#BlackLivesMatter on the football field, off the field all bets are off #SweetHomeAlabama Edition

EYE report what You decide

“In this moment in history, we can’t be silent.” pic.twitter.com/YF4ndJSpa0

— Alabama Football (@AlabamaFTBL) June 25, 2020

So, it took Minneapolis, MN police officer Derek Chauvin literally taking a knee on George Floyd's neck, killing him live and in living color for  8 minutes and 46 seconds for some (not to be confused with all) #Colonizers to wake up and smell the coffee and realize why Colin Kaepernick and other NFL players took a knee during the National Anthem. Yes, EYE know that was a run-on sentence but EYE digress.  The realization racist/racism has the potential to hit them where it really hurts...in their wallets and pocketbooks.

EYE suspect someone in the school of business at the University of Alabama developed a marketing plan to try and plug the holes and stop the Rising Tide ship from sinking. Let's not pretend black male athletes don't make up a high percentage of collegiate student-athletes.  

A new report from the Center for American Progress concludes that colleges and universities are making a great deal of money on football and men’s basketball – sports where African American men make up a large percentage of all athletes – while the African American athletes are not adequately reaping the benefits of this money-making machine.
The report states that “Black male college athletes are getting a bad deal. Their work on the court and the field generates vast profits for the NCAA, member colleges, and TV networks, yet student-athletes receive no share of the profits they generate. Moreover, the majority of black student-athletes participate in sports with the highest risks of physical injury.”

Despite the popular opinion of some African Americans care about their student-athletes.  Sure they would like for them to play in the #NFL and become rich and famous but at what cost?  What self-respecting black parents want to send their student to play in a state still flying the Confederate Flag, hanging nooses, EYE mean garage door pulls, burning crosses, and protecting Confederate monuments?  It's not like they don't have options.

“The [recruiting] process started before the season,” former Howard coach Gary Harrell told The Undefeated. “Caylin’s father [Cecil Newton Sr.] wanted something different for him. He could have gone anywhere in the country, and they could have paid his tuition anywhere. But they wanted an HBCU [historically black college or university], and they figured if it’s going to be an HBCU, why not the school that is considered to be the highest of all HBCUs.”

Everybody knows the University of Alabama is Trump Country so EYE have to question the motivation behind the PSA. 

EYE just do. 

The College Playoff Foundation declared the University of Alabama National the Football Champs!

Clemson got Trumped

"In accordance with its constitution, the College Football Playoff Foundation declared Alabama the National Champions late last night, after the team led Clemson at the end of three of the four quarters, thus winning the electoral votes of those quarters".

Not

War Damn Eagle

#SweetHomeAlabama #Sweet16 #RollTide "Are our priorities messed up?"

This is the Alabama Congressional Delegation making fools of themselves, EYE mean, celebrating the University of Alabama's 16th National Football Championship on the floor of the House of Representatives. 

From the Heisman Trophy winner, [Derrick] Henry, the quarterback, Jake Coker, and the tremendous 95-yard run of Kenyan Drake, all of the players on the 2016 team deserves our applause and congratulations," said U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham, who represents Tuscaloosa in the House. She was joined by Reps. Mike Rogers, R-Saks; Martha Roby, R-Montgomery; Mo Brooks, R-Huntsville; and Robert Aderholt, R-Haleyville.

 #OurTaxDollarsAtWork

Again,  EYE congratulate the the University of Alabama football program on their 16th National Championship,  b-but there is something....troubling about....pride for a national football championship..... in a state that ranks 48 among 50 states in quality of life for children....where some of the people probably can't spell Alabama much less attend the University of Alabama thanks to it'se pi$$ poor education system , are just bursting with pride.

Are our priorities messed up?

The State of Alabama could learn much from the University of Alabama. If Alabama wants to be the best, there is a cost. A price to pay. Until we're willing to pay it, we'll limp along with the other bottom-tier states, in most everything but a silly game.

Life in Alabama ain't no Crystal Ball  for the majority of it's citizens, but it could be, if we invested in people like we invest in football. 

We're Number 1 .  Again.

#VoterSuppression With the State Seal of Approval and #RollEagle!

The Alabama Secretary of State's Office is kicking off their voter suppression, EYE mean, registration and identification efforts, Nod Nod Wink Wink, with a campaign that features Alabama head football coach Nick Saban and Auburn University head football coach Guz Malzan.

Stay Classy  #SweetHomeAlabama where We Dare Defend Our Right to Suppress the Vote

"But wait, can’t you just get a state photo ID? Sure…But you still have to haul your sorry ass to the non-existent DMV."

Huntsville City Schools character education words for May; cheerfulness, fairness, and kindness, Oh My!

NAACP President Alice Sams speaks for the NAACP Coalition as she addresses the Huntsville City Schools crisis at a press conference in front of the Annie C. Merts Center February 15,2011.

Superintendent Dr. Casey Wardynski is doing the job he was hired to do.

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

If there is anything a certain segment of the Huntsville community despises more than  being under a court ordered desegregation plan it's them there  Majority to Minority transfers.

To enhance desegregation, the Huntsville City school district permits a student to transfer from a school where his/her race is in a majority to a school where his/her race is in a minority if space is available. This is called a Majority to Minority transfer.

