Blast from the Past

I am sharing this comment from Mack Lyons I found in this post while doing research for my in depth analysis of the rezoning hearing.   

Al.com commenter Drambui said this on August 19, 2011

"Casey you have to break the mold and prove you're not afraid of minorities, democrats, liberals, aclu 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!"

 Mack Lyons said this in response on August 21, 2011

Casey, if you're reading this, don't do this. You'll only end up with the Department of Justice's foot up your ass behind this, which, when it comes down to it, is effectively promoting the re-segregation of the school system. If you think you're worried about doing the job you were hired to do, imagine how it'll be with those DOJ wingtips traveling up your intestines.

Those guys at AL.com should be glad they have a little Topix-lite they can vent on. It warns everyone else about the attitudes that still linger around the Deep South.

Un Huh.  Very prophetic, only the wingtips traveling up Casey's intestines were high heel pumps worn on the feet of  two 30 year old lawyers working in Washington D.C. At the Justice Department .

In the documents, the DOJ says Huntsville's plan emphasizes racial lines already in the city. It also says that even with major changes in 32 of the 40 schools, it would leave most students in segregated schools.
The court document also claims that under the district's plan, identified African-American schools would lack access to advanced educational material that is easily available to identifiable "white schools."
The most significant change in the district's plan, according to the DOJ's filing, is the closure of Butler High School, a school with a majority of African-American students. However, court documents say that under the district's plan, those students would go to a school with a less diverse population.
"The district's plan falls short of its desegregation obligations," the DOJ said in the documents. The state said they are open to continued discussion with the district.

 To be continued.....

Left in Alabama's Old Prosecutor proves America does not need another 'national converstaion about race'

Today's must read;

From the very beginnings of this nation-state, America has practically done nothing else but talk about race. The whole idea and reality of race itself is enshrined in the constitution wherein black people are defined as only three-fifths human.

You won't see it on TeeVee because they are obsessed with the Royal Baby and intent on rehabilitating George Zimmerman's image, but Southerners are taking it to the streets.

The lingering image of the happy-go-lucky Southerner, content with his lot, happy to get a pat on the head from the local patriarch, is being shaken to its core. Across the U.S. South, workers, activists and regular citizens are standing up to GOP right-wingers, the Koch Brothers and next-of-kin plutocrats like Art Pope, and privatizing, corporate-driven organizations like ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council).

Left in Alabama's resident Righty and legal analyst Old Prosecutor, (who has posting privileges and I don't), says the events in Florida were truly tragic, and asks was justice done in that courtroom?

Well Old Persecutor, I guess it depends on what your definition of justice IS.  Evidently the jury decided it's OK for an armed adult to profile, stalk, and shoot an unarmed African American teen through the heart and claim self defense.

I don't know what trial you were were watching but you put forth some things that are just wrong.

You said:  Was the shooting racilly (sic)motivated? That is Not Proven. I heard no evidence that Zimmerman had a hatred for african (sic) americans (sic) or that he acted out of that hatred.
George Zimmerman called Trayvon Martin a F*cking Coon on 911 audio call.  

You heard no evidence that Zimmerman had a hatred for African Americans  because this evidence wasn't presented at trial.
New Evidence-George Zimmerman used N-word in Text Message and E-mail when referring to who to look out for when on patrol in Sanford.

You said:  Zimmerman claimed prior law self defense. He maintained that he was attacked, had no chance to retreat and was justified in defending himself. He never claimed he was "standing his ground". 
Zimmerman Juror says panel Considered Stand Your Ground in Deliberations: He had a right to defend himself.

You said: Many maintain Zimmerman was the aggressor (and therefore not entitled to defend himself) because he followed Martin and got out of his truck. Following someone is not per se(sic) illegal and neither is exiting your truck.
You also said: 
In the 911 tape I heard played in court, I did not hear the dispatcher tell him not to get out of the car. The dispatcher asked Zimmerman if he was following Martin. Zimmerman said yes. The dispatcher then said we don't need you to do that and Zimmerman said okay.
Zimmerman claims that the dispatcher asked for the street address of where he was and that he got out of the truck to read the street address on the house.(Plausible to anyone who has ever tried to read an address in a subdivision)
So in my opinion it was not proven that Zimmerman followed Martin after being told not to. 


Zimmerman told the dispatcher that he was following Martin, and the dispatcher told him “you don’t need to do that.”

