The airwaves (and the print and blog waves, for that matter) are filled with the news that a Federal Judge in California has declared that State’s Proposition 8 to be unconstitutional, which could clear the way for the resumption of same-sex weddings in the State.
Ordinarily, this would be the point where I would present to you a walkthrough of the ruling, and we’d have a fine conversation about the legal implications of what has happened.
I’m not doing that today, frankly, because the ground is already well-covered; instead, we’re going to take a look at some of the tactics that were used to pass Prop 8, as they were presented in Judge Vaughan’s opinion.
It’s an ugly story—and even more than that, it’s a reminder of why it’s tough to advance civil rights through the political process, and what you have to deal with when you’re trying to make such a thing happen.
We are back, just a bit late, to wrap up the discussion we began about the pair of rulings issued in Boston by Federal District Judge Joseph Tauro this week that declare the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) unconstitutional.
I don't usually tell you the end of the story at the beginning, but this time I will: there are a lot of happy Plaintiffs this week, and the Federal Government, as Defendant (whom I will refer to as "the Feds" from time to time), is not so happy at the moment.
As with last time, there's a lot of ground to cover, and the sooner we get to it, the better.
Since her death on April 20, thousands of people have paid their respects to Dorothy I. Height, a powerful, determined and enduring voice for civil rights and women's rights in this country.
Height had a career in civil rights that spanned nearly 80 years, from anti-lynching protests in the early 1930s to the inauguration of President Obama in 2009. In everything that she did, Height fought quietly, but firmly and she always made herself accessible to the public.
What great and terrible events Dr. Height witnessed in her 98 years on this Earth. President Barack Obama eulogized her at a memorial service today, saying hers was "a life lived righteously; a life that lifted other lives; a life that changed this country for the better over the course of nearly one century here on Earth." He went on to say, she made us "see the drive for civil rights and women's rights not as a separate struggle, but as part of a larger movement to secure the rights of all humanity, regardless of gender, regardless of race, regardless of ethnicity." She counseled First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Lyndon Johnson on civil rights, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Bill Clinton and has paid more than 20 visits to the Obama White House.
AL-07 congressional candidate Terri Sewell told supporters Dr. Height was a tremendous influence on her own life and reflected on her service and leadership:
Dorothy Height fought for all of us - black and white, women and men, all Americans - and families right here in Alabama - she fought for what it means to be an American.She stood shoulder to shoulder with the greatest leaders of our time like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Eleanor Roosevelt, and helped plan and organize some of the most important civil rights movement events of her generation.In the male-dominated sphere of the early civil rights movement, she represented black women with tenacity, determination, grace and poise.She was president of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority, and served for 40 years as the head of the National Council of Negro Women.
Dorothy Height said: “We have come a long way, but too many people are not better off. This is my life's work. It is NOT a job." This campaign reflects that same sentiment; the work of fighting for working families, better schools, and quality health care still continues
Dorothy Height's legacy will live on in her great achievements.
We pause to salute her life and great works.
Interestingly, Sewell is the only Alabama candidate I know of who released a statement on Dorothy Height's death. While Dr. Height never lived in Alabama, it's obvious that her life and works have benefited the state tremendously. Just imagine what our economic prospects would be if Jim Crow was still accepted practice in the South, or if women were still expected to be "seen but not heard."
The Scottsboro/Jackson County Multicultural Heritage Foundation will be celebrating the purchase of the historic Joyce Chapel Methodist Church today.
Everyone is invited to the 4pm event at the Church: 428 West Willow Street (just a few blocks from Unclaimed Baggage).
Museum Executive Committee chair, Shelia Washington, is ecstatic about the event - and the anonymous donation of $37,500 that put the Foundation over its fundraising goal and ensured the purchase of the building for $75,000.
The United Methodist Church had given the Foundation until today to purchase the church, which is appraised for $125,000. Ms. Washington told me that she appreciates the time extension the UMC gave the Museum as well as their willingness to sell the building for less than its appraised value.
If you're anywhere near Scottsboro today, put on your party clothes and come celebrate!
