What looks like #WhiteSupremacy and #BlackDivisiveness on the 52nd Anniversary of #BloodySunday in #SelmaAlabama

Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill touted Voter ID at Selma Service

For those who don't know the shameful, sordid history of Bloody Sunday let's recap.

On March 7, 1965, African-Americans seeking voting rights launched a march across the bridge en route to Montgomery but were attacked by police. That violent episode became known as "Bloody Sunday."

For or some reason Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill thought the church honoring the 52nd anniversary of Bloody Sunday at historic Brown Chapel in Selma was the perfect time and place to rub the Voter ID law in the faces of the attendees.   

"We want to make sure that every eligible U.S. citizen that is a resident of Alabama is registered to vote and has a photo ID so they can participate in the electoral process at they level that they want to participate," Merrill said.

Liar Liar sheet on fire!  EYE guess we are supposed to forget about how after passing the Voter ID Bill, our Governor closed most of the DMV's in the black belt before the 2016 election and that it was proven to be racially motivated after the election.

"Based on its investigation, DOT has concluded that African Americans residing in the Black Belt region of Alabama disproportionately underserved by ALEA's driver licensing services, causing a disparate and adverse impact on the basis of race," the department said.

EYE guess we are supposed to forget John Merrill said and threatened to do this: 

"If you’re too sorry or lazy to get up off of your rear and to go register to vote, or to register electronically, and then to go vote, then you don’t deserve that privilege," Merrill said.
He then lashed out at criticism of Alabama's registration process and threatened to prosecute a filmmaker who described registering to vote in the state as "complex and complicated."
Merrill threatened to prosecute Brian Jenkins if he was registered in two states, even though Jenkins never claimed to be registered in Alabama.

Enough about the political duplicity of John Merrill, he's who/what we thought he is.  EYE want to know whose big bright idea it was to invite him to speak at Brown Chapel in the first place? That's like inviting the fox into the hen house.  Note some people walked out on Merrill, not ALL people.   

Multiple spectators called out in opposition several times of having a photo ID including in the voting process. Many walked out of the church service while Merrill was still talking including NAACP president Dr. William Barber, according to WFSA.
"Standing on this historic ground, where people died for voting rights, we cannot accept this hypocrisy of voter suppression," Barber said.
The service continued, despite the moments of tension, with Congresswoman Terri Sewell calling for unity and activism and other leaders asking for respect and peace.

Psst!  Congresswoman Terri Sewell and other leaders asking for respect and peace,  your calls for unity, respect and peace are divisive and a pile of manure.  There can be no unity, respect, and peace with people who hate us for our freedom.  That is like asking a rape victim to unite and respect their rapist.  You should have joined Rev. Barber and the others who walked out on John Merrill.  Do the people from North Carolina need to come down here and give y'all lessons on leadership, courage, and conviction?

We the people are tired of politicians who have style but no substance.  EYE want some real leadership. If you are scared just say you are scared and move over and let those who aren't scared takeover.

Trump to African American and Hispanic Voters: "What the hell do you have to lose?"

Derrick Johnson, president of the Mississippi NAACP, said at a press conference Wednesday that Donald Trump "clings to the hateful and intolerant rhetoric of this country's shameful history — a history that we know all too well."Sarah McCammon/NPR

"You're living in poverty,"  So I will nominate the owner of a deadly coal mine as Secretary of Commerce , and a billionaire as Secretary of the Treasury.

PREVIOUSLY:
Donald Trump said the system is rigged. He said hedge fund managers are “getting away with murder.” He said that he’d “tax Wall Street.” He called Washington D.C. corrupt and promised to “drain the swamp.” He said his opponent Hillary Clinton was too cozy with the banks, as epitomized by her closed-door paid speeches. He said Clinton’s vice presidential nominee, Tim Kaine, was “owned by the banks” and that he, Trump, would break them up. Trump closed his campaign with an ad bashing Goldman Sachs and George Soros, using classically anti-Semitic phrases.
And now, according to The New York Times, ABC and CBS, the president-elect has chosen a second-generation Goldman Sachs partner who worked for George Soros before starting a hedge fund and buying IndyMac, a failing California bank that made billions while foreclosing on homeowners after the financial crisis.

"Your schools are no good" so I will nominate a billionaire education secretary who will gut public schools.

Trump's signature education proposal calls for dedicating $20 billion in federal money to promote "school choice": market-driven education reforms that help families move away from what Trump has called "failing government schools" and instead choose private, religious, or charter schools. The movement for charter schools is bipartisan: Republicans and many centrist Democrats support it. But the DeVos family has been promoting a much more radical idea of choice—one that favors moving public funding to private and religious schools over charters.

