district court again ruled against Holmes.
Late 1980s-Early 1990s: The Alabama Capitol was flying the U.S., Alabama and Confederate battle flags. All three were taken down due to a massive renovation of the capitol in the early 1990s.
Alvin Holmes and other legislators filed a third lawsuit using a different argument than the first two (1976 and 1988). They argued that an Alabama law from 1975 doesn't allow for the flying of any flag above the Capitol other than the U.S. and Alabama flags.
Jan. 4, 1993: Circuit Judge William Gordon rules in favor of Alvin Holmes. Judge ordered Alabama law allows only the state and national flag be flown over Alabama's capitol and enjoined the governor from raising the Confederate, or any other flag.
Gov. Folsom didn't appeal the judge's ruling.
Late 1990s-Early 2000s: Gov. Don Siegelman made a provision that when the state restored the Confederate Memorial Monument it would be appropriate to fly Confederate flags for historical display. Four flags of the confederacy were raised on the north grounds of the Capitol. Three of the flags are the national flags of the Confederacy and the final flag is the Confederate battle flag, according to Ed Bridges with the Alabama Department of Archives and History.

Alabama, aka, The Heart of Dixie had a Confederate Flag removal from public cemeteries flap too, starring none other than present candidate for Mayor  of the Cradle of the Confederacy, aka Montgomery, AL , Artur Davis, the latest delusional puppet of republican racial propaganda.

EYE wonder what it is going to take to remove The Heart of Dixie from ALL Alabama state license plates?

One behalf of all the martyrs EYE would like to thank former Governor Jim Folsom Jr., State Senator Alvin Holmes, Rep. Thomas Reed and others, for daring defending our right to remove the Confederate Battle flag from the grounds of the State House. Your perseverance and courage in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds will never be forgotten.  Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. 

RedEye tiptoeing away from the computer humming We Shall Overcome One Day....at a time.

#FlagDown