"When the Slave-Catcher Came to Town"

From Daniel J Sharfstein's The Invisible Line, which chronicles the sometimes brutal history of three families as they journey, over the course of generations, across American color lines.

Following in the footsteps of Blogger Field Negro , who awards Field Negro and House Negro status to those whose behavior merits the special designation, Eye (pun intended) am going to start calling out Slave Catcher behavior for those who merit the distinction.

What is a Slave Catcher you ask?  I turn the floor over to Field Negro:

You see a house Negro simply stayed in the house with massa, and he liked the house and everything in it. He would do everything to stay in the house, and would protect the house at all cost because he had a stake in it. It was where he lived, and it was where he found comfort. He would never speak against massa like the field Negroes, because he didn't want to risk losing all of that. But, even worse than the house Negro, was the slave catcher. This was the Negro who searched hardest to find us when we ran away. It was the slave catcher who the master would give the whip to tear into us when we stepped out of line. It was the slave catcher who ran right behind the blood hounds and in front of the master, when he thought one of us was hiding in the woods. It was the slave catcher who always did the master's most barbarous and sadistic deeds that even the master would not do. The slave catcher hated us even more than the master did. Who knows why? Maybe some sick demented sh#t in his past, maybe some psychological sickness that prevented him from wanting to be a part of something he has no control over. Or, a sick desire to be accepted by only those who didn't look like he does. Only the slave catcher and his shrink knows for sure.

So, here are my picks for Local, State, and National  Slave Catcher(s) of the Week:



Reynard Jones was elected President, and Carlos Matthews  was elected Vice President of the J.O.Johnson PTSA by a vote of 21-2.  Neither of these persons has children attending J.O. Johnson,  nor are either J.O.Johnson Alums. Jones and Matthews are the Local Slave Catchers of the Week for enabling the  Coup d'etat of  the J.O.Johnson PTA.

Goldy(Trey) Brown III  earned the title of State Slave Catcher of the Week.  While we are fighting for the right for all children to have equal access to quality public schools, he is advocating for Charter Schools and privatizing public education. 

Charles Barkley Isn't Shedding  Light on the Black Communities Problems.  He is the Problem.  He is also the National Slave Catcher of the Week for enabling the media driven racial stereotyping of African Americans.

Eye HOPE all my readers have a happy and safe Halloween.

#ThrowbackThursday blast from the past re-post countdown to my BlogOversary #2

Regular readers know Friday, November 13, 2009, was indeed unlucky for me because it was the beginning of the end of my posting privileges at the  Informed. Involved. Progressive. democratic blog of record,  Left in Alabama,  supposedly because of the content of my comments and other posts.  EYE still think it was because of my non-support of a gubernatorial candidate (which EYE ended up being right about). So from now until November 13, 2014,  EYE will repost links to the posts EYE (pun intended) believe led to my being banned from Left in Alabama and let you decide.

Re-post #2 is a comment Eye made in response to this diary written by the founder and blog administrator, mooncat:  John Knight Backs Artur Davis

That's nice.  Seriously though, this statement made by Knight (no pun) exemplifies the quandary some black voters (moi included) and established African Americans organizations like the ADC face regarding Davis's candidacy;

Knight said he's also proud that he is alive at a time when the state has an opportunity to elect a black man to the office of governor.

"And he's not running because he's black," Knight said. "He's running because he's qualified."

On the one hand Knight says he' proud to be alive at a time when the state has an opportunity to elect a black man to the office of governor, but on the other hand he says "he's not running because he's black".  Davis does the same thing.  On the one hand he says the state has an opportunity to elect a black man as governor, but on the other hand he says it's not about race.

So what do black voters and African American political organizations do?  Do we vote for him out of racial loyalty?  Do we vote for him because he's qualified? Or,do we vote for him because he shares our political philosophy?

If black voters vote for him out of racial loyalty does that make us racist?  Should blacks vote for him because he's qualified or because he's more qualified than his opponent? Why would black voters vote against their self interest and for a candidate who doesn't share their political philosophy?

With all due respect to Representative John Knight, if you ask the average James (opposite of Joe) who John Knight is they wouldn't know.  If you ask the average James who the ADC is, they know.  Does that make the ADC a Kingmaker?  I don't know. But the ADC and voters like myself have to decide if we are going to back Artur Davis.  In a perfect world we could vote for the candidate who represents our self interest.

One thing I will say about Davis's candidacy, it is pitting democrat vs democrat, white vs black, conservative vs liberal, white progressives vs black progressives, pro choice vs anti choice, north AL vs south AL, rural voters vs urban voters.  And some call me "divisive"?  Go figure.

The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dreams shall never die.~Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D. MA)

So, tell me what was wrong with the content of that comment?

From the files of "Stuck On Stoopid" pre-election papaplooza

The white supremacists are going all out this Halloween...smh http://t.co/uGLj2idPQP #StrangeFruit #Lynching pic.twitter.com/3wF16l97Fj
— BlackHistoryStudies (@BlkHistStudies) October 29, 2014

You can tell election day is near and republicans are not as confident as their media enablers tell us they are. Of course, this is the United States of America, and you can't predict what the majority of voters are going to do, despite what the polling pollsters and the polling pollsters who poll them say.  Republicans know they only way they can "win" is to cheat. So, between the GOP controlled  Supreme Court striking down section 5 of the voting rights act, which enabled wholesale voter suppression,  along with gerrymandering, they just might eke out a "win".  I might be one of the few people in America who hope republicans take over the Senate because sometimes you just have show people who don't believe fat meat is greasy how greasy it really is.

