EYE am Celebrating #Juneteenth2020 by giving a #ShoutOut to Public Enemy's "Fight the Power"

Opening up with video from the 1963 March on Washington, which was 100 years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, “Fight The Power” demonstrated a different type of march, one more aggressive and less polished and respectable. Instead of trying to show the white people that good black folks exist, Public Enemy took on the mantle of black nationalism and looking after our own, and taking what was owed. The imagery they conjure is nothing short of empowering and revolutionary. So on this Juneteenth 2020, the fight marches on in the streets of America in the aftermath of so many police shootings to the point where we have to say names of people we never met so frequently, that they’re all part of our beings. From George Floyd to Breonna Taylor, we must continue to fight the power.

Update~ Throwback Thursday #Ferguson Round Up

How ppl in the media look when you turn down interviews bcz racial justice isn't abt more white talking heads. pic.twitter.com/BfHsjqJ5ei
— Brian Dominick (@BrianDominick) August 28, 2014

The fickle, white, male dominated, mainstream media is bored with #Ferguson and #MikeBrown. They have shut this story down tighter than a drum, and moved on to the next, bright, shiny object.  The Revolution may not be televised, but it will continue to be blogged about on RedEye's Page.

 In order to halt any real conversation, one of the tools often used by right wing media is to cast every issue as an either/or. Media Matters has been doing a pretty good job lately of showing how Fox News edited the remarks of President Obama and AG Eric Holder about the situation in Ferguson by eliminating the balance in their statements. They aired only the side of these remarks that was sure to inflame their audience and eliminated the side conservatives might have agreed with.

I  must say Fox News is doing their part.

 It didn’t take long for people to start rallying to Darren Wilson’s defense.  In less than a week, several hundred thousand dollars had been raised on his behalf — with a healthy smattering of hateful racist messages in support, such as “I would have donated double this amount, but you missed his accomplice” — and Fox News had run a flood of false, unsourced stories, claiming that Wilson’s eye socket had been broken, implicitly “proving” that he had been in a heroic struggle for his life.

Only in America can you kill a black teen and earn 6 figures.

When you shoot and kill an unarmed Black teenager, you can expect the racists of America to crack their piggy banks open and reward you a six-figure sum.
Over the weekend, Darren Wilson’s supporters gathered for a rally, and sadly, they had much to celebrate now that it’s being reported that they’ve managed to best supporters of Michael Brown’s family in online fundraising. Indeed, the page in support of Wilson raised $235,010 from 5,902 people before organizers stopped accepting donations on Friday. They surpassed their goal of $100,000 in just four days. They have since opened another fundraising page, which has already amassed more than $100,000.
Meanwhile, a fundraising page in support of the Michael Brown Memorial Fund raised $214,000. According to Brown family laywer Benjamin Crump, “the funds will assist his family with costs that they will acquire as they seek justice on Michael’s behalf.”
What exactly does Darren Wilson need money for? He’s on paid leave, and wherever he is, I presume it’s on the state’s dime. After all, Darren Wilson was concealed long enough to get out of town before the national media arrived.

An Open Letter to the People of Ferguson, Mo.

 "We have felt your frustration at the uncomfortable realization that your protestors have been unfairly branded as looters, vigilantes, and rioters by segments of the ignorant, sensationalist news media".

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington.  It's a good thing it wasn't held 50 years later because protesters would have been greeted (snark) with tanks, guns, snipers with assault rifles, dogs,tear gas, and police masquerading as the military.  It's not like the #Ferguson protestors were protesting against  paying taxes or something.

#nojusticenopeace
#BlackLivesMatter

"Remembering the Legacy of A. Phillip Randolph on Labor Day"

the grio.com

 

“We are the advance guard of a massive moral revolution for jobs and freedom. This revolution reverberates throughout the land, touching every village where black men are segregated, oppressed and exploited,” the 74-year-old A. Philip Randolph told the estimated 250,000 people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom fifty years ago on August 28, 1963.

The idea for the March on Washington began in December 1940

A. Philip Randolph led the planning for a March on Washington that was slated to take place on July 1, 1941. When President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order banning military contractors from discriminating on the basis of “race, creed, color, or national origin,” Randolph called off the march — but the power of a black march on Washington was now a reality.

Labor Day Must Read(s)

Why I oppose military intervention in Syria

This is not about humanitarianism. It is about geopolitics and the control of natural resources. If Syria was not located in an oil rich region, there would be no calls for military action. Thousands of innocent civilians are dying in the Central Republic of Congo, Nigeria and many other countries around the world. Yet, the US does nothing. Clearly, this is not about protecting civilians.

Tavis Smiley:  Obama "Dishonoring" MKL's Memory with push for war in Syria

 “There’s the issue of violence. War, Dr. King would say were he here, is not the answer. We cannot worship at the altar of retaliation,” Smiley said. “It’s either non-violent co-existence or violent co-annihilation, Dr. King would say were he here.”

