Re-Post countdown to my being banned from the pages of Left in Alabama in honor of my 5th Blog-O-versery

 

Regular readers know Friday, November 13, 2009 was indeed unlucky for me because it was the beginning of the end of my posting privileges at the  Informed. Involved. Progressive. democratic blog of record,  Left in Alabama,  supposedly because of the content of my comments and other posts.  EYE still think it was because of my non support of a gubernatorial candidate (which EYE ended up being right about). So from now until November 13, 2014,  EYE will re post links to the posts EYE (pun intended) believe led to my being banned from Left in Alabama and let you decide.

Blast from the Past Re-Post #1:  Cynthia Tucker Looks at the Alabama Governors Race

Artur Davis has to walk the fine line in this campaign: convince the big middle of the electorate to judge him on the issues -- he's a fairly moderate reformer with broad appeal -- without turning off voters who may have followed Joe Reed's advice in the past.  He needs to convince those voters to judge him on the issues instead of listening to Reed's advice. 
There's a generational power struggle going on in Alabama that has nothing to do with race.  It's all about whether the current gatekeepers and power brokers in the Democratic party can maintain their hold on the party -- and whether they get to exercise veto power over candidates.  Davis stands largely outside the current party structure and a win for him will signal diminished influence for the folks currently running the show. 
Gatekeepers like Reed and AEA Executive Secretary Paul Hubbert (both of whom are vice-chairs of the state party) probably don't have enough power to deny Davis the nomination outright, but they might have enough power to throw the general election to a Republican.  The November election will be that close and the rift between Davis and Reed appears deep enough that such extreme action is imaginable  -- check the examples of John Tyson or Patricia Todd if you don't believe it.  While denying Davis the governorship because he didn't come, hat in hand, to ask permissions and make deals would probably feel good for a few nanoseconds, it's squarely in the category of "cutting off your nose to spite your face."  The aftermath of such a strategy would certainly bring the Old Guard down in a wave of resentment. 

Be sure and read the comments (please excuse the typos and grammatical errors).

I respect Cynthia Tucker as a a Nobel prize winning journalist and Alabama native, but she doesn't know what she's talking about.  She is playing the old tried and true race baiting card from the bottom of the race deck of cards and saying what white folks say privately but can't say out loud.

RedEye Reports what You decide.

Psst President Obama! You could have been Trayvon Martin 4 years ago....

  Yassuh, Boss, Right Away 

So, the white, male, dominated media is patting themselves on the back for allowing President Obama to talk about race for the second time in 5 years after being prodded/pushed to do so by black folks.  Tavis Smiley had the audacity to tell the truth on Meet the Pest, I mean, Press Sunday and got a royal beat down on twitter .

To be clear, this is WHAT Tavis said Sunday on Meet the Press:

   The media narrative now is that Obama walked to the podium for an unscripted address because he felt he needed to say something. But the truth is that “he was pushed to the podium,” Smiley said. “A week of protests outside the White House, pressure building on him inside the White House, pushed him to that podium.” Smiley noted he did“appreciate and applaud the fact that the president did finally show up.” But “the bottom line is, this is not Libya. This is America. On this issue, you cannot lead from behind. What’s lacking in this moment is moral leadership.”

And the problem is what exactly?  What did Tavis say that wasn't true?  According to an article in the New York Times, President Obama met with 5 of his closest (unnamed) advisers on Thursday evening who told him it was time for him to say something. My question is why did they have to tell him it was time to say something?  He didn't know?

Those who don't read the Washington Post weren't aware of the calls for President Obama to speak out from prominent African Americans.

In the wake of the not-guilty verdict in the George Zimmerman trial, President Obama has called on the American people to engage in calm reflection. Few expected the president to denounce the verdict or call upon people to take to the streets in protest, but we did expect him to speak in a way that touched the heartbreak, despair and quiet rage that so many of us feel at this moment.
On multiple occasions, Obama has asked blacks to understand the high wire he is forced to walk on the subject of race. He has pleaded that we cut him some slack. Most have done so even as conditions in the black community have become more desperate.

