Clutch Magazine: Condi Rice Glosses Over Important Part When She Talks Civil Rights

Former Secretary of State Condozeela Rice addressed the Republican National Convention Wednesday night in a speech that touched on everything from her foreign policy strengths (or weakness depending on who you ask), to social issues. But one of the issues she skiddladdled right by was the Civil Rights movement. Wanting to keep things in that "feel good" mode she spoke as if that leap from segregation to her becoming secretary of state was a glorious lap Americans ran together, rather than a knock down, drag out grudge match that people are still wielding cudgels about today. Never mind the fact that it took sending the National Guard to many states just to enforce the rule of law.

Jim Crow didn't die so much as he was a suicide bomber who tried to take as many folks with him before he finally blew up Alabama, and the scaring was so deep we're still dealing with the consequences today. To paraphrase the film "Magnolia," Rice may be through with the past, but the past isn't through with us.

Click to read more ...

What People Are Saying This Martin Luther King Jr. Day

The legacy of slain civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. is always in flux. This summer he was immortalized as the first African American and non-president to get a monument on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The statue (which is a lot more impressive in person than in photographs), was almost as heavily debated as who King was and how we speak of him. While some feel its important to look at what King accomplished while also acknowledging he was human, with all the good, bad, compliations, issues and flaws that come with humanity, others prefer a lionization of his image, and to some extent, a complete sanitization. Leading to what scholar Cornel West once famously called the "Santa Clausification" of Martin Luther King Jr. 

Click to read more ...

SCLC co-founder Fred Shuttlesworth Dies At 89

Image via CNNRev. Fred Shuttlesworth, co-founder of the civil rights group the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and fearless activist, died Wednesday at 89, leaving behind a bare-knuckle legacy of fighting for human rights. Shuttlesworth survived attacks on him and his family by the Ku Klux Klan in his effort to integrate Alabama's buses and survived beatings by mobs to integrate schools. But in the effort to silence him, Shuttlesworth only grew more resolute in his mission. The once whiskey still runner turned preacher famously said: "God made me dynamite-proof." (The Root)

Daily Beast: Is Sharpton's MSNBC Show A Kick-Back?

The Daily Beast is reporting that Al Sharpton's new gig on MSNBC may be the result of the long-time Civil Rights activist endorsing the NBC Universal-Comcast merger. The merger was controversial for many reasons, but most because of the media behemoth it created. There was quite a bit of opposition against it, including opposition from some black organizations and members of Congress, but Sharpton, Ben Jealous of the NAACP and Marc Morial of the National Urban League all signed off on it. NBC-Comcast later agreed to creating a type of informal "diversity council" to advise the new media conglomerate. The Daily Beast is implying the council Sharpton helped create may have "created" Sharpton's new role with MSNBC as an afternoon anchor.

Click to read more ...

Rep. James Clyburn Pushes Back Against Critics of Dems, CBC

Rep. James Clyburn addresses black bloggers about the midterm elections on Thursday.And he did it with a history lesson.

In a fiery presser on Capitol Hill Thursday where he at times seemed visibly frustrated, South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn blasted members of the Democratic base who were withdrawing support, money during the Midterm elections. He said those Liberal and progressive critics who get stuck on things like the health care bill not being exactly what they wanted lose sight of the long battle.

"I don't understand this notion that if I can't get everything right now then there's no tomorrow," Clyburn said.

More after the jump.

Click to read more ...

Rand Paul, Republicans and The Civil Rights Act of 1964

There's been a lot of chatter in the news about aspiring politician Rand Paul and his bid to become a senator from Kentucky. He's best known for using the spirit of the Tea Party to push him past the Republican establishment, leading the way for a general election run. (He also has the brand name value of being the son of former presidential candidate and Internet sensation Texas Rep. Ron Paul.) Paul, the younger, recently cancelled an appearance on Meet The Press after the proverbial shit hit the "Are you some kind of racist?" fan when Paul expressed something that sounded an awful lot like he took some issue with the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

More after the jump.

Click to read more ...

Legendary Singer, Actress Lena Horne Dead at 92

"I was unique in that I was a kind of black that white people could accept. I was their daydream. I had the worst kind of acceptance because it was never for how great I was or what I contributed. It was because of the way I looked." -- Lena Horne

Lena Horne, ground-breaking performer and star of film and stage, was one of the most popular vocalists of her era. In the 1940s she was among the first black performers to integrate the popular Copacobana night club. While she was featured in many films, her parts (usually as a lounge singer) were often cut out when shown in the South. She is probably best known for her featured roles in "Stormy Weather" and "Cabin in the Sky."

More after the jump.

Click to read more ...

Civil Rights Leader Dorothy Height Dead at 98

Civil and women's rights pioneer Dorothy Height lived a life as rich and fascinating as any novel, only it was all true. Fighting for social justice, Height began early, pushing back against lynching and working to desegregate the armed forces in the 1930s when she was in her late teens/early 20s. Height's legacy as a civil rights pioneer would involve her working to reform the criminal justice system and for free access to public facilities for African Americans. Height was the fourth national president of the National Council of Negro Women -- an organization that has fought for both the equal rights of women and African Americans since its inception. While it is sad that she has died, the reality is Height lived a full and courageous life, without fear, only seeking justice for those marginalized by society. One of her favorite quotes was that of Frederick Douglass, former slave and abolitionist, who encouraged all those who sought justice to always "Agitate. Agitate. Agitate." And that is exactly what she did.

All people should be inspired by what she was able to accomplish in her near 100 years of living. To learn more about Height, click here. NPR also has an excellent story here. (Photo source: USA Today)

Confederate History Month: Um, OK

Last week I got a long crazy letter from a reader reacting to a post I wrote a year ago telling me that the Civil War had nothing to do with slavery. Oh, OK. That whole slave state/free state thing was just an accident? A misunderstanding? The fact that pro-slavery factions and abolitionists flocked to territories that could potentially become states to tilt them in one favor or the other causing terror and bloodshed was just incidental. The Missouri Compromise had nothing to do with all those people KILLING EACH OTHER over whether or not former territories would be "slave" or "free" states. Politicians didn't beat each other up on the floor of Congress over slave or free states. It was "state's rights!" And it just HAPPENED that the right the government was threatening to infringe upon in the South was the ownership and sale of black people. OK. Sure. Great. You want to take history and put it in rewrites, let's rewrite it. Still doesn't explain all those slaves and all those people who were "afraid" of what would happen if they were freed. But yeah. STATE'S RIGHTS! (To own slaves)

More after the jump.

Click to read more ...