And we wonder why the Alabama Democratic Party is dysfunctional?

The Alabama Democratic Majority, a grassroots organizing group (aka the Artur Davis wing of the Alabama Democratic Party), started by former ADP Chair Judge Mark Kennedy  "is only a few months old, but according to countrycat,   it's already making progress on its goals of registering, organizing, and informing voters  "

Oh, really?

 Left in Alabama  (links inserted for emphasis are  mine and mine alone):

 Judging by the response to its first Grassroots Convention, it appears that many Alabamians have responded to the ADM's message - so much so that the conference is being moved to a larger venue, and,  ADM Executive Director Bradley Davidson is expecting "a packed house."

The Locust Fork Journal's Glynn Wilson says;  If this doesn't wake some  people up I don't know what will.

It has now become obvious that Kennedy, the paid party executive director Bradley Davidson and former state campaign chair for Obama’s campaign, Leanne Townsend, had been planning to walk away from the party to start something new for some time before the budget meeting where Kennedy and Joe Reed got into it.
According to key sources, the state party’s fund raising Website had already been disabled months before the April meeting when the visible split occurred. Members of the Over the Mountain Democrats had tried to make donations, but got nothing but error messages. When they tried to report it, they were given the cold shoulder.

 I said it once, and I will say it again, a party divided will not stand.

(Emphasis mine)

 My advice to them at the time? The real progressive Democrats in Alabama — and there are many, in spite of the false picture painted by the corporate media institutions here — should unite and figure out a way to take over the Democratic Party and rewrite the platform, like the conservative, religious wing of the Republican Party took it over in the 1980s.~ Glynn Wilson

Amen and Amen.

Brooke Baldwin and Don Lemon...this is CNN

Don Lemon isn't the first CNN Talking TeeVee Pundit Head to promote the Fox News false, black-on-black crime, narrative,  to deflect from the real issues surrounding the injustices in the Trayvon Martin case.

The black-on-black crime argument says that blacks in America have no right to complain about white-on-black crime till they do something about black-on-black crime. It is a racist deflection.
Bill O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Chris Wallace and others on the right used the argument in the days after the George Zimmerman verdict. Whitewashed people bring it up whenever crime and race are at issue.

Remember this?

"Would you, would fellow African-American Congress members care as much if Trayvon were white?"  When I heard Brooke Baldwin ask Representative Corrine Brown (D. FL) this question I had to check my TeeVee to see If I had accidentally tuned into Fox News. Shudder



What's wrong with this argument?

It allows the white press to determine reality, which makes it seem like Zimmerman is an exception while no one is doing anything about black-on-black crime. As it turns out, on average there is a Zimmerman-style shooting (armed security person or vigilante killing an unarmed black person) once every 28 hours. Trayvon Martin is just what made the papers. His case is hardly the worst nor the only one to get protests. Likewise, there is plenty being done about black-on-black crime, like by the Nation of Islam, but the white press is not particularly interested in reporting that either. Even worse, the white press turns a blind eye to the bad policing that leads to a high black crime rate. Yet, somehow, it always seems to find time to show black male suspects on the 11 o’clock news.

It's the Media.

 Until Don Lemon, Bill O'Reilly and other are willing to address the root causes of violence, they need to shut the hell up. Don Lemon, why didn't you rant on and on about poverty, unemployment, gun control, inferior schools and mass incarceration?

Why?  Because that would be too much like right (no pun intended).

Alabama is going to be a lot safer thanks to Scott Beason(r) and Co.

Al.com

 

Thanks to Alabama State Senator Scott Beason, (r. Shelby County) and his republican enablers, Alabama's  has some new guns laws, which according the Beason and Co. are designed to clarify Alabama's concealed-and open carry-laws and ensure law-abiding citizens have access to guns.  

Here is your clarification:

The Mobile County sheriff has seen an increase in pistol permits from convicted felons thanks to the new gun laws.

Thanks to the new law you can carry your gun to work but you must leave it in your vehicle.

You can carry you gun to football games IF you have a permit.  YeeHaww!

Law enforcement is still unsure of what the bill says.  Just be be clear, law enforcement= those paid to enforce the law, like the police/sheriff.

Employers can't be sued for gun related damages to their property.

You can openly carry your gun without a permit as long as you don't conceal your gun.   However, the police still have the right to stop and question you if are openly carrying a gun.  Huh?

You don't have to be an Alabama resident or a U.S. citizen in order to obtain a concealed to carry permit or take advantage of the new guns laws.  Oh really?

Yep, Sweet Home Alabama is going to be a lot safer thanks to Alabama's new gun laws ensuring law-abiding citizens have access to guns.

Are we safe yet?