It was a tremendous pleasure last week to attend the book signing for Huntsville author, Jane DeNeefe's book (she co-authored it): "Alabama's Civil Rights Trail: An Illustrated Guide to the Cradle of Freedom."
DeNeefe read excerpts from her book and discussed how the civil rights history of Huntsville differed from other cities in Alabama. Birmingham (or "Bombingham") is famous, of course, but I had never heard about the violence in Gadsden. A landmark Supreme Court case actually came out of that incident:
April - Mary Lucille Hamilton, Field Secretary for the Congress of Racial Equality, refuses to answer a judge in Gadsden, Alabama, until she is addressed by the honorific "Miss". It was the custom of the time to address white people by honorifics and people of color by their first names. Hamilton was jailed for contempt of court and refused to pay bail. The case Hamilton v. Alabama was filed by the NAACP It went to the Supreme Court, which ruled in 1964 that courts must address persons of color with the same courtesy extended to whites.
The only disappointment was that the author ran out of books! She graciously offered to arrange to meet Daddycat and me later and sign our copy in person. I'll take her up on that as soon as I get my copy from Amazon - purchased through LIA, of course.... ;-)
It's important to learn about and remember the past. We can avoid repeating others' mistakes if we just pay attention to the hard lessons learned by previous generations.
On a lighter note... enjoy this short video of Ivy Joe and the Snowballs, a local band of (then teenage) musicians who did their part of help integrate Huntsville (at least the music scene). They rocked the house on Saturday; the music was so good that my teenage daughter even got up to dance with me!
It wasn't but a couple of days ago that we had a conversation about The Fear and the emails that are used to spread it, and I figured with that out of the way we had dealt with the topic, and that we'd move on to new things.
Well, we would be moving on, Gentle Reader, if it wasn't for the fact that an email came in today that was so ugly, so disturbing, and so indicative of what we are about to see as the battle over the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) begins to heat up (ENDA being possibly the next "big contentious thing" that this Administration hopes to accomplish), that I had to interrupt my story schedule to bring it to your attention.
The Scottsboro Boys Museum and Cultural Center needs you to open your checkbook, hold a yard sale, or raid your child's college fund. Anything to help you make a donation.
I know I said that I wasn't going to blog anymore this weekend due to a wedding anniversary celebration, but then I opened the mailbox and found a letter from the Museum board:
The Museum is in urgent need of your assistance once again. ... The doors of the historical church have been open for the last three months with programs and activities. Officially, today is the first day the Museum is open for viewing. However, we are in danger of losing the building to an "anonymous buyer." The United Methodist Church has informed us that someone else is interested in purchasing the building and is ready to present them with a check for the entire $75,000. To date we have raised $42,500 for the purpose of purchasing and sustaining the museum.
Let us remind you that the church stood empty until the Foundation became interested in it for the purpose of the Museum.
We are concerned that the only reason the "anonymous buyer" is interested in the church is to keep the Museum out.
Please help us tell the "Scottsboro Boys" story. It is not just a story for African Americans but for everyone that believes in the truth and everyone that has ever benefited from a fair trial.
Send contributions to:
The Scottsboro Boys museum and Cultural Center PO Box 1557 Scottsboro, AL 35768
The Museum's main organizer, Shelia Washington, could lose a decades-long dream that began when she sneaked into her parents' room to read a book about the Scottsboro Boys trial. She vowed that she would one day make sure the whole story was told and the boys remembered.
"From 17 years old until now, it's been my dream to have a museum to honor the Scottsboro Boys. To think about the positive side of how it effected change to the Constitution and affected all our lives. We're not focusing on any bad things. We're going after the change this case brought about."
Please consider making a contribution ASAP to help Shelia, help the Museum board, and help us all to remember "what our historical past is so that we don't repeat it" - in the words of board member and fellow blogger at Watch For Snakes in Scottsboro, Garry Morgan.
