"The View From Here" Truth Spoken by James Baldwin, Then and Now

Author James Baldwin's speech before the National Press Club, 1986

EYE will return.

And the media enabled #hcsboe taxpayer funded #desegregation spin rolls on...

Is the Mainstream Media a Propaganda Machine?

In another glaring example of the media we have using the public airways to spin the false narrative the desegregation consent order is the best thing since white, I mean, sliced bread, WAFF Channel 48 did their part erroneously claiming the "man who started it all was pleased with the consent order." proceeding to interview the son of the man who started it all 52 years ago.  The son of the man who actually started it all who was 5 years old at the time.  The son of the man who was "troubled" by Huntsville City Schools motion before he was "pleased" with Huntsville City Schools motion. The son of the man whose children and grand children aren't enrolled in Huntsville City Schools.  The son of the man who lives in the town of Madison, AL, which is not under a desegregation order because the schools are well.....integrated.

EYE guess it would have been too much like right to interview the man who actually started it all 52 years ago since he is very much alive and as far as EYE know he's a great story teller. But according to WHNT  Dr. Sonnie Wellington Hereford III doesn’t have any children or even grandchildren in the system any more so he’s not as close to the details of what’s going on now.   EYE wonder why?  EYE submit it's because the media doesn't want him involved, they would prefer he be seen and not heard.

Let's talk about the man who actually started it all.  Dr. Sonnie Wellington Hereford III
is a retired physician and civil rights leader who has taught at Alabama A&M University and Calhoun Community College, and has served as campus physician for those schools, as well as Oakwood College.

Two photographs tell much of this story.

One is an iconic image of the civil rights struggles in Huntsville's past: Dr. Sonnie Hereford III, dressed in suit, tie, hat, every inch the serious physician, holds the hand of his young son, Sonnie Hereford IV, as they walk away from Fifth Avenue Elementary School on Sept. 6, 1963. They'd been turned away by state troopers dispatched by Gov. George Wallace to enforce segregation.
That was on a Friday. The next Monday morning, 6-year-old Sonnie IV would become the first black child to enroll in a previously all-white school in the state of Alabama.
The photograph would become a public symbol of temporary defeat but ultimate triumph, published countless times, including in The Huntsville Times.

From his 2011 Memoir, Beside the Troubled Waters:  A Black Doctor remembers life, medicine, and Civil Rights in an Alabama Town.

Beside the Troubled Waters is a memoir by an African American physician in Alabama whose story in many ways typifies the lives and careers of black doctors in the south during the segregationist era while also illustrating the diversity of the black experience in the medical profession. Based on interviews conducted with Hereford over ten years, the account includes his childhood and youth as the son of a black sharecropper and Primitive Baptist minister in Madison County, Alabama, during the Depression; his education at Huntsville’s all-black Council School and medical training at Meharry Medical College in Nashville; his medical practice in Huntsville’s black community beginning in 1956; his efforts to overcome the racism he met in the white medical community; his participation in the civil rights movement in Huntsville; and his later problems with the Medicaid program and state medical authorities, which eventually led to the loss of his license.

Hereford’s memoir stands out because of its medical and civil rights themes, and also because of its compelling account of the professional ruin Hereford encountered after 37 years of practice, as the end of segregation and the federal role in medical care placed black doctors in competition with white ones for the first time.

Why is the man who actually started it all being marginalized, minimized, and excluded from the discussion?   Could it be because Dr. Sonnie Wellington Hereford is from the era of authentic Civil Rights leaders like Dr. John Cashin and Reverend Ezekiel Bell?

Huntsville, Alabama, grew quickly during the United States’ Space Race with the Soviet Union. From 1950 to 1960, the population tripled from 16,000 to 72,000, with 30% black citizens. With Redstone Arsenal and the National Aeronautics (NASA) bringing scientists and middle class citizens to Huntsville, the city administration tried to present the city with a progressive image. However, instead of improving conditions for black citizens, the administration claimed that a racial inequality did not exist.

