I am very happy for the people of Alabama that they have at least one public official who understands history and the importance of acknowledging it, and I am thrilled that Rep. John Lewis lived to see it:

An Alabama police chief brought Rep. John Lewis to tears Saturday, apologizing to the noted civil rights leader for failing to protect the Freedom Riders during a trip to Montgomery in 1961.

Lewis and fellow civil rights activists were beaten by a mob after arriving at Montgomery's Greyhound station in May, 1961.

On Saturday at ceremony at First Baptist Church, the city's current police chief, Kevin Murphy, apologized to Lewis and offered him his badge in a gesture of reconciliation, telling the longtime Georgia congressman that Montgomery police had "enforced unjust laws" in failing to protect the Freedom Riders more than five decades ago.

Lewis, who was arrested during civil rights protests in cities across the south, said it was the first time a police chief had apologized to him.

"It means a great deal," Lewis said. "I teared up. I tried to keep from crying."

Lewis and other members of Congress were taking part in the 13th Congressional Civil Rights Pilgrimage to Alabama, a three-day event that also included trips to Selma, Tuscaloosa and Birmingham.

Murphy said the decision to apologize was easy.

"For me, freedom and the right to live in peace is a cornerstone of our society and that was something that Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks and Congressman Lewis were trying to achieve," Murphy said. "I think what I did today should have been done a long time ago. It needed to be done. It needed to be spoken because we have to live with the truth and it is the truth."

There need to be some improvements to Alabama's health education programs, and soon, because this little slice of inanity actually came from a female lawmaker.

Via Raw Story:

In a recent interview, state Rep. Mary Sue McClurkin explained why she was sponsoring House Bill 57 — The Women’s Health and Safety Act — which would “require clinics to follow ambulatory clinic building codes and make it a felony — punishable by up to 10 years in prison — for a nurse, nurse practitioner or physician’s assistant to dispense abortion-inducing medications,” according to theMontgomery Advertiser.

“When a physician removes a child from a woman, that is the largest organ in a body,” the lawmaker declared. “That’s a big thing. That’s a big surgery. You don’t have any other organs in your body that are bigger than that.”

Worse yet, she's actually making progress on this bill, which is yet another back door attempt to bar women from seeking or receiving abortions of any kind. McClurkin has moved it through committee and it is up for a vote today.

Jezebel:

My liver, heart, and skin are all very excited that we are now giving organs personhood rights, although the latter is slightly upset about losing out on its "largest organ in the human body" rep.

Rep. Patricia Todd, D-Birmingham, who opposes the legislation because she is a smart lady, said she expects the bill, which is a mixture of old and new restrictions, to pass.

"They're drafting a bill on a subject they have no knowledge of," she said. "They've never been in a clinic. They don't know what the regulations are." (They also need to hop on the Magic School Bus for a refresher in how the human body operates!)

Yes, it would be helpful if they learned the regulations and maybe even understood basic biology and science before they do things like this. But then, that would be too sane for most of these crackpots.

When the tea party gained prominence, my husband scoffed at my insistence that they were propelled by racism. But the more he saw of them, the harder it became for him to deny. All of the things that existed when George W. Bush was president suddenly became tyranny when an African American man occupied the White House. Ironically, I've come to re-evealuate that initial conclusion, thanks in no small part to my buddies Driftglass and Blue Gal and their weekly podcast. It would be far more accurate to say that these people are white supremists. Well, actually, to be totally accurate, Christian white heterosexual male supremists in the purest sense of the word. They may have friends who are women, blacks, gays or non-Christians, but they believe that by virtue of their inherent white Christian male existence, they are superior and by rights, deserve to be at the apex of that totem pole. They resent any challenge to their supremacy and will fight tooth and nail to keep perceived pretenders from their top spot.