"They hate us for our freedom"

 

Dedicated to the family, friends, and supporters of liberty and justice and for all, in loving memory of Trayvon Benjamin Martin, Oscar Grant, Jordan Russell, Sean Bell,  Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley


This is the second Sunday since the 100% female, 0% African American jury proved that racism is alive and well in America when they acquitted George Zimmerman for the murder of an unarmed African American teen, then tried to blame it on the law, which they didn't follow, and the real race hustlers and their media enablers, blaming  Trayvon Martin and so called black culture for the injustice.

If it's not racism, what is it?

  

So stop wearing your hate with pride. Stop celebrating your anti-science, anti-math ignorance. Stop using code words to mask your bigotry like "family values", especially when you hate my family and when you stand on the same stage as a guy who has had three marriages or if you share a seat in the Senate with a guy who cheated on his wife with hookers while wearing diapers. You should be ashamed. I know that you are just doing this to motivate your misinformed hate cult base because if they actually knew that your ideas will make them poorer than they are now, they would never vote for you. You are doing your best to impoverish your countrymen so rich people can get bigger tax breaks and you can keep on delivering corporate welfare to the special interests who have bribed you, and I am disgusted by the way you gleefully parade your hatred with aplomb. I don't think you do love America. At least, not as much as you hate everyone in America who isn't exactly like you.
You should think about that, and maybe get some help.

And for the record, I do not hate you. I am embarrassed by you and nauseated by your cruel and thoughtless behavior and your all consuming greed, but I do not hate you. I forgive you and I hope you can change someday, but I don't hate you. You have enough hate in you for the rest of us as it is.

"Dear Mr. President" An Open Letter to President Obama

H/T Uppity Negro Network

If you never read anything else I post, please read this letter to President Obama from an African-American woman via Abagond, who  loves her country but wonders if her country loves her.

As moving as your speech was, it did not address these issues that we face every day and minimized the daily racial inequalities that African-Americans face. Above all, words with no actions can be futile. After the fervor surrounding the Trayvon Martin case has subsided, will race drift to the back burner again? Will African-Americans be forced into silence and oblivion once again?

If the white, male, dominated media has anything say it about the answer is yes, and Forty-Two Million Black people will be told to stop whining, while the GOP continues  ratcheting up its political warfare against African Americans with unmatched brazenness.

Rabid Republicans are also acting with renewed zeal to roll back voting rights in key Southern states. In North Carolina and Texas, GOP-led legislatures are resurrecting a catalogue of Jim Crow-era barriers to minority voting, in response to the U.S. Supreme Court overturning of the 1965 Voting Right Act’s toughest enforcement provision. In North Carolina, the GOP wants to repeal 20 years of best practices that made North Carolina a model of fair and accessible elections. In Texas, the GOP wants to revise political districts to dilute minority representation and pass tougher voter ID laws.

  How long is it going to take the Feds to bring Civil Rights charges against George Zimmerman?

 "As a president, I am asking you to please take the issue of institutional racism seriously."

Read on.  Read often.

"Zimmerman got away with murder" Blame Juror B-29

H/T The Field Negro

Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda, but Didn't, Juror B-29 (Maddy  too scared to give her last name) offers a little something for everyone in an attempt to quiet her guilty conscience because she didn't understand the law (thanks to the judge and the prosecutors), and, because she had no courage of conviction (pun intended)

 She didn't understand the difference between intentional murder and manslaughter.
She didn't understand what constitutes evidence and proof.
She didn't realize that the jury can draw conclusions from the entirety of the evidence.

I said it first, and I'll say it again, there was no way this 100% female 0% African American jury was going to find George Zimmerman guilty.   This trial was over at jury selection.

The “not guilty” Simpson verdict sparked great divisiveness across the country. Some alleged that Simpson was only found not guilty because the predominantly black jury did not want to convict a fellow member of the African-American community.
The George Zimmerman prosecution and defense teams should have considered the potential for such a response in this case, because race was at issue from the outset.
This case should not be about race, but the attorneys’ failure to pick a more diverse group of six people is certain to reignite the issue, especially if the 100 percent all-female/non-African-American jury finds Mr. Zimmerman not guilty.

You won't hear/read/see this in the mainstream media because they are focused on  Anthony Weiner's private life, but Change.org submitted a petition to Judge Debra Nelson calling for an investigation into jury tampering.  If the latest revelations by these jurors don't make the case for  Civil Rights charges being bought against George Zimmerman, I don't know what will.

Robert Reich on Social Justice and Social Empathy

What does empathy have to do with inequality? At this GGSC event, Robert Reich, former U.S. secretary of labor and a professor at UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy, discusses how socio-economic inequality contributes to frayed social bonds—and explains what we can do about it.

Republished from the Greater Good Science Center, University of California - Berkley

The Greater Good Science Center studies the psychology, sociology, and neuroscience of well-being, and teaches skills that foster a thriving, resilient, and compassionate society.

