#BlackLivesInAmerica2016

I watched her speaking and just wanted to give her a hug. pic.twitter.com/6X8mOiuJyr

— philip harris (@pharris830) September 29, 2016

BLM protesters harassed by a white guy in a gorrilla mask w/ bananas, rope, and a confederate flag bag. Y'all mad at dude taking a knee tho pic.twitter.com/Zy5NxpiXv7

— Julie (@home_skilletb) September 28, 2016

part 2:) since some people out there think he's just expressing freedom of speech!!! #blacklivesmatter pic.twitter.com/x3B9yzD78h

— Julie (@home_skilletb) September 29, 2016

Kaepernick to White People: Just Pretend I’m Tebowing https://t.co/BkCbtSbs9c via @kickerofficial

— Red Eye (@RedEyesPage) September 29, 2016

#RaceBaiting 101 for Dummies

Watch.  Listen. Learn.

EYE am going to leave this right here

#BlackLivesMatter #VeteransForColinKaepernick pic.twitter.com/c96ij9RezR

— Action (@BoneKnightmare) September 22, 2016

"White people, I'm talking to you. THIS. IS. YOUR. PROBLEM. TO. FIX. Here's some ways to start."

Another day another hashtag.

We can’t go to the grocery store. We can’t buy cigarillos. We can’t sell CDs. We can’t walk down the street in our own neighborhood. We can’t look too threatening. We can’t ask a cop why he stopped us. We cannot breathe too loud. We can’t play music too loud. We can’t need help with our broken down cars. We can’t sit in our cars and read. We just can’t BE. and it’s frustrating. Well, there’s frustrating and there’s this. This is beyond frustrating. This is appalling. This is disgusting. This is infuriating. This? This is traumatizing. We are being lynched.

White people, I’m talking to you. THIS. IS. YOUR. PROBLEM. TO. FIX. Y’all got some work to do, because this system that y’all keep on privileging from, you’ve got to help us dismantle it. Because those of us who are Black and Brown. We have tried. You created this robot, and it is yours to deactivate. My skinfolk don’t have the passcode. This is your monster to slay.

Trump did not make people racists and bigots. Trump just encouraged them to come out of the shadows and be proud about being one

— (((DeanObeidallah))) (@Deanofcomedy) September 21, 2016

Dear White Friends, "Not being racist is not enough"

My white friends, I beg of you, I plead with you, to be deliberately, unapologetically, and relentlessly anti-racist. Use the power in your privilege to shift the narrative. Stop relying on People of Color to lead and fight this fight on our own. We need you to feel urgency and responsibility around building anti-racist movements in your communities and in your networks. We need you be proactive and strategic, and willing to change your own realities to transform our country into one that works on behalf of everycitizen. We need you to step up to the plate, piss some people off, and rock the boat. If everyone around you is comfortable and at peace, and if no one around you thinks you’ve lost your mind, you aren’t there yet.

RedEye Over and Out...For Now 

EYE will not stand for the national anthem until ALL Lives Matter #TerenceCrutcher

There are no words to express how EYE feel about the latest video of the senseless murder by police of an unarmed black man/child without using profanity so EYE am going to let others speak for me today. 

 Terence Crutcher, Living and Dying While Black in America.

Terrence Crutcher, the narrative (Welcome to by Blogroll Egnima in Black)

Terrence Crutcher did not plant any bombs

Why aren't the people who criticized #ColinKaepernick7 speaking out about #TerenceCrutcher?

Will it ever end?

White America, it's time to take a knee

The Huntsville City Schools Board of Education Culture of Cronyism and Capitalism Continues

Huntsville Superintendent of Schools Dr. Casey Wardynski announces his resignation at a press conference Wednesday afternoon at the Annie Merts Center as fellow sore loser Laurie McCaulley looks on.  Don't let the doorknob hit either one of you.  (Bob Gathany/bgathany@AL.com)

EYE know it's been a while since EYE have blogged about Huntsville City Schools  so let's start with a brief recap.

August 23, 2016, was the beginning of the end of an error (pun intended) when Michelle Watkins opened a big old can of you know what on incumbent District 1 HSCBOE misrepresentative, Laurie McCaulley and retired Huntsville City School teacher Pam Hill beat Wardynski #sockpuppet Carlos Matthews like drum to replace District 5 misrepresentative Mike Culbreath on the Huntsville City Schools BOE.  Cue in Oh Happy Day!

Fast forward to September 14, 2016, when Superintendent Casey Wardynski abruptly resigns, effective immediately, for "personal reasons".  Well, it turns out personal reasons are singular, not plural because the Mighty Casey has a has fallen in love with an HCS contractor, and not just any contractor, one with a multi-million dollar contract that just so happens to be up for renewal. And it's not just any contract, it's the Pinnacle contract.

