Unwanted guest.

      Some things are so upsetting that I don't like to think about them let alone take the time to write an entire blog post. But sometimes you have to just face hard truths and deal with them head on.

Take for instance Donald trump using the opening of a Civil Rights Museum in Mississippi as a political prop to bolster his failing presidency. Shame on the governor of that state for inviting him, and greater shame, still, on trump for accepting his invitation.

While I did not want to physically puke as my friend Charles Blow did, I did have an angry visceral reaction to a charlatan such as trump using the bloody and long struggle of those who fought for civil rights in his sick egotistical game.

Surely Mr. trump had to know that his record on civil rights and his racist actions in the past and the present should have disqualified him from being anywhere Mississippi on Saturday. And yet, there he was, giving canned and prepared remarks with Dr. Ben and whatever other house Negro he could find by his side (or behind him) to make sure that the optics was just right.

The people who fought the long hard battle for civil rights in this country held the moral high ground, and they were brave in the face of incredible danger. Mr. trump is probably the most immoral man to ever sit in the Oval Office, and that's saying something, given some of the actual slaveholders who came before him. And as we all know, he is certainly a coward. By just being in that building he slapped every American with a decent bone in their body in the face.

I will close with the words of a real civil rights hero, John Lewis, who chose not to be a pawn in trump's political chess game.

"President Trump’s attendance and his hurtful policies are an insult to the people portrayed in this civil rights museum. The struggles represented in this museum exemplify the truth of what really happened in Mississippi,” 

*Pic from wunc.org




 

Memo to the president-elect: Georgia's 5th congressional district is not "falling apart".

 I was reading president-elect trump's tweet to John Lewis, and I couldn't help but laugh at the man's ignorance and naivety born of prejudice when it comes to people of color in this country.

A couple of months ago I drove down I-95 to the Bowie/ Mitchellville, Maryland area, in order to visit an old high school friend from Jamaica. We try to link up every couple of years to shoot the breeze and catch up on old times.

I recently found myself reflecting on that visit after reading what president-elect trump had to tweet about the congressional district of John Lewis.

There I was in a neighborhood with million dollar homes inhabited by doctors, lawyers, and business owners, and the majority, if not all of them, were black. (My friend happens to be a college professor and his wife is a physician.)  Now granted, this particular part of Maryland is not a part of the inner city per say, but we all know what trump meant with his tweet. "Inner-city" means black people, and so if it's black people there has to be all these issues with their quality of life, etc.

He assumed, because John Lewis is black, his congressional district had to be "horrible" and full of "burning" buildings, crime, and poverty.

Of course trump is wrong about that. Lewis's 5th congressional district is in fact one of the most affluent in Georgia.  And good for the paper of record in Atlanta for calling him out for his ignorance.

Ironically, the poverty that trump describes is becoming more and more of a suburban and rural issue.

If the incoming president wants to really help America he would do well to stop disparaging blacks and the neighborhoods they live in, and start making an effort to help all Americans---- including the poor rural voters who supported him.

There are now over 22 members of congress who will be skipping trump's inauguration, and they have districts as well. Will trump, with his think skin, now take time out of what should be a busy schedule to trash each of them and the people they represent as well? I certainly hope not. But if he does, none of us will be surprised.

*Pic from ajc.com

An icon takes a stance.

    John Lewis, the civil rights icon who literally bled so that America could  become a more perfect union, is coming under fire from people in the majority population for daring to speak his mind when it comes to Мистер trump.

Mr Lewis, when pressed by Chuck Todd of NBC, declared that he believed that Donald trump was an illegitimate president, and, as a result, he would not be attending his inauguration.

Oh the outrage!

Anderson Cooper spoke for most white Americans when he said the following:

 "I get he doesn’t like Donald Trump,” Coopersaid, “I get he doesn’t accept the results of the election, but is this helpful in any way?… If a Republican had said this about President-elect Hillary Clinton, Democrats would be up in arms.” [Source]

The president-elect has been saying for years that the president is an illegitimate president by questioning where he was born, but there was no outrage from the right, and no real outrage from the left. In fact, Мистер trump built his political career on that lie.

So now John Lewis is some kind of radical whose hatred for whitey is such that it is causing him to disrespect the presidency and the  traditions in our country.

This, of course, is the same John Lewis who forgave the racist klansman who beat his brains in and tried to kill him in South Carolina back in 1961. There is not a racist bone in the man's body, and I am sure that it has never occurred to America that his position about trump is coming from a place of principle.

So it has come to this. Democratic and republican leaders are trying to encourage Lewis to change his mind.

"Republican Senator Ben Sasse, who took a principled anti-Trump stance during the election last year, publicly reached out to Lewis on Twitter tonight encouraging him to attend the inauguration a week from today:

 To John Lewis, one of my heroes:

Please come to the Inauguration. It isn't about a man. It is a celebration of peaceful transfer of power.