You said: Was Martin racially profiled? It appears that a series of crimes had been committed in Zimmerman's neighborhood by young black males and Zimmerman assumed that Martin could be one of them.

If that's not racial profiling I don't know what IS. 

You asked: But was it truly unreasonable for Zimmerman to call Police to check Martin in that situation?

Calling the police was not unreasonable, and if that's all George Zimmerman had done we wouldn't be having this discussion.  Instead he and his Cal Tech,(which he didn't tell the dispatcher who told him 'we don't need you to  do that'), he had, stalked Trayvon because he was tired of the them F*cking Coons always getting away.

Speaking of Left in Alabama,  let me address a post by PoliticsAlabama (another Righty who has posting privileges and I don't) who asks Did an Alabama State Senator Accuse Most Voters of Racism? The answer is NO, Alabama State Senator Vivian figures said Racism has played a prominent role in the republican rise to dominance in Alabama.

Specifically, Sen. Vivian Davis Figures, D-Mobile, said the election and subsequent re-election of President Barack Obama triggered a backlash by white Alabamians that allowed the state's Republican Party to capture overwhelming control of the Alabama Legislature in 2010 in addition to defeating the last Democrat to hold a statewide office that same year, Lucy Baxley, then president of the Alabama Public Service Commission.

There is an old saying in Alabama...if you throw a rock at a pen full of pigs the one that squeals is the one that's hit.  State Senator Vivian Figures called out racism.

You cannot prove racism to most white Americans  which is why a "conversation about race" is not needed.

What Mack Lyons said:

Until somethings done about the institutional and structural components that allow racism to maintain its existence and until more Americans acknowledge racism without diving into a rather paternalistic and/or defensive response over it, there's not much hope in changing things for the better.

It's the Racism, Stupid!  These two strands -- stupidity and racism -- are inseparable.

What say you?

Update ~"We need to pray just to make it today" MC Hammer

That's word,we pray(pray,pray)
We got to pray
Just to make it today
I said we pray(pray) ah,yeah,pray(pray)
We got to pra
Just to make it to pray

That's word,we pray

After reading Mack Lyon's look at the all-white jury in the Zimmerman trial courtesy of the Orlando Sentinel it's going to take more than praying for justice,  it's going to take some Divine intervention because as of right now, it doesn't smell or look good.

I hate to keep returning to the Paula Deen and The Help analogy... but based on my personal experience I  can't help (no pun) agreeing with Mack Lyons~This trial has all the elements of a monumental clusterf^*k, one with deep-setting effects that could last for years if not decades.

 I can't say I have white female friends because I really don't know if they are my friends or not because when it all comes down to it I'm black and they are white, and when I get out of my place so speak, they never fail to remind me of their superiority.

Friends, strike that, real friends treat each other as equals.  Real friends can agree to disagree and still remain friends.  With one or two exceptions, this has not been my experience.  This is what has me praying there are more Miss Skeeters  and Miss Celia's on the Zimmerman jury than Miss Hilly's.

 

Note it's not African Americans who are acting like Thugs because they can't have their way.

It's all about demanding R-E-S-P-E-CT

Maybe President Obama should have requested Aretha Franklin, sing her hit song Respect at his Inauguration as the first (and if TeaPublicans have their way,the last) African American President of the United States of America instead of My Country Tis of Thee.   H/T Mack Lyons who says This President doesn't have any rights and conservatives are bound to respect. Here is the money quote;

I can't remember any other president being disrespected to the degree President Obama has over these past 4 years. I can't remember Bill Clinton catching this much hell over the Monica Lewinsky mess. And while legislators may have held a low opinion of George Bush, they maintained professional decorum and didn't blatantly disrespect the president over such. But #44? Whoooo boy..

Psst Mack! Did you forget republicans impeached Bill Clinton over the whole Monica Lewinsky mess? I would say that was hell, wouldn't you? :) But it goes to show republicans don't have an ounce of respect for democrats, strike that, real (liberal) democrats regardless of race. And you know why? Because they don't demand their R-E-S-P-E-C-T they plead for R-E-S-P-C-T.

"Respect" is a song written and originally released by Stax recording artist Otis Redding in 1965. "Respect" became a 1967 hit and signature song for R&B singer Aretha Franklin. The music in the two versions is significantly different, and through a few minor changes in the lyrics, the stories told by the songs have a different flavor. Redding's version is a plea from a desperate man who asks a woman for his due respect. In Franklin's version, however, she declares that she deserves respect rather than pleads for it.