With that in mind, perhaps the ravings of Alabama high school football coach and teacher of psychology Bob Grisham isn't that surprising. Certainly, that Grisham is still blissfully ignorant that students now regularly carry these recording devices called cell phones should be your first clue that the man is not operating with a full deck. But nonetheless, it's still jarring to hear what passes for acceptable classroom discussion in Grisham's mind:

School district officials are investigating allegations that a Lauderdale County High School teacher made slurs in the presence of students regarding first lady Michelle Obama and gays.

Superintendent Jennifer Gray confirmed the investigation concerns the school’s head football coach, Bob Grisham, who also teaches driver’s education and psychology.

The investigation includes a 1-minute, 24-second audiotape of Grisham asking who knows who is behind the 600-calorie school lunch.

“Fat butt Michelle Obama,” he said. “Look at her. She looks like she weighs 185 or 190. She’s overweight.”

Male voices interject comments during the discussion, at one point referring to Michelle Obama as a “fat gorilla.”

Later in the tape, Grisham referred to the U.S. as going in the “wrong direction” and tells the students they can “get pissed off at me or not. You can go tell the principal, call the superintendent and tell her. I don’t believe in queers. I don’t like queers, I don’t hate them as a person, but what they do is wrong and an abomination against God.” The tape was reportedly recorded by a student Monday and took place on school campus during the school day.

When the recording came to light, Grisham immediately claimed he misspoke:

“I misspoke in a debate-type situation,” he said. “I have no hatred toward anyone or any group. People that know my heart, they know that.”

And exactly my point at the beginning of this post. I'm sure that Grisham doesn't think what was said by him or by other people in the room with his tacit endorsement was racist. He doesn't hate Michelle Obama or gays. He just finds it unacceptable that they should be accorded as much respect as him.

By the way, as a woman, I would like it to be known that effective immediately, any man who comments in a derogatory fashion about a woman's looks, especially as a value judgment of her person, has to immediately offer forward a picture of his own unassailable looks for the evaluation of women in a similar fashion, or simply STFU. Suggesting (not mandating or legislating, for crying out loud) that Americans make mindful and healthy eating choices does not invite anyone to comment on the size or weight of any portion of Michelle Obama's body.

There is no hell quite like living with a crazy, menacing neighbor. Maybe the most sensible thing we can do about this type of gun threat is to allow something like a grand jury panel to assess confidential complaints and testimony, and render a decision whether someone has forfeited the right to their weapons. (Here in Philly, they can take your car if you're driving without insurance. You think people are emotionally attached to their guns? Watch what happens when you take their wheels!) Of course, the hard part is getting them to give up their guns, but better to have the cops and a mental health team deal with a volatile situation than the neighbors.

I mean, look at this guy. He beat a dog to death with a pipe? He shot at his neighbors over a speed bump? Clearly out of control. There needs to be a more timely solution than a distant court hearing. There should be at least an interim surrender of weapons for anyone charged with violence or a gun crime. Maybe this school bus driver would be alive right now:

The retired Alabama trucker who shot a school bus driver and is now holding a kindergarten student in an underground bunker was scheduled to be in court Wednesday to answer for allegedly shooting at his neighbors in a dispute over a damaged speed bump.

Jimmy Lee Dykes, 65, has been holed up in a 6 by 8 foot bunker 4 feet underground with a 5-year-old autistic boy named Ethan since Tuesday, when he boarded a school bus and asked for two 6 to 8 year old boys. School bus driver Charles Albert Poland Jr., 66, was shot several times by Dykes, and died trying to protect the children.

Police said that they do not think that Dykes had any connection to Ethan, and that SWAT teams and police are negotiating with Dykes.

"I could tell you that negotiators continue to communicate with the suspect and that there's no reason to believe the child has been harmed," Sheriff Wally Olson said late Thursday.

Dykes' neighbor Claudia Davis told The Associated Press that he had yelled at her and fired his gun at her, her son James Davis, Jr. and her baby grandson after he claimed their truck caused damage to a speed bump in the dirt road near his property. No one was hurt, but Davis, Jr. told the AP that he believes the shooting and kidnapping are connected to the scheduled court hearing.