"You have no jobs, 58% of your youth is unemployed"  so I am considering nominating the CEO of a fast food chain as Secretary of Labor.

One of the names being mentioned as Donald Trump’s secretary of labor is that of Andrew “Andy” Puzder, a former St. Louis lawyer who is now chief executive of CKE Restaurants Inc., the parent company of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s.

“African Americans and Hispanics are living in hell" So I am nominating a token who  is not qualified to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Carson, who ran against Trump in the 2016 Republican primary, told Fox News last month that he was considering the position. This was a shift from his earlier assertion that he wasn’t qualified for a Cabinet position.

Trump’s choice to nominate Carson is just the latest confirmation that he’s prioritizing loyalty over government experience. One of the president-elect’s first hirings was Steve Bannon, a former Breitbart executive with ties to white nationalists. Bannon was a close adviser to Trump during the campaign.

"You walk down the street and you get shot.” So I am nominating a racist as the Attorney General

In 1986, a bipartisan majority of the Senate Judiciary Committee rejected his nomination to a federal judgeship in the midst of charges of racial bias. For example, Sessions had criticized civil rights groups as “un-American” and “Communist-inspired” and accused them of trying to “force civil rights down the throats of people.” He also dubbed a white civil rights attorney a “disgrace to his race,” according to a witness, and reportedly called a black lawyer in his office “boy.” In his confirmation hearing, he admitted to referring to the Voting Rights Act as “a piece of intrusive legislation,” and he later opposed efforts to update the landmark law.

 -- "what the hell do you have to lose?"

Um, our lives?

#GOP hires a Negro Whisperer from #SweetHomeAlabama to "woo African American voters" YeeHaw!

Because the Republican partymust think African American voters are stupid.

Say Cheese!

Ashley Bell, who eight years ago appeared on stage at the Democratic National Convention, was named national director of African American political engagement for the RNC. Shannon Reeves, a political science professor at Alabama A&M University, will provide statistical and data assistance to help the party identify black voters. Elroy Sailor, a former aide to former congressman J.C. Watts (R-Okla.) and who worked on Sen. Rand Paul's presidential campaign, will offer statistical and political guidance to the party.

Who is Shannon Reeves?  He was a democrat before he was a republican too.

Good luck with that trying to get African American voters to vote for a racist/sexist/bigot. 

Perhaps because he’s now taking aim at an individual American citizen, Donald Trump’s attacks on U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel’s Mexican heritage finally made it impossible to rationalize away the fundamentally racist nature of his campaign.

Republicans have tried, in part by squinting hard, to view his plans to raise a wall across the Mexican border and to ban Muslims from entering the country—which Trump doubled down on following the tragic events in Orlando—as policies focused on security, rather than group identity.

Psst Negro Whispers!  African American voters are not going to fall for the Rope a Dope.  So, count your cheese and go home. 

Last week’s AJC poll showed Democrat Hillary Clinton with a slim lead over Republican Donald Trump in the state. Clinton had the support of 87 percent of African-Americans polled. Trump had the support of 2 percent of black voters.

#VoteForYourLife 

RedEye

Edited~ Did you know it is "We still hate N-Words" Month in #SweetHomeAlabama?

Hell Naw we ain't fergittin...

Well it's that time of the year again. You know, when the White citizens of #SweetHomeAlabama  takes great pride in showing the Black Citizens how they really feel, and bolsters its Confederate Memorial Day (which popped up this Monday) with a month-long celebration of all that is slave-holding and treasonous.  Yes, they want us to forget Slavery, yet there is always something thrown in our face to remind us of days gone by.

A number of states have been feeling slightly more ashamed of the traitors and slave-holders that decorate their town-squares, but it’s far from a universal attitude.
… many states are moving in the opposite direction. Like Alabama, Mississippi is celebrating its Confederate heritage this month, yet discussion of the slavery the state once depended on is almost entirely absent from official state proclamations of the holiday — which includes only a vague allusion to “mistakes.” The state also rejected a push in February to remove the Confederate cross from its state flag.

 Thank goodness for Mississippi.  Snark.

“I am pleased that the Architect of the Capitol will no longer display symbols of hatred and bigotry in the esteemed halls of the United States House of Representatives,’’ Thompson said in a statement. “As I said last summer, this is the People’s House and we should ensure that we, as an institution, refuse to condone symbols that seek to divide us.’’

Remember when EYE told you it takes power to exercise racism? Well here's your Power right here. 

