"For the sake of giving our community a new school"

"We were fighting for the right to breathe back then."   I'm not sure who made this statement, or where I read it, but I believe the late civil rights icon Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth used these words to describe the conditions during the civil rights movement as it related to the treatment, or should I say mistreatment, of African Americans. If I am wrong someone please correct me. Over 50 years later we are still fighting for the right to breathe, the difference is now we are fighting for the right to breathe clean air.

Like so many other things, pollution and environmental destruction disproportionately affect both people of color and the economically disadvantaged. This phenomenon is often referred to as environmental injustice and ties together the concepts of racial/economic privilege with unequal burden of the effects of environmental abuse.
Environmental racism is "the process whereby environmental decisions, actions, and policies result in racial discrimination or the creation of racial advantages."

None dare call it environmental racism, but that is exactly what is happening with the relocation of the new Mae Jemison High, other public schools, and parks in close proximity to an active rock quarry.  What started out as a fight to save the name of J.O.Johnson High School  turned into a fight for the rights of students, administrators, teachers, and support personnel in north Huntsville to breathe relatively clean air.

Why would anyone want to build school(s) and a recreational park near an active rock quarry?  That is the question.

Would those with the power to make these decisions want their loved ones attending/working in a school built less than a mile from an active rock quarry?  I think not.

The city of Huntsville is standing by the school districts assertion the air is "safe to breathe" at the location of the new, illegally named Mae Jemison High School, but to the best of my knowledge they are basing this on one test conducted on one day, in the early morning hours when there was no activity at the rock quarry.

If, I repeat, If, the DOJ approved the building of the new north Huntsville high school based on this one test, I not only have a problem with the BOE and the City of Huntsville, I have a problem with our  government.

In July 1964 Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. (PDF) (13 pp, 23K, About PDF) Title VI of the Civil Rights Act states that "No person in the United States shall, on the ground of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance."
In February 1994, President Clinton issued Executive Order 12898, "Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations." In a separate memorandum, President Clinton identified Title VI as one of several federal laws already in existence that can help "to prevent minority communities and low-income communities from being subject to disproportionately high and adverse environmental effects."

 The only reason a new school is being built in north Huntsville is because is because south Huntsville wanted a new school. What south Huntsville wants, south Huntsville gets. Don't get me wrong, I don't begrudge south Huntsville getting a new school and keeping their name, I just don't believe it should be at the expense of the lives of north Huntsville residents.    

"My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge." Hosea 4:6

SMI Analytical

Taxpayers who  live (if they have no alternative),  work (if they are lucky),  and play (at their own risk), in north Huntsville  are being systematically destroyed from a lack of knowledge, not by choice, by design.

The Huntsville City School Board of Education, enabled by the City of Huntsville, purchased 100 acres of land to build a new predominately African American high school less than a mile from an active rock quarry. 

The property, located just north of Pulaski Pike's intersection with Stringfield Road, began as one of four potential sites for the new school. Problems with two of those sites, a 78-acre parcel of land near the intersection of Jordan Lane and Mastin Lake Road and a 100-acre site across Blue Springs Road from the Richard Showers Recreation Center, quickly eliminated them from consideration.
Johnson High could have been rebuilt at its current location off of Winchester Road, but the Pulaski Pike site is twice the size of the current one. Laurie McCaulley, who represents Johnson High on the board, said the current site could become a training ground for public service officers.

Note the article doesn't state exactly what the "problems" were at the other two locations, nor does it state the property that was purchased is less than a mile from an active rock quarry.  If that's not a problem I don't know what is.

To add insult to injury, the BOE violated their own policy and renamed said new school after  Dr. Mae Jemison  despite a massive protest to keep the name J.O. Johnson. 

 Last night the Huntsville City School Board of Education violated their own policy on the Selection of School, Facility, and/or Property Name (Policy 2.9, presented September 5, 2013) by concluding the process and voting on the new names approximately three weeks before they were allowed to do so.

There  has been no coverage of this violation by the media. 

There are valid concerns adequate/aggressive testing of the air quality and the potential risk to students, administrators, teachers, and support personnel was not conducted prior to purchasing this property.  There is an increased risk of asthma, respiratory disease, and lung cancer; the same health risk as being exposed to asbestos.