"I believe he thought I was going to be in court and he was going to get more charges than the menacing, which he deserved, and he had a bunch of stuff to hide and that's why he did it," he said.

This was not Dykes' only run-in with people in the neighborhood, where he had come to be known as a menacing figure. Neighbor Ronda Wilbur told the AP that Dykes beat her 120-pound dog with a lead pipe when it entered the side of the dirt rode his trailer sits on. Wilbur said her dog died a week later.

Early last year, two pit bulls belonging to neighbors Mike and Patricia Smith escaped and got into his yard. Patricia Smith said that Dykes threatened to shoot her children when they went to retrieve them.

Over the past week, thousands of Americans participated in the recreation of the famous civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, designed to draw attention to a host of important issues. In particular, the march sought to spotlight the assaults on workers’ rights, voting rights and immigrant rights. Alabama, in particular, has been bad on these issues, passing one of the most stringent anti-immigrant laws in the country.

Organizations like the AFL-CIO, the Fair Immigration Reform Movement, the Center for Community Change, and others, joined marchers from more than a dozen states to recreate the 47-year-old milestone of the African-American civil rights movement.

The AFL-CIO sums up the importance of the march well:

We were marching to honor the extraordinary sacrifices of our forbearers, but we also were marching to right the wrongs of today, especially the assaults on workers’ rights, voting rights and immigrant rights—in Alabama and around the country. There were several lessons that I took from the week’s events.

First, we saw in reality the dream that many of us have been working for decades to achieve: a multiracial, progressive coalition united across issues in the fight for justice. I was part of the team that led the march on Thursday, and there was a moment when we came down a hill and turned around that will stay with me for the rest of my life. We saw well over 1,000 marchers who looked like America, singing and chanting and walking together, arm in arm down U.S. Highway 80. This was a spiritual moment in which I saw and understood the power and potential of the coalition we are building.

This is crucial because what connects our struggles is the desire of our opponents to make sure that the emerging majority of color never attains power in America. The effort to disenfranchise people of color and young people through voter suppression laws is highly strategic. It is an effort to make sure that the country’s changing demography does not result in a change in the electorate. This fear of a new emerging majority also explains the ruthless assault on immigrants and the effort to deny a path to citizenship to millions of immigrants.

The march reminded us that the only antidote to this cynical and undemocratic strategy is the kind of mass movement that lit up Alabama last week.

Second, we learned that when we organize, we can win. It was no coincidence that the same day the marchers focused on the injustices of H.B. 56, Alabama’s worst-in-the-nation immigration law, we heard the amazing news that the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unexpectedly enjoined two of the worst provisions of that racist law. We have created a climate of resistance that has forced the courts to act. Even the Alabama state legislature is now considering how to backtrack on the bill. While there is still enormous work to be done, this very real progress is a testament to the extraordinary organizing and coalition building we have done together.

Continue reading »

In the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina members of the media noticed there was widespread devastation in the South. Watching it on television, as a person of Southern heritage, to me it was clear: “Some of that was like that before the storm.” And it was. And it still is years later. Now since the Southern states have primaries for the next few weeks – combined with Mitt Romney doing his best Rand McNally material at campaign stops – the South is in the spotlight once again.

However, in this election cycle there are no real Southern candidates. Newt Gingrich represented Georgia but was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (and retains that accent). To contrast that, both the Democratic National Convention and the Republican National Convention events are being held in southern states (North Carolina and Florida).

Here’s what the nation ignores unless there’s a disaster (or an election which could also qualify as a disaster): Of the bottom 10 poorest states in the union – nine of them are Southern states east of Texas. Mississippi is the poorest state of all. Child poverty. Unemployment. Under-employment. Lack of education. Lack of resources. The nation’s highest obesity rates are found south of the Mason-Dixon line.