Alabama is currently celebrating Confederate Heritage Month with a state-wide holiday and a series of public events aimed at remembering and honoring those who fought on the side of southern, slave-owning states during the Civil War. At one such event this week, organized by the Ladies’ Memorial Association, Alabama’s Secretary of State John Merrill lamented recent calls to remove Confederate symbols from government buildings.

“The next question that has to be asked is so what’s the next thing you are going to do,” he asked, “are you going to take a bulldozer to the monument and forget what people fought for to preserve a way of life that makes us special and unique?”

RedEye tiptoeing away from the computer whistling Dixie..... 

Why Democrats Can't Win in #SweetHomeAlabama, Hint...It's the Media

Regular readers know EYE don't "celebrate" Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday because it reminds me of his murder, specifically why he was murdered.  IMHO the King Holiday is a chance for those who hated in him life to celebrate his death.   You know the drill. Recite  selected quotes from  his "I have a Dream" speech,  join hands and sing "We Shall Overcome", leave the venue, go back to wag the tail  politics/business as usual.  EYE call it "See we aren't racist day."

Alabama Media Groups'  Kyle Whitmire, John Archibald, John Hammontree, must have experienced an awful King Birthday 2016, because the day after, they came out shooting, both barrels blazing.

Kyle Whitmire took aim at Joe Reed and his supporters (of which EYE am one), likening him to a self serving plantation overseer, and his supporters as slaves.  He blames Joe Reed and Hillary Clinton because the Alabama Democratic Party looked like America instead of the Alabama Republican party.

Bernie Sanders' stop in Birmingham Monday night revealed at least two important things.
It revealed what's wrong with the Alabama Democratic Party.
And it revealed what's wrong with Hillary Clinton.
But to understand exactly how, you have to know one man in Alabama politics. That man is Joe Reed.

Because everybody hates Joe Reed and his bunch.

John Archibald takes aim at Hezekiah Jackson, president of the Birmingham Chapter of the NAACP, political action group Team Seven, Jefferson County Commissioner Sandra Little Brown, and The Young Democrats thrown in for color (pun intended).  Their alleged crime?  Forcing people to pay for endorsements, like it's a black thing, counting on misinformed readers to assume the NAACP is involved.

It's not unique to Team Seven. But it is rarely displayed in a manner as brash, and mercenary, if perhaps as honestly as in the team's email.

Because why would anyone want an endorsement from Team Seven or the NAACP?

John Hammontree rounds out the Trifecta accusing Bernie Sanders of literally leaving poor people out in the cold as a weapon of mass distraction from the unexpected success of the rally and to keep from talking about the substance of the rally. You know, like who was there, what was said, etc.

The failure of the city of Birmingham to plan and account for its homeless population while accommodating a Sanders rally shows how absurd it is to believe that simply voting for Bernie Sanders will somehow end systemic poverty and racism. Particularly in a state like Alabama that will remain under the control of a Republican-controlled state government skewed to favor the wealthy.

And you wonder why Alabama remains under the control of a Republican-controlled state government skewed to favor the wealthy?  Really?  Look in the media, EYE mean, mirror.

Edit~ The #ConfederateFlag has been taken down in South Carolina, It's too bad it took a #Massacre to #TakeItDown

Meanwhile back in Washington D.C. fresh from leading a Congressional Delegation to the funeral for one the #CharlestonMassacre victims, State Senator Rev. ClementaPickney, the "clowns in Washington are actually debating whether it is appropriate to remove that very same flag from National Park Service run cemeteries and federal lands". There is more than a whiff of hypocrisy.

For those who don't know The Heart of Dixie, aka, Sweet Home Alabama... had not one, but four #ConfederateFlags flying on the grounds of the State Capitol. Although Governor Robert Bentley is being credited for suddenly developing a spine and removing the flag out of the kindness of his heart, it's really a vindication for former democratic governor Jim Folsom Jr.,  Alabama State Senator Alvin Holmes  and 14 other black lawmakers who tried for years to remove the Confederate Flag from the capital grounds.