On 3 January 1962, the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE) field secretary and former Freedom Rider Hank Thomas came to Huntsville. He quickly gathered a group of students from Alabama Agriculture and Mechanical College, a historically black college founded in 1875. He also recruited Council High School students to join in launching a sit-in campaign to desegregate lunch counters around Huntsville.
On 5 January 1962, police arrested two demonstrators for trespassing on public property, Frances Sims and Dwight Thomas. In a few days, police arrested 14 more students.
In response, members of the black community in Huntsville sent a delegation to speak with Mayor Searcy about working with store owners to integrate lunch counters. After Searcy refused, members of the community formed the Community Service Committee (CSC).

EYE sure do miss the good old days when we had real Civil Rights Leaders and Community Organizers instead of mascots, preachers and elected officials, who pose as leaders.  EYE also miss the good old days when the media used the public airways to inform the public instead of using them to distort what we decide with all spin all the time, unfair and unbalanced.

RedEye

Update~It's Friday the 13th for those of you who get a kick out of that type of stuff

 

 Fri Nov 13, 2009 at 09:24:18 AM CST

  

I don't care if it's Friday the 13th, 2013 or Friday the 13, 2009,  I will always remember Friday the 13th as the unlucky  day my posting privileges were revoked at Left in Alabama,  and the lucky day I was forced to start my own blog.  It wasn't the first time I first time I was banned/booted/censored, and I'm sure it won't be the last.  Para quoting the great poet Langston Hughes  I swear to the Lord I just can't see why Freedom of Speech means everybody but me.

Speaking of Freedom of Speech, here is your laugh out loud for the day...Talk radio host Dale Jackson has the nerve to scold Huntsville City Councilman Will Culver for "attempting to to chill free speech."

Let's recap gist, emphasis mine.

Conservative talk radio host Dale Jackson came to Thursday’s Huntsville City Council meeting with a stern message for Councilman Will Culver.
During a council meeting on Aug. 22, Culver said he may sue Jackson for alleging that Calhoun Community College hired Culver in 2010 for political reasons. Culver, a former Huntsville police officer and chief city magistrate, spent about two years at Calhoun as a criminal justice instructor.
Jackson said a 1964 U.S. Supreme Court case, New York Times v. Sullivan, “raises the bar very high” for a public figure to successfully sue a citizen or journalist for libel.
“Asking you questions is allowed, and it should be encouraged,” said Jackson. “You should not be attempting to chill free speech. It’s very important. People have died for that right.”
Jackson said legendary University of Alabama football coach Paul “Bear” Bryant is the only public figure from the state in the last 50 years to successfully sue someone for defamation.
“You guys are public officials; don’t (threaten lawsuits) to people,” he said. “It should never happen again.”

That's right (pun intended), Dale Jackson,  the same person who was not a journalist before he was a journalist, who screens callers for his radio show, and censors African American comments on his blog has the nerve to scold the African American City Councilman about Freedom of Speech.  Oh, OK.   Psst Dale!  Your 15 minutes of fame are up, you may sit all the way down now.

People in the Rocket City are celebrating the largely unsung hero's who integrated the public schools 50 years ago.  And that's fine, but if you walk into any Rocket City School 50 years later the student population will look like it did 50 years ago.  Symbolism is nice, but substance is better.

Speaking of symbolism and substance,  why is everyone is acting like they are surprised the University  Greek system has a little race problem, and that bad old habits of the past are not the same bad old habits of the present?

UA's student newspaper The Crimson White broke the story yesterday, reporting that while students at several sororities wanted to recruit a black student, alumnae and advisers overruled them. 
Alumnae from one sorority threatened to pull funding if they admitted the girl, who students called a stellar candidate with a 4.3 high school GPA and close familial ties to the University. 

Left in Alabama's resident Sorority Girl says it's not segregation by the schools, but by the students themselves.

