Pleading to be treated like "We The People" in 2016

One by one, parents and other members of the of the African American community, took the stand in District Court and pleaded for a seat at the table in the Huntsville desegregation case. 

More than a half century since her grandfather sued to end dual schooling in Huntsville, Catherine Hereford took the witness stand in an attempt to fill his shoes.
"I want to continue the work my grandfather did and see it through to completion," Hereford told U.S. District Judge Madeline Hughes Haikala on Monday in a crowded federal courtroom in downtown Huntsville
At stake is who gets a seat in the negotiations to end the city's long-running desegregation case.

Everybody has a seat at the table except those who are impacted the most   

"Since the filing of the Consent Decree in this case, the DOJ has failed to adequately represent the interests of African-American students in the Huntsville City Schools," reads the motion filed Friday.

Not surprisingly Huntsville City Schools and the DOJ want to keep it that way

"Please don't put us in a position that it's so unwieldy we cannot deal with," said J.R. Brooks, the school board attorney, in his closing appeal to the judge. He said that four new plaintiffs could open the door to even more new plaintiffs.

And the Judge thinks it's "growing pains"? 

The SPLC repeatedly commended the proposed consent order's objectives and efforts but argued it "does not comprehensively address many of the issues with HCS discipline procedures and practices, nor has the court been fully apprised of the issues during this litigation."
The Montgomery-based organization concluded in its 10-page letter that the plan risks being a "temporary fix" or "exacerbating" the situation unless it adds four revisions:
Meaningful judicial oversight;
Robust accountability measures;
Significant due process protections;
An expeditious time frame.
The SPLC criticized the proposed consent order as being written in "vague and overbroad terms that create uncertainty" and make it hard for the court to enforce.
It also seeks language that requires the school district to provide attorneys to students/families brought to disciplinary hearings in they can't afford one; obligations to report ongoing data; and a time frame for implementing reforms.

So here Black Parents and Community leaders go again.  Pleading to be heard.  Pleading for a seat at the table.  Pleading to be treated like human beings.  My question is why do we have to beg? 

I swear to the Lord, I still can't see, why Democracy means, everybody but me. Langston Hughes

Another Day Another Hashtag #ChristianTaylor #KidsWillDie

Listen to How Langston Hughes Nailed Our Problem with Police Brutality 77 Years Ago

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— Hands Up United (@handsupunited_) August 8, 2015

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

 

 Fri Nov 13, 2009 at 09:24:18 AM CST

  

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

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

Let's recap gist, emphasis mine.

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

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

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

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

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

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

 AKA... (4.00 / 1)

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

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

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

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

I'm just saying....

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

A Memorial Day Photo Blog with Links and Commentary

Say, have you seen my Democracy?  You know the Democracy with Liberty and Justice for ALL? Not the Democracy that sent our sons and daughters to W-ar based on DEAD WRONG INTELLIGENCE, and not look back, but will look back at a democratic Presidential Candidate who wanted to end poverty.  SMH

America is The Land of the Free because of the Brave.  The first Memorial Day was celebrated on May 1, in 1865 by freed slaves, missionaries and teachers,  in a ceremony honoring Union soldiers who died in a Confederate Prison Camp in Charleston, South Carolina.

None dare call it Treason.  Yet they want us to sing God Bless America?  No, No and,

NO.

God HELP America sing America again.

I, Too, Sing America By Langston Hughes

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.

They send me to eat in the kitchen

When company comes,

But I laugh,

And eat well,

And grow strong.

Tomorrow,

I'll be at the table

When company comes.

Nobody'll dare

Say to me,

"Eat in the kitchen,"

Then.

Besides, 

They'll see how beautiful I am

And be ashamed--

I, too, am America.

Vengeance is mine sayeth the State

I type with a heavy heart this morning because I've never felt so helpless. Unless there is divine intervention, Troy Davis will die tonight despite the fact he may be innocent.