1976: Alvin Holmes filed a suit against Wallace and others to prohibit the flying of the Confederate flag over the Capitol. The federal district court ruled against Holmes.
1988: The NAACP, Alvin Holmes and others filed a lawsuit against Gov. Guy Hunt seeking to remove the Confederate battle flag from the State Capitol grounds. The district court again ruled against Holmes.
Late 1980s-Early 1990s: The Alabama Capitol was flying the U.S., Alabama and Confederate battle flags. All three were taken down due to a massive renovation of the capitol in the early 1990s.
Alvin Holmes and other legislators filed a third lawsuit using a different argument than the first two (1976 and 1988). They argued that an Alabama law from 1975 doesn't allow for the flying of any flag above the Capitol other than the U.S. and Alabama flags.
Jan. 4, 1993: Circuit Judge William Gordon rules in favor of Alvin Holmes. Judge ordered Alabama law allows only the state and national flag be flown over Alabama's capitol and enjoined the governor from raising the Confederate, or any other flag.
Gov. Folsom didn't appeal the judge's ruling.
Late 1990s-Early 2000s: Gov. Don Siegelman made a provision that when the state restored the Confederate Memorial Monument it would be appropriate to fly Confederate flags for historical display. Four flags of the confederacy were raised on the north grounds of the Capitol. Three of the flags are the national flags of the Confederacy and the final flag is the Confederate battle flag, according to Ed Bridges with the Alabama Department of Archives and History.

Alabama, aka, The Heart of Dixie had a Confederate Flag removal from public cemeteries flap too, starring none other than present candidate for Mayor  of the Cradle of the Confederacy, aka Montgomery, AL , Artur Davis, the latest delusional puppet of republican racial propaganda.

EYE wonder what it is going to take to remove The Heart of Dixie from ALL Alabama state license plates?

One behalf of all the martyrs EYE would like to thank former Governor Jim Folsom Jr., State Senator Alvin Holmes, Rep. Thomas Reed and others, for daring defending our right to remove the Confederate Battle flag from the grounds of the State House. Your perseverance and courage in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds will never be forgotten.  Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. 

RedEye tiptoeing away from the computer humming We Shall Overcome One Day....at a time.

#FlagDown

About that #WarOnWhites, Congressman Brooks....

Someone please remind me what year it is again? #ferguson pic.twitter.com/33cebmojwV
— Brenna Muncy (@brennamuncy) August 10, 2014

Hundreds Protest after cops kill black teen in St. Louis surburb

The fatal shooting of a black teenager by police sent hundreds of angry residents out of their apartments Saturday in a St. Louis suburb, igniting protests during a confrontation that lasted several hours.
A St. Louis County chapter of the NAACP called for the FBI to look into the killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, a predominantly black suburb a few miles north of downtown St. Louis. A police spokesman acknowledged that a Ferguson police officer shot Brown but declined to give a reason for the shooting.
By early Saturday night, dozens of police cars remained parked near the shooting scene as mourners left votive candles, rose petals, a large stuffed animal and other remembrances at a makeshift memorial in the middle of the street.
At the height of the post-shooting tensions, police at the scene called for about 60 other police units to respond to the area in Ferguson, a city of about 21,000 residents, about two-thirds of whom are black.

Meanwhile.... The man who touted the phrase ‘War on Whites’ went on to say, “We don’t categorize people by race.”

RedEye, tip toeing away from the computer to go pray.

#ferguson
#WarOnWhites
#I'mGonnaVote

The Judge Slams The Sham

Here we go again.

You know the drill.

Use the power of the press to marginalize and minimize legitimate concerns of people of color.

And yes, I'm going there.

 U.S. District Judge Madeline Hughes Haikala saw through the ruse,  and dropped the hammer on HCS board member Laurie McCaulley's  little "community conversations" masquerading as "a citizens workshop on unitary status" planned for Monday night.

Things in court grew tense as Haikala talked about a "citizens' workshop" that board member Laurie McCaulley has planned for Monday night at Butler High School. McCaulley earlier this week told AL.com that she had decided to host the event to help establish a "template" of the community's wishes for Superintendent Casey Wardynski to refer to during desegregation negotiations with the Justice Department.
In a scathing 107-page opinion she issued June 30, Haikala criticized the school board for a lack of communication with the public about its plans for redrawing school zone lines.
"These sorts of conversations at this juncture could cause problems down the line," Haikala said.

Unfortunately I can't say the same for  AL.com sports/opinion writer Mark McCarter, who once again took it upon himself to be a crusader for the status quo, and bash local NAACP President Alice Sams for saying she planned to attend, but other black leaders planned to boycott the sham, I mean, event.

"But to those who would cavalierly dismiss an opportunity like this to be heard, don't be surprised when people stop listening to you everywhere."

So let me see if I have this right (pun intended),  if the black leaders boycott the event, white people will  stop listening to them?  Sounds like a veiled threat and some racial code words to me.

Psst Mark McCarter!  White folks listening to black folk sound oxymoronic (sic).  Didn't you get the memo?  They certainly didn't listen to black elected officials and community leaders about the Johnson High School name change.  They certainly didn't listen to the J.O.Johnson Alumni Association's petition and march against the name change . They aren't listening to the valid concerns some people have about locating the new north high school less than half a mile from an active rock quarry , without conducting a health risk assessment.  

