How do we preserve the legacy of Commissioner Robert "Bob" Harrison March 8, 1943-October 25, 2017?

Robert "Bob" Harrison 

EYE would give anything not to be writing this post.  Maybe the reason it has taken me so long to pay tribute to Commissioner Robert "Bob" Harrison is I don't want to accept the fact he is gone on to glory and that I will miss him all the days of my life.  I started trying to write this post to Bob Harrison shortly after his funeral, I start typing and I stop typing.  Will today be the day I finally click publish?  Time will tell the truth.

Bob Harrison was a human being; therefore, he wasn't perfect but he was larger than life.  He was fearless and ferocious.  He was compassionate and committed.  He was effective as the people's commissioner and for that, he was sometimes rebuked and scorned, but that never stopped him from standing up for truth, justice, and the American way. 

A frequent criticism/complaint made by detractors was his commitment to "social programs" to help the people in his district.  Unlike other elected officials Bob Harrison used his discretionary money and resources to develop programs to uplift the least of these.

Commissioner Bob Harrison gave nearly $70,000 to a nonprofit group, Northwest Community Service Organization, that he helped create and ran out of his office. "I have divested myself of Northwest," Harrison said this month.
Northwest, which provides support programs for schools, now runs out of a separate building, Harrison said, and he has stepped down from the governing board. But he said he still uses his county tax dollars to pay two employees at Northwest.

How do we continue his legacy?   Can Bob Harrison be replaced, or is he one of those once in a lifetime irreplaceable leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcome X, Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, Dr. James I. Dawson, Dr. John Cashin, and Dr. Sonnie Wellington Hereford II?

The Republican Governor has decided Huntsville Police Department Captain  JesHenryMalone will represent District 6 on the Madison County Commission for the remainder of Bob's term.  Our challenge is to ensure that Bob's work goes on.  He had the vision, ingenuity, and determination to make life better for his constituents. He genuinely cared about the city of Huntsville and the quality of life for all it's citizens especially those of color who are often the last, the least and the left behind.

EYE wish the new Commissioner well but in the end, it will be the voters who determine if JessHenry Malone has the attributes, commitment, dedication and the fortitude to carry on Bob's vision on behalf of the people of District 6. It is important for the newly appointed Commissioner to remember Bob Harrison was not one to go along to get along.  He was the voice of/for/by the people and he deplored Handkerchief Heads.  If he wants to be elected to represent the district he needs to get to know the people and vice versa because right now all we know is he is a member of law enforcement. 

"I shake the trees; They make the jelly."

RedEye's Rundown #BlackHistoryMonth2016

White America's Broken Heart 

Much of America’s past is the story of white people benefiting from a system that white people designed and maintained, which increased their chances of success as it suppressed those same chances in other groups. Those systems persist to this day in some disturbing ways, but the current, vociferous naming and challenging of those systems, the placing of the lamp of truth near the seesaw of privilege and oppression, has provoked a profound sense of discomfort and even anger.

SaLuTe #BlackLivesMatter

Black Struggle is Not a Soundbite

Here we go again.

You know the drill. 

Mass shooting

Thoughts and prayers. 

President offers condolences.  

Legislators shrug, do nothing.

Repeat. 

#gunsense

#BlackHistoryMonth2016

Today is a day of remembrance as we celebrate the life of #MalcolmX! 51 years ago today Malcolm X was assassinated at the Audubon Ball Room in Washington Heights!


“No, I don’t worry,” Malcolm X said. “I tell you, I’m a man who believes that I died 20 years ago and I live like a man who is dead already. I have no fear whatsoever of anybody or anything.”

Sound Familiar?

RedEye

B-But They Looked So Happy Together....#SweetHomeAlabama #Hypocrisy

Governor Robert Bentley and First Lady Dianne Bentley watch the Inauguration Parade in Montgomery, Ala. on Monday January 19, 2015. , Mickey Welsh / Advertiser

Don't get me wrong, EYE am not gloating because a 50 year marriage is ending, EYE am gloating at the exposure of the rank hypocrisy of Alabama Governor Robert Bentley, soon to be ex First Lady Dianne Bentley, and the Alabama media  who enabled them to lie to the citizens of Alabama.

According to a Facebook post by Donald Watkins, the warm, fuzzy, hand holding, and smiles in Montgomery, AL  on Jan. 19, 2015 were as phony as a three dollar bill.  EYE blame Dianne Bentley for enabling this charade too.  She should have informed the voters Bentley was a Bible thumping, cheater before the election. 

The First Lady was prepared to end the marriage last Fall after she discovered the Governor's extramarital affair. The Governor convinced her to wait until after the November general election before filing her divorce complaint. The Governor won his race by a landslide. The couple then separated in January.