Huntsville author Jane deNeefe - along with her co-authors - will have a book signing tomorrow at the Flying Monkey Arts Center (in Huntsville) for the book Alabama's Civil Rights Trail: An Illustrated Guide to the Cradle of Freedom:
Featuring music by Ivy Joe and the Snowballs. Please join us for a special event celebrating the civil rights era in Huntsville and the release of Alabama's Civil Rights Trail: An Illustrated Guide to the Cradle of Freedom by Frye Gaillard, Jennifer Lindsay and Jane DeNeefe, published by the University of Alabama Press. Coauthors Frye Gaillard and Jane DeNeefe will read selections from Alabama's Civil Rights Trail: An Illustrated Guide to the Cradle of Freedom, emphasizing the role of music in promoting racial harmony in North Alabama. Huntsville's beloved garage band from the 1960s, Ivy Joe and the Snowballs, along with musical guests they invite, will play popular music of the civil rights era inspired by the Muscle Shoals sound.
Now, I had never heard of Ivy Joe. In the 1960's the only music I knew anything about was along the lines of "Twinkle, Twinkle" and the "ABC song."
Teenage musician Ivy Joe Milan also did his part to integrate Huntsville. As part of the first big wave of black students to attend Huntsville High School, he was looking for a way to shine.
So Ivy Joe was delighted when Tommy Graham, Chris Couchois, Billy Brown and Mike Byrum asked him to front their new band. Ivy Joe would sing, and the white guys would back him up.
[...]
So “Ivy Joe and the Snowballs” assumed their role in Huntsville’s social history. They played for white kids at the country club. They played black social clubs, a white country and western bar, high school dances and family barbecues. They played at teenage dance clubs like the Epic on Andrew Jackson Way, and television’s “Hullabaloo.”
Effective social change rarely occurs by administrative decree. Social change starts with individual acts of courage. As teenage musicians, “Ivy Joe and His Snowballs” helped Huntsville integrate peacefully.
Can't wait to see them tomorrow! Do we have any "old Huntsville" types on the blog who remember this band? Please share some tales in this open thread if you do!
And my blogging after this post will be slim to none until Monday. Daddycat and I are celebrating our 18th wedding anniversary on Sunday and we'll be dealing with last-minute party plans, relatives coming into town, etc.
"People who could not even spell the word 'vote' or say it in English put a committed socialist ideologue in the White House," Tancredo said during a speech, according to the Cleveland Leader.
Tancredo also said Obama won because "we do not have a civics, literacy test before people can vote."
Alabama used to have literacy tests for voting, along with poll taxes, and those were used to keep blacks and poor whites from exercising any influence over elections. The first time we interviewed Rep. Artur Davis, all the way back in August of 2008, he spoke of his mother's generation, Joe Reed's generation, and why it is understandably difficult for that generation -- who grew up unable to sit at the front of the bus, unable to use the same bathroom as white people, subject to literacy tests and poll taxes -- why it is difficult for people who were subjected to those circumstances to believe it is possible to elect a black president or a black governor. Remember, this was in August of 2008, almost 3 months before Obama's election.
In the process, Davis told a wonderful story of civil rights attorney Fred Gray's experience with a literacy test. He failed it, even though he answered every question correctly. The authorities -- concerned only with preserving the status quo -- absolutely could and did fail people who aced the test, the same way they passed people who didn't answer correctly, as long as their skin color passed the test.
Here's more about those literacy tests Tancredo and the Tea Bag crowd want to bring back.
In the rural counties where most folk lived, you had to go down to the courthouse to register. The Registrars Office was only open two or three days each month for a couple of hours, usually in the morning or afternoon. You had to take off work — with or without your employer's permission — to register. And if a white employer gave such permission, or failed to fire Black who tried to vote, he could be driven out of business by economic retaliation from the Citizens Council.
On the occasional registration day, the county Sheriff and his deputies made it their business to hang around the courthouse to discourage "undesirables" from trying to register. This meant that Black women and men had to run a gauntlet of intimidation, insults, threats, and sometimes arrest on phony charges, just to get to the Registration Office. Once in the Registrars Office they faced hatred, harassment, and humiliation from clerks and officials.
