Huntsville City Schools ignores the United States Supreme Court

Remember over 50 years ago when the Supreme Court ruled separate but equal public schools were illegal in the Brown vs Board of Education of Topeka decision? Evidently, Huntsville City Schools didn't get the memo because it's deja vu all over again.

The District’s 2007-2008 overall student enrollment was 43.1% black and 48.7% white. However, the majority of the District’s 47 schools were racially identifiable black or white due to the composition of their respective student bodies.

I've been involved in a *cough cough* discussion with my favorite righty's over at flashpoint who claim the DoJ is ignoring the Supreme Court by forcing the city of Dayton to lower its qualification standards for police and firemen in order to be able to hire more minorities. For some strange reason, white candidates are passing the exam but black candidates are failing the exam. Now the righty's want to say because both groups are given the exact same test, black candidates are failing the exam because they are dumb and inferior. Then I had one of those lightbulb moments and it hit me. The educational opportunities for both groups are not equal and therein lies the problem. Actually, it's that achievement gap thingy.

White candidates taking the exam had access to the best public school education their parent's tax dollars could buy. Whereas black candidates taking the exam were forced to attend low-achieving public schools because you get what you can pay for.

This is why it is of the utmost importance all children have access to a quality public education regardless of race, gender, or zip code.

This is why separately is unequal. It robs children of their ability to reach their full potential.

In the early 1950's, racial segregation in public schools was the norm across America. Although all the schools in a given district were supposed to be equal, most black schools were far inferior to their white counterparts.

In Topeka, Kansas, a black third-grader named Linda Brown had to walk one mile through a railroad switchyard to get to her black elementary school, even though a white elementary school was only seven blocks away. Linda's father, Oliver Brown, tried to enroll her in the white elementary school, but the principal of the school refused. Brown went to McKinley Burnett, the head of Topeka's branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and asked for help. The NAACP was eager to assist the Browns, as it had long wanted to challenge segregation in public schools. With Brown's complaint, it had "the right plaintiff at the right time." [4] Other black parents joined Brown, and, in 1951, the NAACP requested an injunction that would forbid the segregation of Topeka's public schools. [5]

The U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas heard Brown's case from June 25-26, 1951. At the trial, the NAACP argued that segregated schools sent the message to black children that they were inferior to whites; therefore, the schools were inherently unequal. One of the expert witnesses, Dr. Hugh W. Speer, testified that:

"...if the colored children are denied the experience in school of associating with white children, who represent 90 percent of our national society in which these colored children must live, then the colored child's curriculum is being greatly curtailed. The Topeka curriculum or any school curriculum cannot be equal under segregation." [6]

Children are our future police officers, firemen, doctors, nurses, lawyers, teachers etc. How can they be our future if they don't have equal opportunity to succeed and equal opportunity to a quality public education?

Huntsville City Schools is not the only school district ignoring the Supreme Court. I'm convinced the status quo want education for the rich but not the least of these.

Don't blame me for the messy bed. I voted a straight democratic ticket.

Uh NO Massa DeWitt, sir, we state democrats did our part. We held our nose and did what the republicans did and voted a straight ticket. If the conservadems had done joined with us, instead of being against us, democrats wouldn't have taken a bloodbath. But noooo, conservadems just had to whup State Senator Hank Sanders for his mad as hell robo call to DEMOCRATIC voters and put his "abrasive wife" in her place. That will learn them about dealing the race card in every hand. Yessum. *Snark*

Why Dr. Joe Reed should be the next chairperson of the Alabama Democratic Party

Alabama Democratic Conference chairman Dr. Joe L. Reed would be the perfect person to lead Alabama Democrats out of this Godforsaken wilderness where Election 2010 stranded us.

For one thing, Dr. Reed would chase all the pseudo dims, neoliberals, progressives, conservadems, moderates, and independents out of the democratic tent once and for all. With *ahem* democrats like these who needs republicans? Democrats have to rise up and take their own party back from the infiltrators. That time is long overdue in Alabama.

Dr. Reed is not afraid of the right-wing bully. He wouldn't capitulate to republicans on any level. Dr. Reed has a history of fighting for the values real democrats share whether that be taking them on in the elections or in the media. He definitely wouldn't be republican lite.