The education system in our city remains an area of great racial divide. The Huntsville City Schools have gone from an era of being ineptly managed to heavy handed leadership. By its nature, tough decisions that won't sit well with everyone must be made. It's a lightning rod for people with an agenda, often people who have no children involved.

Now where have I heard that Huntsville City Schools were ineptly managed under the former superintendent, and it's a lightning rod for people who have no children involved?  Oh I know.... right wing radio host Dale Jackson, Superintendent Casey Wardynski,  and Mayor Tommy Battle,  people who have no children involved.

The education system in our city remains an area of great racial divide by design,  hopefully we are coming to the end of an era, the tough decisions will be made, and Huntsville City Schools will be a shining example for others to follow again. 

I sure do miss the good old days when the media kept public officials from lying to us instead of enabling them to lie to us.

 Can you hear us now?

Huntsville City Schools character education words for May; cheerfulness, fairness, and kindness, Oh My!

NAACP President Alice Sams speaks for the NAACP Coalition as she addresses the Huntsville City Schools crisis at a press conference in front of the Annie C. Merts Center February 15,2011.

Superintendent Dr. Casey Wardynski is doing the job he was hired to do.

Casey you have to break the mold and prove you're not afraid of minorities, democrats, liberals, aclu (sic) 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!

If there is anything a certain segment of the Huntsville community despises more than  being under a court ordered desegregation plan it's them there  Majority to Minority transfers.

To enhance desegregation, the Huntsville City school district permits a student to transfer from a school where his/her race is in a majority to a school where his/her race is in a minority if space is available. This is called a Majority to Minority transfer.

There is the perception of some (not to confused with all) south Huntsville parents and officials, black students from north Huntsville will lower the standardized test scores at their neighborhood schools, thereby lowering their property values.  The part about test scores lowering property values is true.  For verification all you have to do is compare north vs south Huntsville property values. While parents worry about property values, south Huntsville principals worry white  students will flee when/if black enrollment increases.

It's all about race, income, and geography. 

At poor schools, test scores are lower. "That does not mean these kids are dumber," said Dr. Mary Ruth Yates, Huntsville's assistant superintendent.Achievement tests measure what a child has already learned, not how much a child can learn. Some kids receive less teaching at home, Yates said. They reach school less prepared to learn.What they don't learn often puts limits on what they can eventually earn."If we close the achievement gap, then you have equal opportunity to get jobs, to buy property," she said.School leaders shouldn't give up on integration, Yates said, or the cycle on inequalities will continue."As long as we have Grissom and Johnson," she said, "we can't really say we've done all we can do."

"If we close the achievement gap,then you have equal opportunity to get jobs,to buy property."  Instead of focusing on solutions this board would rather focus on ways to strike down all racial transfers and trap disadvantaged students in the schools they fail to serve.

Using the logic of the Huntsville City Board of Education, University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban should only use his youngest, most inexperienced players when his team plays a Top Ten opponent.
 Anyone who pays attention to education knows that the most persistently poor-performing schools are those in impoverished neighborhoods.  For example, there are nine schools in the Huntsville system where more than 90 percent of students receive free-reduced lunches.  According to an analysis by the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama, none of these schools have reading and math scores where all grades (three through eight) are equal to or above state average.

After patting themselves on the back and taking credit for a federally funded summer feeding program  at last nights Work Session, the superintendent recommended the board approve a Revision of Policy 6.3.1 a- Majority to Minority Transfer.

Per  the Huntsville City Schools website:   The majority to minority transfer window, originally scheduled for May 1-May 31 has been postponed.  The new application window date will be communicated by Student Support Services.  Note, it doesn't say when or how this information will be communicated by SSS.  My guess is they are waiting to see if the revision will be approved.

Students will be granted Majority to Minority transfers through a lottery system when there are more requests for Majority to Minority transfers than space available at the requested school.

There are no specifics as to how said lottery will work,  but it will be done via computer, as well as the initial application for the transfer.  So, instead of parents being awarded a transfer based on first come (date) first served basis with a paper trail,  a computer program will perform this function.  Usually when there is a change in policy it's because of complaints or problems with the implementation. When asked why the policy was changing the superintendent said it was to keep parents from having to come the Merts Center and stand in line, or something to that effect.  To my knowledge parents aren't complaining about coming down standing in line at the Merts center, they are complaining because their transfers are being denied, and they aren't being notified until just before school starts when it's too late to appeal or make other arrangements. This new digital process sounds like it's going to make it harder for parents to apply for, and be granted, a majority to minority transfers, not to mention the lack of transparency.