 Mesothelioma (or, more precisely, malignant mesothelioma) is a rare form of cancer that develops from cells of the mesothelium, the protective lining that covers many of the internal organs of the body. Mesothelioma is most commonly caused by exposure to asbestos.^[1] The most common anatomical site for mesothelioma is the pleura (the outer lining of the lungs and internal chest wall), but it can also arise in the peritoneum (the lining of the abdominal cavity), the pericardium (the sac that surrounds the heart),^[2] or the tunica vaginalis (a sac that surrounds the testis).

There was a huge public outcry, supported by city, county and state public officials when Vulcan wanted to operate a rock quarry in the affluent Gurley/New Hope community, citing air quality concerns for schools two miles away. Some of the same city, county and state officials are silent when it comes to air quality for schools in north Huntsville.  

Other elected officials speaking against the quarry were Mark Russell, president of Huntsville City Council, Madison County District 3 Commissioner Eddie Sisk, state Sen. Paul Sanford, state Sen. Shadrack McGill, state Rep. Wayne Johnson, Gurley Mayor Rob Sentell, Gurley Councilman Robert Wren.
Their concerns addressed environmental quality of Flint River and Hayes Nature Preserve, unsafe traffic with trucks crossing Norfolk Southern Railroad along a curve, heavy trucks sharing roads with school buses, air quality at two nearby schools and a lack of local governmental control of the quarry operation.

There was a huge public outcry supported by city, county, and state public officials when the superintendent wanted to change the name of Lee High School to the point of telling him he would be making a gargantuan mistake if he changed the name.

 "There's been any number of councilman and officials call to inform me that I've made a gargantuan mistake," Wardynski said, to applause from the crowd that made him smile. "Thank you for acknowledging my mistake."

Some of the same city, county, and state officials are silent when it comes to responding to public outcry against changing the name of J.O. Johnson.  As a matter of fact, they are planning a ground breaking ceremony using, I mean, inviting Mae Jemison to put a black face on their deception.
Dr. Mae Jemison's good name is being destroyed by a lack of knowledge.   

 Dear Dr. Mae Carol Jemison,

It's me, RedEye.  Have your ears been burning lately?  The reason I ask is because you are being talked about 24/7 in the Rocket City.  In case you haven't heard, the Superintendent and the Huntsville City Schools Board of Education, voted to replace the name James Oliver Johnson  with  your name, despite opposition  from the majority of Alumni, parents, students, and the community.  The reason the BOE states for wanting to replace the name  J.O. Johnson with  your good name is because you are well....black  and because JOJ is a so called  "failing" school. In other words, they don't want to fix the problem, they want to slap your good name on it and call it fixed.  Nod.  Nod. Wink.  Wink.

The public outcry by citizens in north Huntsville is being suppressed. 

Purposely withholding vital info from the people/community that will be affected is a nice nasty way of saying......"You are not valued as a person".......We know what is best for you, even though we need your tax dollars........We will do what we want in your community because we don't live in your community.

Lord, please help us.

RedEye's Monday Rundown

Regular postings are light because my real life collided with my blogging life. Please accept this blog stroll until  Jupitar aligns with Mars again.  Thanks to those who continue to read even when there is nothing new to read.  It continues to amaze and humble me.

The Myth Behind Public School  Failure

We’re now told, relentlessly, that bad-apple schoolteachers have wrecked K-12 education; that their unions keep legions of incompetent educators in classrooms; that part of the solution is more private charter schools; and that teachers as well as entire schools lack accountability, which can best be remedied by more and more standardized “bubble” tests.

The woman Civil Rights leaders threw under the bus.

Every year during Black History Month, Rosa Parks’ name rolls off the tongues of schoolchildren and educators around the nation as they discuss the civil rights movement of the 1950s and ’60s. Yet the lesser-known Claudette Colvin, whom media outlets have referred to as “The Other Rosa Parks,” still remains absent from any teachings. The historical amnesia that surrounds Colvin is indicting for its revelation of how much the white gaze did and still controls how we remember history and select our icons.

