Democrats Set Up to Lose Again In Virginia

Democrats lose by pursuing “bipartisanship”…

Republicans don’t give a damn about what anyone thinks and ram through their agenda.

Until Democrats learn to shove it up Republican ass with a 4×4…Democrats will continue to lose.

Democrats have also become the “white women’s” Party – which is a losing proposition. They had better start paying attention to all of their bases.

Ralph Northam – biggest Democrat comeback in Va history, with Governorship, Lt Governorship, a majority in the House…And one vote away from a majority in the Senate…

And he is already going mamby-pamby.

Wake the fuck up!

We wouldn’t be in this Chumphshit mess if Obama had hung a few of the regnant white wing bastards from the light posts.

Obama’s Lesson for Virginia

When it comes to expanding Medicaid, Gov.-elect Ralph Northam shouldn’t bother with bipartisanship.

Ralph Northam ran on Medicaid. “We need to expand Medicaid in the commonwealth of Virginia,” the Democratic gubernatorial candidate said at a major rally in Richmond just a few weeks before the election. “Right now there are 400,000 working Virginians that don’t have access to health care. That is immoral.”

In his first interview since the election, Ralph Northam says he won’t take that step. “I have let our people know that I will work with the legislature that was elected by the people,” he said in an interview with the Washington Post. “I’m not approaching anybody … in the Senate or the House.” The Post notes that “Northam said he has no plans to try to force Republicans to accept a broad expansion of Medicaid.”

It’s true that Northam won’t enter office with Democratic majorities in the General Assembly. But he’ll be close. Democrats swept state legislative elections in a surprising wave that, after several recounts—including one race determined by a single vote—gave them 50 seats in the 100-member House of Delegates, with incoming Lieutenant Gov. Justin Fairfax as the tie-breaking vote. Along with Republicans’ razor-thin minority in the state Senate—19 seats in a 40-member chamber—Democrats are a hair’s breadth away from the votes they need to expand Medicaid. Bringing a few Republicans into the Northam administration, or convincing one or two of the most vulnerable GOP members to switch sides, would open the floor to expanding the health care program.

Northam, who himself switched parties before entering electoral politics and was later courted to switch back by Republicans, is clearly committed to an Obama-esque vision of civility and compromise. But before heading down that road, the incoming governor should remember one of the lessons of Obama’s presidency: Voters may say they like bipartisanship, but they don’t actually vote for it.

Despite an electorate that clearly wanted Democrats to take the lead, Northam is preaching bipartisanship in Richmond. His advice to freshman Democratic lawmakers? “Learn the system, number one. And really make good relationships on both sides of the aisle. … I’ll try to lead that. We talk about the doctor being in, healing, and I’ll try to bring people together and emphasize doing what’s in the best interest of Virginia.”

We’ve seen this logic before. In the first year of his presidency, Barack Obama tried to find common ground with the GOP on issues of presumably mutual concern. He brought Republicans into his Cabinet, extending offers to Robert Gates, former Rep. Ray LaHood of Illinois, and Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire. A week after his inauguration, Obama met with congressional Republicans, seeking support for his stimulus plan and offering concessions on several items. And far from jamming health care through Congress, the White House deferred to a bipartisan “Gang of Six” led by Sen. Max Baucus of Montana. By the end of his first 100 days in office, most Americans—66 percent according to Gallup—believed Obama was making a sincere effort to find common ground with the Republican Party, fulfilling a key campaign promise.

But while the public likes bipartisanship, it doesn’t reward it. Obama’s overtures didn’t insulate him or his Democratic allies from a growing sense of discontent and a landslide that would obliterate the party’s majority in the House of Representatives. What voters typically reward is performance, and the administration’s zeal for compromise on stimulus and health care produced measures that weren’t large enough or generous enough to give voters a sense of security in the wake of a disastrous recession.

Compromise is part of governance, but given the yawning ideological gap between Republicans and Democrats, there is real tension between pursuing that bipartisanship and building legislation that works. During Obama’s presidency, the pressures of partisanship and ideology meant Republicans were never going to support an expansive health insurance program. Still, Democrats built their program around the possibility of bipartisan support, yielding a law with real weaknesses.