And therein lies the problem with not only this President, but the democratic status quo in general. They won't demand no damn R-E-S-P-E-C-T so they get no damn R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

These days, it seems like everyone wants to disrespect the president. If it isn't foreign leaders and news media outlets pushing the man around, then it's the usual suspects -- die-hard white conservative members of the "grassroots" Tea Party and other similar organizations. Even the people you'd figure would have Obama's back are now gunning for the man to be primaried within his own party. No disrespect intended to Digby's Hullabaloo or Firedoglake, but I do find it disturbing when you piss and moan about the guy just because he hasn't shoved a stack of hundreds or a pony under your pillow just yet.

Uh, why should we the people have Obama's back when he hasn't had ours? And NO, that doesn't mean shoving a stack of hundreds or a pony under our pillow that means standing up for the agenda he campaigned on instead of compromising and capitulating to the TeaPublicans at every turn.

As reported by the NY Times, Senators Susan Collins, Harry Reid, Arlen Specter, Olympia J. Snowe and Joseph I. Lieberman after an agreement was reached.Congressional negotiators announced Wednesday afternoon that they had reached agreement on a $789 billion economic stimulus bill, clearing the way for final action and President Obama’s signature.“The differences between the House and Senate versions, we’ve resolved,” Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic majority leader, said in a Capitol news conference. The differences were resolved by a lot of intense “give and take,” Mr. Reid said, “and if you don’t mind my saying so, that’s an understatement.”Negotiations had been going on all day, following extensive talks on Tuesday night, to close the gap between the Senate and House versions. In the end, the agreed-upon package will pare back Democrats’ proposed spending on education and health programs in favor of tax cuts that were needed to win Republican votes in the Senate. Senator Susan Collins of Maine, a centrist Republican whose support was crucial to the outcome, said the final package includes $150 billion in spending on infrastructure, including transportation facilities, and considerable tax relief. Moreover, she said, it includes significant money to aid state governments.Despite intense lobbying by governors, the final deal slashed $35 billion from a proposed state fiscal stabilization fund, eliminated $16 billion in aid for school construction and sharply curtailed health care subsidies for the unemployed.

AAPRP: you read it right, Despite intense lobbying by governors, the final deal slashed $35 billion from a proposed state fiscal stabilization fund, eliminated $16 billion in aid for school construction and sharply curtailed health care subsidies for the unemployed.

See what I mean? But this is just one example of many where our President compromised democratic principles. Hope for Change We Can Believe In turned the winners into the losers and the losers into the winners. *sigh*

Unfortunately, the current color aroused bout of collective insanity will end only when the goal of removing Obama from office has succeeded and a white president, preferably a white Republican with southern tendencies and a lack of empathy for poors, blacks and other detritus collecting at the bottom of America's social swimming pool. The red cloth will disappear from in front of the bull and all of the glass in the china shop will be swept up and thrown away. All will be well with the world once again, as far as many are concerned.

If my friend Mack Lyons is right (no pun) and this comes to pass, America will show the world we are a country who can't demand R-R-E-S-P-E-C-T because we don't deserve R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
"It is difficult, at this day, to realize the state of public opinion in relation to that unfortunate race which prevailed in the civilized and enlightened portions of the world at the time of the Declaration of Independence, and when the constitution was framed and adopted. But the public history of every European nation displays it in a manner too plain to be mistaken. They had for more than a century before been regarded as beings of an inferior race, and altogether unfit to associate with the white races, either in social or political relations; and so far inferior that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect, and that the negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit." Chief Justice Roger B. Taney's opinion on the Dred Scott decision, circa 1857

I agree with most of what my friend Mack Lyons writes in this piece regarding the racism, but I don't cast the blame entirely on conservatives, the media and those who are supposed to have President Obama's back. Some of the blame has to go to the President who let the white, male dominated media define him thereby enabling the gop to obstruct his agenda.

I blame this President who surrounded himself with key people who publicly refereed to liberal activist(aka the people who VOTED for him) as F*cking Retarded and the Professional Left like that was a bad thing.

As a black man, he has no rights which his fellow whites are bound to respect. As the president, he still has no rights that are worth respecting, as far as his fellow whites, conservatives particularly, are concerned.

This President could have demanded R-E-S-P-E-C-T by standing up to the right wing Bully's from the beginning, but for what ever reason he chose not to. And therein lies the problem.