Despite the conservative bona fides, the South isn’t pulling herself up by her bootstraps … mainly because she can’t see her toes she’s about to lose to diabetes. These are deeply and consistently Republican voters – but being poor and Republican is like being a cow and pro-leather. The South is a parable as to why that is: Their prejudices are being exploited to prod them into being against their own best interests.

In the South there’s been a long (and storied) resentment of outsiders coming in and telling them how to run their lives. But without fail, when the economy is bad anywhere – historically the first group to be blamed are the noobs. Hence why a new wave of anti-immigrant legislation has been pouring out of the southern region of the U.S.

Last year, Alabama passed HB 56 or Hammon-Beason Alabama Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act which led to a mass exodus of labor in the state. There were reports of crops rotting in the fields and an estimated cost to the state in the billions. Now the governor of Mississippi has endorsed a similar plan. Capitalizing politicians will say these heavy-handed laws are to keep out illegal immigrants but in practice it’s anyone who looks vaguely foreign being forced to show their paperwork.

Not exactly the land of the free. And sure not Southern hospitality.

Are immigrants, as these laws imply, parasites on the system? It’s actually the poorest (and yes, Southern) states that are the ones not carrying their own weight. For every dollar Alabamans pay in federal taxes, they receive $1.66 in federal money. In Louisiana it’s $1.78 per dollar. Mississippi gets $2.02 per dollar they give the dreaded federal gubmint.

There’s a way to help this region get off the federal dole: Welcome immigrants.

California has a huge immigrant population (both legal and illegal) and while certainly not void of any problems, the state still boasts of having the 8th largest economy in the world. And grumble as you will about Californians, for every dollar they pay in federal taxes – the rest of the country receives nearly a quarter of it.

Southern conservatives can bemoan “paying for someone else’s birth control” but in this way the New England states are paying for “someone else’s” (namely the South’s) Lipitor.

Welcome immigrants. When you welcome immigrants - you welcome tourists, you welcome tax revenue and then, counter-intuitively, the South can be more self-reliant. That’s a conservative principle in a “severely” right-leaning culture.

The best thing the South can do to save herself is welcome the world. Be a place immigrants move to. Let smart people from other countries call themselves Alabamians. Let hard working people everywhere call Mississippi home. Welcome the world to the South.

Basically enact the opposite of HB 56.

State: Alabama

Type of election: Primary

How it works: 47 delegates are up for grabs. 26 are given proportionally according to statewide results, the remaining 21 are given out at the congressional district level. If any candidate gets more than 50 percent, the delegates are given out winner-take-all. The primary is open.

Official election results: Alabama Secretary of State

Republican candidates: Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum (all others have dropped out or are polling at less than 1 percent)

Democratic candidates: There is no Democratic primary.

Previous performance: In 2008, Romney finished third to Mike Huckabee with nearly 18 percent. Paul finished fourth with less than 3 percent. Obama won the Democratic primary with 56 percent.

Newspapers: Birmingham News, full list

Television stations: Full list

Progressive blogs: Left in Alabama

Latest polling: New York Times:

Continue reading »

Interpreting Mississippi's depraved heart murder statute to apply to the context of pregnancy will lead to absurd and dangerous public health consequences. Such prosecutions deter pregnant women from seeking prenatal care and drug and alcohol treatment. And they create a disincentive for pregnant women who do seek medical care from disclosing important informaiton about drug use to health care providers out of fear that the disclosure will lead to possible criminal sanctions.

Prosecuting women and girls for continuing to term despite a drug addiction encourages them to terminate wanted pregnancies to avoid criminal penalties.

Rennie Gibbs became pregnant at age 15, but the baby was stillborn in her 36th week. Via The Guardian:

Rennie Gibbs is accused of murder, but the crime she is alleged to have committed does not sound like an ordinary killing. Yet she faces life in prison in Mississippi over the death of her unborn child.