Although the Seldon Center, the HCS alternative school according to page 17 of the current Student Handbook, isn’t due to close until the end of the year, the Pinnacle era has begun. This is from the contract between The Pinnacle Schools (TPS) and the HCS:

C1. Contract Period: The initial period for this Agreement will be a combination of a short academic term from February 2012 to July 2012 and an additional academic year from August 1 through July 31, 2013. The 2013 – 2014 Agreement year (August 1, 2013 through July 31, 2014) shall automatically renew unless the Superintendent provides TPS written notification that HCS will not renew at least 60 days prior to the commencement of the next Agreement year. 

2011 – 2012 (short academic period) – The cost to Huntsville City Schools will be $360,000 for 75 student slots. This amounts to a prorated cost of $4,800 per student. (This cost is based on a 6 month short term academic program HCS hereby agrees to pay TPS/ERTP, as compensation for services relating to this agreement, the sum of $159,688 for 5 contractual beds at Elk River Treatment Program at a rate of $150 per diem/bed/year for the period January 1, 2012 – July 31, 2012.

Wardynski claims he checked with his lawyers and they said there was no conflict of interest before they said there was a conflict of interest.  Confused yet?

Wardynski, a retired U.S. Army colonel, took the reins of the Huntsville city school system in 2011. Wardynski, whose wife passed away last December, said at the press conference that he will soon remarry.

His fiance is Karen Lee, CEO of Pinnacle Schools, an alternative placement school that handles discipline problems for Huntsville City Schools. Pinnacle has had a contract with the system since 2012.
The contract was under consideration for modification tomorrow, said school board president Laurie McCaulley.
"Earlier this summer Ms. Lee and I began dating," said Wardynski at the press conference. "I have talked to ethics attorneys and I shared with responsible authorities with the school system when I felt that it was an issue.

"It's my intention to marry Ms. Lee in December and have a life."
He said there was no current conflict of interest because state ethics laws apply to relatives, not dating relationships.

Since December 2011 some of us have been trying to tell some of Yall the Pinnacle contract stinks to high heaven.  But did some of Yall listen?  Nooo.   So here we are.  The new BOE of education will not be seated until November, which means the present BOE will name Wardynski's Interim mouthpiece,  EYE mean, successor.   You can't tell me there is not something rotten in the cotton.

Now EYE understand why this Superintendent, enabled by this BOE and the media, did everything in his power to silence critics. Can't have the public asking pesky questions on the record, they might actually be informed instead of misinformed.  

EYE guess it depends on what the definition of #deplorable(s) IS

I love seeing these #BasketOfDeplorables who love, "telling it like it is" get so upset for being told like it is. pic.twitter.com/AZwXLeGF5V

— ✯bennydiego✯ (@bennydiego) September 14, 2016

Faux outrage alert!  Trump supporters have their knickers in a knot because Hillary Clinton had the nerve to say out loud what a lot of people were thinking.  That's right, they can dish out the name calling, personal attacks, and insults but they can't take them.  EYE don't condone name calling as a rule, but in this case, if the name fits you must accept.

EYE think Hillary Clinton meant to say the actions of some (not to be confused with all) of Donald Trump's supporters are deplorable. 

Let's be clear, after tolerating and promoting racism for their political gain, the GOP  officially nominated a racist/sexist/homophobic/misogynist as their candidate for President of the United States of America.   If that's not deplorable EYE don't know what IS.

@KentonTilford @AsteadWH @JDiamond1 @CNN still not sure @TWallack? https://t.co/gUmfyjb01L

— Jill Tatara (@jilltataraworld) November 22, 2015

EYE must give credit to the deplorable media for enabling Trump and his deplorable supporters.

The trouble with bias started long ago, and it was mostly created by Fox News, which began the practice of spewing slanted commentary dressed up like news reports to reinforce a political viewpoint. At the same time, Fox, with its helpers around the conservative media landscape, painted any and all reporting that fell even slightly to the left of the far-right line it created as “liberal bias.”

Covered by that broad brush was, of course, facts.
And somewhere in the midst of this massive media shift, factual reporting – the only sort of truly unbiased reporting there is – was replaced by “fair reporting.”

The definition of deplorable(s)

deplorable is defined as an adjective meaning either 'amentable' or 'deserving censure or contempt,' a synonym of 'wretched” or 'abominable.' But Clinton’s use in the plural, deplorables, marks the word as a noun—and deplorable is not defined as a noun in Merriam-Webster dictionaries. (Deplorableness is given as the noun form.)
Clinton’s use of deplorables is ambiguous: the word could be defined here as ‘people who are deplorable’ or ‘qualities or characteristics that are deplorable.’ Part of the ambiguity comes from the novelty of the usage, since deplorable is rarely used as a noun in this way.