What parents are complaining about is not being allowed to speak at school board meetings, but I don't see them changing the policy that  says all questions have to be written down and read by the Director of Community Engagement.  But I digress.

"What we want" is equal access to a quality public education for all children, regardless of their race, address, or class.  If all schools were created equal there would be no need or demand for majority/minority transfers to enhance desegregation.   Para quoting the late, great, James Brown, we don't want nobody to give us nothing,  stop standing in the school house door so we can get it ourselves.

What happens when an irresistible force meets an unmovable object?

Prayer meeting packs north Huntsville Church

My Daddy had one of the simplest, and I believe, best explanations for this paradox......he said "Sometimes you are the bug, and sometimes you are the wind shield".  I thought of this paradox last night as  Casey Wardynski, Mayor Tommy Battle, and the HCS BOE, collided with the Greater Huntsville Interdenominational Ministerial Fellowship at a community prayer vigil.

HUNTSVILLE, AL (WAFF) -
A coalition of Huntsville ministers is injecting itself into the court battle between the US Department of Jusice (sic) and the Huntsville school system over the system's new student assignment plan.

How dare a coalition of Huntsville ministers inject itself into the court battle between the U.S. Department of Justice and the Huntsville school system!  I mean,  just who does the GHIMF think they are, Taxpayers?

Yep, the bugs hit the windshield with a big old squish.  All the lies, deceptions, and misconceptions were exposed in the name of God, in the house of God.  No longer can they claim black leaders approved the J.O.Johnson name change.  No longer can they infer the local NAACP approves the rezoning plan. No longer can they claim north Huntsville citizens aren't involved and don't care.  No longer can they continue to ignore the valid concerns for air quality at the proposed site of the new north Huntsville high/middle school.  No longer can they treat north Huntsville citizens like second class citizens. 

After prayers and the presentation of a position paper came the question and answer session.  Dr. Wardynski was asked why students in north Huntsville had to wear uniforms when students in south Huntsville did not. His response (para quoting),  it's so violent in north Huntsville he needs to be able to tell the difference between a student and a gang member, citing a Fox News report of a student that was forced to lie down in a ditch to escape gunfire for flavor.  Mind you,  the mayor was sitting right there listening to Wardynski proclaim north Huntsville as Chicago, I mean, a gang infested wasteland.

This is not the first time Wardynski has used the gang/thug stereotype to justify his actions.  He seems to believe all children in north Huntsville are guilty of being a gang member by association.

Yes, in order to convince the board to support the new fence around Lee High, he showed them a picture of a person in a hoodie. (Truthfully, I think the board had already made up their minds on this matter. I think this was intended to drive the need for a fence home to the general public.)

WAFF reporter Charles Molinaux said Wardynki faced a hostile crowd after he was actually invited up to answer the question. If Molinaux wants to see a "hostile crowd" he should attend some Huntsville City Schools Board of Education meetings.  Despite the prayer vigil being  held in violent north Huntsville there was not a metal detector, or armed security personnel in sight.  This is another media attempt to sensationalize what other wise was a civilized event.

From the position paper:

Again, we agree with the United States Department of Justice that the students of Northwest Huntsville deserve fair and equitable treatment in respect to all of their relationships with Huntsville City Schools System.

Let the fight for One Huntsville with liberty, justice, and equality for all begin.

War begins with WARdynki, blame Harrison and Showers

 Fist Dap: Crooks and Liars

I am still trying to figure out how The Huntsville Times leaped from Black community leaders deserve the right to represent their constituents, too--  black community leaders need to STFU and STFD (my words), but here we are. I guess Colonel WARdynksi was right (pun intended) when he said the media was not the voice of the people but a corporation accountable to shareholders.  Huntsville Times Director of Community News Editor Shelly Haskins made it clear AL.com is a voice for the corporation and its shareholders in his latest opinion column, where he adopts the false narrative both sides are wrong, and shut up before the Federal Judge hears about it.  But that's what you have to do when you want the other side to win. 

The conversation about the future of education for thousands of Huntsville students has been hijacked by staged protests and inflammatory public rhetoric on one side, and staged rallies of support and blunt dismissals of the opposing view on the other.

The J.O. Johnson Alumni Association and it's supporters did indeed stage a protest march after BOE members and the Superintendent ignored a petition with over 1300 signatures, and pleas by the James Oliver Johnson Family to keep the name. As a matter of fact, after the staged protestt, the BOE violated their own rules and renamed J.O.Johnson High School  Mae Jemison High School.

