George Wallace 2016.

The following editorial ---from a man I respect--- is very apropos, because it's just days before we vote for the next president of these divided states of America. 

"Some people get angry when I and others compare Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump to George Wallace. What they’re forgetting, or perhaps never knew if they’re too young, is that Wallace didn’t run for president in 1964, 1968, 1972, and 1976 as a segregationist, though he was one; he ran as a populist defender of blue-collar workers against elitism and an intrusive federal government.

“I am in this race,” Wallace said in a Fourth of July speech in 1964, “because I believe the American people have been pushed around long enough and that they, like you and I, are fed up with the continuing trend toward a socialist state which now subjects the individual to the dictates of an all-powerful central government.”

What’s somewhat astonishing about Trump’s seemingly unwavering appeal to the same demographic that supported Wallace is that he has none of Wallace’s common-man bona fides. Trump was born into a rich family that gave him everything he needed to succeed, including millions of dollars to establish his own real estate business. Wallace was born dirt poor into a family of farmers in Clio, Ala., where he played with black kids as a child.

The first time I was supposed to meet Wallace, I didn’t. Or rather, I wouldn’t. It was 1972. I was home from my freshman year at a college in Kansas and had a summer job in the audiology lab at Spain Rehabilitation Center in Birmingham. Wallace was brought there for therapy after being paralyzed by a gunman in an assassination attempt in May in Laurel, Md.

Wallace was also fitted with a hearing aid in the audiology lab, but I didn’t see him there. As his stay at Spain neared an end, however, someone came up with the idea of holding a reception so all the hospital workers could meet the governor personally. I wasn’t the only black employee who had to do some soul-searching about being cordial to the man who had stood in the door of the University of Alabama in a vain attempt to keep it segregated.

I didn’t have to worry about any retribution from a boss who might not like my doing anything that reflected poorly on him. But I went to the reception area anyway, mostly out of curiosity to see what Wallace looked like. I got into the long line; but with only about a dozen people between me and Wallace, I stepped out. He kept shaking hands. I walked away.

It wasn’t too many years later that I did meet Wallace, more than once, as a reporter for United Press International in the 1980s covering events where he was the speaker. I remember him cupping a hand around his deaf ear when he was asked a question he didn’t want to answer. I don’t remember shaking his hand. With a notebook and a pen in mine, I probably never did.

Despite the two men’s different backgrounds, it’s easy to see why Trump appeals to the same type of voters as Wallace. Wallace had a knack for expressing the frustrations of white, mostly working-class men who saw themselves as victims of an intrusive government that they felt was forcing them to be more open-minded about people and ideas that they didn’t like. Trump’s midnight tweets may lack the bite of a Wallace stump speech, but they achieve the same goal.

Wallace rallies, like Trump’s, often became violent when demonstrators who didn’t drink his Kool-Aid showed up. Trump followers, like Wallace’s, praise him for being politically incorrect and telling it like it is, no matter who might be offended. Wallace enjoyed the support of church people, just as the religious right has jumped aboard the Trump bandwagon based on his claim to be pro-life.

Wallace never became president. But in 1968, like Trump today, he made a lot of people nervous. As an independent, Wallace won 10 million votes, 13 percent of all those cast, and carried Georgia, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. He ran as a Democrat in 1972 and won the Maryland and Michigan primaries, but his campaigning ended the day he was shot. With Wallace confined to a wheelchair, his 1976 campaign fizzled.

Trump is going to do better than Wallace, if the polls are right, and that is disturbing to me. Trump reminds me of Wallace. But at least Wallace, speaking at the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s former church, Dexter Avenue Baptist in Montgomery, apologized in 1979 for his racist politics. “I have learned what suffering means,” he said. “In a way that was impossible, I think I can understand something of the pain. … I know I contributed to that pain, and I can only ask your forgiveness.” [More here]

I agree with you Mr. Jackson, sorry is not a word that you will ever hear from Donald trump. As a result, George Wallace might have actually been a better man ---than trump is today--- when he died. 

Dallas the "survivalist" and Hugh the superintendent.

Lots of people worried about terror these days. Over in Europe the entire continent is on high alert because of the threat of radical Islamic terrorists

Thing is, though, we have quite a few domestic terrorists in this country. We choose not to focus on them because these terrorists look like the majority of Americans and they do not pose a threat to said majority.

For instance, how many of you know the story of Dallas Horton? Dallas is a domestic terrorist who did some very terrorist- like things, recently.

"In Oklahoma, a white “survivalist” shot a police chief three times in the chest and once in the arm. The shooting did not result in an arrest or charges and the man, identified by local media as 29-year-old Dallas Horton, has been released.