Anyhoo, here is a rundown of Stuck On Stoopid

Mark Bray filed for bankruptcy in 2008, vote for Mo "do anything short of shooting illegals" Brooks, despite the fact Brooks is a liability to the district.

Let me make this clear for you Laura Ingram,  unlike you,  Democrats believe that blacks do have a choice.

Today in Black History:  Supreme Court  Issues a SmackDown to Die Heart Segregationist.  Only they didn't.

So let me see if I have this right (pun intended), we sent our troops and treasure to Iraq so they could have fair and free elections, but we block the youth vote in America?  Oh, OK.

Remember when the media used to inform voters and keep elected officials from lying to the public?  Where is that media?

RedEye Reports What You Decide.

The Coup d'etat of the J.O. Johnson High School PTSA

 

Huntsville Superintendent Casey Wardynski, center, and school board president Laurie McCaulley, right, listen Monday afternoon as Huntsville resident Carlos Mathews talks about the choosing of possible names for a new northwest Huntsville high school to replace Johnson High. Behind Mathews are pictures of astronauts Ronald McNair and Mae Carol Jemison, whose names may grace the new high school and a new junior high to be built on the same campus. (Crystal Bonvillian/cbonvillian@al.com)

Cue in music to The Harper Valley PTA

I want to tell you all a story about the Coup d'etat of  the J.O.Johnson PTA

After a prayer vigil to pray for peace and equality in the school district

Mending fences is the last thing on the mind of superintendent Casey Wardynski,

Well the next day, he and district 1 BOE representative  , and the president of the Huntsville Council of PTSA's went  over to the  J.O.Johnson PTSA  elections.

As Wardynski and  McCaulley, looked on  Elisa Ferrall told members of the J.O. Johnson Alumni Association they were not members of the PTSA because there was no record of their membership.  Imagine that!

They were also informed the application fees they paid were a donation.

So, they had a record of the donation but not the membership? Un Huh

Two members of the JOJ Alumni Association were allowed to vote, but here's the kicker, ballots were not secret, names had to be printed and signed or their vote wouldn't count.

Reynard Jones was elected President, and Carlos Matthews was elected Vice President of the J.O.Johnson PTSA by a vote of 21-2.  Neither of these persons have children attending J.O. Johnson,  nor are either J.O.Johnson Alums.  Hmmm...  I smell a Slave Catcher of the Week Award coming...

Both were members of the hand picked members of the so called naming committee.

Why did Wardynski  need to gain  control of the J.O.Johnson  PTSA? 

Possibly for the same reason he the BOE violated their own naming policy.

If the woman you see standing and speaking in this video looks familiar it's because she was just elected to the Huntsville City Schools Board of Mis-Education.

Boo!

Re-Post countdown to my being banned from the pages of Left in Alabama in honor of my 5th Blog-O-versery

 

Regular readers know Friday, November 13, 2009 was indeed unlucky for me because it was the beginning of the end of my posting privileges at the  Informed. Involved. Progressive. democratic blog of record,  Left in Alabama,  supposedly because of the content of my comments and other posts.  EYE still think it was because of my non support of a gubernatorial candidate (which EYE ended up being right about). So from now until November 13, 2014,  EYE will re post links to the posts EYE (pun intended) believe led to my being banned from Left in Alabama and let you decide.

Blast from the Past Re-Post #1:  Cynthia Tucker Looks at the Alabama Governors Race

Artur Davis has to walk the fine line in this campaign: convince the big middle of the electorate to judge him on the issues -- he's a fairly moderate reformer with broad appeal -- without turning off voters who may have followed Joe Reed's advice in the past.  He needs to convince those voters to judge him on the issues instead of listening to Reed's advice. 
There's a generational power struggle going on in Alabama that has nothing to do with race.  It's all about whether the current gatekeepers and power brokers in the Democratic party can maintain their hold on the party -- and whether they get to exercise veto power over candidates.  Davis stands largely outside the current party structure and a win for him will signal diminished influence for the folks currently running the show. 
Gatekeepers like Reed and AEA Executive Secretary Paul Hubbert (both of whom are vice-chairs of the state party) probably don't have enough power to deny Davis the nomination outright, but they might have enough power to throw the general election to a Republican.  The November election will be that close and the rift between Davis and Reed appears deep enough that such extreme action is imaginable  -- check the examples of John Tyson or Patricia Todd if you don't believe it.  While denying Davis the governorship because he didn't come, hat in hand, to ask permissions and make deals would probably feel good for a few nanoseconds, it's squarely in the category of "cutting off your nose to spite your face."  The aftermath of such a strategy would certainly bring the Old Guard down in a wave of resentment. 

Be sure and read the comments (please excuse the typos and grammatical errors).

I respect Cynthia Tucker as a a Nobel prize winning journalist and Alabama native, but she doesn't know what she's talking about.  She is playing the old tried and true race baiting card from the bottom of the race deck of cards and saying what white folks say privately but can't say out loud.

RedEye Reports what You decide.