Troy Davis' petition to the U.S. Supreme Court was denied for the second and last time on March 28. Today, the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles may have sealed his fate by denying him clemency in his capital punishment case. Davis is scheduled to die Wednesday at 7 p.m. by lethal injection.
His most recent bid for clemency could be the final chance for Davis to avoid execution. Defense attorney Jason Ewart has said that the pardons board was likely Davis' last option, according to the Associated Press. But, Amnesty International, the NAACP and the National Action Network are drawing attention to one last effort to keep him alive. The groups say the man who prosecuted Davis could ask a judge to block the execution.

It doesn't look like that's going to happen because the DA who prosecuted Davis says the doubt, recantations are manufactured, and the present DA says it's out of his hands.

Sister Jackie Griffith with Savannah for Clemency for Troy Davis, announced Tuesday evening her group would deliver 240,000 signatures on a petition to Chatham County District Attorney Larry Chisolm at 9 a.m. calling on him to ask Superior Court Judge Penny Haas Freesemann to vacate the death warrant for Davis.

A press release issued at 7 p.m. Tuesday by Chisolm’s office said the Superior Court, not the district attorney, has the only jurisdiction in the execution and that “this matter is beyond our control.”

What can we do? From jackandjill politics.com via Facebook

Call Judge Penny Freesemann at 912 652 7252 to save Troy Davis. She has the power to pull the death warrant. The DA can ask her to rescind the warrant or she could rescind it directly.
[...]
CALL THE FOLLOWING NUMBERS FOR TROY DAVIS’ STAY OF EXECUTION:
*DISTRICT ATTORNEY OF CHATHAM CTY.;(912)652-7308
*GEORGIA PAROLE BOARD; (404)656-5651
*GA STATE SENATOR & SOUTHERN CTR. FOR HUMAN RIGHTS (Ask them & all execution staff to take off tomorrow or not participate in Troy’s unjust execution);(770)692-4750/ Fax (770)692-4754
*GOVERNOR; (404)651-1151

The Field Negro and I both note the absence of any mention of Troy Davis in the so-called mainstream media today. Out of sight, out of mind?

Still, this too will pass, and they know it. As I write this post the name Troy Davis is not even trending on Yahoo. Sarah Palin, Brooke Burke, Jeff Conaway, Cam Newton, the Boston Red Sox; all of them are getting more play in the American psyche than some black man in Georgia charged and convicted of killing a police officer many years ago. Hey, if the state of Georgia didn’t kill him, some other black man would. Or, maybe high blood pressure, diabetes, or any one of those other diseases that Negroes tend to get. He lived to the ripe old age of 41, which is more than we can say for other men who look like him in A-mery-ca. So what’s the big deal?

So what's the big deal indeed? It's just another day in the United States of America. Where vengeance is mine, not liberty and justice for ALL.

Please God, hear the words of Langston Hughes and Let America Be America Again

Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed--
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There's never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.")

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek--
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one's own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean--
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today--O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That's made America the land it has become.
O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home--
For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore,
And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa's strand I came
To build a "homeland of the free."

The free?

Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we've dreamed
And all the songs we've sung
And all the hopes we've held
And all the flags we've hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay--
Except the dream that's almost dead today.

O, let America be America again--
The land that never has been yet--
And yet must be--the land where every man is free.
The land that's mine--the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME--
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose--
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!

The Field Negro says it best-Those of you (black and white) who advocated and fought on this man’s behalf should be proud of yourselves. I know that it’s hard to see a person who might be innocent of the crime for which he was charged put to death, but your conscience should allow you to sleep tonight, which is more than I can say for Terry Bernard, Robert Keller,Albert R. Murray,James E. Donald, L. Gale Buckner, Steve Hayes, and the rest of you in A-merry-ca.


RedEye tip toeing away from the computer to go pray.