 AKA... (4.00 / 1)

...is a black sorority.  And while there were member who were hassling the poor black girl who joined our white sorority, I can't say for certain (and in fact I doubt) that this was behavior that was encouraged by the chapter itself.  I can certainly say that the national AKA organization does not condone such.
That's why this isn't going to be easy to crack down on.  The University of Alabama when it was integrated had previously had an official policy of discrimination.  The Greek organizations have no such policy and in fact are very diverse in some chapters (though this is rare).  Plus, there's not exactly a stack of complaints from people who have wanted to cross over into other organizations and feel that they were discriminated against.  And even if there were, you'd have to still be able to show that there were not other factors (GPA, conduct, etc.) that contributed to not being accepted.
Affirmative action scenarios are insulting to all parties and are in fact a polar opposite of the very purpose of the Greek system-- which is to be grouped with similar interests.  If you're bringing in a black girl who plays no sports into a white sorority filled with jocks just because she's black, it's going to be miserable for everyone.
I know there have been issues of racism among some members of sororities and fraternities.  Perhaps it would be best to start there.  I know that those are not actions of the organization itself, but that student is just as much a representative of that organization (as well as the school and any other club he/she belongs to) if he's hanging out of the frat house and yelling racial slurs.  That behavior should be reprimanded by both the school and the fraternity.  And if it is not, then we can safely assume that there's a problem, and the group in question can be addressed by the school.  If it is addressed by the organization involved, I don't see any reason to penalize the group than I would denounce all Muslims because of a terrorist who yelled "God is great!" before he blew himself up.  I know that Alpha Delta Pi had conduct codes and a system set up for dealing with such issues.  And I'm willing to bet that most of the others do as well.

WRONG then. WRONG now. The last paragraph hits the nail on it's head. The purpose of the Greek System for African American is public service, not wanna be jocks and debutantes.  Black Greeks can cite examples of recruiting whites. Can white Greek organizations do the same? NO.  Now if  you're black and can play sports and add to their trophy case that's another story.....

"Alabama is now No. 1 in the country and it is hypocritical to cheer the boys on on Saturday afternoon and lock the sisters out of the sorority on Monday," Jackson said in an interview Friday afternoon. "The school should come down hard on those sororities."

Speaking of the bad habits from the past being the same bad habits of the present, remember when some  people (not to be confused with all) said they were withdrawing their financial support from the Alabama Democratic Party as long as Joe Reed had power?

I'm just saying....

"For those of you who are tired of hearing about racism, imagine how much more tired we are constantly experiencing it." - Barbara Smith

Huntsville Sitty Schools Ignore the Feds to Ignore the Feds Redux

According to Huntsville City Schools Superintendent Casey Wardynski the Feds instructed Huntsville City Schools to ignore the Alabama Accountability Act in favor of the Desegregation Order, which they are also ignoring. 

Despite Alabama law allowing all students to flee “failing” schools, Huntsville will not allow hundreds of requested transfers.
“Under the Alabama Accountability Act,” said Superintendent Casey Wardynski, “we don’t have to do any.”
In fact, district officials say Huntsville will grant just eight Accountability Act transfers this year, or one fewer than the number of “failing” schools in the city.

 Initially, Wardynski said Huntsville City Schools were expecting a couple of handfuls of transfers under the Alabama Accountability Act, but  the system rreceived 502 transfer requests under the Alabama Accountability Act and granted just eight.

Questions:  If "we don't have to do any transfers under the Alabama Accountability Act", why were  eight Accountability Act transfers granted this year?  Are you going to ignore the AAA, or not?

Let's recap:  The red, republican controlled, Alabama State Legislature, with all their infinite sleaziness, passed the so called Alabama Accountability Act under the guise it helped parents flee so called failing schools.  School Board President, Laurie McCaulley said, and I quote:

“We have a lot of parents who bought into the Alabama Accountability Act, and thought they had guaranteed rights that don’t exist,”

 Now why would parents/tax payers think they had rights that don't exist?  It's not like the state legislature passed a bill that became law or something.

Here's the rub, Huntsville still operates under a desegregation order that HCS has been ignoring for over 43 years. That order, based on constitutional claims, requires transfers based on student race.