EYE Report
You Decide

Sidewalks/Streets/Subdivisions in Madison, AL are not safe for "really skinny" black/brown guys/gals

Madison Police Officer Eric Parker is back from leave and headed for active duty today after Madison's acting police chief decided he did not violate policy in the sidewalk stop and takedown of an Indian pedestrian that led to federal civil rights charges and international publicity.

Let's recap:

Madison, AL Police Officer Eric Parker avoided a conviction after two mistrials.  In the first mistrial the black jurors refused to acquit, and in the second trial, the white jurors refused to acquit. Two strikes and you're out said the Federal Judge.

The only person to be found guilty of a crime is former Madison Police Chief Larry Muncey.

So now we know if someone calls and reports a really skinny black guy is walking around in the neighborhood acting suspiciously in Madison, AL it's within MPD policy to body slam said skinny black guy to the ground and partially paralyze them.

Are we safe yet? 

This is why EYE am #SittingDownWithColinKaepernic7

Allegiance: To a Song, Flag or Our American Ideals?

Colin Kaepernick said: "I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses Black people and people of color," Kaepernick told Steve Wyche of NFL Media. "To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way.

There are bodies in the street and people getting away with murder." The biracial athlete, adopted and raised by white parents, has become an outspoken supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement." 
As an honorably discharged Army veteran (if I need to establish my credibility to speak on this) my opinion is that Colin is simply protesting the repeated daily dangers, including murders, facing civilians from police officers. I don't know how I could reject that sentiment, or undermine the American righteousness of Colin's protest.

Almost 70% of the NFL players are black. Imagine the statement they would make this season if they remained seated during the National Anthem. Worldwide, there are an estimated 400 million American football fans - imagine the impact!

It's a difficult choice, as Myke Tavarres, the Philly Eagles rookie free agent, realized.

"Really, what's at stake is my pride and what kind of man would I be and what kind of African-American would I be if I didn't stand my ground on this issue we have today."

It wasn't easier for Josh Earnest, speaking for President Obama. 

"What I can say is that I certainly don't share the views that Mr. Kaepernick expressed after the game in explaining his reasoning for his actions," Earnest, the White House's top spokesman, said."

It sounds like more divisiveness from a white man parsing words instead of listening for and hearing the authentic message. Actually, his position statement sounds at odds with his boss's, when President Obama spoke about two police-involved shootings in July.

"When incidents like these occur, there's a big chunk of our fellow citizens that feels as if because of the color of their skin, they are not treated the same - and that hurts," Obama said, ... "And that should trouble all of us. This is not a black issue. It's not just a Hispanic issue. This is an American issue that we should all care about."

The national anthem was penned during an 1814 battle, but its most poignant and, in this case, applicable stanza to this controversy was penned by Oliver Wendell Holmes.

"When our land is illumined with Liberty's smile,
If a foe from within strike a blow at her glory,
Down, down with the traitor that dares to defile
the flag of her stars and the page of her story!
By the millions unchained who our birthright have gained,
We will keep her bright blazon forever unstained!
And the Star-spangled Banner in triumph shall wave
While the land of the free is the home of the brave."

"Yes, Kaepernick is an American success story, but that shouldn't cause him to shrug off what he recognizes as injustice. Rather, it gives him a chance to speak about an issue that many don't have the platform to address. There are large segments of the population who feel the police are both empowered and immune to prosecution for their misdeeds. There are people who live in fear, every day, that they will be shot and killed for a broken taillight simply because they are black. For those people, America is not the "land of the free."

It is a place where a 12-year-old boy in Cleveland can be fatally shot outside a rec center because someone deemed him menacing. It's a place where a citizen vigilante can pursue a teenager for the crime of wearing a hoodie. It's a place where one false move - or no false move - carries a deadly risk. For many of us, the American flag is reassurance that we will be protected. In the minds of others, that flag offers no such guarantees. Those are truths that some hold to be self-evident, even if they are hard for the majority to see. If the rich and famous do not shine a light to that inconsistency, who will?"

I don't support Colin grudgingly, but rather with pride, for he speaks to the highest ideals our nation espouses, and has yet to fulfill, to all its citizens, regardless. Blacks and people of color may be "unchained" but each day they face lives filled with the abject possibility of being harassed, ostracized, injured and murdered by police, secure in the conspiracy of silence among the thin blue line.

So when a man protests the inequality of oppression of those who are forced to exist without the birthright promise of America, it is my duty and my honor to support him.