The Governor spent the New Year's holidays in New Orleans with his paramour. They basked together in the warm glow of their professed love for each other. The First Lady spent her holidays in Alabama.

Let the Alabama Media Group tell it, the only clouds on an otherwise perfect day were A small group of protesters affiliated with Birthplace for Justice 

The group sang "We Shall Overcome," chanted "black lives matter," and then turned their back on Bentley as he spoke.
A person associated with the group said protesters were upset the Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade was cancelled in favor of the inauguration parade.
"We protested today because in addition to it being the inauguration, it's Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day," said member Michael Eric Grant in a statement. "We're fighting to keep his dream of unity and justice alive. We hope that Gov. Bentley will carry out his oath to office with a similar commitment."

So, for the past three years the republican Governor of Alabama has been having an affair with an unnamed (so far) reportedly younger paramour  right under our noses and not a peep in the press.   EYE wonder why?  Snark

Mainstream media organizations are afraid to report the details of Governor Bentley's secret love affair. Such reporting will likely cost the print media corporate advertising dollars and sponsorships, as well as revenues derived from legal notices published by the state of Alabama. It is well known that Bentley is mean-spirited, reckless, and vindictive. He is known to retaliate against individuals and entities that do not support this love affair. Additionally, they have a conflict of interest because nearly all of them endorsed Bentley's bid for reelection last November.

If Robert Bentley had been a democrat the media would have been on this like white on rice.  EYE sure do miss the good old days when the media prevented candidates and elected officials from lying to we the people, instead of enabling them. 

If Mrs. Bentley can be remembered for one thing as First Lady, she hopes that the people of Alabama will remember her stand for Christ. After all, the Bentleys feel that they have been called “for such a time as this” (Esther 4:14) and always strive to remain in God’s will.

Un Huh. 

How the white, male dominated, media turns the good guys into the bad guys, and the bad guys into the good guys

 

 
For the perfect example of how the white, male dominated media enables racial stereotypes and advances a false narrative,  please watch what happens when this white, male,  reporter ask a group of African Americans why they need a coalition to combat police terrorism.

The mainstream media needs to face it's race problem.

It's the media.

The power of the press.

When communities distrust media institutions, and in turn the media reinforces negative stereotypes of those communities, the problem of a white-male dominated newsroom becomes self-perpetuating.

 RedEye

It's Not a Happy Thanksgiving in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave

There is not a lot to be happy (not to be confused with grateful) about this Thanksgiving.  In case you've been living under a rock the United States of America looks like Syria, or some other place in the Middle East in need of some Free Dumb and Democracy quick, fast and in a hurry.  African Americans are under attack in the USA.  I can't confirm, but I suspect this is a black, I mean back lash because we dared exercise our civic duty and elect an African American President not once, but twice.  I know you are mad we have a black President, but please don't take it out on us.  If I had known white America was going to go this crazy I would have voted for Hillary.  

I don't know why white America is mad because we have an African American President, he's done more for them than he has black folks.  I kind of figured black folks were going to get screwed when candidate Obama threw his long time pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, under the bus so white folks would vote for him.  

My second clue was when President Obama backed down from saying a Boston policeman acted stupidly when they arrested Dr. Henry Louis Gates in his own damn house for being uppity. 

My third clue was when the white, male dominated media made him distance himself for Attorney Eric Holder's "America is a nation of cowards when it comes to discussing matter of race" statement during a Black History Month program at the Justice Department of all places

I could go on and on about my disappointment and disillusionment in America's first half black President, but that's not the topic I want to write about today.  I want to write about Ferguson Burning.

Ferguson burned. The police protected the White side of town while allowing businesses on the Black side to be robbed and burned. At least 12 buildings were on fire. Most protesters, though, were peaceful. At two in the morning the police held a press conference. They blamed protesters for tearing apart “the fabric of the community”.

Now you won't hear about this in the white, male dominated mainstream US  media, because it doesn't fit the media driven racial stereotype of "violent protest" out of control black brutes, angry because they can't have their way, but Mike Brown's fathers church was burned to the ground.

A Ferguson, Mo., church gutted by fire on Monday was targeted by white supremacists because the pastor had publicly called for Police Officer Darren Wilson to be arrested, Rev. Carlton Lee alleged in an interview.
Flood Christian Church was one of more than a dozen buildings and businesses damaged by arsonists in the St. Louis suburb overnight after a grand jury chose not to indict Wilson in the shooting death of a black teen.
Lee was an ever-present fixture next to Michael Brown Sr. in the months after his son, Michael Brown Jr., was killed in a violent confrontation with Wilson on Aug. 9. The elder Brown was even baptized at the church on Sunday.