“We’ve had to be very careful with respect to AAA transfers,” said school board attorney J.R. Brooks. “We can’t take any action which is resegregative.”

 There is only one problem with the school board attorney's statement...the HCS system is re segregated  and African American students aren't being allowed  to transfer on basis of race either.

Wardynski today estimated the system has granted about 200 majority-to-minority transfers for the coming school year, although figures aren’t final yet

 Two hundred granted, over a thousand denied.

In past years, Huntsville typically received 1,000 to 1,500 transfer requests under the desegregation order and other guidelines. The vast majority of requests came from black students in north Huntsville. The system usually granted around 500 transfers a year and rejected the rest.
Wardynski said this year some schools, such as Huntsville High, began the year over capacity and did not accept a single transfer. He said a longer list of south Huntsville schools, including Grissom High and Mountain Gap and Whitesburg, were able to take a small number.
For example, he said Grissom High had space for 10 children. The system allowed nine transfers based on the desegregation order and had space left for one based on the new state law.

Frustrated parents, who believe they have rights the school system has determined they don't have, are being told  if they haven't received written notification of a transfer request by the time school starts to take their students to their home school.

The court order does not say a student may transfer from a school where they are in the majority to a school where they are in the minority if there is space available, HCS added the if space is available.  That's how they ignore the court order and maintain a "resegregative" (sic) school system.

A dual school system is re-emerging in Huntsville, marked by race, separated by geography and sorted by income.

For the first time, blacks account for 43 percent of the students in Huntsville. That's an increase of four percentage points in five years. But what sounds like a high-water mark for integration is just the opposite.

Despite rising numbers, black students here increasingly attend school among themselves. In 1997, Huntsville had five schools where more than 90 percent of the students were black. There are 10 such schools now.

The racial divide is similar among teachers, principals, even janitors and lunch ladies.

 Attack Machine commentator  George has the solution to the problem;

 Why not consolidate the schools. HSV saw peak enrollment in about 1983 at 35k. Current enrolled is about 24k, and we about many more schools now.
It would be an order of magnitude cheaper than building another $50million high school.

 JOJ (J.O. Johnson High School) is at about 50% capacity, so there is no need for a new GHS (Grissom High School).  Buses are cheap and plentiful. Include BHS (Butler High School) and eliminate one school entirely and sell the property (and the other empty buildings) to get rid of the maintenance and utilities cost.
This could have included LHS (Lee High School) too, but that was really a urban renewal project and not a school issue.

This is a great idea, but of course it won't be done because then Huntsville City Schools would be integrated, and all students, regardless of race, gender, income, or zip code, would have equal access to a quality public school education, and parents wouldn't be forced to keep their students in schools they want to get them out of.  According to this commenter at AL.com Wardinsky is doing the job he was hired to do. Keep the public schools segregated and go around the tenure laws.

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!

 There is no right (pun intended) way, to do the wrong thing, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again hoping for a different result.

What George said;

 The question is, do you want busing, or to be under a federal court desegregation order in perpetuity? Or is there some other way to integrate HSV practically all white and all black schools?

There is another way, which I will discuss in another post.

"It's all about money and race"

The public school system in Huntsville, Alabama used to be known as the best kept secret in Alabama.  As a product of the Huntsville City School system after integration,  I remember the good old days when all schools were considered "good schools".  When all teachers/principal and support personnel were highly qualified. When young minds were encouraged to reach their full potential regardless of of their zip code, parents income, race, gender, or religion.

The city of Huntsville had the perception of being a progressive oasis in the reddest of the red states.  Huntsville's image wasn't marred with bombings, Bull Conner, dogs and fire hoses.  Nope, Huntsville was thought to be immune from the ignorance of racism when public schools and facilities integrated without fanfare (except for the swimming pool).

So what happened between then and now?  Two words....white flight from north Huntsville to south Huntsville, and the creation of neighborhood schools.  You see, the government can't tell you where to live, but the government can tell you where to attend a public school.