Gibbs became pregnant aged 15, but lost the baby in December 2006 in a stillbirth when she was 36 weeks into the pregnancy. When prosecutors discovered that she had a cocaine habit – though there is no evidence that drug abuse had anything to do with the baby's death – they charged her with the "depraved-heart murder" of her child, which carries a mandatory life sentence.

Gibbs is the first woman in Mississippi to be charged with murder relating to the loss of her unborn baby. But her case is by no means isolated. Across the US more and more prosecutions are being brought that seek to turn pregnant women into criminals.

New conservative rule: If you have a drug habit, you must be a murderer. This, despite the fact that there is no evidence linking cocaine use to stillbirths. While it's certainly not a good idea to be using cocaine while pregnant, the fact remains that no scientific research directly links cocaine use to fetal death in late-stage pregnancy. It's far more likely that her poverty, young age, and probable lack of prenatal care had more to do with the stillbirth.

Continue reading »

Andrew Cohen writes in The Atlantic about a particularly infuriating capital case in Alabama. As a reporter, these stories are depressing because you see prosecutors clinging to bad convictions, usually for political reasons:

Another month, another man on death row, another excruciating case that illustrates just some of the ways in which America's death penalty regime is unconstitutionally broken. This time, the venue is Alabama. This time, the murder that generated the sentence took place 30 years ago. And this time, there is an execution date of March 29, 2012, for Thomas Arthur, a man who has always maintained his innocence. He also has the unwelcome distinction of being one of the few prisoners in the DNA-testing era to be this close to capital punishment after someone else confessed under oath to the crime.

Late last month, I profiled the wobbly capital conviction against Troy Noling in Ohio and there are remarkable similarities between it and the Arthur case. Both involve white defendants. Both include contentions of innocence and allegations of bad lawyering at trial. Both include a lack of physical evidence linking the defendants to the crime. Both include crucial witness testimony that borders the farcical. And both include state officials reluctant to permit sophisticated DNA testing that might definitively answer questions about whether the defendants committed the murders they will die for.

Arthur's attorneys are even willing to pay for that testing, the few thousand bucks it would be, and the testing could be completed by the execution date. It is here where prosecutors and judges lose me when they prioritize "finality" in capital punishment cases at the expense of "accuracy." It would cost Alabama nothing to let Arthur's lawyers do the testing. And it might solve a case that already has cost the state millions of dollars. Instead, Alabama wants to finally solve its Arthur problem by executing him. No matter how the new DNA test could come out, the state is more interested in defending its dubious conviction.

"An Alabama Mother Speaks"

Chris Weitz, director of the popular "Twilight" movies, directed a series of videos taking on Alabama's anti-immigrant law; the strictest in the the country. The campaign, titled "Is This Alabama?" launched with four compelling videos.

In June 2011 Alabama enacted H.B. 56—the most extreme state-level anti-immigrant bill passed to date—which went into effect in September. Now Hollywood director Chris Weitz has turned the camera on Alabama and is asking “Is This Alabama?”

In addition to the videos, the website also features resources on learning more about the bill and why it is even worse that Arizona's SB 1070:

Alabama’s law, H.B. 56, similar to Arizona’s infamous S.B. 1070, is intended to make every facet of life so difficult and uncomfortable for undocumented immigrants and their families that they leave the state.

In schools: H.B. 56 requires schools to check and report the immigration status of their students and bars undocumented students from public state colleges and universities.

On the street: H.B. 56 requires police to demand proof of citizenship or valid immigration status from anyone they suspect of being in the country illegally, even on a routine traffic stop or roadblock.

At home: H.B. 56 invalidates any contract knowingly entered into with an illegal alien, including such routine agreements as rental contracts, and makes it a felony for an unauthorized immigrant to enter into a contract with a government entity.

In Alabama: H.B. 56 effectively makes it a crime to be undocumented in the state.

More videos below the fold

Continue reading »