There is the perception of some (not to confused with all) south Huntsville parents and officials, black students from north Huntsville will lower the standardized test scores at their neighborhood schools, thereby lowering their property values.  The part about test scores lowering property values is true.  For verification all you have to do is compare north vs south Huntsville property values. While parents worry about property values, south Huntsville principals worry white  students will flee when/if black enrollment increases.

It's all about race, income, and geography. 

At poor schools, test scores are lower. "That does not mean these kids are dumber," said Dr. Mary Ruth Yates, Huntsville's assistant superintendent.Achievement tests measure what a child has already learned, not how much a child can learn. Some kids receive less teaching at home, Yates said. They reach school less prepared to learn.What they don't learn often puts limits on what they can eventually earn."If we close the achievement gap, then you have equal opportunity to get jobs, to buy property," she said.School leaders shouldn't give up on integration, Yates said, or the cycle on inequalities will continue."As long as we have Grissom and Johnson," she said, "we can't really say we've done all we can do."

"If we close the achievement gap,then you have equal opportunity to get jobs,to buy property."  Instead of focusing on solutions this board would rather focus on ways to strike down all racial transfers and trap disadvantaged students in the schools they fail to serve.

Using the logic of the Huntsville City Board of Education, University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban should only use his youngest, most inexperienced players when his team plays a Top Ten opponent.
 Anyone who pays attention to education knows that the most persistently poor-performing schools are those in impoverished neighborhoods.  For example, there are nine schools in the Huntsville system where more than 90 percent of students receive free-reduced lunches.  According to an analysis by the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama, none of these schools have reading and math scores where all grades (three through eight) are equal to or above state average.

After patting themselves on the back and taking credit for a federally funded summer feeding program  at last nights Work Session, the superintendent recommended the board approve a Revision of Policy 6.3.1 a- Majority to Minority Transfer.

Per  the Huntsville City Schools website:   The majority to minority transfer window, originally scheduled for May 1-May 31 has been postponed.  The new application window date will be communicated by Student Support Services.  Note, it doesn't say when or how this information will be communicated by SSS.  My guess is they are waiting to see if the revision will be approved.

Students will be granted Majority to Minority transfers through a lottery system when there are more requests for Majority to Minority transfers than space available at the requested school.

There are no specifics as to how said lottery will work,  but it will be done via computer, as well as the initial application for the transfer.  So, instead of parents being awarded a transfer based on first come (date) first served basis with a paper trail,  a computer program will perform this function.  Usually when there is a change in policy it's because of complaints or problems with the implementation. When asked why the policy was changing the superintendent said it was to keep parents from having to come the Merts Center and stand in line, or something to that effect.  To my knowledge parents aren't complaining about coming down standing in line at the Merts center, they are complaining because their transfers are being denied, and they aren't being notified until just before school starts when it's too late to appeal or make other arrangements. This new digital process sounds like it's going to make it harder for parents to apply for, and be granted, a majority to minority transfers, not to mention the lack of transparency.

What parents are complaining about is not being allowed to speak at school board meetings, but I don't see them changing the policy that  says all questions have to be written down and read by the Director of Community Engagement.  But I digress.

"What we want" is equal access to a quality public education for all children, regardless of their race, address, or class.  If all schools were created equal there would be no need or demand for majority/minority transfers to enhance desegregation.   Para quoting the late, great, James Brown, we don't want nobody to give us nothing,  stop standing in the school house door so we can get it ourselves.

Nick Saban for Governor of Alabama......

The BCS streaks that keep on growing: State of Alabama and SEC reach new heights

In the interest of full disclosure I am a win or lose Auburn University Tigers football fan, and I offer the University of Alabama Crimson Tide football team a sincere congratulations for winning their 3rd National Football Championship in 4 years, under head coach Nick Saban.

This is who they are, and this is what they do. They are America's best program, and they always seem to be at their finest on America's biggest stage.

 So, it got me thinking...what if we apply the logic of Nick Saban to public education?  Think about it, it's what they do!

And what exactly is it they do you ask?

Simple.  Money is no object, they hire the best coaches/staff their money can buy, and they recruit  top athletes by offering them scholarships.  Instead of adopting the you can't throw money at the problem, and public school teachers are the enemy of the state myth, they adopt the you get what you pay for policy.  This is why they are America's best program.  This is why they have proven results.

What if the great state of Alabama invested in our public education system  like they invest in our college football programs?  What if the great state of Alabama could be #1 in quality of life too?

 Education then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of the conditions of men, the balance-wheel of the social machinery.
Horace Mann

Let's at least apply the logic of Nick Saban and get our elected officials and other leaders to throw some real money at the problem.

 The University of Alabama's dynasty continued unprecedented national championship streaks for this state and the SEC, moving them to even higher unthinkable heights.
For the fourth straight year, a university from the state of Alabama won college football's national championship: Alabama in the 2009, 2011 and 2012 seasons, and Auburn in 2010. Even before Alabama's latest win, no state had ever won three consecutive national titles in football by multiple schools, much less four.

Education is the HOPE of our republic.

At least it used to be.