 Let me put this black folks can't demand equal rights because of black on black crime meme to rest once and for all.  Black folks don't march when black folks kill each other for the same reason white folks don't march when white folks kill each other.  Black folks do not commit the most crimes because they are black, black folks are convicted of committing the most crimes because they are black.

What is wrong with this argument:

1. It is a deflection. The people who make it do not truly care about black-on-black crime.
2. It creates a false choice: Most who are truly concerned with black-on-black crime were upset about the Zimmerman case too.
3. 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.
4. Crime is mostly intra-racial. That means there will always be way more black-on-black crime than white-on-black crime. While it is true that 94% of black murders are black-on-black, it is just as true that 86% of white murders are white-on-white. In fact, most crime in America is white-on-white – yet for every web page that mentions “white-on-white crime”, there are 25 that mention “black-on-black crime”.
5. It makes the worth of black life conditional. Conditional on good behaviour, like low crime rates. Once blacks get black-on-black crime under control, then they can act as if their lives matter, then they can act as if they should have justice, then they can act as if they are human beings with human rights. Meanwhile the worth of white life is taken seriously, as absolute, as not being conditional. Compare Nicole Simpson to Trayvon Martin:
   • No one belittled the killing of Nicole Simpson by quoting white crime statistics, saying “white people kill each other all the time, what’s the big deal?”
   • No one deflected by talking about white parenting or violence in white films.
   • No one made Nicole Simpson posters for target practice.
   • No one pretended to be a dead Nicole Simpson for laughs.
   • No one questioned Nicole Simpson’s character – or her choice in clothing.

Ferguson is right to resist by any means and all means necessary.   We shall not remain calm while we're being attacked.  We shall Overcome.....

We didn't land on Plymouth Rock Plymouth Rock landed on us.

The Power of the Press #ItsTheMedia

“This idea that every time a black person does something, they automatically become a ‘thug worthy of their own death?’ We don’t own drug crimes. We’re not the only ones that sell and do drugs all the time, we’re not the only ones who steal, we’re not the only ones who talk crazy to cops. There’s a complete double standard and a complete different experience that a certain element of this country has the privilege of being treated as human beings. And the rest of us are not being treated like human beings. Period. And that needs to be discussed, that is the story…we’re not making this up.”

7 Cynical Ways Police and Media have smeared Micheal Brown and the Black People of Ferguson

The unrest and protests following Brown’s killing have put the militarization of local police forces in the national spotlight, especially as police who look like soldiers are facing down protesters on Ferguson’s streets. But the most important issue that’s not getting widely discussed transcends the horrible specifics of Michael Brown’s death: the continuing trend of police officers shooting and killing black men, instead of using other tactics to deal with confrontations.
(On Tuesday, St. Louis police shot and killed another man, apparently wielding a knife, several miles from Ferguson.)

Thank you social media for being the kind of media we wish we had, instead of the media we have.

We ARE the media. We are in the middle of the second Information Revolution. The people with satellite uplinks and klieg lights will still have their place. But they will not be the main witnesses. All of us can hold power to account. And we must, if we are to have any kind of decent life.
Mike Brown should never have been killed. His young life was snuffed out for no good reason. But the reaction to his murder is proof that humans still strive for justice, still strive for freedom, despite what those in authority will.
Walter Cronkite narrated the Civil Rights struggle for middle American homes in the Sixties. Today, it could be me. It could be you. And that is power.

#Ferguson

In Honor of the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

Today as we celebrate and remember the Birthday of Dr. King it is important that we do not let America redefine him into some sweet, gentle Man who had a Dream....Because the Truth is Dr. King spent his life exposing Americas NIGHTMARE for too many of her People! If we truly want to honor Dr. King we need to do what he did with our lives....so let's ask our selves today...WHAT AM I DOING ABOUT POVERTY, RACISM, VIOLENCE, INEQUALITY.....WHAT AM I DOING TO CHANGE THE WORLD? REAL DREAMERS ARE HATED BECAUSE THEY CHALLENGE THE WORLD TO BE WHAT IT DOESN'T SEE OR WANT......IF NO ONE HATES YOU, YOU PROBABLY AREN'T DOING ANYTHING!....HAPPY BIRTHDAY DR. KING!!!! Father Michael Pfledger

"I want them to see what they've done" Jacqueline Kennedy

I was in the second grade on 11.22.1963 when the principal  announced over the intercom  President Kennedy had been shot. I didn't find out he died until I got home. The days that followed were very sad, I remember feeling sorry for Carolyn, John John, and Jackie Kennedy. I also remember feeling scared for the leaders who tried to help African Americans.  Sure enough, then came the assassinations of Martin Luther King,Jr, and Robert Kennedy Jr. 