White hate, I mean talk, radio cracks me up

 

Radio Boy, aka Dale Jackson(?), and Rush Limbaugh wanna be, uses the public airways to promote white, I mean right wing spin all the time, UNfair and UNbalanced, and sees everything through a racial prism.

I don't listen to his show, but I browse his blog because everybody knows it's his job to keep the white, I mean right wing bigots in line, and I must admit he is doing a pretty good job.

In the interest of full disclosure I was banned from his blog, but he's not banned from mine, which I why I am responding to his latest round of right wing  malarkey here.

According to Dale:  Blacks make up 13.6% of the population and commit 28.4% of the crimes,AND almost half the murders in the entire country because they are well......black and that's just what they do.

Dale is WRONG on every level and FBI Table 43A-C  of the Uniform Crime Code for 2011 is PROOF not only that blacks don't COMMIT the most crimes, but  that blacks are ACCUSED,  ARRESTED and CONVICTED of  more crimes than whites.

Numbers don't lie.  

 In the 25 states that have similar "Stand Your Ground" type of laws, white people who kill black people are 354% more likely to be cleared than whites who kill other whites. If we are to ask the United States Department of Justice to investigate a potential civil rights violation against Trayvon, we should also ask them to investigate the racial disparity of how these laws are applied across the country. In the words of Attorney General Eric Holder last week at an NAACP convention, do we have the right to “stand our ground to insure that our laws reduce violence, and take a hard look at the laws that contribute to more violence than they prevent?”

Ask George Zimmerman.

Why is America afraid of Trayvon Martin?

It's the Media.

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?

Psst President Obama! You could have been Trayvon Martin 4 years ago....

  Yassuh, Boss, Right Away 

So, the white, male, dominated media is patting themselves on the back for allowing President Obama to talk about race for the second time in 5 years after being prodded/pushed to do so by black folks.  Tavis Smiley had the audacity to tell the truth on Meet the Pest, I mean, Press Sunday and got a royal beat down on twitter .

To be clear, this is WHAT Tavis said Sunday on Meet the Press:

   The media narrative now is that Obama walked to the podium for an unscripted address because he felt he needed to say something. But the truth is that “he was pushed to the podium,” Smiley said. “A week of protests outside the White House, pressure building on him inside the White House, pushed him to that podium.” Smiley noted he did“appreciate and applaud the fact that the president did finally show up.” But “the bottom line is, this is not Libya. This is America. On this issue, you cannot lead from behind. What’s lacking in this moment is moral leadership.”

And the problem is what exactly?  What did Tavis say that wasn't true?  According to an article in the New York Times, President Obama met with 5 of his closest (unnamed) advisers on Thursday evening who told him it was time for him to say something. My question is why did they have to tell him it was time to say something?  He didn't know?

Those who don't read the Washington Post weren't aware of the calls for President Obama to speak out from prominent African Americans.

In the wake of the not-guilty verdict in the George Zimmerman trial, President Obama has called on the American people to engage in calm reflection. Few expected the president to denounce the verdict or call upon people to take to the streets in protest, but we did expect him to speak in a way that touched the heartbreak, despair and quiet rage that so many of us feel at this moment.
On multiple occasions, Obama has asked blacks to understand the high wire he is forced to walk on the subject of race. He has pleaded that we cut him some slack. Most have done so even as conditions in the black community have become more desperate.

You won't hear writers like Cortland Maloy on TeeVee saying things like this:

In the never-ending cycle of pleas, protests and prayers over recurring injustice, we’re again approaching the quiet times. Put down the signs. Take off the hoodies. Remove the empty bags of Skittles taped over your mouths. Go in for some “calm reflection,” as President Obama put it in a statement following Saturday night’s miscarriage of justice.

The white, male, dominated media forced President Obama to walk a tight rope on race, they molded him into their vision of how the first African American President of the United States of America should act/talk/think/govern.

 I believe some whites were actually afraid President Obama was going to exact some kind of revenge for slavery and Jim Crow. So, in their zeal to shape the first African American President in their image, they turned him into a token with no power. Someone they could point to and say America is post racial. As if the emasculation of black men in America needed more assistance.

From forcing PBO to throw Rev. Jeremiah Wright under the bus because he preached truth to power, to making him host a beer summit instead of a discussion about racial profiling,  to toning down Attorney Eric Holders' Americans are cowards when it comes to discussing issues of race remarks, the mainstream media enabled the first black President to be the President of everybody but black folks. 

When folks like Tavis Smiley, Cornell West, Glen Ford and others tried to sound the alarm, they were called F-king retarded and the Professional Left (like that was a bad thing) which allowed them to be marginalized and  legitimate concerns/issues to be minimized.

I said it before and I will say it again, President Obama needs to fire everybody except Michelle.

I never believed Obama was going to be the the black people's President and only the the black people's President, because I believed him when he said there were no red states or blue states but the United States of America. But, his advisers were so afraid that if he showed any sympathy or empathy to the plight of blacks it would look like he was giving blacks "special treatment".

If  Barack Hussen Obama didn't have the title of President of the United States in front of his name, he could  also be, Sean Bell, Oscar Grant, Jordan Russell, The Jena Six , and so on, and so on.......

On Friday, Obama used the words “black” or “African American” 17 times, and the word “white” only once. At times, the president appeared to be the Explainer-in-Chief, clarifying for white folks a history and legacy that they, too, share—but in drastically different ways, and usually as benefit. Yet, by not specifically addressing this audience, by silencing whiteness and choosing to center again and again on black young men, Obama gave whiteness a pass. He gave it power by masking it, and making it silent.
While he warned black folks against violence, which he said would dishonor Trayvon Martin, he remained silent about the little violence we do know about—when a white woman attacked 73-year-old R&B legend Lester Chambers following the verdict. And rather than convening a national conversation about race—which would might mean having frank conversation about white supremacy and privilege, Obama talked about his daughters. Yes, Malia, Sasha and their friends are different, but that’s likely due to their security detail, and to the fact that they live in a world that most black schoolgirls simply do not.

I HOPE President Obama's surprise comments made white people understand what it means to be black in America, but unless he stops letting the white, male, dominated media frame the debate there is no HOPE for CHANGE  African Americans or anyone else for that matter,  can believe in.

When will some (not to be confused with all) white people stop pretending it's not about race?

"Why are white people so mean"?  This is the question the 8 year old grand daughter of a friend asked her  as they left the movie theater after seeing the movie The Help.  My friend was shocked at first, thinking maybe the movie was too mature for an 8 year old, but then she decided to turn it into one of those teachable moments.  Over ice cream at Maggie Moo's she explained that not all white people were mean, she reminded her of her teachers, friends,  neighbors, and other white people in her life who weren't mean to black folks.  She told her not to judge people by the color of their skin but how they treated her (the content of their character), and to apply the golden rule, treat others as you wish to be treated.  My friend said her granddaughter appeared to be satisfied by her answer, but she was sure the movie had an impact that would influence her future prospective, because even an 8 years old knows the difference between good and mean.

Just as my friend explained to her grand daughter that the actions of some aren't the actions of all, the nation needs to know that not all black people are criminals just because of the color of the skin. 

Trayvon Martin was killed because he was black.  George Zimmerman, the Sanford Police Department and the 0% African American jury, assumed he "was up to no good", not because he was "up to no good", but because he was a black male, was walking home from the store, with candy and a drink, talking on the phone, at 7:00 PM, wearing a hoodie.  It's too bad their grandmothers didn't teach them that not all black people are bad.

 Today's Must Reads

A defining moment on the front porch at Cracker Barrel

The People of All Colors

Must See You Tube

When the Verdict Hurts

Dear Black People, It's not about race~ White People

 

I'm still trying to figure out how the white judge, the white prosecutors, the white defense team, and the white jury got to declare "race was not a factor" in a case about racial profiling, in a state with a documented history of racism.

Strike that.  Yes I do.  The white, male, dominated mainstream media enabled them with their media driven racial stereotypes of the scary black man.

Immediately after the verdict there was not one person of color speaking out about the verdict on TeeVee.  CNN even had Texas Governor Rick "N-word head ranch" Perry of all people on air saying justice is color blind.

President Obama said it was time for a real discussion about race and racism, but I can assure you that won't happen if the media has anything to do with it.

This is the media that forced candidate Obama to renounce, repudiate, and reject Rev. Jeremiah Wright for daring to speak truth to power.

This is the media that forced President Obama to tone down remarks made by Attorney General Eric Holder because he asked if Americans were cowards when it came to discussing matters of race.

This is the media that forced President Obama to have a "beer summit" with the Boston police officer who acted stupidly and arrested Dr. Henry Louis Gates for getting uppity  in his own damn house.

And so on, and so on.

So yes, let's have a real discussion about race and racism.  I mean a real hope-to-die, get it all out in the open discussion.  It's times to drain the poison off, so that this nation can heal.  The whole world is watching.  ~GrannyStandingforTruth

I HOPE the white, male, dominated, media won't stand in the way this time.

Equal Justice Is An American Value (Isn't It?)

Last night on AC360, Martin family attorney, Benjamin Crump, said the importance of the Justice Department review of the Trayvon Martin case and the Stand Your Ground law is so that parents know what to tell their children.

He raised a more chilling question, too. When the next child is murdered in a Stand Your Ground state, what do you think the defendant will say?

In June, right after the Zimmerman jury selection, Attorney Crump said:

"Well, you know, we've said all along this case is about equal justice. Equal justice under the law is not a black value, it's not a white value, it's an American value. And with the make-up of this jury, five white women and one hispanic, it's gonna be the question can every American get equal justice no matter who sits on your jury. And so, they're just praying that they can get justice for their child."

Sadly and disgustingly, we know how that worked out.

In a gut-wrenching chronology, Journalist Charles Blow enumerated the many ways the system failed Trayvon Martin.

Then, he asked what parents are asking, "What do I tell my boys?"

The idea of universal suspicion without individual evidence is what Americans find abhorrent and what black men in America must constantly fight. It is pervasive in policing policies — like stop-and-frisk, and in this case neighborhood watch — regardless of the collateral damage done to the majority of innocents. It’s like burning down a house to rid it of mice.

As a parent, particularly a parent of black teenage boys, I am left with the question, “Now, what do I tell my boys?”

We used to say not to run in public because that might be seen as suspicious, like they’d stolen something. But according to Zimmerman, Martin drew his suspicion at least in part because he was walking too slowly.

So what do I tell my boys now? At what precise pace should a black man walk to avoid suspicion?

And can they ever stop walking away, or running away, and simply stand their ground? Can they become righteously indignant without being fatally wounded?

Laura Murphy, Director of the Washington ACLU Legislative Office, provided these compelling and ludicrous rules of conduct, in her piece "A Mother's Rules for Being Young, Black and Male."

Right now we send our Black children disturbingly contradictory signals on how to conduct themselves so that they are free from discrimination and violence. Here are a few examples:

1) Black boys and men should not walk too quickly or run because that suggests they've done something wrong. They also should not walk too slowly because that suggests they must be looking for trouble.

2) Young black men should not put their hands in their pockets but should instead always keep their hands where others can see them. They should also avoid gesticulating, because others might misinterpret their gestures as aggressiveness.

3) Black boys and men should wear business attire at all times because casual clothes—especially hoodies—suggest they're up to no good.

4) Black youth should never hang out with more than three friends at one time, because large groups are likely to be mistaken for a gang. They should also be careful about walking alone—young men hanging out by themselves, like Trayvon Martin, are suspicious.

5) When shopping, whether at a grocery store or a department store, young Black men should check out quickly in order to avoid suspicion. But they should not check out too quickly, because that means they've pocketed merchandise on their way out.

6) Young black men should never make eye contact with others because it is threatening; they should never avert their eyes because that looks furtive.

7) Black men must be careful about walking, driving, or flying while black, especially in neighborhoods or in destinations where there are typically not a lot of black people. But they should avoid low income neighborhoods, because that is where the police are even more inclined to respond with brutality and arrest.

8) And the most important lesson of all to be learned from this tragedy is that Black boys and men must be careful about defending themselves because, no matter what happens, they will be seen as the aggressor.

She ends with a call to action.

"I simply don't know what to tell my son about how to live his life under these circumstances. I have known for a long time that there is nothing I can do to protect my son from prejudice. But I simply refuse to accept that there is nothing I can do to protect him from violence. This is the current reality that my son and countless parents like me face, but we cannot stop here.

We must call on the Justice Department to update the guidance on the use of race in federal law enforcement, and we must get Congress to Pass the End Racial Profiling Act, for the sake of my son and Black children across the country."

Suspicious George

The Martin family attorney, Benjamin Crump, placed blame on Juror B-37, in the most objective way: she simply didn't think of Trayvon as "her child." Juror B-37 couldn't relate to Trayvon, and there is the real tragedy: her empathy for the dead Trayvon was the same as for his murderer, George Zimmerman.

Indeed, Juror B-37 was so partial to Zimmerman that she excused his behavior with her assessment of his motivations. "But he wanted to do good. I think he had good in his heart, he just went overboard," the juror told CNN. Asked later whether she thought Zimmerman was within his rights, she said: "He was justified in shooting Trayvon Martin." After all, as George Zimmerman absolved himself of his personal responsibility for killing Trayvon, it was "all God's plan." Imagine the internal outrage Trayvon's parents must have felt when George Stephanopoulus asked them how they felt about George Zimmerman's parents praying each day for Trayvon. And yet, Trayvon's father, Tracy Martin, mild mannerly only questioned their sincerity.

One only needs to skim through the list of 46 phone calls to see that Zimmerman was overzealous in his pursuit of those in his neighborhood displaying "suspicious activity." On April 22, 2011, Zimmerman called police about suspicious activity by a "Juvenile black male 'apprx 7–9' years old, four feet tall 'skinny build short blk hair' last seen wearing a blue t-shirt and blue shorts."