As in most cases, people chose to live based on where they can afford to live.  Taxpayers who live in affluent areas have access to the best public schools their tax dollars can buy.  Taxpayers who live in non affluent areas have access to the worst public schools their tax dollars can buy.

There is a provision in the HCS Federal Court Desegregation order that allows students to transfer from schools where they are the majority race, to schools where they are the minority race.  This is supposed to be a two way deal, but what parent in their right (no pun) mind is going to transfer their child from the best public school their tax dollars can buy, to the worst school their tax dollars can buy?  I mean, really?

Why are public schools in the less affluent area considered to be the worst schools you ask?  Some say it's because of the unfairness of life, it's not their fault the majority of the students are black/brown/poor.  Some say the U.S. Department of Justice is making unreasonable demands on the school district.

I'm convinced we have a separate and unequal school district due to the lynching of public education, not only in Huntsville, but the state in general.  You see, Sweet Home Alabama cares more about property values than educating it's poor/black/brown students.

What those in positions of power fail to realize is we are all in the boat together.  If one end of the boat is clean and bright and the other end of the boat is dirty and full of holes, guess what...the whole damn boat is going to sink.

It's all about money and race.  Keeping those two things in mind, everything else makes perfect sense

The problem black folks still live with

The problem we all live with — by Norman Rockwell (1894–1978), depicting an incident in the American Civil Rights struggle of the early 1960s, when Ruby Bridges entered first grade on the first day of court-ordered desegregation of New Orleans, Louisiana, public schools (November 14, 1960). Originally published in Look magazine.
The painting is currently displayed in the West Wing of the White House, just outside President Obama's Oval Office.


Unfortunately for black students living in Huntsville, AL, aka The Rocket City, the public school system has been hijacked by a group of people who believe black students don't deserve to have equal access to a quality education because they are... well black. According to them black students either can't learn or don't want to learn and it's all their parents fault for not teaching them how to act like white students, or, because of unfairness in life.

The school system has been co-opted by a group of people who care more about their property values than about all children having equal access to a quality education. The status quo created the best public school system their tax dollars would buy themselves, and the worse public school system their tax dollars couldn't buy for everybody else.

Huntsville integrated it's public school system without armed guards in 1963. From that time until the late 80's Huntsville City Schools were fully integrated. All the schools were considered "good schools" and all the children were learning. First came white flight. Then came black flight. To the detriment of black, brown and poor children.

How did this group of people take over the school system? By electing people who shared their point of view to serve on the School Board, the city council, the county commission, the Mayor, State Senators, State Legislators and United States Congressmen/women by being politically involved.

Parental Involvement is the key. I don't just mean attending PTSA meetings or attending Parent Teacher Conferences, do that too, but become POLITICALLY INVOLVED. The POLITICALLY INVOLVED Parents gets the worm.
Gone are the days when all parents and guardians had to do to ensure their student had access to a quality education was work and pay taxes. Gone are the days when all parents had to do was go to PTSA meetings and Parent Teacher Conferences. Gone are the days when all parents had to was provide students with food, clothing, shelter and school supplies send them off to school and they would learn something.

It is imperative parents be politically involved because if they are not, school administrators and teachers think they don't care about their student. And if they think you don't care, they darn sure won't and don't care.

I am really concerned about the future of public education in Huntsville for black/brown and poor students. I fear they are going to end up being uneducated and miss educated. I fear they will end up being the new slave labor because those in power believe that is what they deserve. I fear, ssegregation today,segregation tomorrow, segregation forever,is here to stay.

Stay tuned for some solutions to the problem black folks still live with.

The DoJ to Huntsville City Schools-"Don't even think about it."

For some reason, the Huntsville City School Board of Education wants the school district released from a court order to desegregate even though the school district is segregated. The Department of Justice told them not to even think about being released from the federal court order.

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.

Here is the *ahem* rationale for the segregation

The DoJ can’t force people to live where they don’t want to live (yet), so it is basically saying that either Huntsville must engage in massive busing or… engage in massive busing.