My ancestors lived through 400 years of torture/slavery,  my generation lived through domestic terrorism/Jim Crow,  my children are living through Trayvon Martin, Sean Bell, Oscar Grant, Jordan Russell Davis, Renisha McBride and other victims of senseless  violence.

In June 1963, President Kennedy promoted civil rights as the governor of Alabama blocked integration of the University of Alabama.

“Today, we are committed to a worldwide struggle to promote and protect the rights of all who wish to be free,” the president said in a speech. “And when Americans are sent to Vietnam or West Berlin, we do not ask for whites only.”

 Will we ever live in the land of liberty and justice for all, or is it just a slogan?  Time will tell the truth.

Freedom isn't Free in AmeriBama

 

Fellow blogger Rodger Shuler, aka Legal Schnauzer, is still behind bars in the Shelby County, Alabama jail for being the kind of journalist we wish we had, instead of the kind of journalist we have.  But then again, seeing how being the kind of journalist we wish had lands them in jail, we can understand why we have the kind of journalist we have.  According to Rodgers wife Carol lots of organizations are stepping up to help so hopefully we will see and hear from Rodger Shuler again, but then again this is AmeriBama.

A glaring example of the kind of "journalist" we have in Alabama. We must dare to defend Rodger Shuler's rights, too.

Roger Shuler might be a wingnut conspiracy theorist and a crackpot. He might unfairly besmirch conservative Alabama politicians with little or no evidence to back up outlandish accusations.
But he is certainly an American. As such, he certainly has a constitutional right to free speech, and that right certainly has been trampled by a judge in an Alabama circuit court.
It is hard to feel sorry for Shuler: Earlier this year, he began writing about Rob Riley on his political blog Legal Schnauzer, accusing the attorney of scandalous behavior in his personal life. Riley, son of former Gov. Bob Riley, sued Shuler, asking a Shelby County judge for an injunction to stop Shuler from making such attacks. Shuler failed to show up for the hearing, then ignored a judge's order to make a court appearance. He even threw the court's papers out of his car window as he cursed the officers who were trying to serve them.
That's when Judge Claud Neilson lowered the boom. He ordered Shuler to remove the offending articles about Riley from the website, and forbade Shuler from writing anything further about Riley. Shuler ignored both orders, and wound up being arrested at his Shelby County home Oct. 23 for contempt of court and resisting arrest.
Shuler deserves to be punished for contempt of court.

See what I mean?  The writer had to make it about Rodger Shuler the person, and assassinate his character before he sorta kinda defended his rights. I'm going to admit as one of them there liberal bloggers in the land of darkness, I mean Dixie, I'm kind of afraid to write on this subject, and I'm kinda afraid not to write on this subject.  I know that for the grace of God go I, but what the hell, if you don't stand for something you will fall for anything, and, in the end we will not remember the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends.

Despite the picture painted by some Alabama journalist, Rodger Shuler is not a bomb throwing, wingnut conspiracy theorist. If he were, he wouldn't be in jail IMHO. All you have to do is read his blog to realize he's smart and courageous.  But this isn't about Rodger Shuler, the person, it's about Rodger Shuler the American.

When you look for Roger Shuler on the state court database, Alacourt, the search results return several cases, but none of them is the defamation lawsuit in which the Shelby County blogger is being jailed for contempt of court.
If you know the case number, you can type it in, but that only yields a white screen, blank but for four words in big red letters.
"This case in confidential," it says.
As a result, basic information about the lawsuit, such as the parties involved, hearing dates and the status of the defendant are hidden from public view.
According to Marshall, sealing an entire case is rare and usually happens in cases involving minors. But in this instance, it essentially creates a secret court in Shelby County, he said.
"There is a secret docket," he said. "That is not common in American courts."

Hope for Liberty said it best:

 Shular didn't just blow off the court hearing and he wasn't evading service, he just wanted it done right IAW the law. He filed an objection to improper service which requires the judge to rule before he can take jurisdiction and set a hearing. Shular was waiting for this ruling, but instead the judge throws him in jail.

You can't be held for libel and slander when making statements against a public person. Good grief, how many people would be thrown in jail for making slanderous statements about Democrats or Republicans.

This whole case is about the violation of law by judicial officials and the power of the elite in this State.

Like Shular or hate him, you had better stand up for him, because you could be next. FYI, he was the 2nd person in October to be arrested for taking on the AL elite . Welcome to Naziland!

This is something to think about when we send our sons and daughters to fight for freedom on foreign shores.

I am for truth no matter who tells it. I'm for justice no matter who it's for, or against~ Malcolm X