The Alabama Application Form and oaths you had to take were four pages long. It was designed to intimidate and threaten. You had to swear that your answers to every single question were true under penalty of perjury. And you knew that the information you entered on the form would be passed on to the Citizens Council and KKK.
The Scottsboro Boys Museum and Multicultural Heritage Center in Scottsboro, AL held its grand opening and dedication service yesterday in honor of Black History Month.
The crowd of about 75 people was an interesting mix of races, professions, and ages. The crowd included people active in the Civil Rights movement, Scottsboro police officers (in uniform) who dropped by to pay their respects, Scottsboro city leaders, a large contingent of ministers from North Alabama, and more. (Including three Left in Alabama bloggers and our guest.)
The two main speakers were both engrossing and inspiring. Ms. Lecia Brooks is the Civil Rights Museum Director in Montgomery. She explained how the Scottsboro Boys case changed the American Justice system. Two landmark Supreme Court decisions came from this case:
These decisions established the principles that criminal defendants are entitled to effective assistance of counseland that people may not be de facto excluded from juries because of their race.
Ms. Brooks also noted that we're still working towards our national ideal of tolerance and social justice. She noted the increase of hate crimes against those of Hispanic descent during the past decade, crimes against gays and other minorities, and the resurgence of white supremacist organizations after President Obama's election.
Two representatives of the Madison County legislative delegation attended (Rep. Butch Taylor and Rep. John Robinson), spoke briefly and donated $1,000 to the museum effort.
Another speaker was Mrs. Kathy Horton Garrett, the granddaughter of Judge James E. Horton. Judge Horton's judicial career was finished after he ordered a new trial for Haywood Patterson:
The testimony of the prosecutrix in this case is not only uncorroborated, but it also bears on its face indications of improbability and is contradicted by other evidence, and in addition thereto the evidence greatly preponderates in favor of the defendant. It therefore becomes the duty of the Court under the law to grant the motion made in this case. It is therefore ordered and adjudged by the Court that the motion be granted; that the verdict of the jury in this case and the judgment of the Court sentencing this defendant to death be set aside and that a new trial be and the same is hereby ordered.
Judge Horton lost his bid for re-election and was never elected to the bench again.
His granddaughter shared personal remembrances of her grandfather and described the hate mail and threats he received (from people on both sides of the issue) during the trial. Judge Horton never thought he'd done anything particularly extraordinary, she said:
"Granddaddy never sought recognition or accolades for what he did. He knew he did the right thing and that speaks for itself, doesn't it?
[...]
Grandaddy blessed my life as a grandfather and blessed many in the world with his decision. He was an ordinary man who did an extraordinary thing.
It's that what we're all called to do?"
There's video on the flip with remarks from board members Shelia Washington and Garry Morgan, Lecia Brooks, Kathy Horton Garrett. It ends with a hauntingly beautiful rendition of Amazing Grace played by Franklin McDaniels.
"The saga of the Scottsboro Boys demonstrated the deep seated, racist, white fear of the alleged black male rapist – in this case in the guise of youth. It likewise illustrated the power of this fear to override evidence and reason in the determination of guilt and innocence.
Indeed, the issue was neither guilt nor innocence; rather it was the maintenance of white supremacy and the repression of black freedom. Nevertheless, the concerted and inspiring efforts to undo the wrongs against the Scottsboro Boys contributed significantly to the ongoing African-American Freedom Struggle and the interrelated struggle to defeat Jim Crow."
From an informational brochure distributed by the Scottsboro Boys Museum in Scottsboro, AL.
Undoubtedly, the Scottsboro Boys trial was one of the low points in Alabama's justice system. Yet a local Alabama organization is determined to remind us of the familiar adage: "God never closes a door without opening a window."
The proposed Scottsboro Boys Museum in Scottsboro, AL could be nothing more than a monument to the sins of the past. Instead, the organizers are determined to both tell the story of the defendants and highlight just how far we've come since those dark days of segregation and institutionalized discrimination.