You won't hear writers like Cortland Maloy on TeeVee saying things like this:

In the never-ending cycle of pleas, protests and prayers over recurring injustice, we’re again approaching the quiet times. Put down the signs. Take off the hoodies. Remove the empty bags of Skittles taped over your mouths. Go in for some “calm reflection,” as President Obama put it in a statement following Saturday night’s miscarriage of justice.

The white, male, dominated media forced President Obama to walk a tight rope on race, they molded him into their vision of how the first African American President of the United States of America should act/talk/think/govern.

 I believe some whites were actually afraid President Obama was going to exact some kind of revenge for slavery and Jim Crow. So, in their zeal to shape the first African American President in their image, they turned him into a token with no power. Someone they could point to and say America is post racial. As if the emasculation of black men in America needed more assistance.

From forcing PBO to throw Rev. Jeremiah Wright under the bus because he preached truth to power, to making him host a beer summit instead of a discussion about racial profiling,  to toning down Attorney Eric Holders' Americans are cowards when it comes to discussing issues of race remarks, the mainstream media enabled the first black President to be the President of everybody but black folks. 

When folks like Tavis Smiley, Cornell West, Glen Ford and others tried to sound the alarm, they were called F-king retarded and the Professional Left (like that was a bad thing) which allowed them to be marginalized and  legitimate concerns/issues to be minimized.

I said it before and I will say it again, President Obama needs to fire everybody except Michelle.

I never believed Obama was going to be the the black people's President and only the the black people's President, because I believed him when he said there were no red states or blue states but the United States of America. But, his advisers were so afraid that if he showed any sympathy or empathy to the plight of blacks it would look like he was giving blacks "special treatment".

If  Barack Hussen Obama didn't have the title of President of the United States in front of his name, he could  also be, Sean Bell, Oscar Grant, Jordan Russell, The Jena Six , and so on, and so on.......

On Friday, Obama used the words “black” or “African American” 17 times, and the word “white” only once. At times, the president appeared to be the Explainer-in-Chief, clarifying for white folks a history and legacy that they, too, share—but in drastically different ways, and usually as benefit. Yet, by not specifically addressing this audience, by silencing whiteness and choosing to center again and again on black young men, Obama gave whiteness a pass. He gave it power by masking it, and making it silent.
While he warned black folks against violence, which he said would dishonor Trayvon Martin, he remained silent about the little violence we do know about—when a white woman attacked 73-year-old R&B legend Lester Chambers following the verdict. And rather than convening a national conversation about race—which would might mean having frank conversation about white supremacy and privilege, Obama talked about his daughters. Yes, Malia, Sasha and their friends are different, but that’s likely due to their security detail, and to the fact that they live in a world that most black schoolgirls simply do not.

I HOPE President Obama's surprise comments made white people understand what it means to be black in America, but unless he stops letting the white, male, dominated media frame the debate there is no HOPE for CHANGE  African Americans or anyone else for that matter,  can believe in.

"What if I had looked "suspicious" that night"?

This is the question screaming in the head of  13 year old Austin McClendon, Trayvon  Martin killing's youngest witness.  McClendon's mother says his initial statement to Sanford Police was  twisted to imply George Zimmerman was the one screaming for help.

"They still haven't arrested him yet.".  Says Austin, his chin tucked low. "That's pretty much the thing that's upsetting me.

That's pretty much the thing that's upsetting a lot of people, so as Barney Fife would say, let's nip this differ in interpretations of who was calling for help on the 911 tapes in the bud.


"Interpretations "my Donkey


Why would George Zimmerman be screaming for help?  Trayvon Martin didn't have a 9 mm handgun aimed at George Zimmerman's chest.

Why did the screams for help stop after the shot(s) were fired?

If George Zimmerman was so afraid for his life, why did he disobey orders from dispatch not to pursue Trayvon Williams, much less get out of his car and confront him with a 9 mm handgun?pistol?

How can you claim self defense when you are the aggressor?

Did the Sanford Police collect shell casings, or perform lab test on blood allegedly  found on George Zimmerman to see whose it was?

Why is the case being turned over to the Seminole County Attorney General instead of the United States Attorney General?

The Jena Six were charged,  tried, convicted and jailed for attempted murder of a white classmate  . 

Remember?

Today's Must Read
The Killing of Trayvon Martin is not a "Black Problem".