The DoJ can't force people to live where they don't want to live, but the HCS can force them to send their children to school based on where they live. In most cases it's not where parents want to live, it's where parents can afford to live. Affluent parents have access to the best public schools their tax dollars can buy. Disadvantaged parents have access to the worst public schools their tax dollars can buy.

Why should parents be forced by the school system to send their children to failing public schools? Remember the Ohio parent who was convicted of sending her children to a school outside of her district?

American educational apartheid dictates that schools in poorer neighborhoods are of significantly less quality than other schools. The racial divisions within American schools are nothing less than a blatant and consistent human rights violation and should certainly be treated as such.

Blogger Ben at Flashpoint says;

The magnet schools that were supposed to lure white students to north Huntsville have been a colossal failure as a tool of integration, so it’s hard to see how else the system could otherwise meet this requirement.

Well, that's not quite true. The magnet schools did lure white students to north Huntsville, and far from being a colossal failure, they are a colossal success. They are racially balanced (thanks to busing) and have high test scores. The problem is there are no magnet schools located in south Huntsville to lure black students.

One thing is clear, Huntsville will not be released from the federal court order unless and until they reach a unitary status. My recommendation is they look at other systems who have achieved unitary status as a model.

The current school system is the result of a 1976 merger between the previous (historically largely white) Wake County school system and the former (historically largely minority) Raleigh City schools. The merger was proposed initially by business leaders in the early 1970s out of concerns that continued "white flight" from Raleigh's inner-city schools would negatively impact the county's overall economy. Political and educational leaders also hoped that merging the two systems would ease court-mandated desegregation. The proposal proved initially unpopular with residents, however, who rejected it by a 3-1 margin in a non-binding referendum in 1973. School and business leaders instead convinced the North Carolina General Assembly to force the merger.[2]

The district since has become notable for its integration efforts. Schools in the system are today integrated based on the income levels reported by families on applications for federally subsidized school lunches, with the goal of having a maximum ratio of 40% low-income students at any one school. Consequently, thousands of suburban students are bused to magnet schools in poorer areas—and likewise, low-income students to suburban schools—to help maintain this income balance.

The neighborhood school concept not only enables segregation but it affects property values. Houses cost $40-50,000 dollars more in south Huntsville because property values are tied to the academic success (or failure) of the schools. Eliminating the neighborhood school concept and instituting public school choice would not only integrate the school district but equalize property values. Instead of attending the nearest schools, parents and students could choose to attend schools based on their interest (i.e. magnet schools).

I repeat;

As long as the quality of public education in Huntsville is based on parental income and property values there is no hope for the Huntsville City Schools.


As long as those in positions of power believe it’s a silly, unrealistic, line that every school should be as good as Grissom, there is no hope for Huntsville City Schools.

As long as those in positions of power believe them uppity coloreds and sneaky Mexicans would receive an education only white, god-fearing, clean, and law-abiding children deserve, there is no hope for the Huntsville City Schools.

As long as black parents aren't politically involved to the same extent as white parents there is no hope for the Huntsville City Schools.

I don't care how many Superintendents, clueless consultants and school boards are hired and fired, there is no hope for the Huntsville City Schools as long as long as people with racist beliefs have the power to exercise racism.

One would think a school system whose motto is Education is the Hope of the Republic would make an effort to educate ALL students regardless of race, gender, sex or address.

Why I "carp and whine", and why I wish I didn't have to~a very personal diary

It's no secret I started this blog after I my front page privileges were revoked at Left in Alabama. It's also no secret I've been "carping and whining" about being treated unfairly. What does surprise me is those who say I don't have the right(no pun) to carp and whine, and that I should just STFU, get over it and move on. Now some of the people who are saying this don't know me and I don't know them, but some of the people who are saying this DO know me and I know them, so I'm surprised they would think I would not stand up for my rights, my reputation and just go quietly into that good night.

For those of you who don't know me, let me give you some background information to offer insight about who I am and what I stand for, and why I carp and whine when I am treated unfairly.