6:51 PM - 13 Jan 2017"

 

With all due respect to the senator, it is about "a man",  a very bad one. 

And thank you John Lewis for having the courage to speak up for what you believe in; just like you did back in the fifties and sixties. 

You know, like I do, that history has a way of repeating itself.    

*Pic from johnlewisforcongress.com

 

While Democrats "hold the floor", the NRA keeps writing the checks.

 I am watching the democrats protest on the House floor down in Washington, and I have to wonder what republicans are thinking.

They refuse to even give a bill that would prevent people on the terrorist watch list from purchasing guns a vote. A vote! This means that the bill could still fail in the House, but the democratic members want a chance to at least vote on it.

Seems a reasonable thing to ask for, right? Well not if you are owned by the NRA. They put a lot of dollars into making sure the politricksters that they own vote the right way, and right now it seems to be working.

Most Americans (including a vast majority of republicans) want these types of measures taken, because they understand the importance of sensible gun legislation in this country. But the NRA continues to enforce their will on all of us because of a few greedy politicians who rely on their money. 

"Hang on, hang on,” Mr. Lewis urged Democrats who encircled him on the House floor late Wednesday night, urging them to hold their ground.

“John Lewis says stay after the votes, and we will stay,” said Mrs. Pelosi, triggering Democratic chants of “stay, stay.” The cries of protesters from outside urging Democrats to “hold the floor” filled the hallways outside the chamber. Protesters also thronged outside the Capitol in support of the House Democrats.

Republicans said they didn’t want to simply give on the gun votes and reward Democrats for flouting the chamber’s rules to demand votes.

“We are going to do the people’s work,” said Rep. Ann Wagner (R., Mo.) earlier in the evening. “We are going to conduct the will of the people, and conduct ourselves, in an adult Congress that is actually going to uphold, I think, the norms, the customs, the rules of the House.”

At about 1 a.m. on Thursday, Republicans voted to adjourn and begin a new legislative day at 2:30 a.m., when they planned to vote on a spending bill that includes money to combat the Zika virus. The move appeared to have the dual goals of wearing the Democrats down and moving toward adjourning the House after completing some work leaders had planned for later this week.

Democrats said their protest had succeeded in raising awareness of their quest to put new gun restrictions in place."

If John Lewis thinks that the racist police departments and local town sheriffs he had to fight during the civil rights era were tough, wait until he has to deal with the full force of the NRA. They are relentless, and they have the best politicians that money can buy.  

*Pic from mediamatters.org.

Who is really being divisive?

When it comes to politrick-sters, I have to be honest, I don't respect too many of them. Most of them are lying phonies, who care more about staying in power than looking out for the interests of the people that they are supposed to be serving. Most of them. Of course there are exceptions.

Take my man John Lewis (D-Georgia) for instance. My man is a true civil rights icon, who speaks with a speech impediment to this day, because he got his ass kicked by racist mobs during the height of the civil rights struggle.

Lewis is a true field Negro, and is a man who I have the utmost respect for. And now, as if I didn't respect him enough, he went and made this statement today, calling out Mr. Morton and his beauty queen, sidekick (who by the way, got her ass booed at the Flyers game in Philly today) for their despicable and ignoble behavior during the last days of their campaign. I know that desperate times sometimes call for desperate measures, but this is ridiculous.

Playing "dog whistle" politics, and playing on the fears of others to win an election in this manner, has got to be a new low in A-merry-can poli-tricks. Notice I said a "new low", because A-merry-can politics has gone down this low road before. But it worked, and repukelicans will keep going to this well until it is dry. It is all they have left.

Of course Mr. Morton's camp is disappointed that Mr. Lewis would say these bad things about them. After all, it's the democrats and not republicans who are injecting race into this campaign.

"The Arizona senator said Lewis statement 'represent a character attack against Governor Sarah Palin and me that is shocking and beyond the pale.'
He said Lewis' comparison between criticism of Obama's record and Wallace's segregationist policies 'unacceptable and has no place in this campaign.'
McCain called on Obama "to immediately and personally repudiate these outrageous and divisive comments that are so clearly designed to shut down debate 24 days before the election"

Why should he? And please O man do not throw John Lewis under the bus like the rest of your former friends. He is right. And for John McCain to accuse John Lewis of being "divisive" --a man he praised as one of his heroes in a previous debate --is like Pamela Anderson calling someone else a slut.

Divisive? A man who spent most of his life trying to being people together by fighting for civil rights in this country? Wow! Talk about hubris, these rethugs have plenty of it.

"What I am seeing reminds me too much of another destructive period in American history....
George Wallace never threw a bomb, he never fired a gun, but he created the climate and the conditions that encouraged vicious attacks against innocent Americans who were simply trying to exercise their constitutional rights. "Because of this atmosphere of hate, four little girls were killed on Sunday morning when a church was bombed in Birmingham, Alabama."

Welcome to the new A-merry-ca Mr. Lewis. I am just sorry that you have to live through this crap again.

In cold blood.

The young man you see in this picture---John Lewis---might not be with us much longer. Sadly, there is a pretty good chance he will end up on the receiving end of a police officer's bullet, or he will become the property of the state of Pennsylvania for the rest of his natural life.

You see, the young man in the picture allegedly shot a Philadelphia police officer to death while he was robbing a donut store. And right now there is a massive man-hunt here in Killadelphia to bring him in. The Police Commissioner was all over the television earlier today ominously telling this young man to turn himself in before it's too late. There was also a number of his family members pleading for him do the same. They do it, because they too know what often happens to alleged cop killers in the end.

So I watched the news coverage today, and along with the Commissioner, there was this young man's grandmother, his aunts, his mother, and his neighbors; all pleading for the young man to call them, and to turn himself in to the police. His grandmother was actually crying and pleading with him to call her. She lamented about his life and how he loves to eat, and what a good kid he is. (Aren't they always) Then she spoke about how she had taken him job hunting just days ago, and how he was actually working on his GED after dropping out of high school. (Don't they always)

But this story is sad on so many levels that I don't even know where to begin. On the one hand, there is that poor police officer and his family who lost a father and a husband. Then there is the family of this alleged killer, and the pain they are going to have to go through. (His mother is actually a corrections officer) And finally, there is the three month old child he just fathered, what is going to happen to that little soul ? A child who will more than likely never see her father free or alive again. (Not that she would have seen him that much anyway)

Another thing that bothers me about this story, is that I saw no father, no uncle, or no grandfather pleading with this young man to call home. None! Why is that? Where is this alleged killer's father or male role model in his life? Honestly, I don't even know why I am asking, because I know you all know the answer to that.

This episode bothers me, because I have defended young men like this one before in criminal cases. And I can count the number of times on one hand that there was a father present when I talked to the family of an accused. Every time I think of what this young man allegedly did I shudder. The cold calculating way that he allegedly executed that cop, and the nerve he showed to go back and pick up the cop's service revolver after that unspeakable act. No remorse, no feelings, nothing. Just an empty cold heart cultivated by a life on the streets.

I have grown numb to all the killings now, and I have been in the belly of this beast a time or two. But when someone executes someone who is paid to protect me, it's definitely a cause for me to pause.

I know one thing, if this young man's father is absent, and if he was just another sperm donor who made a deposit and rolled; he deserves the same fate as whatever befalls this young man. Because If he did pull the trigger that killed that cop, they might as well have pulled it together.

Happy Birthday Martin!!!

Happy Birthday Doctor King, and thank you for all you did for this country. You dared to dream of a country that we couldn't even imagine back then. I think people are just now really starting to appreciate what the civil rights struggle meant to all Americans. Today is an official holiday celebrating your birthday, so that should give you some idea of how far we have come. Still, it wasn't easy, many states resisted making your birthday a holiday. (Arizona comes to mind) But that's all water under the bridge now, and I think we have moved on from that.

Oh, there is even a monument to you in Washington now, some people objected to that too, and it was done with private, and not government funding. But hey, it's there now, so I guess you could call that progress.

Your wife, Coretta, recently passed, and you would have been so proud of how she lived her life after you left. Always dignified, always pursuing your dream, and she never remarried. I guess she didn't think anyone was worthy of taking your place. Oh, your former colleagues did alright too. John Lewis is a congressman in Georgie, Jessie, is well, Jessie; he even ran for President, and his son is a Congressman. Yep, Jessie did alright for himself with what you started. As for Andrew, he might be in a Wal-Mart shopping somewhere. (Long story)

I can't believe you would be 78 today? Man time flies, seems like only yesterday that you were marching on the mall in Washington and giving that great speech. Oh, and speaking of that speech, you ought to see how conservatives have twisted it. Every time they want to push through a non-inclusive racist agenda, they invoke it. Especially the part where you say; "we should not judge someone by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." They love to throw that around when they want to justify shutting us out. They seem to forget that before we get to that point, you would want everything to be equal, and the playing field to be level. There are some other ugly things going on too. There is a war going on-some things never change-and I know you would be speaking out against this one just like you did Vietnam. In fact, you probably would speak out against this one even more, because this war was totally uncalled for, and had nothing to do with protecting our interest. Oh, did I mention that a child of the civil rights struggle is one of the architects of this war, and that she supports it one hundred percent? And remember how the FBI used to monitor your movements? Well they do that to all of us now. Yes these are very confusing times we live in, I really wish you were here.

But enough of that, it's your birthday, and I don;t want to upset you anymore with the negative stuff. There are some good things happening in America too, and I can honestly say that we have made some progress in this country since you left. Although I look around, and so much more needs to be done. I am pretty sure that if you were still around you would be keeping pretty busy.

So Happy Birthday Martin, America owes you so much.