Joe Reed is known as a “fighter for fairness” for black representation. In 1975, Joe Reed led the efforts to get equitable representation for blacks on the Montgomery City Council. His efforts resulted in four (4) blacks of nine (9) being elected. He served on the Montgomery City Council for 24 years. In the Democratic Party today, Alabama’s black representation exceeds all other states in the nation. For over 40 years he has led the effort to get more blacks elected and appointed to public office, including federal marshals, federal and state judges, members of the boards of registrars, legislators, county commissioners, city councils, and school boards. Due largely to his leadership, today Alabama has more black elected officials than any state in the nation. He drafted two (2) plans that increased black representation in the Alabama House of Representatives from 13 to 27; and in the Senate from 3 to 8 in 1982, and 1992, respectively. He also drew a reapportionment plan that provided for 25% (two of eight) majority black districts on the State Board of Education. Alabama is the only state in the nation where the Legislature reflects the state’s population of blacks and whites. Dr. Reed’s congressional plan also led to Alabama’s gaining a black congressional seat

The ADP needs a chairman who will kick the pseudo-Democrats out of the party. It's time for them to GO.

My definition of Blue Dog/ConservativeDemocrats are candidates and elected officials whom identify themselves as "Democrats" to garner the African American vote, and "Conservative" to garner the White votes. In reality they are social conservatives, also known as Republicans.

In my opinion moderates, undecideds,swing voters, blue collar voters, working class voters, nascar dads, security moms, walmart moms, in the middle voters, values voters,evangelical voters, christian right and libertarians are code words developed and used by the media to manipulate public opinion. In reality these groups are social conservatives, also known as Republicans.

Dr. Reed is also the perfect person to raise money -- and diversify sources of support for the party. There are untapped resources within the ADP. Dr. Reed has the ability to recruit and welcome disenfranchised/marginalized Democrats into the party. Minority voters are tired of their loyalty being taken for granted.  We are tired of being expected to be seen but not heard. The ADP wants our votes but they don't want to address our issues.

Dr. Reed is more than capable of managing the party effectively --making sure papers are filed on time, candidates are vetted, election results certified, etc. AND make sure the ADP doesn't let the ALGOP get away with anything whatsoever outside the rules. In other words, be ready to pound the table, call BS and file suit if anybody tries any election-related funny business. He certainly wouldn't award no-bid contracts to fight for Alabama with a blog.

bluebearcat makes the best case for a chairperson like Dr. Joe Reed;

Democrats running in heavily Republican district had an obligation to do the best they could to get elected or re-elected; part of that involved saying and doing things that undermined the overall message of the Democratic party. I don't begrudge them that. However, our party cannot be run by the folks that are in that position.

We need to find a message for our state party that recognizes that matters where we will undoubtedly differ with the national party (gun rights), matters where we will respect an individuals own conscience (abortion), and matters where we believe the cause of justice is more important than politics (discrimination). But we ought to all rally around expanding economic opportunity and better government services in this state.

Yep, Joe L. Reed is just what the Doctor ordered for the ADP.

unless we start vetting names and start a Draft movement. like the Howard Dean DNC movement started by net roots. if you haven't read that story it's fascinating and exactly what needs to be done here.
so this list of qualities is great but time to put it in to action if you really want to do affect State politics.

come up with a name then start petitions and a full fledged draft movement.

If the ADP keeps doing what it's always done, it will get what it's always got.

The Democratic Party is suffering from an atrophy of character. We have lost any conceivable moderates to attrition, because the Republican Party at least has the ability to define who it is – regardless of the fact that they’re the drunk guy at the holiday party, at least everyone remembers that guy’s name. Our fixation on “the bad guys” does no good if we’re not worth listening to in the first place. We need deliberately distinct leaders and we need to be unabashedly unafraid to support those leaders in bringing back the fundamentals of what matters to Democrats and -- as one insider so eloquently put it recently -- "the tangible consequences of voting for them."

If the GOP infused, media-enabled Tea Party can do it, we can do it too.

Posers and Party Purity

Can I rant about Bobby Bright (Poser AL) and Gene Taylor (Poser MS)? I penned a similar rant two years ago where I made some uncomfortable and accused of applying a social litmus test to dems among other crap. Different year, same stuff.

Representatives (and I use this term lightly)Bobby Bright and Gene Taylor are the epitome of republicans posing as democrats so they can take advantage of the black democratic vote to get elected then govern like republicans. Both represent districts that are 30% African American. They know they can't win on the republican ticket so they are allowed to pollute the democratic ticket. Yes I said they are allowed. Not only are they allowed but they are encouraged to pollute the democratic ticket by the democratic party leadership.

You would never hear a republican elected official saying something like this;

Conservative Democratic Rep. Gene Taylor (Miss.) said over the weekend that voted against his own party when he went to the ballot box to vote for president in 2008.