Mrs. Schnauzer, Carol Shuler remains under threat of arrest in Rob Riley's lawsuit.

In court papers Riley claims that Legal Schnauzer "purports to be a joint enterprise" between Roger and Carol Shuler. The blog, however, does nothing of the sort. It lists one author, Roger Shuler, and it lists no contributors or administrators because there aren't any.

Welcome to Left in Alabama Miranda Joseph Democratic Candidate for State Auditor!
Psst!  Do you think you could use your influence to get me (RedEye) reinstated as a front page contributor over there? If not, I understand. 

Not content to make unfounded allegations that found their way to the newspaper thanks to that pesky Open Meetings law (kudos to the reporter for sussing out the date/time of the special called meeting), Interim Chair Worley spent her Mother's Day evening trolling Facebook, where she posted on Miranda Joseph's page

"I am shocked that one who wants to be a candidate for public office does not support paying one's bills and living within one's means -- whether it's the ADP, personal debts, government spending or whatever. We Democrats criticize the Republicans for increasing the deficit and praise President Clinton for balancing the budget! Surely a candidate for auditor does not advocate running sway from one's debts!"

Eugene Robinson:  I'm Black, Don't Shoot Me.

Sometimes, when I'm in my car, I crank up the music pretty loud. All you Michael Dunns out there, please don't shoot me.
Please don't shoot my sons, either, or my brothers-in-law, nephews, nephews-in-law or other male relatives. I have quite a few friends and acquaintances who also happen to be black men, and I'd appreciate your not shooting them as well, even if the value you place on their lives is approximately zero.

I thought we were fighting them over there so we wouldn't have to fight them over here?What do want to bet if this were a members of The New Black Panther Party this would be all over the news?

Three members of a Georgia militia have been arrested and charged in federal court regarding a conspiracy to attack federal agencies with explosive devices. On February 15th two of the men attempted to obtain pipe bombs and thermite devices in order to carry out their attack on the TSA and FEMA and other agencies, according to the US Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia. The three men allegedly chatted online from January 23rd to February 15th regarding their plans to attack the Federal government.

You won't hear about this in the media or see it on TeeVee because it's not a bunch of Tea Party folks calling the first African American President of the United States a Kenyan born, Muslim, Sub human mongrel, Socialist, or worst.

On February 8th 2014 in Raleigh, North Carolina, the state capital, Moral Mondays and the left-wing HK on J Coalition staged the largest civil rights protest the South has seen since Selma in 1965.
It is not (yet) as large as the Occupy movement was just before the nationwide police crackdown in 2011, but it has a broader base: young and old, black and white, working and middle class, teachers, doctors,pro-abortion activists, etc. Church and labour leaders support it.

 I shall return.~RedEye

When what sounds right, is not right (pun intended)

RedEye, at some point I need for you to explain to me exactly why the AL Dem Party should not adopt the NDP definition of "minority" -- including Democratic National Committee’s definition of minorities, including Hispanics, Asian-Americans, Native Americans, youth and women. It sounds like the right thing to do, to me.

I received the above text message from a friend, as I started to reply I realized my response was too complicated for a text, and others might have the same question.  Before I type another word let me make it crystal clear I know beyond a shadow of a doubt the author of the above text is a good and decent human being who believes in doing what's right and good.

Just because something sounds like the right thing to do doesn't mean it's the right thing to do. Voter ID laws sound like the right thing to do until you look at the motive behind them.  The motive behind the so-called diversity amendment is to dilute the power of the Alabama Democratic Conference.  Links inserted for emphasis.

The Alabama Democratic Conference, formerly known as the Black Political Caucus of Alabama, was established in 1960. Its leaders were African Americans who wished to encourage all voters, but especially other African Americans, to vote for the democratic candidate, who at the time was John F. Kennedy with vice president Lyndon B. Johnson. The founders of this influential group include Arthur Shores, Rufus Lewis, .Dr. C.G. Gomillion, Q. D. Adams, Isom Clemon, and Beulah Johnson. All of these individuals held respectable positions in their communities and were looked up to by the people, especially by other African Americans.

The late Rev. Jack Zylman offers this history of the Alabama Democratic Party as someone who witnessed the overt racism of a political party that refused to accept blacks as members. Links inserted for emphasis.