In a press release, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said, “Facts surrounding the case lead agents to believe the man was unaware it was officers who made entry.” But Louis Ross, the Sentinel, Oklahoma police chief who was shot, said that he entered the home after “Washita County 911 received two calls from a man who identified himself as Dallas Horton, and claimed to have a bomb inside the head start school.”

Ross cast doubt on the credibility of Horton’s claim that he didn’t know officers were present, noting that there was “screaming from five officers of the law announcing our presence, requesting to see hands.” Ross only survived the shooting because he was wearing a bulletproof vest. He has “massive bruises and welts on his body” and the shot that hit his arm “went clean through.”

a second statement released yesterday the Oklahoma State Bureau Of Investigation said Horton was “fully cooperating with the on-going investigation” and “no traces of explosives were found.”
A Facebook profile identified by Raw Story, that purports to be from a Dallas Horton of Sentinel, contains numerous racist images.

A sign on the front door of Horton’s home says he’s a “Certified zombie killer.” The mayor of Sentinel, Sam Dlugonski, described Horton as a “gun enthusiast” and survivalist. Dlugsonski was familiar with Horton, saying, “I’ve known that kid all of his life.'” [Source]

Wow! Shoot a police officer and all you get is an atta boy, and "I 've known that kid all of his life" from the mayor.

Nice. Some terrorist sure have it good.

Finally, my racism chase takes me to some old familiar grounds.

It's kind of sad that I have to blog about this on the day that we celebrate the legacy of Dr. King, but you all need to know that type of people we are still dealing with in this country almost 50 years after he the man was struck down by an assassin's bullet.

"COLLINSVILLE, Alabama -- A school superintendent has determined some 50 high school students will not be allowed to attend the showing of "Selma" Friday morning in Gadsden due to the film's strong language and use of racial slurs. 

Hugh Taylor, the superintendent of the DeKalb County Board of Education, denied a request for a Collinsville High School history club--sponsored by teacher Bradley Crawford--to attend the movie, along with other students from Crawford's classes.

Taylor cites the website "Kids In Mind" when explaining his decision. The site advises that the movie "Selma" has "about 2 F-words (and) 26 derogatory term (sic) for African-Americans."

"I understand the movie has a lot of historical value," Taylor told AL.com Thursday morning. "The request was denied based on language. (The website) told me there were about two F-words in that movie, which I presume may mean more. The school that wanted to go (Collinsville High) is a multicultural school and (the website) said there were going to be 26 African-American connotations, which I thought would probably be inappropriate.

"I deemed this movie in particular inappropriate and that's my job as the head of the school system to make those decisions," he said.

Crawford told AL.com Thursday night that "Mr. Taylor made his decision and we respect it." He said he was unaware of who had first complained to Taylor about the denial. 

Taylor is an elected official, a Republican who defeated four other candidates in a 2012 election to replace Charles Warren, who retired after 12 years on the post. Before then, Taylor served as principal at Ruhama Junior High in DeKalb County." [Source]

I suspect that Mr. Taylor might have had some relatives who are on the wrong side of history when it comes to what went down in Selma. That could be his real motivation for not wanting the students to see the movie.

But hey, I am sure that Mr. Taylor and all of his apologists out there will say that his actions have nothing to do with racism. But we know better.

There are lots of people like Hugh Taylor out there in positions of power.

Hopefully it won't be for long. 

     

 



 

 

"She's gone black- boy crazy I've gone white girl hazy"

It's Saturday night and I still haven't gotten my invitation to chill with Barack and Michelle to watch the Super Bowl tomorrow. I guess I will be watching it from Chez Field. That's a shame. It sure would have been nice to go over the intricacies of the 3-4 defense with J-Lo and Marc.

Anywhoo, since we are talking sports, I want to talk about a couple of b-ballers down in the land of Dixie, who found themselves in hot water for befriending a melanin challenged classmate of the opposite sex:

"Millry, Ala., is a town where racial tensions have allegedly been running high for a very long time. The boiling point was hit recently, when a white father came to the town's high school and threatened one of the black players on the basketball team.

The infuriated parent told one of the boys that if any of them made contact with his daughter, he would "kill him and his black friends," at least that's what was reportedly told to Latisha Mitchell, the step-Mother of one of the players."

Now now Negroes, calm down. Let's be fair about this; it's the man's daughter and he has a right to determine who she associates with on a regular basis. The girl is, after all, still in high school.
No need for the NAACP to get involved and Dr. Boyce to tell us stories from his youth, when he and his little play- mate would play jungle fever instead of on the jungle gym. If you Negroes don't realize by now some of the things that terrifies white A-merry-ca you might need to check in with me more often.