It's not wise to blog about Terri Sewell

Strike that, it's not wise for ME to blog about 7th District Congressperson elect Terri Sewell, nor is it wise for me to link to my damn own stuff at Left in Alabama.

Is it a coincidence that once again, almost a year to the date, I'm banned from logging on and linking to Left if Alabama after posting several posts critical of Terri Sewell?

Is it a coincidence that after an exchange with an anonymous poster accusing me of obsessing over Terri Sewell, not having an original thought just a lot of links to LiA and told to find my own voice, I'm banned from logging on and linking to Left in Alabama?

This isn't the first time someone(s) have tried to silence me and It probably won't be the last. It's a shame our sons and daughters are fighting, dying, and being maimed for life-fighting for Freedom in Iraq and Afghanistan, but some us are fighting for equal rights and civil rights right here in the U.S.A.

I swear to the Lord
I still can't see
Why Democracy means
Everybody but me.
"The Black Man Speaks," from Jim Crow's Last Stand (1943)

Langston Hughes

Let America Be America Again, from A New Song (1938)
Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed —
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.
O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.
I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek —
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.
For all the dreams we've dreamed
And all the songs we've sung
And all the hopes we've held
And all the flags we've hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay —
Except the dream that's almost dead today.
O, let America be America again —
The land that never has been yet —
And yet must be — the land where every man is free.
Sure, call me any ugly name you choose —
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!
O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath —
America will be!
Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain —
All, all the stretch of these great green states —
And make America again!

The Neo Liberals Win Again

Fair warning, I'm getting ready to slam the race card down on the table. Hard.

We already have two white women on the Supreme Court do we need three? I mean, really? Are there no African American women qualified, competent, and intelligent enough to sit on the Supreme Court? To paraphrase Sojourner Truth ain't we a woman?

And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man - when I could get it - and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman?

Once again progressives/liberals/and African Americans are overlooked and our loyalty taken for granted. I don't care if Elana Kagen is a direct descendant of the late Thurgood Marshall, can't we have one progressive/liberal African American on the Supreme Court? And NO, Clarence Thomas doesn't count. In the words of the Langston Hughes poem Mother to Son, life for black women ain't been no crystal stair.

Well, son, I'll tell you:
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor --
Bare.
But all the time
I'se been a-climbin' on,
And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners,
And sometimes goin' in the dark
Where there ain't been no light.

Historically African American women have always been marginalized and minimized. In the days of slavery they watched helplessly when their children were snatched from their arms and sold down the river. Their bodies weren't their own and they endured rape and humiliation by their owners. African American men were powerless to protect and defend them from the horrors, brutality and disrespect.

The media is spinning Kagen as an ultra liberal because she attended Harvard, clerked for Thurgood Marshall, donated to Obama blah, blah, blah, but we really know very little about her because she doesn't "have a paper trail" or a track record. We do know as the Solicitor General she argued against former Governor Don Siegelman getting a new/fair trail.

Oh how I wish progressive/democrats could be organized in their opposition like the republicans. One of my friends writes:
One of the things that burns me up is that when Bush nominated Harriet Myers, the Conservative Republicans had no problem organizing opposition to the nomination, and they got the job done in record time (25 days). The one thing missing in the Liberal/Progressive base is the ability to effectively organize, when the President makes a mistake like Kagan and the "Mandatory Insurance" issue

Oh how I wish President Obama would stop pandering to the neo liberals at the expense of progressives/liberals.

Was President Obama afraid to nominate a qualified African American woman because he felt white Senators wouldn't vote for her?

If so, what does that say about the white Senators?

If so, what does it say about President Obama? I mean he has the power and the opportunity to validate African American women. African American women like his mother in law Marion Robinson. African American women like his wife Michelle. African American women like his daughters Sasha and Malia. He could have paved the way for his daughters and young black women all over this land, but he chose to play it safe.

Life for black women ain't no crystal stair because we ain't a woman. A woman with equal rights.

The Neo Liberals win again.

Sigh.