For several months now, culminating in the past few weeks, this little war pitting local government officials against Huntsville school officials has been escalating: County Commissioner Bob Harrison and City Councilman Richard Showers versus Superintendent Casey Wardynski and the Huntsville school board.

Uh, FYI, Harrison and Showers are members of the local government, and it's not County Commissioner Bob Harrison and City Councilman Richard Showers versus Superintendent Casey Wardynski and the Huntsville school board, it's the constituents Harrison and Showers represent against the Superintendent and the School Board, which is also supposed to represent the people, but I digress.

It's not about Harrison and Showers, it's about the taxpayers.  This little war could have been avoided if Casey WARdynski hadn't been hell-bent on wiping out the legacy of J.O.Johnson student's and alumni.  Every school in this city was allowed to keep its name after moving into a new building except J.O.Johnson High School.  

 In one corner, Harrison has publicly accused Wardynski and the board of lying and deceit in their attempts to win favor for the rezoning plan that consolidates Butler High School, which will close, with what is now Johnson High and renames it for astronaut Mae Jemison.

This BOE has told so many lies I don't know where to start.  First, they said J.O.Johnson was being renovated, then they said it was closing, then they said someone from the community suggested a name change, then they said all new schools get a new name, then they said the community would have input, then they violated their own policies and renamed the school.

Now let's move on to the rezoning lies, first they said they were under a gag order, then they said they were confused.  They said the NAACP and Dr. Sonnie Wellington Hereford did not oppose the plan,  then they submitted a sign in sheet as proof Black elected officials and community leaders did not oppose the plan.  I'm pretty sure I haven't covered all the lies, but you get my drift.  Harrison's public accusations are not unfounded.

 Backing up Harrison is Showers, who has proposed pulling $20 million in city funding from the school system over the issue (though the threat has no support on the council).

Of course, Showers doesn't have support on the council.  It's north Huntsville, who cares?  Mind you this same council made it known to WARdynski he would be making a gargantuan mistake if he tried to change the name of Lee High School.  The President of the Huntsville City Council was a very vocal opponent of an active rock quarry operating within two miles of schools in nearby Gurley/New Hope, AL.

 In the other corner, school board president David Blair fired back at Harrison with a news release, and then at Showers with an op-ed piece on AL.com, calling Showers' threat "repugnant.

Way to go, David Blair, attack the messenger because you can't attack the facts.  David Blair has his nerve calling anyone repugnant,  and that's all I'm going to say about him.

Wardynski, until recently, had expressed no desire to meet further with the black elected officials that have been his chief critics.
Wardynski said his job is to report to the school board and that northwest Huntsville board member Laurie McCaulley (since ostracized from the black elected officials group for siding with Wardynski) was the person elected to represent north Huntsville on education issues.

Laurie McCaulley was ostracized from the black elected official's group for siding with WARdynski against her constituents, you know, the people she was elected to represent.

This has turned into a childish game, but the effect is far from child’s play. The city desperately wants to get out from under a 1970 desegregation court order that forces the school board to get federal approval before building a new school or shifting zone lines to balance student population.

If the city really wanted to get out from under a 1970 desegregation order they would desegregate the schools.  Out of 40 public schools, only three are considered desegregated. The reason the city has to get approval before building a new school or shifting zone lines is that HCS continues to ignore the Brown v. Board decision.

 That lack of local control -- and the stigma that comes with a 44-year desegregation order -- is a constant negative in the city’s quest to recruit new jobs and new people here.

What part of it's not the lack of local control, it's the sad, sorry state of public education in Huntsville City Schools that is a constant negative in the city's quest to recruit new jobs and people here don't you understand?  If the BOE spent as much time ensuring every child had equal access to quality public education as they do trying to scheme their way out from under the court order,  new jobs and new people would flock here.

The Justice Department, which has opposed Huntsville’s recent rezoning plan in federal court, has been watching these dueling protests/rallies I’m sure, and thinking, ‘This doesn’t look like a unified community.’ Let’s hope the federal judge hearing the rezoning motions hasn’t seen the clippings as well.

I hope I'm reading this wrong, but it sounds like Haskins is hoping the federal judge hearing the rezoning motions doesn't know what the heck is going on, and that he'll believe whatever the school district tells him.  Which would be a gargantuan miscarriage of justice IMHO.

 In an unscientific poll on AL.com this week, nearly 53 percent of more than 1,300 readers voting said they approved of the financial and academic/technological turnaround Wardynski orchestrated by taking charge like the retired Army colonel that he is.