"When we analyze our broader society, we have to consider the fact that there are quite a few white parents in America who are happy to have black friends, will play sports with African Americans and even invite us in to their homes.

But many of those same people would be repulsed by the idea of their daughter bringing a black man home as her boyfriend. This form of racial animosity, at its root, is built on the lasting American notion that whites are superior to blacks.

In the case of the small town of Millry, Ala., the community cannot miss this opportunity to discuss the roots of racial division and oppression. This father said what a lot of other whites in town are already thinking, and these young men are likely scarred from having their lives threatened by a dangerous adult."

Don't worry Dr. Boyce, they won't be "scarred". In fact, if they are good enough at sports to play for money one day, they will probably end up marrying their little white classmate. Isn't that how it works in A-merry-ca?

BTW, my only problem with this story is that the father wasn't arrested and charged with making "terroristic threats "on school property. Flip the script and make that white parent a black one and I guarantee you that his ass would be on the phone with a bail bondsman right about now.

Finally, I am going to go ahead and support my fellow Pistolvanians tomorrow in the Super Bowl. If the Packers win it won't be the end of the world, but it would be nice to see Omar Epps get his second ring before he is 40. I wonder why he left House?

"I am very troubled that you would repeatedly over a decade or more make statements" like the one in 2001..

Living in A-merry-ca sometimes makes me wonder if I am not playing a character in one of those crazy Mel Brooks movies.


Is that Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama) sitting across from, and sitting in judgement of, Sonia Sotomayor, while she tries to become the first Hispanic member of the supremes? (Cardozo doesn't count, he was Portuguese.) Please say it ain't so. Talk about the theater of the absurd.


Here is a man who openly despises anything [or anyone] having to do with civil rights; was cool with the KKK until he found out that some of them smoked pot, and called a black subordinate "boy" on quite a few occasions, while telling him to watch how he addressed white folks. And this man is sitting in judgment of Sotomayor and implying that she is a racist? Wow! Now that takes big ones. Only a republican could pull that off.

The irony of this entire episode is so thick that you could cut it with a knife. Sessions, himself, was shot down for a federal bench because of his little race problem, and now, like a bad horror movie, the GOP has brought him back. This time to be their face of these confirmation hearings. Nice.

This cannot sit well with my black friends in the republiklan party (Oh yes, I am on them again) and some of them have not been shy about making their feelings known about it. I can't say that I blame them. I would be pissed off as well. You would think my fiends (that's a typo but I am leaving it. It fits) from the party of Lincoln (oh, and let's not forget MLK) would be smarter than this. Alienating an entire voting block (Hispanics) by having your racist front man beat up on one of their own might be good red meat (no pun intended) to throw to your base, but it's dumb politics.


Of course, some on the right don't see it that way. They see it as a vindication of sorts: Mr. Sessions comes to Washington, the very place that sent him packing back to Alabama over 20 years ago. To them, he has come full circle, and now he is leading the charge against the evil liberal appointee to the highest court in the land. It's exactly this type of thinking that has caused folks like Byron York (the clown whose article I linked) and the rest of the people on the right to be banished to the political wilderness. A place where they could find themselves dwelling for years to come. Here is the thing: Old white men aren't getting any younger, and they will all eventually die. It is time that they (The GOP) adjust to the political landscape, or I am afraid that the party of Lincoln (and King*rolling eyes*) will die right along with them.


I am sorry, but while looking at that picture of old Jeff, I see a man who as a kid watched some strange fruit hanging from trees down in Southern Alabama while his daddy and granddaddy drank moonshine. Oh field, stop it! The man flat out denied that he was a racist at his own confirmation hearing. “I am not a racist” Now tell me, if the man was a racist for crying out loud, would he have said that? Ahhh yes. In fact, that is exactly why he would say it. Here is the thing: if you have to declare that you are not a racist, there is a pretty good chance that you just might be one. Ok wise guy, consider this:


"A few years ago, when Sessions appeared on “Meet the Press” to discuss confirmations, he found himself staring at an old image of Kennedy speaking in 1986. “Mr. Sessions is a throwback to a shameful era which I know both black and white Americans thought was in our past,” Kennedy said. It wasn’t something Sessions enjoyed reliving.
'That was the most unkind thing that has ever been said about me,' Sessions says. 'it was exceedingly painful to hear someone of that prominence make that statement, and it was hurtful because it wasn’t true.”'



I know Jeff, It wasn't true about you. But keep probing. I bet we can make it stick to that Hispanic woman.