The Alabama Democratic Party's executive committee meeting today erupted into loud disagreements when a voting bloc rejected about 18 nominees for vacant seats on the committee.State Sen. Vivian Davis Figures, D-Mobile, called the meeting a "travesty" and said it was wrong to allow a "yellow sheet" compiled by the party's minority caucus to dictate today's votes."If your name is not on that sheet, that means that these people must be people who do not want to kiss the ring," said Figures, drawing cheers."And we all know what ring that is."Figures did not give a name, but committee members knew she was talking about Joe Reed, who heads the party's black caucus.
It's like DejaVu all over again.
This meeting cannot be understood without accounting for the role in Party affairs of Dr. Joe Reed, head of the Alabama Democratic Conference and Vice Chair for Minority Affairs of the SDEC for far longer than the lifespans of the Millennials who make up the bulk of the Obama rank and file. Through fair means or foul, Reed controls the largest single bloc of votes on the SDEC. Of the numerous questions on which division of the house was called at Saturday’s meeting, every one went Reed’s way by a roughly 95-15 vote. Even if you assume, as I do, that Reed had almost all of his firm supporters present at the Embassy Suites, a bloc of 95 votes on a 285-member Committee is significant.
And therein lies the problem, the bloc of votes that comprise the Alabama Democratic Conference, aka the Minority Caucus of which Joe Reed is the Chair.
In 1975, Joe Reed led the efforts to get equitable representation for blacks on the Montgomery City Council. His efforts resulted in four blacks of nine being elected. He served on the Montgomery City Council for 24 years. In the Democratic Party today, Alabama’s black representation exceeds all other states in the nation. For over 40 years he has led the effort to get more blacks elected and appointed to public office, including federal marshals, federal and state judges, members of the boards of registrars, legislators, county commissioners, city councils, and school boards. He drafted two plans that increased black representation in the Alabama House of Representatives from 13 to 27; and in the Senate from 3 to 8 in 1982, and 1992, respectively. He also drew a reapportionment plan that provided for 25% (two of eight) majority black districts on the State Board of Education. Alabama is the only state in the nation where the Legislature reflects the state’s population of blacks and whites.
Year after year there has been an organized effort by the white wing of the democratic party to infiltrate this bloc in an effort to take "their" party back to before.
Back in 1966, after an election in which, having won voting rights after the
1965 Selma to Montgomery March, in which I lost two dear friend, Rev Jim
Reeb and Viola Liuzzo, blacks rushed to register to vote and to run for office, most considered themselves to be Democrats . Gov Wallace (a democrat) refused to allow them to run for office as Democrats. To combat the continuing absolute racism of the Alabama Democratic Party, some of us created another Democratic Party, the National Democratic Party of Alabama (NDPA), went through a difficult struggle, and elected the first blacks to office in Alabama as Democrats! But the ADP fought as a fully segregated party for almost 10 years as the NDPA came to hold over 100 elected offices,more than any other state!!! Then and only then did the ADP want us, and we forgivingly moved into the ADP. But of course its leadership remained fully racist and we have been struggling to change that ever since. But racists continued to run for and hold office as Democrats. It never fully changed. That makes it clear why people are still very suspicious of attitudes in the ADP.
That's right, everyone wants to be a minority until the police show up.
The old guard dug their heels in against including other classes in the diversity requirement -- and eventually won in the wee hours of Saturday morning. Minority still means "black" and nothing else to certain people on the SDEC Board.
But it's not about inclusion, it's about dilution.
While I disagree with Dr. Reed on many issues, I do think he has a valid point when he notes that including women in the definition of “minority” in this section would have arguably undesirable consequences. It would put white women – who, due to the racial composition of House districts and the Bylaws, constitute a large number of SDEC seats – in the minority caucus, which was historically designed to insure racial equity. I know most of the proponents of recent Bylaw amendments, and I do not think for an instant that any of them contemplate actions that would make the SDEC unrepresentatively white. But that would be the exact effect of the Shadoin Amendment, in the form in which it was submitted.
EYE say if they want a party that wants blacks to be seen and not heard, let them have at it.
Dear Dr. Reed, can we talk?
There is the perception among whites the Alabama Democratic Party is the party of blacks because the Democratic Party has done more for black folks than anyone else. Translation, blacks want thegovernment to give us free stuff because the government owes us a living. In any event, the status quo have decided you are no longer effective and it's time for you to go somewhere, sit your Ebony Donkey down, and take your cheerleaders (which include me and mine) with you.
You cannot curse Bubba and Cooter, Big Man, and June Bug in the daytime and beg them at night.~Joe Reed
Remember my post Welcome to my world~A very personal diary about racial profiling?
I had to calm down and do a lot of praying before writing this diary. Yesterday I received the kind of news every black mother, daughter, sister, aunt, grandmother, god mother, cousin dreads. Someone I love was racially profiled by the people who are paid to protect and serve us. Contrary to popular opinion, largely due to media driven stereotypes, all young black men are not thugs, pimps and criminals, nor do they all look alike.
I followed with this update where the victim told his side of the story. Well, there is more disclosed at a community meeting following the incident;
According to Walker, the undercover officers approached him aggressively and told him to get on the ground.
Walker claims the men failed to identify themselves as policemen, and then shoved him into icy snow, causing bruises to his face. The officers let Walker go after they determined he was not the person they were seeking.
However, the incident left Walker — who says he's never been in trouble before with the law — very upset, and he has filed a complaint against the city.
Several residents at the meeting, including Murphy, stood up and expressed concern about "the treatment of our young black men by the police," insisting that too often, they are criminal targets and without real probable cause.
79th Precinct Executive Officer Captain Clint McPhearson said the precinct is looking into the charges. He said, they would like to get to the bottom of it, because it is not a behavior they condone.
Also, he pointed out that Mr. Walker said the incident occurred at around 7:00 pm. However, all four of the plain clothes officers at 79 were still at the precinct until 7:30 pm. So, he said, there's a chance that the incident took place with an outside police unit, such as a detective, narcotics or gang squad.
Now ain't that a dip? We don't know if they were police officers or not. Only in America...
I thought republicans believed in the rule of law? Or maybe they just believe in the rule of law for democrats. Let's see how they get out of this one.
Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne charged state Senate Republicans Wednesday with open meetings law violations in connection with a controversial move they made to pass legislation to curtail public sector union bargaining rights.
"Our investigation has found merit in the verified complaints, which allows us to commence this litigation," says Ozanne in a statement. "This litigation does not address the merits or the wisdom of the legislation."
Senate Republicans had been stymied by 14 Democrats who fled the state last month to deprive the GOP-controlled Senate of the 20-member quorum needed to pass Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill, which included a measure to effectively end collective bargaining for public employees. A week ago, Republicans hastily called a joint conference committee, including members of both legislative houses, to consider a bill that was stripped of fiscal elements, allowing the legislation to be passed by a simple majority.
State law requires 24 hours notice for such meetings unless "good cause" exists. The Republicans' notice was short of two hours.
The U.S.Constitution doesn't apply to republicans.
Last week, the Michigan legislature passed a “financial martial law” bill that allows Snyder to appoint “emergency financial managers” with the power to terminate collective bargaining agreements. The bill would authorize the emergency manager to reject, modify, or terminate one or more terms and conditions of an existing contract.
Republicans want to criminalize them their illegals...unless they are cutting your lawn.
The [Texas House] bill would make hiring an "unauthorized alien" a crime punishable by up to two years in prison and a $10,000 fine, unless that is, they are hired to do household chores.
Yes, under the House Bill 2012 introduced by a tea party favorite state Rep. Debbie Riddle -- who's been saying for some time that she'd like to see Texas institute an Arizona-style immigration law -- hiring an undocumented maid, caretaker, lawn worker or any type of house worker would be allowed. Why? As Texas state Rep. Aaron Pena, also a Republican, told CNN, without the exemption, "a large segment of the Texas population" would wind up in prison if the bill became law.
In Sweet Home Alabama legal news the Legal Fallout begins in the wake of the Amy Bishop shootings at UAH
UAH was the site of fatal shootings in February 2010, and no one who has followed the aftermath of that tragic day should be surprised at President David Williams' exit. In fact, we suspect other administrators will follow Williams out the door.
Amy Bishop, a former assistant professor of biology, faces criminal charges in the shootings, which killed three of her colleagues (injuring three others) and reportedly were sparked when UAH denied Bishop tenure. As we reported last month, at least five lawsuits have been filed in connection to the UAH shootings, and we suspect Williams' exit is a sign that the legal process is grinding forward.
We suspect it also is a sign that the University of Alabama administration will be held legally accountable--and that, in our view, is the way it should be.
The wheels of justice turn ever so slowly in Sweet Home Alabama.
MONTGOMERY, Alabama (AP) -- The FBI's Cold Case Initiative is investigating the 46-year-old case of a Massachusetts minister who was beaten to death in Alabama while doing civil rights work, a spokesman said Friday.
The Rev. James Reeb, a Unitarian Universalist minister from Boston, was among a group of ministers who traveled to Alabama in response to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s invitation to join the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery march for voting rights.
The FBI launched an initiative in 2007 to investigate unsolved murders from the civil rights era. A spokesman with the agency, Chris Allen, said Reeb's case is one that is currently open.
The lead state prosecutor for Selma, District Attorney Michael Jackson, said he has met with FBI agents at least twice about the case. He said the agency is actively investigating.
Justice delayed is justice denied.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) -- An Alabama legislator wants the state to apologize for the treatment of a black woman who was raped by a group of white men in southeast Alabama in 1944.
Democratic state Rep. Dexter Grimsley of Newville says he is preparing a resolution that would apologize to 91-year-old Recy Taylor.
Taylor was 24 years old and living in her native Henry County when she was gang-raped by a group of white men in Abbeville. Two all-white, all-male grand juries declined to bring charges.
Taylor told The Associated Press in an interview last year that she believes the men are dead, but she would still like an apology from the state. The AP is using her name because she has publicly identified herself.
Per grace designs via Pams' listserve
State Senator Jimmy Holley ( r. Elba) has introduced a bill that would prohibit jailers from being individually sued for job-related issues. The bill has already cleared the committee. Seems to me that this bill would open a door where all kinds of abuses to
prisoners would go unchecked, not just on the State level but the
County and City level as well. I sure hope I"m wrong.
I hope you're wrong too...but I doubt it.