I was born in a segregated Alabama Army base hospital the same year Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a city bus in Montgomery,Alabama, sparking the Montgomery bus boycott. My life was colored (pun intended)with the sometimes violent historical struggle for equal, civil and human rights not just in Alabama but in the United States of America.

I was raised by parents who taught me I had the same rights and privileges as my fellow Americans, but because of the color of my skin there were those who wanted to deny my rights. They said I should always fight for my rights because fighting for my rights meant I was fighting for other African Americans rights as well.

I was raised in a church that taught me Jesus loves the little children, red, and yellow black and white, they are precious in his sight. So yes, I'm one of those uppity African Americans who knows I have equal rights and is willing to fight for them.

My parents were active and involved in the civil rights movement, so when it came time to integrate one of local schools high schools in 1967 I was volunteered, I mean chosen, to be one of 10 African American students, one male and one female, to enroll in the 7th grade. We were trained to practice the principle of non violent social change and civil disobedience espoused by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Meaning we wouldn't retaliate when when we were called names, pushed, shoved, tripped or had bleach thrown on our clothes. I sometimes wonder if things wouldn't have been different if they had chosen those who would have retaliated, but I digress.

Which brings me back to why I carp and whine about being treated unfairly and how it relates to my privileges and my user name being revoked at Left in Alabama. Being one of 10 African Americans in the whole school, and the only African American female in the 7th grade was lonely. It didn't start out that way. On the first day of school I was befriended by a fellow new student who happened to be white. As she made friends, I made friends and everything was great until one day a mean girl who couldn't get past the color of my skin started calling her a N word lover. In addition to that some of the teachers took it upon themselves to notify the parents of the girls who befriended me and inform them they were associating with me.

So, one day I had friends, the next day they were telling me their parents said they couldn't be my friend any more. When I asked why, the mean girl said "because you're a N word and decent people don't associate with N words". Things went down hill from there, I often tell people I'm the worlds best square dancer because I can square dance by myself. The PE teacher taught square dancing but wouldn't make any of the students be my partner because they would have to hold my hand.

 I didn't whine when students harassed me and those in authority looked the other way. I didn't carp about sitting along in a sea of confederate flags while the band played Dixie at official school functions. I didn't carp and whine then because I believed future me's wouldn't have to whine and carp. That's why it pains me that I'm still carping and whining and why I wish with all my heart I didn't have too.

I don't like carping and whining about being treated unfairly, but if I must I must. It continues to amaze me that those who call themselves progressives/democrats are the ones that gave me something to carp and whine about because I thought we were on the same side.

Countrycat and I and several others have felt like voices crying in the wilderness as we warned that the apparent message of Democrats in the Legislature -- "The other guys are a lot worse than us!" -- was a sure loser and that nominating candidates who looked and campaigned just like the (losing) candidates in previous years was a recipe for disaster. Turns out we were right. It sucks to be right, but I don't think that means we'll be less influential in the future or are struggling for relevance. In some ways blogging in opposition to the majority is going to be a lot easier -- much less concern about friendly fire incidents, if you know what I mean.

That wasn't the apparent message of Democrats that the other guys are a lot worse than us, that's what YOU helped frame the message to be. And we didn't nominate candidate who looked and campaigned just like the loosing candidates in previous years because democrats WON in previous years. You and Countrycat were right (pun intended) all right, you supported and endorsed the losing candidate who pandered to the right at the expense of the traditional democratic base, and suppressed voices like mine who were crying in the wilderness, in favor of the moderate/conservative voices, just like the mean girl who couldn't stand to see progress at school and those in authority who enabled her by looking the other way.

I am respectfully requesting my user name and posting privileges be restored at Left in Alabama so that will be one less issue I will have to carp and whine about in the coming year. It is important that we progressives/liberals/democrats/Americans unite behind our party and our platform because divided we fall. When all the fingers on the hand work together they form a mighty fist. Remember?

End the end we will not remember the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends~Martin Luther King, Jr.