Or being rewarded for doing stuff like this;

Bright has shown his fealty to Boehner on every single contentious issue that has come before Congress in the past two years. In fact, when SCHIP came up for it's final vote only two Democrats crossed the aisle to vote against health care for needy children and Bright, of course, was one of the two. He has been sure to noisily vote against a woman's right to Choice (and, like Christine O'Donnell, he's even been against contraception), against equality for the LGBT community, against health care reform, against Wall Street reform, against energy legislation... You name it-- if Barack Obama was for it, Bobby Bright was against it. And that's been the theme of his reelection campaign, a reelection campaign that the latest polling shows he might be winning.

What DougKahn said;

It's not all about this district. It's about a couple of dozen spineless House Democrats who seem to not fear the Democratic voters in their own districts, so they pander to conservatives.

That's right (no pun), democrats fear conservatives more than they do the people who voted for them. Ain't that a dip? The question is why does democratic leadership (and I'm using that term lightly) allow, encourage and enable this phenomenon? Why do the pander to the wrong at the expense of what is right? Is the system so rigged progressives and liberals can't be elected?

I repeat, why are the Democrats the only party willing to compromise their principles and work "with those they don't agree with"? Huh?

I give republicans credit for party loyalty.Right or wrong they have courage to fight for what they believe in and are lock step. Why should Democrats listen to conservatives? Why do we let them push their agenda at our expense? Why do we continue to vote for candidates who pander to the hard right and take our votes for granted? Why?

"Voting for the lesser of two evils is still evil."~blogger jonwil

Enough of this foolishness!
That's what a lot of people don't seem to get. You allow a candidate to run and vote as a conservative election after election and he's not going to change. It's only when he sees he's losing his base that he starts getting worried and thinking more about his base.

Election cycle after election cycle, I've drank the Koolaid and voted Democratic, even when you couldn't tell the difference between the two party's candidates without a program. I've criticized people who "throw their votes away" by voting for Nader.

I no longer think that a vote for Nader is a vote thrown away. I see it as a message to future candidates, I'M now part of the undecideds. If you want my vote, you're going to have to earn it just as much as you do the conservatives vote. I'm not going to keep voting for you just because you have a "D" after your name.

I feel sorry for the Bright and Taylor's constituents. Thanks to their party's leadership they are represented by the lessor of two evils. Lord help them.

The right to vote is sacred to me. To many bleed too much, died too young and marched too far for me to compromise my convictions. I am not a "social conservative", I am a proud liberal Democrat. Candidates who do not share my values and my principles will NOT get my vote. I'm tired of being bullied by the right wing social conservatives.

Redeye Rant Over.

Redeye's Week in Review

This is what freedom of speech looks like.

A Colorado artist says people may not like his latest work, but it's all about freedom of speech. Paul Snover says he was commissioned by a Grand Junction man to design the billboard at Melody Lane and I-70B.It depicts President Obama as a terrorist, homosexual, bandito and gangster.

Be sure and read the first comment.

What's that you say? Some are having a conniption about black bloggers? I'm shocked! Shocked I tell you! Not.

The inherent audacity in White Privilege is hidden behind the facade of your holier-than-thou condescension toward Black media. Thanks for pulling aside the facade of “fair and balanced” media to show the ugly face of racism.

The Obama DoJ ask judge to set aside DADT. Bummer.

As the administration continues to wage war against the Professional Left -- except for when they're begging for our money and our votes -- Conservadems fighting to save their splotchy hides continue to distance themselves as fast as their stumpy legs will carry them and as far as their spidery arms will reach.

The rule of law is alive and well, just not here.

The World Justice Project on Thursday published a "Rule of Law Index," and there's no easy way to say this. Let me put it this way: as when rankings on education, infant mortality, work hours, lifespan, retirement security, health, environmental impact, incarceration rates, violence, concentration of wealth, and other measures of quality of life come out, it is time once again for we Americans to shout "We're Number One!" more loudly than ever. Because, of course, we're not.

The Tea Party does not exist

Recent developments demonstrate that the Tea Party is not the powerful national force that it’s been made out to be. The organization’s meager levels of participation (documented in my and Paul Street’s past research) has finally come back to haunt the Tea Party in the run-up to the midterm elections, as it has been unable to organize outside of scattered local electioneering, largely in favor of Republican interests. In short, the Tea Party does not exist – at least not in the form depicted in the mass media and in political commentary.

Happy reading.