9 Cases That Prove We don't live in a Post Racial America

At the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, speakers continually reminded us of how far we’ve come since the original march, but judging from just a few stories in the last 30 days, we haven’t come nearly as far as some seem to think.

GOP: it's all about slavery.  Update: Obama's Speech Today (Blast from the past)

This is Labor Day. Alan Grayson is up with a great offering, What Robert Kennedy Said.
But here's the bottom line: What the Republicans are fighting against, the reason they are pursuing a scorched earth policy that would rather see every last bit of progress in this country come to a grinding halt than give one inch to a government that might regulate them, is to ensure that what they have built over the past 30 years is never taken away.

Wishing all my readers, lurkers and commentators a safe and happy Labor Day.

Update~ 50th Anniversary March is History-Now What?

The right to childhood should be protected

TheSkeptikOne: 50th Anniversary March is History-Now What?

 It's done, we marched, we shouted, we sang, we cried, we vented, some of us shared our memories of the first march, many of whom, like me, were alive, but too young to take part. Others who took part, wanted and desperately needed to recapture the moment. We needed to feel the energy. For whatever reason, we were compelled to be there. We needed to believe we were making a difference, again, and that people were listening to us, and that great things such as the 1964 Civil Rights Act were just around the corner, maybe this time signed by a Black President. That would truly be history and fulfillment of the dream as well as a direct answer to those determined to resurrect Jim Crow and nullify the rights of all minorities once again.

Now what indeed?  Let me say right now, If President Barack Husein Obama doesn't turn talk into action after his speech at the Lincoln Memorial today I'm going to be pi$$ed.  I never expected President Obama to be the President for/of Black Folks and only Black Folks, but never did I dream he would be the President for/of everybody except black folks.  It's time for President Obama to channel his inner African/American and do something about the condition of a race of people who are under constant attack.

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dr. King was not referring to people when he made this statement, he was referring to a system of, institutional racism.

 In other words, I've seen and heard instances where the phrase "content of their character" is often used to implicitly reinforce one's prejudices and preconceived notions of a particular group. During my brief lurkings at the Free Republic, I ran into constant examples of people denigrating a certain segment of black Americans as criminal-minded and predisposed to general thuggery, only to claim that they were merely looking at "the content of their character, as Dr. King would have them do."

The Trayvon Martin case is the perfect example of when white people judge black people. George Zimmerman, his defense (sic) team,  and the all female, 0% African American jury viewed unarmed teen Travyon Martin as a threat.  Compared to Antoinette Tuffs, who viewed heavily armed Michael Brandon Hill as a human being.


We still have a long way to go to reach the American Dr. King preached about about.  The Trayvon Martin case is another reminder that black life still has no value in America. He is our generation's Emmett Till. 

I agree with these reflections of a Clark Atlanta University student posted on facebook : "We need to step it up, get out there & stand up for what we believe in....because its one thing to talk about it but we need to BE about it!"

Martin Luther King, Jr  believed that radical activism, even at the risk of arrest, was more important than moderation and compromise. Principle over popularity.

Ain't gonna let nobody turn me around,  because we have a mighty long way to go before the dream becomes a reality.

*Long Sigh*

"I'm marching to save my own life, and the lives of millions of other Black people who will not be able to attend this march"

Memorializing the Freedom Riders

Joseph Postiglione, Freedom Riders' bus after attack in Anniston, Alabama, 1961. Courtesy of Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. - See more at: http://www.southernspaces.org/2009/memorializing-freedom-riders#sthash.CUJdcdJM.dpuf

Joseph Postiglione, Freedom Riders' bus after attack in Anniston, Alabama, 1961. Courtesy of Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. - See more at: http://www.southernspaces.org/2009/memorializing-freedom-riders#sthash.CUJdcdJM.dpuf

 Joseph Postiglione, Freedom Riders' bus after attack in Anniston, Alabama, 1961. Courtesy of Birmingham Civil Rights Institute.

Why I Will Not Be Marching to Commemorate the 1963 March on Washington

I am still emotionally reeling from the death of Trayvon Martin and devaluation of Black life in our society. I am outraged at Black unemployment rates hovering above 12% and hundreds of thousands of hard-working Black Americans who live in poverty while working at poverty-wage paying jobs. I am tired of the constant attacks on our rights and policies put forward by radical right-wing legislators that codify inequality and put our lives in danger. I am marching to demand an end to injustices that are having a very real impact on my life today. In a sense, I am marching to save my own life and the lives of millions other Black people who will not be able to attend this march.

Hide your children and your wife.....George Zimmerman is on the prowl for a new gun

Let us March on until Victory is Won!

See you Monday.

The 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington-Segregation Then, Segregation Now, Segregation Forever

TheSkeptikOne: 

 50 years. Just passed my 63^rd birthday and I'm packing for DC. Going to the Anniversary March. Going to stand in front of the Lincoln Memorial with other like-minded people and remember the words of Dr. King. I am geeked about this trip because it's been a long time coming, but instead of total elation, my heart is heavy thinking about it.