Yes, that's right. To George Zimmerman, a little boy was suspicious, although he wasn't wearing a hoodie. Now I'm not sure what would be, to Zimmerman, "suspicious" about a young boy, other than he was black. Not that Zimmerman would be profiling on the basis of race, of course, despite the allegations of trial witness no. 9, Zimmerman's cousin. She said "...that Zimmerman and his family always had a bias against Blacks and only liked them if they 'acted White.'" Zimmerman defended himself against that charge by saying he was cleared of any racial profiling by the FBI.

And Zimmerman was cleared of murdering Trayvon Martin, too. God's plan?

So know we know....

Thank you, Juror B37, for making it clear that prejudice and stupidity did lead to the Zimmerman verdict.  At least we don’t have to guess
— David Poland (@DavidPoland) July 16, 2013

In case you haven't noticed I've been away from the blog for the last week mega thanks to my friend and fellow contributor Chip for filling in for me.  It's a good thing I was not in a postition to blog after the jury acquitted George Zimmerman for racially profiling, stalking, and shooting 17 year old Trayvon Martin   because frankly I needed time to heal.

I wasn't surprised the 100% Female 0% African American jury let George Zimmerman get away with murder, but Lord was I hurt.  It was like someone stabbed me through the heart with a hot dagger.  To think 6 women, some of whom are mothers, would condone a grown man stalking and killing a child of any age/race/gender is beyond me. 

This jury profiled Trayvon in death as George Zimmerman profiled him in life.  Their sons and daughters don't have to be afraid of being stalked, profiled and deemed unworthy, of being in middle class neighborhoods.

The 6 jurors are cowards.  Let me say that again.  The 6 jurors are cowards.  They threw a rock then hid their hands.  The  media should be ashamed for enabling their cowardice.  They certainly didn't protect the identities of the OJ jurors, or, the Casey Anthony jurors, which leads me to believe there is something rotten in the cotton, and  I'm not the only one questioning how, and why, this  jury was selected.

The media also needs to stop enabling the Zimmerman clan to racially profile black people by advancing the meme he "will be looking over his shoulder for the rest of his life"  because the criminal black folks will take the law into their own hands because they can't accept the jury verdict.

Oh really?  Trayvon Martin was looking over his shoulder in fear of his life that fateful night when George Zimmerman became the judge, jury and the executioner.  We are not George Zimmerman's.

Black folks have never, I repeat, never wanted vengeance.  All we've ever wanted is justice.  Nothing more.  Nothing less.


All we ever asked for was for equal justice for the young man who was killed that drizzling night in Sanford, Florida. If George Zimmerman had rights, so did Trayvon Martin. And that is why Mr. Zimmerman was properly arrested and charged with murder in the second degree. He will soon be judged by a jury of his peers, and that is the best we can do. Whatever decision they make, is a decision that we must live with, whether we like it or not. Whether George Zimmerman is found innocent or guilty by the jury, I am firm believer that all of us live by karmic law, and he will ultimately be punished for the death of Trayvon, no matter what. However, if he walks free out of that courtroom, I understand that some people will be very sad, but we must remember the mission we are on. As I have heard Trayvon's parents say time and time again, they are not only fighting for justice for their son, they are fighting for all of us, especially those parents who have to live through the misery of burying their child and the sadness that comes after.


To my white friends who ask me not to judge them based on the actions of Zimmerman and this jury let me say this...I know not all white people are racist, prejudiced, bigots.  To think the opposite would make me no better than the George Zimmerman's of this world.

This is a verdict that indicts us all.

So know that we know, what if anything, are we going to do about it?

Devastated: Trayvon's Parents React to Not Guilty Verdict

Martin and Fulton have started a foundation named after their son and say they hope his death and the trial can serve as a catalyst to bring the country together.

According to the foundation's website, "The Trayvon Martin Foundation was established by Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin in March, 2012 as a not-for-profit organization, under the auspices of the Miami Foundation. The Foundation’s purpose is to create awareness of how violent crime impacts the families of the victims, and to provide support and advocacy for those families, in response to the murder of Trayvon Martin. The scope of the Foundation’s mission is to advocate that crime victims and their families not be ignored in the discussions about violent crime, to increase public awareness of all forms of racial, ethnic and gender profiling, educate youth on conflict resolution techniques, and to reduce the incidences where confrontations between strangers turn deadly."

During the ABC interview with George Stephanopoulous, Trayvon's father, Tracy Martin, said: "I think moving forward we need to educate ourselves as a community on the gun laws, on the laws, on the statutes. "We need to come together more as a whole, not individual people, not individual races, religions. We need to come together as God's people.

"We need to start learning each other, understanding each other. You can't just judge a book by its cover," he said. "Something is wrong in so many ways to say that someone is suspicious just because you don't know them."

Trayvon's mother, Sybrina Fulton, said the outpouring of support the family has received shows the effect the case has had across the nation.

"It's not just about the Trayvon Martin case," Fulton said. "Now it's about your kids. It's about other kids.

"What do we tell our sons?" she said.

John Oliver: Acquitted Development

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Perps' Profile

It was a stunning verdict. So stunning, in fact, that it took me a couple of days to come to grips with it. I had to allow the shock to envelope me as I worked through stages of disbelief, outrage, sorrow, embarrassment, incredulity, sympathy, shame and more...Finally, today, the emotions began to sort themselves out to the point that I could begin seeing the implications of the jury's verdict head-on.

I knew I wasn't alone in how I was reacting, but for once, I didn't watch the weekend morning talk shows. I just couldn't listen to any more at that time. Predictably, Melissa Harris Perry "quoted W.E.B. Du Bois in a monologue, asking, 'How does it feel to be a problem? To have your very body and the bodies of your children to be assume to be criminal, violent, malignant.'...'In this moment, black families are holding their sons and daughters closer to them,' she said. "A verdict which...feels very much as though it is saying it is acceptable, it is ok, to kill an unarmed African-American child who has committed no crime.'"

That was the crux of it, and yet, the perpetrator walked free. George Zimmerman set the stage for what he wanted to do: murder someone. As we all know, he was told not to follow Trayvon, but the real telling moment was when he asked the dispatcher to call him when the police arrived. If he had stayed in his vehicle, and given the police its location, there was no need for a phone call. But that wasn't what George Zimmerman intended to do, because "These assholes always get away."

Trayvon Benjamin Martin, who his mother heartbreakingly described on the witness stand as "in Heaven," was profiled and stalked, just as surely as the sun rises and sets. In George Zimmerman's estimation, Trayvon "didn't belong" in that neighborhood. Profiling was nothing new to Zimmerman, who, over the course of eight years, called the Sanford Police Department 46 times to report suspicious activity - by black males.

The fact that Zimmerman was not a member of an organized neighborhood watch group making him nothing more than a vigilante didn't influence the jury.

Zimmerman had a history of violence against a police officer and a former fiance.

Whether it was that history of violence or his own psychological profile that led to Zimmerman's rejection for a police career isn't clear.

What is clear is that the justice system failed Trayvon, and failed all of us. Whatever the situation that night, Trayvon didn't need to die that night, had he not met up with a sociopath. I'd wager we haven't seen the last of George Zimmerman, karma being what it is.

18

The only ones we have to fear are the Fearmongers themselves

SURPRISE! Racism and Classism still exist in America

In anticipation of the 100% white 0% African American jury being dumber than Paula Deen  and acquitting George Zimmerman for the murder of Trayvon Martin,  right wing Fearmongers are riling up their base with predictions  blacks will riot and Zimmerman's lawyer claiming he will never be safe, because that's just what they do when they can't get their way.  Snark

I could see it if black folks were stocking up on assault weapons and ammo clips,or if blacks folks had a documented history of mob rule, but other than the riots after the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr and the riots  in the aftermath of the Rodney King verdict, blacks folks generally accept there is no justice if you're black in America.

Dirty Red said it best...(uncensored)

What got him killed is his SKIN.

His skin that was out of place in that neighborhood.
His skin that America thinks is an automatic reason to distrust someone.
His skin.
That is what got Travon Martin killed. He was killed by a punk bytch ass failure, that wanted to prove to the local fuzz that they should have never passed him over.
 So I am not surprised that the trial is going the way it is. I will not be mad or upset when this bytch walks out of the courthouse to the applause of his family, friends and his fellow Americans.
I am not surprised.
This is the "norm" for America.
This is what we do here in the land of the "free".
Black people in this country are Guilty until proven not so guilty.

And they want us to sing God Bless America?

If there is anything black people can understand, it's the loss of life without justice

"While the judge limited the ability of the prosecution to bring race into focus and to talk about racial profiling, among other things, race remains at the center of the trial and the criminal justice system—at the heart of life and death. The demands for colorblindness amid the realities of a racist America means that this trial, like those before, are playing out according to the hegemonic script: black criminalization and white innocence.  It is my hope for a new ending where justice and mourning no longer remain a dream deferred. " David J. Leonard

George Zimmerman's defense team is defending the indefensible by profiling Trayvon Martin even in death.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not mad at Zimmerman's team for mounting a vigorous defense of their client,  this is America and everyone has a right to a fair trial, my fear is the 100% white 0% African American jury will fall for the Okey-Doke and say it's okay for an armed adult to stalk an unarmed black teen, get into an altercation because the teen is scared to death (literally)  shoot them, then claim self-defense.