How can republicans be pro life and anti health care reform?

Republicans are pro life as long as it's in the womb, but after that all bets are off. I'm beginning to wonder if they are pro life as long as it's in the womb considering they don't want women have access to quality, affordable health care, which includes prenatal care and birth control. Correction, they don't want poor women to have access to quality, affordable health care, nor do they want them to have welfare, or acess to quality public schools, but I digress.

Is it pro life when children don't have access to quality affordable health care because their parents can't afford it? Is it pro life when their parents don't have access to quality affordable health care? Are Republicans pro life as long as it's a republican life

Owens’ mother, Gina Owens, said her daughter, who didn’t qualify for Medicaid, avoided regular visits to a doctor despite frequently throwing up blood. In June 2007, Tifanny Owens was hospitalized yet again, this time at University of Washington Medical Center. After a week of unconsciousness, she died at age 27, leaving Marcelas and his two younger sisters. Gina Owens has custody of the three children.

The bottom line is republicans are opposed to health care reform because they oppose President Obama. The question is, do they oppose President Obama because he's a democrat or because he's an African American? How hypocritical is it for gop and DINO Congress Critters to do everything they can to make sure Americans don't have access to the same government run health care they have yet say they are pro life? Have you no shame?

The Party of No is also the Party of No Shame. No Conservative ever seems to have a concept of taking responsibility for when the party has fucked up, or made fools out of themselves or the rest of America. Republicans routinely abandon their office, cheat on their spouses, have homosexual affairs with underage children, steal large sums of money, show naked and obvious corruption, and generally act like uncontrolled children with nothing more than their self-aggrandizement in mind.

Is any Republican embarrassed by this? Do any of you ever look at the Larry Craigs, Tom Delays, Newt Ginriches, Gordon Liddys, and think, "Geez, we have to get these clowns out of our party if we want the American people to believe a word we say?"

Or are you even aware of how silly you all look? How inconsistant, unserious, immature, and ridiculous your party appears to most Americans?

Or do you care?

And what's up with the "conservative dems" who plan to vote no for health care reform? In addition to calling out Dennis Kuchinich, President Obama needs to call out all the dem traitors. I agree with Moveon.org, any so called dem who votes against health care reform needs to be primaried and primaried hard.

How can republicans be pro life and anti health care? How can they be pro life and anti welfare? How can republicans claim to be the compassionate, conservative religious right yet be so wrong?

republicans are lying when they say the majority of the American people are against health care reform, just like they lied when they sent our troops to invade Iraq. They are lying just like they lied when they said Bush's tax cut for the rich was going to create millions of new jobs. They lie when they say they are pro life. They lie.

Stop listening to the lying liars and the lying liars who tell them and start listening to we the people. Stop pandering to stupid white men and other sorry excuses for the state of the union at the expense of we the people. Work for us, not against us.

Be pro life.

If I were President Obama

If I were President Obama and Harry Reid I'd pass a strong health care reform bill and let the republicans filibuster. Let them get up there and talk hour after hour about nothing while Americans suffer and die because they don't have health care. Let them talk day after day about nothing while the national debt increases and our troops are in Iraq and Afghanistan. To para quote U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D. CA), let the republicans reveal themselves. Let them define themselves for who they really are. It's not like we don't already know who they are and what they stand for after 8 years in power.

The newest Senator from Massachusetts will certainly define himself as a hypocrite if he votes against health care for all Americans when the citizens in his state have access to quality affordable health care.

We (progressives) tried to warn President Obama he was losing the support of liberals ,progressive and independents. Did he listen to us?. Nope. He listened to the media instead allowing them to define and shape his agenda, his cabinet and his Presidency. He who controls the message controls the outcome.

If I were President Obama I would fire my present staff from the top down. This is job for the democratic wing of the democratic party. I wouldn't be like the previous CIC and continue to reward Brownies for doing a heck of a job. I'd also put the real democrats on TeeVee and tell the pretend democrats to go somewhere and STFU because they didn't get the job done.

If I were President Obama I would summons the republican leadership to the White House and ask them are you with me or against me? Do you care more about your party than you do your country? Do you want me to fail the American people? If the answer is yes to any question, I'd open the door and say see ya later and do what the American people elected me to do. F em.

If I were President Obama I would summons the conserva dems to the White House and ask them the same questions I asked the republicans. If they have the same answers they would get the same boot up their blue donkeys and out the door.

Psst President Obama! No more Mister nice guy. The republicans call nice guys Girlie Men, remember?