At least, they'll tell that story if they're able to raise the funds to properly present their narrative. Learn more about the museum and see a video of the organizers discussing their efforts on the flip.
Today the Tea Party Express rolled into Birmingham, Alabama - my hometown. Probably not a big surprise to anyone. But I'm absolutely shocked at the display that occurred in Kelly Ingram Park - right in the middle of the historic Civil Rights museum. Within feet of the Birmingham Civil Rights Museum and the 16th Street Baptist Church - where four little girls were killed on September 15, 1963. . In the middle of Kelly Ingram Park where Dr. Martin Luther King and Fred Shuttlesworth organized demonstrations for real freedom. Where Bull Connor turned the firehouses and dogs on children.
There was a time, in the 1990s, when "boy bands" walked tall in the musical world. New stars with names like "BoyzIIMen" and "Backstreet Boys" and "*NSYNC" were everywhere to be seen, and positioned prominently within this firmament of stars was an Irish band, "Boyzone".
One of the five members of Boyzone's most famous lineup, Stephen Gately, died over the weekend in Mallorca, aged 33, much to the dismay of the group's fans and friends.
Because Gately came out at the height of his career, and at considerable risk to his (and the group's) "brand" prospects, the LBGT community is experiencing considerable dismay over the loss as well.
Today's story, however, isn't about any of that.
Instead, we'll consider what's likely to happen to Gately's estate.
The point of the exercise? With this being one of the most prominent deaths of a gay celebrity to occur since civil commitment came to pass, and with Mr. Gately being legally committed to husband Andrew Cowles at the time of his death, it seems like a good time to examine how the law responds to these situations in the UK-and how it could work in the United States.
On this day in 1965, President Lyndon Baines Johnson (D. Texas) signed the National Voting Rights Act. For my fellow Americans who've always had the right and the priviledge to vote today may not be a big deal to you, but to me and mine it's a very big deal.
The right to vote is sacred to African Americans. I know it sounds cliche, but it's steeped in blood, sweat, tears, courage and sacrifice. That's why we don't think Voter Suppresion with the State Seal of Approval is funny. It's why we shake our heads at The Tough Voter ID Laws. It's why we get weep silently when the real voter suppression gets a slap on the wrist and the imagined voter fraud is prosecuted to the full exent of the law. It's like pre 1965 alll over again.
My paternal grandparents were allowed to vote in the 1940's because they were educated and educators. They were teachers at what was known then as the Veterans Continuation School (pre GI Bill), a federal program designed for veterans returning home from the war to continue their education. They attended classes at night and recieved a stipend. One of the classes was how to pass the Literacy test. My grandparents were exempt from paying the $2.00 poll tax because they taught at the school. So you see, even though they were veterans returning home from war, they didn't have the full rights and priviledges they were fighting for overseas.
My maternal grandfather could vote because as my mother says "he worked in the mines" and he was grandfathered in because his father "worked in the mines". My maternal grandmother cast her first vote after the passage of the 1965 voting rights act. She was a republican because "Lincoln freed the slaves". As much as we tried to tell her that was the republican party of yesterday, she was loyal to the republican party until the day she died.
My parents cast their first votes right here in Madison County in the 1950's. Although it was pre Voting Rights Act, they didn't have to pay a poll tax or take a literacy test. I remember my Daddy taking me to the Madison County Courthouse to register to vote on my 18th birthday, and my younger siblings on their 18th birthday. It's a rite of passage I continued with my own offspring.
Some gop members of congress believed the National Voting Rights Act is "over reaching" and objected to renewing it in 2006. Fortunately they were over ruled and the Voting Rights Act was extended for another 25 years.
In July 2006, 41 years after the Voting Rights Act passed, renewal of the temporary provisions enjoyed bi-partisan support. However, a number of Republican lawmakers acted to amend, delay or defeat renewal of the Act for various reasons. One group of lawmakers led by Georgia congressman Lynn Westmoreland came from some preclearance states, and claimed that it was no longer fair to target their states, given the passage of time since 1965 and the changes their states had made to provide fair elections and voting. Another group of 80 legislators supported an amendment offered by Steve King of Iowa, seeking to strip provisions from the Act that required that translators or multilingual ballots be provided for U.S. citizens who do not speak English.[5] The "King letter" said that providing ballots or interpreters in multiple languages is a costly, unfunded mandate.