An unscientific poll on AL.com this week is right, all you have to do is read the comment section to find out who the nearly 53% of more than 1300 represent.  Here are some samples:

 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!

 People like Harrison and Showers, need to take a good look at their districts and fix the problems that they control. Like roads, the boarded up buildings and shops. Fix your areas, then complain about something you have no control over. I can't believe these two elected officials so concern over a school name. They are more concern over that than the people that they are suppose to serve as an elected official. But then again, the same fools keep voting them in.

 Yeah they should be allow to destroy Huntsville like Birmingham's black leaders have destroyed Birmingham!

 "Who cares what the name of a schoolis. Sounds like someone throwing a tantrum. If you're cutting funding for something so asinine, do you really care about proper education?" - JA

 Bob Harrison is a big-lipped embarrassment to the people of Northwest Huntsville. He needs to be removed and a reasonable, clear-minded democrat needs to take his place.

 "Blacks misbehave on average more frequently than whites do," McInnish said. "(Brown) hasn't shown any evidence to the contrary."

McInnish went so far as to include in his letter a chart that purports to show the "black crime rate as (a) multiple of (the) white crime rate." The chart indicates that black people commit more than six times the violent crime of white people overall; it has them committing about eight times as many murders as white people and more than 14 times as many robberies.

All the AL.com unscientific poll proved is they have done a good job of misinforming the uninformed.

 Though it may be too late to mend fences, Wardynski did send a registered letter, received last week, to this debate's key players, offering to host a meeting with Harrison, Showers, Rep. Laura Hall, D-Huntsville, and McCaulley on Tuesday, April 1.

I agree, it's too late to mend fences, what good is a meeting after the fact?  What are they going to say, I'm sorry but we are still going to change the name and build the new school less than half a mile from an active rock quarry without adequate air quality level testing and an environmental health risk assessment?

I hope, for the community’s sake, these elected officials and Dr. Wardynski can set all pettiness aside and just sit down and talk and listen to each other respectfully.
AL.com has offered to be there to chronicle the meeting and make sure no one’s message is garbled by a one-sided retelling of it.

Thanks but no thanks!  You have already said you don't want the federal judge hearing the case to have all the facts, so forgive me when I say I can't trust you to make sure no ones' message is garbled by a one-sided (yours) telling of it.  Sorry.

It may be too late to find a consensus, but a meeting done in the right spirit by all could set the tone for future discussions, and set an example for the students they all claim to represent.

It's too late to find a consensus, and it's going to be hard to have a meeting with people who disrespect your constituents, unfortunately, the example for the students has already been set by the people who claim they represent them. 

City  school board members Topper Birney, Jennie Robinson and David Blair need a lecture on the state's open meetings law. Honesty and public trust should be part of that lesson.

You think?

On Friday the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights released the latest data on minority students in our nation’s public schools. More than a decade into the 21st century and six decades after Brown v. Board we find black students underrepresented in calculus and chemistry, and overrepresented in out-of-school suspensions and expulsions. They face harsher discipline, less access to college-prep courses, and are more often taught by lower-paid and less experienced teachers.

 It is stupefying to me that so many people who seem to genuinely care about children in public schools and work tirelessly to improve their educational outcomes manage to skirt responsibility for helping to eliminate racial disparities in education. When racial inequities are evident in all other areas of black life – housing, jobs, pay, health services, transportation, access to food, even life expectancy – you will need to explain to me like I’m five how you hold the belief that schools are an oasis of colorblindness.

RedEye tiptoeing away from the computer to go pray for the children who are the future of our republic.

The Washington Times tries to blame the NAACP and the DoJ for Huntsville's Failing Schools via The Attack Machine

@TheDaleJackson @Mark_Kellner The NAACP nor the DOJ are responsible for 40+ years & 71-74  failing schools in AL being predominantly black.
— Red Eye (@RedEyesPage) August 16, 2013

Read  the Concern Trolling for the poor African American students who are trapped in "failing schools" because of the mean ole  NAACP and the DOJ  Here:

There will always be arguments over whether and how much the schools have improved. It may indeed be the case that once-failing schools in Huntsville have improved substantially in the past six years. And perhaps the Alabama Accountability Act could stand an overhaul. But the issues of school choice and of putting students first seem to be lost on both the Department of Justice and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Seeking to keep their lawyers busy, these two enterprises are more concerned about “balance” in the classrooms than what is actually being learned in those classes.

HCS aren't approving Alabama Accountability Act transfers and blaming it on the court ordered desegregation order.  Can you say Scapegoat?