Back in 1966, after an election in which, having won voting rights after the
1965 Selma to Montgomery March, in which I lost two dear friend, Rev JimReeb and Viola Liuzzo, blacks rushed to register to vote and to run for office, most considered themselves to be Democrats . Gov Wallace (a democrat) refused to allow them to run for office as Democrats. To combat the continuing absolute racism of the Alabama Democratic Party, some of us created another Democratic Party, the National Democratic Party of Alabama (NDPA), went through a difficult struggle, and elected the first blacks to office in Alabama as Democrats! But the ADP fought as a fully segregated party for almost 10 years as the NDPA came to hold over 100 elected offices,more than any other state!!! Then and only then did the ADP want us, and we forgivingly moved into the ADP. But of course its leadership remained fully racist and we have been struggling to change that ever since. But racists continued to run for and hold office as Democrats. It never fully changed. That makes it clear why people are still very suspicious of attitudes in the ADP.

Every ounce of "power and influence" held by the Alabama Democratic Conference is the result of blood, sweat, tears, and sacrifice.  It's not something that was given willingly, nor is it something we will relinquish without a fight. I firmly believe this is about diluting the power and influence of African Americans within the ADP because there is the perception the party caters to black voters but ignores white voters.

“The goal of the amendment is to bring representation of Hispanic, Asian, Native American, Youth and others onto the State Executive Committee.  My amendment was designed to help engage all Alabamians in our party, and to ensure everyone a voice.”

Allow me to illustrate how the power and influence of African Americans will be diluted using a pot of beans as an example:

First, we have 6 kinds of beans/peas and each is assigned an equal number and a group;

Black Beans= 15 African American men/women/LBGT
Lima Beans=  15 LBGT
Navy Beans= 15 Hispanic Caucus
Red Kidney Beans= 15 Alabama Federation of Democratic Women
Great Northern Beans=  15 Young Dems
Green Peas= 15 Asian/Native Americans

When you put all the beans in the pot and mix them up what happens to the Black Beans?

It would put white women – who, due to the racial composition of House districts and the Bylaws, constitute a large number of SDEC seats – in the minority caucus, which was historically designed to insure racial equity. I know most of the proponents of recent Bylaw amendments, and I do not think for an instant that any of them contemplate actions that would make the SDEC unrepresentatively white. But that would be the exact effect of the Shadoin Amendment, in the form in which it was submitted.

The election of State Representative Patrica Todd is the perfect example of the effects of diluting the black block vote. Per Attorney Jerome Gray:

In 2000, the district was drawn with a 63 percent black majority. In the years since, gentrification has shrunk that proportion, and some estimate the current black population at about 50 percent. In his letter endorsing Hendricks, [Joe] Reed warned black community leaders that if they elected a white candidate, the district could be redrawn without a black majority.
“If a district became a Republican district, Republicans would fight like the dickens to keep the district Republican,” said Jerome Gray, field Director for the ADC. “The same is true if a district is majority black. Black activists and black leaders are going to fight for the dickens to keep it majority black.”
While some have attacked the ADC’s stance as reverse racism, Gray said that white Democrats simply will not spearhead the same issues as their black counterparts. He gave the restoration of felony voting rights as an example.

I hope this explains why including the Democratic National Committee’s definition of minorities, including Hispanics, Asian-Americans, Native Americans, youth and women is the wrong thing to do.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

What is wrong with this picture?

@Here_ISound_Off And this is flip side, when a black man is armed and protects himself in Florida. A US Vet no less! pic.twitter.com/qO6hWEfwI8
— Mary (@MFL1956) February 17, 2014

Now isn't that special?

Remington Arms Plant where Remington has been producing firearms for nearly 200 years.

On the morning after the Jordan Davis mistral/verdict, I booted up my computer to do my daily blog stroll and rolled upon Left In Alabama's Resident Righty gleefully congratulating a gun manufacturer for relocating to Huntsville,  which had to be the best-kept secret in Madison County history. Strike that.  This was the best-kept secret since the Downtown Rescue Mission was relocated from Lowe Mill Village to northwest Huntsville.  But I digress.