Will the National Voting Rights Act need to be extended another 25 years? I don't know, but based on current gop/conservative sentiment it sure looks like it.
The question is why? Why are they pandering to the party that is WRONG about everything, and has been wrong about everything from the Civil Rights Acts and Medicare to the Iraq War and the Economy?
Seriously, what has the present day gop ever been right (pun intended) about? Why are they constantly being rewarded for bad behavior? Why do democratic candidates pander to the wrong at the expense of what's right, and against Progressives/ liberals/democrats who btw are right (pun intended) on the issues?
Why are we treated like the no family values, culture of cronyism and corruption?
Why is Alabama a "majority republican state"?
Why do Alabama voters consistantly vote against their self interest?
Pride Month has come and gone, Gentle Reader, with no comment from this desk.
It’s not that I’m in some way insensitive to the subject; instead it’s more of a desire, once again, to stay off the beaten path.
And in that spirit, I do indeed have a story of Gay History...but it’s not from the Summer of ’69...instead, this story was already well underway before the Summer of ’29.
So put on something très chic and let’s head on over to Harlem...at the time of the Renaissance...because it’s time to meet Gladys Bentley.
The mention of that name, in the right circles, brings back a flood of associations.
Among them: a famous cabaret in Gay Paree, a Nicole Kidman movie rich in costume and set design and…well, a movie, anyway; or, if you really know your films, perhaps the association is with the 1952 John Huston “biography” film of the same name.
The one association that might not quickly come to mind, even though it should: ground zero in a battle that led to the desegregation of Las Vegas.
Today’s story will fill in the blanks that you might have regarding that association—and by the time we’re done, we’ll have covered, just as we promised last time, the 55-year history of a place that began in 1955, lasted for not quite six months, and ended just last week…maybe.
It’s another one of those American history stories you never heard before, and it’s well worth the telling…so let’s get right to it.
There may be no more recognizable icon of “Retro-Cool” than that photograph of the Rat Pack standing in front of the marquee at The Sands Hotel in Las Vegas.
They’re right there, lined up in front of their own giant names on the marquee: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop.
Night after night they would gather with friends such as Shirley MacLaine, Angie Dickinson, and Johnny Carson, to deliver some of the greatest nightclub performances in entertainment history.
Today’s story, however, focuses on what happened after the show: when four of those five could leave the showroom, drink at the bar, gamble at the casino, and go upstairs to their rooms.
In a town sometimes known as the “Mississippi of the West”, however, one of those five performers could not do any of those things.
Our Journey In Two Parts literally crosses over to the “wrong side of the tracks”, tells a story of segregation overcome, and recounts the six-month history of a Las Vegas hotel that has a 55-year history: the Moulin Rouge.
T.H.E. Social Work Agency Adoption home studies & care management services in the North Alabama area.
Licensed, certified, caring social workers. blog advertising is good for you
Since her death on April 20, 
Everyone is invited to the 4pm event at the Church: 428 West Willow Street (just a few blocks from Unclaimed Baggage).
And my blogging after this post will be slim to none until Monday. Daddycat and I are celebrating our 18th wedding anniversary on Sunday and we'll be dealing with last-minute party plans, relatives coming into town, etc.
The crowd of about 75 people was an interesting mix of races, professions, and ages. The crowd included people active in the Civil Rights movement, Scottsboro police officers (in uniform) who dropped by to pay their respects, Scottsboro city leaders, a large contingent of ministers from North Alabama, and more. (Including three Left in Alabama bloggers and our guest.)
His granddaughter shared personal remembrances of her grandfather and described the hate mail and threats he received (from people on both sides of the issue) during the trial. Judge Horton never thought he'd done anything particularly extraordinary, she said:
