Why am I not excited
President Obama plans to visit Selma, AmeriBama to celebrate the 5Oth Anniversary of the Voting Rights Act?
The White House says the March 7 trip also will highlight the upcoming 50th anniversary of the signing of the Voting Rights Act.
Obama last visited Selma for the 2007 anniversary, when he was
running for the Democratic presidential nomination against Hillary
Rodham Clinton. Both candidates and former President Clinton marched
across the Edmund Pettus Bridge where white police officers beat civil
rights protesters in 1965.
Maybe it's because
50 years later
Shelby County v. Holder gutted
Section 5 of the
Voting Rights Act.
You have to give Alabama credit for its cheek. Last year, the state's Shelby County persuaded the US Supreme Court
to find unconstitutional part of the Voting Rights Act that required
certain states with histories of discriminatory election laws to get
permission from the federal government before changing their voting
practices. On Wednesday, Alabama will argue before the court that the
same provision it helped decimate compelled lawmakers to racially
gerrymander the entire state.
Maybe it's because 50 years later some (
not to be confused with all) police are
killing black people and
some are getting away with it.
Justice Department lawyers will recommend that no civil rights charges
be brought against the police officer who fatally shot an unarmed
teenager in Ferguson, Mo., after an F.B.I. investigation found no
evidence to support charges, law enforcement officials said Wednesday.
Maybe it's because
50 years later we are still fighting for the right to vote.
The specific means of suppression have changed, but the objectives
haven't: People in power are still trying to keep specific groups of
Americans from voting.
Maybe it's because
50 years later
tax payer funded, government issued Weapons of Mass Destruction are being used on black citizens for protesting.
“It didn’t look like America. It looked like Soweto,” Mr. Lyon said,
referring to the South African township that was a hotbed of protests
against apartheid. “It looked like soldiers. And soldiers’ job isn’t to
protect. Their job is to kill people and to be ready to die.”
Maybe it's because
50 years later black people are still begging for the
right to breathe.
“I can’t breathe,” protesters chanted, in mostly peaceful demonstrations
that brought longstanding strains over race to the heart of America’s
most populous city. Earlier in the day, prosecutors announced the jury’s decision not to charge Daniel Pantaleo, one of the New York police officers who had confronted Garner for selling loose cigarettes on Staten Island in July.
Maybe it's because
50 years later, the more things change in America,
the more they don't change in AmeriBama.
Taylor's decision, which he says was made in part out of concern for
Dekalb County's taxpayer money being spent on "filthy language," comes
as theaters across the country are hosting free-screenings to hundreds of thousands of students hoping to view the same film. Despite the national embrace and Selma's
official PG-13 rating, however, Taylor said he simply could not permit
students to experience a movie with the "F-word in it."
So come on down to the land of cotten, take some pretty pictures then board Air Force 1 and head on back to the White House Mr. President Obama sir.
Don't worry about us.
Out of sight out of mind.
Look away.
Look away.
Look away.
Dixieland.
RedEye tiptoeing away from the computer to go pray....