The deal is set to be announced Monday at a special meeting of the Huntsville City Council, though sources said there may be a news conference prior to the meeting.
Huntsville and Madison County elected officials declined to comment when contacted about the deal this morning. Officials with Remington Outdoor did not immediately return requests for comment.
Gov. Robert Bentley did not directly confirm the reports about Remington, but told AL.com today that a big announcement is coming Monday.
"I think Monday you'll see something very special in the state," Bentley said.

Before I type another word let me say I am not opposed to skilled manufacturing jobs coming to Alabama.  As a matter of fact, I hope they will employ some of the people who desperately need jobs, but I'm not counting on it.  My problem is the same people who are happy to create jobs making guns won't expand Medicaid and reject key provisions in The Affordable Health Care Act because of Obama.

Another bone of contention I have is al.com claiming the city welcomes Remington based pm an abundance of positive, pro-gun comments posted to the AL.com story this morning.  First, let's look at how the online poll questions are framed:

Would you support Remington opening a production plant in Alabama?
Yes, I love the Second Amendment.
No, I don't agree with guns/gun ownership.
It doesn't matter to me
Yes, bring the jobs and the business

Next let's look at some of the abundances of positive, pro-gun comments posted to the AL.com story this morning.

but,but ,but ,,,the unemployed can stay a home and take care of the kids,,cook meals,spend more time with the kids....according to some of your liberals leaders. in Washington told that to us last week,,,those that has lost their jobs because of obamacare..its better than being employed......is that not true ???

 Democrats and liberals should be prohibited from obtaining employment at this plant. That should be the first question on the application.

Liberal Occupier types are fun to watch... They are frothing over 2000 new jobs in Alabama.... Jobs seem to be hated by the Neosocialists

 The LIBERAL OCCUPIER WHACKJOBS got a double whammy ....2000 new jobs in Huntsville and NO to the UAW in Chattanooga....hahahaa

 tis is great they can the guns faster to Birmingham

 Bo..You can thank Obama for these 2000 jobs

 Clearly businesses are trying to escape the LEFTWING OCCUPIER areas where they are attacked and over taxed

Forgive me for not doing handsprings because a gun manufacturer is moving here based on this abundance of positive, pro-gun comments posted to AL.com.    I guess we will have to wait until tomorrow to find out what the City of Huntsville gave Remington to entice them to relocate to our fair city.   As countrycat said  keep in mind they recently paid a department store $4 million to move from one mall to a newer one 1 1/2 miles away. 

BOOM! (pun intended).

One and Dunn

Now that Michael Dunn has been convicted of attempted murder of the three young men with Jordan Davis the day he was murdered in cold blood for loud music, his family will have to endure another trial. "The state attorney for Jacksonville, Angela Corey, said immediately after the verdict that she planned to retry Mr. Dunn on first-degree murder. Ms. Corey discussed "overcharges" and that she hoped jurors would explain why they could not agree on that charge, which could help her team in the new trial. Even without that new trial, Michael Dunn will be in prison for possibly 60-75 years. He is scheduled to be sentenced March 24th. And if Michael Dunn was afraid of a car full of teens playing rap music, his convictions give him new reasons to be afraid. Prison justice is calculated, covert, swift and severe.
The actions of George Zimmerman (the one who "won") and Michael Dunn (who is so-o-o done) show it's open season on young black men. The George Zimmerman trial taught racists how to kill a black teenager and legally get away with it. (George, by the way, now bemoans the fact that he can't live a "normal life," is homeless and thinks he is suffering from PTSD - a probable pitch for disability.) Not that I care, if only to say that he ought to be damn happy to live a life in obscurity, always looking over his shoulder, anticipating some dreadful event. Life, after all, is what he denied Trayvon Martin.
Jordan's mother, Lucia McBath, became an advocate with Moms Demand Action, fighting to end "Stand Your Ground" laws, "...also called “shoot first” laws because they empower armed vigilantism – are associated with a clear increase in homicides, resulting in up to 700 more homicides nationwide each year...".
Moms Demand Action notes that Stand Your Ground laws: embolden vigilante behavior and tripled the justifiable homicide rate; disproportionately affects communities of color; and, doesn't deter crime. All of which support the most egregious fact that when: "white shooters kill black victims, the resulting homicides are 11 times more likely to be deemed justifiable than when the shooter is black and the victim is white."
That's a fact that Michael Dunn quite possibly could have known when he reached for his handgun to discharge his magazine into the red SUV. He might have known his chances of getting away with it were pretty good. After all, he considered himself pretty smart, according to his neighbors, and he had learned the nuances of Stand Your Ground during the George Zimmerman trial. His neighbors describe Michael Dunn as a violent, perverse man so eager to make a buck that he was willing to screw his own parents, and as a man willing to kill somebody.
Jordan's father, Ron Davis, said simply though it wasn't in his nature to be stoic, he would do so for his son, Jordan: "[Dunn] is going to learn that he must be remorseful for the killing of my son, that it was not just another day at the office.”

Truth

The new racism is to deny that racism exists!
— TheBlackUnityProject (@Black_Unity2014) February 9, 2014

Welcome to The Huntsville City Schools Demilitarized Zone

The Seoul Guide

Let's recap.

In a 3-2 vote, the The Huntsville City School Board of misEducation fired the previous Superintendent, Dr. Anne Roy Moore, replacing her with retired Colonel Casey Wardynski, fondly refereed to as The Polish Hammer by the dumbest human being ever allowed to have a talk radio show. But I digress.

Opening Salvo

Dr. Casey Wardynski re enacting General Sherman's march to the Sea, firing teachers and Principals left and right, armed with S. 310, the Students First Act, sponsored by Sen. Trip Pittman and Rep. Chad Fincher. Don't let the name Student's First fool you. 

Surgical Strike

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!

Classify the Plan

Huntsville on Thursday finally got a look at the closely guarded plans for shuffling school zone lines.
City maps and computer slides and a lengthy history lesson greeted the crowd, as more than a hundred shoehorned into the board meeting room, spilling into the halls, listening as Superintendent Casey Wardynski laid out his vision for which kids should attend which Huntsville schools.

Suppress Dissent 

Announce the plan in a five day count down and structure the delivery so that no one knows who their allies are at the meeting. No time to oppose and no idea who to rally.

Bonus Earned 

Address the Desegregation Court Order. (7.4 out of 10 points.) To earn these 7.4 points, Dr. Wardynski has hired another lawyer, Marie Sneed, to do the work of addressing this concern.

Mission Accomplished

 The plan will be presented to the school board and is scheduled to be voted on at tonight's meeting. Click here to see the agenda.
If no compromise is reached between the district and the Department of Justice on the system's plan or the DOJ counter proposal, school officials will take matters to federal court.

How can we fight back?

Since our board and superintendent don’t want to answer questions from the public about their version of the rezoning plan, I would suggest going over their head to the Department of Justice.
The DoJ, will after all, have final say about what the plan looks like anyway.
Let Sarah Hinger know that the district is completely ignoring public input into this plan. As she stated in her letter to J. R. Brooks dated December 17, 2013, the district is actually required to be involved in the plan to unify the district. I’m sure that she would be interested in knowing that the district is not doing so.

You may contact Ms. Hinger via the Department of Justice at the following address:

U.S. Department of Justice
Civil Rights Division, Educational Opportunities Section
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Patrick Henry Building, Suite 4300
Washington, DC 20530
(202) 514-4902
(202) 514-8337 (Fax)
sarah.hinger@usdoj.gov

What Geek Pavaler said

I’m certain that since Wardynski is going to soon file suit against the Department of Justice, that she would be interested in knowing how little the public has been involved in this process.
It would seem that the board and superintendent need to look up the definition of the word conversation.

 It is painful to watch democracy, fairness, and justice, die. I and woke up this morning with that same sick feeling I had after the not guilty verdict in the  George Zimmerman trial.

 "This city belongs to us, the people. It doesn’t belong to the Huntsville Times. It doesn’t belong to the Huntsville Board of Education. It doesn’t belong to Dr. Wardynski. It belongs to us."  ~Geek Pavaler

Rarely is the question asked.....