Despite the claim coming from the mouth of the Lord of Loud in an attempt to rile up his base,  black folks aren't going to riot if the jury acquits George Zimmerman.  To be honest. I'm more worried about some (not to be confused with all) white folks reaction if George Zimmerman is convicted.

Just in case George Zimmerman walks free...

All we ever asked for was for equal justice for the young man who was killed that drizzling night in Sanford, Florida. If George Zimmerman had rights, so did Trayvon Martin. And that is why Mr. Zimmerman was properly arrested and charged with murder in the second degree. He will soon be judged by a jury of his peers, and that is the best we can do. Whatever decision they make, is a decision that we must live with, whether we like it or not. Whether George Zimmerman is found innocent or guilty by the jury, I am firm believer that all of us live by karmic law, and he will ultimately be punished for the death of Trayvon, no matter what. However, if he walks free out of that courtroom, I understand that some people will be very sad, but we must remember the mission we are on. As I have heard Trayvon's parents say time and time again, they are not only fighting for justice for their son, they are fighting for all of us, especially those parents who have to live through the misery of burying their child and the sadness that comes after.

Honestly, Redeye, if I were black I don't think I'd have the courage to have children in this country.~havealittletak

Honestly havealittletalk, it takes courage to be black in this country.

Real Alabama Democrats can't win for the Journalists

I am sick and damn tired of supposedly unbiased, white (yes I'm playing a race FACT), male, (yes I'm playing the gender FACT)  journalist getting to decide who/what/when/where a candidate is credible or not, or, when someone/something is racist/racism, or not?  Who elected them God?  I mean really?

Al.com's Joey Kennedy wrote a column entitled  Democrats need a credible candidate for governor, even it's it's a lost cause   in which he proclaims  Alabama is a solidly republican state and Bentley is very popular.  I wonder why? Snark

 Who is Bentley very popular with....the GOP?  Who gets to decide who is credible?

Dr. Jess Brown?
Jess Brown, a political science professor at Athens State University, said the absence of a Democratic candidate for governor at this point is “indicative of the weakness of the Democratic Party.” In an email, Brown said the Democrats have lost so many races in Alabama “that it is a party without an effective message or messengers.”

Uh, no Dr. Jess Brown, the party has messengers, they just aren't allowed to express their opinions in the mainstream press like you.   How about an opinion from a political science professor at Alabama A&M University, Tuskegee University, Alabama State University, University of Alabama in Birmingham, Miles College? 

Let's just stop having elections and let Kennedy and others decide who the winners are. The reason Alabama is solidly republican  is  because journalist know they can count on the uniformed and misinformed to hate democrats more than they love their county, city, state, country, or themselves for that matter. 

I sure do miss the good old days when  the media used their powers for good, and informed the public of what we needed to know to make informed decisions, and let the voters decide who/what is credible or not.

It's the media, I won't say stupid, because we aren't stupid, It's the media who caters to stupid.

No wonder more and more people are turning to the blogosphere for unfiltered information.

Tweet of the Century

GOP+NRA = Pro-WHAT??? pic.twitter.com/PPUVxFinGL
— Arlene Schulman (@msdirector) April 9, 2013

All that blood, sweat, tears, and sacrifice, wiped away with a 5-4 vote

Fumbling Toward Divinity: Remembering Four Little Black Girl

On Sunday, 15th September, 1963, a white man was seen getting out of a white and turquoise Chevrolet car and placing a box under the steps of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. Soon afterwards, at 10.22 a.m., the bomb exploded killing Denise McNair (11), Addie Mae Collins (14), Carole Robertson (14) and Cynthia Wesley (14). The four girls had been attending Sunday school classes at the church. Twenty-three other people were also hurt by the blast.

Civil rights activists blamed George Wallace, the Governor of Alabama, for the killings. Only a week before the bombing he had told the New York Times that to stop integration Alabama needed a "few first-class funerals."

 Again, the  reason I oppose the republican party has nothing to do with me being a democrat, and I don't oppose republicans just to support democrats.  I oppose republicans because the people who perpetrated the 16th Street Baptist Church bombings and other terrorist acts joined the GOP.

I oppose the Alabama Democratic Majority because they believe the Alabama Democratic Party is the black man's party, like that's a bad thing.

Does this sound familiar?

Prior to the the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and Nixons Southern Strategy, these people were loyal democrats, then the Democratic Party split along sectional lines in the aftermath and the republicans reached out to the disaffected Southern Democrats, encouraging them to join the GOP.  The party did not change the Dixiecrats, the Dixiecrats changed the party. 

When Lyndon Johnson signed the 1965 voting Rights Act, he said “there goes the Democratic Party in the South.” How right he was.

"What ever political party draws it's strength from these people is the party I'm going to work to defeat. "

Are you with us, or are you with them?

That is the question.