Thank Goodness The Alabama Democratic Party "Stonewalled" The Latest Attempt to Dilute African American Influence in the SDEC

I was pleased to learn the Alabama Democratic Party, under the capable and effective leadership of Acting Chair Nancy Worley, and Minority Affairs Chair Dr. Joe Reed was able to Stonewall the latest attack on African American influence within the SDEC.

H/T Wanted Alabama Democrats for directing me to a summary of the meeting summarized in this video, edited and posted by the staff of the Alabama Political Reporter.

Excerpt the links inserted for emphasis are mine:

Last year, then-party chairman Mark Kennedy and other key employees resigned from their positions, leaving to form the Alabama Democratic Majority, a group whose stated goal is to break the GOP legislative supermajority in the 2014. At the time, Worley – who was then interim chair – complained about ADM's staff taking items and information that belonged to the Democratic Party, not to them, such as login information for software accounts, paper supplies, and even allegedly their website, to which Worley says ADP no longer has access.

Many have characterized the strife as racial, with some pointing to Dr. Joe Reed as the culprit. Dr. Reed, who has long been a top politico in State affairs, has opposed every diversity amendment that has thus far come before the body. Dr. Reed is the minority chair of the party, and is also the chairman of the Alabama Democratic Conference, an activist group whose endorsement can mean more than half of the African American vote in many districts around the Yellowhammer state.

While Dr. Reed claims that his objections are mostly technical – including the fact that women are included when they already comprise half the body – some say that his opposition is only an effort to prevent African American influence in the SDEC from being diluted, even if at the expense of other guaranteed minority representation in the body.

Let's recap, links inserted for emphasis are mine.

A short primer on the issue, with some historical perspective, is necessary to a full understanding of what transpired. There is currently no definition of “minority” in this section. For at least 30 years that I know of, the various state Chairs, including John Baker, Redding Pitt, Joe Turnham, and Judge Kennedy, have held that “minority” in this section means “black.” This section was put in the Bylaws in the 1970’s, over much opposition from the then-George Wallace faction, to assure that blacks had representation on the SDEC commensurate with their proportion of the Democratic vote in general elections. Without the predecessor version of that language, it is possible that George Wallace’s 1974 effort to seize control of the SDEC from Judge Robert Vance, Sr., and the “Loyalist” (as in loyal to the national Party and nominee) caucus, might have been successful. Those of us who were present when Wallace failed recall that it was, as Wellington said of his victory at Waterloo, “a damn close-run thing.”

Again, this is not about diversity, it's about getting rid of Joe Reed and his bunch by some of the same people who supported Artur Davis over Ron Sparks  as the democratic nominee for Governor of Alabama, and, by some of the same people who are welcoming Dr. Parker Griffith back to the Alabama Democratic Party with open lips, I mean, arms.

For those who expend precious time and resources trying to make the Alabama Democratic Party look like the Alabama Republican Party, I wish you would expend the same time and resources fighting with us instead of helping the GOP.

"When all the fingers work together they form a mighty fist."

I'm just saying.....

Remember Trayvon Martin Today. Remember Trayvon Martin Tomorrow. Remember Trayvon Martin Forever.

H/T Chip via John S. Randal with links inserted for emphasis.

 Don't ever forget Trayvon Martin, born February 5, 1995. I know that by posting this photo, it will elicit a lot of emotion, both good and bad. I'm not posting it to create fights, to create arguments, I've already gone through much of that. I'm posting it because we need to see that Trayvon Martin was a son, a brother, a friend. When Trayvon was 9-years-old, he saved his father's life by pulling his father, who had been immobilized by burns to the legs, out of a fire in their apartment. Trayvon washed cars, babysat, and cut grass to earn his own money. Trayvon's former football coach said he was a shy kid and always walked with his hoodie and headphones on listening to music. Those who knew him said he was a kind and loving person. He probably wasn't perfect, I don't think any kids his age are perfect, he was after all just a kid. Please don't attack this post, please don't attack anyone who comments on this post. I'm posting this because I think we need to look deep inside and see that inside, our heart, our soul, we are all the same. Trayvon was just a kid, he could have been your son, he could have been your little brother. Peace and love to all...

"Trayvon belongs to all of America. And until you see him as your child too, we all remain in bondage."