Ralph Northam clearly values compromise and bipartisanship, but he runs a risk in elevating them over his unambiguous promise to expand Medicaid. Northam won’t have to stand for re-election—the governor of Virginia can’t serve consecutive terms—but the energy that elevated state Democrats and delivered a shocking victory in the House of Delegates can dissipate as easily as it emerged. Indeed, in the wake of his interview with the Post, Northam was hit with a social media backlash, excoriating him for backing away from his Medicaid pledge.

If Obama’s experience doesn’t weigh on Northam, that backlash should. If Northam can lead Virginia to fully implement the Affordable Care Act, there’s a decent chance voters will remember in two years and vote accordingly. They won’t remember, and won’t care, if he reaches out to Republicans to craft a half-measure that doesn’t address the problem.

 

It’s Official – Royal Chumph Whuppin’ in Virginia

Two of the three top Republicans in Virginia tied their double-wides to the Chumph. They lost..BIG.

There was a repudiation of the Chmph party across the nation as Democrats won in even solid Republican areas.

The Daily 202: Anti-Trump backlash fuels a Democratic sweep in Virginia and elections across the country

THE BIG IDEA: Tuesday was the best day for Democrats politically since Barack Obama won reelection in 2012. Remember, conservatives scored significant victories in the November 2014, 2015 and 2016 elections. Democrats desperately needed some wins after they went all-in on a House special election in Georgia this spring and lost. Last night, they got them.

Voters came out in droves. They braved the rain and the cold to send a message to President Trump. The results across the country represent nothing less than a stinging repudiation of Trump on the first anniversary of his election.

— Democrat Ralph Northam was elected governor of VirginiaTuesday by an unexpectedly large margin of nine percentage points. He won more votes than any previous candidate for Virginia governor.

Republican Ed Gillespie could not escape Trump’s unpopularity, despite his best efforts to thread the needle. Four in 10 Virginia voters yesterday approved of the job that the president is doing, according to preliminary exit polls. Gillespie received over 9 in 10 votes from Trump approvers, but among the larger group of Trump disapprovers, Northam had nearly as large an advantage: 87 percent.

Trump’s impact on the race was also clear from other questions in the exit polling: 34 percent of voters said expressing opposition to Trump was a reason for their vote, with almost all of this group favoring Northam, per our in-house pollster Scott Clement. Half as many (17 percent) sought to express support for the president, while 47 percent said Trump was not a factor in their choice.

— Women made the difference. White women with college degrees — a group that split evenly in the 2013 Virginia governor’s election — favored Northam by 16 points over Gillespie in preliminary exit polling, 58 percent to 42 percent. Northam’s margin is more than twice as wide as the margin Hillary Clinton won those voters by last year, 50 percent to 44 percent.

Married women voted for Northam by 10 points according to preliminary exit polls, 54 percent to 44 percent. In the 2016 presidential election, Trump eked out a one-point lead with this group, 48 percent to 47 percent. Married women consisted of 30 percent of Virginia voters this year, about the same share as in 2016 and 2014. (Check out our interactive exit poll graphic here.)

— Rep. Scott Taylor, a Republican who represents Virginia Beach, said both Democrats and Republicans registered their disenchantment with Trump. “I don’t know how you get around that this wasn’t a referendum on the administration, I just don’t,” he told reporters. “Some of the very divisive rhetoric really prompted and helped usher in a really high Democratic turnout in Virginia.”

“Ed couldn’t escape being a proxy for Trump, which killed him,” added Tom Davis, the former GOP congressman who represented Northern Virginia. “It’s a huge drag on the ticket,” he told Paul Schwartzman. “It motivated the Democratic base. Democrats came out en masse in protest. This was their first chance to mobilize the base. The lesson here is that Republicans have to get their act together. Ed did as well as he could do with the hand he was dealt.”

— Tweeting from South Korea, Trump quickly distanced himself from Gillespie — who he had embraced earlier in the day:

Donald J. Trump 

✔@realDonaldTrump

Ed Gillespie worked hard but did not embrace me or what I stand for. Don’t forget, Republicans won 4 out of 4 House seats, and with the economy doing record numbers, we will continue to win, even bigger than before!

8:40 PM – Nov 7, 2017

•  48,57348,573 Replies

•  16,65516,655 Retweets

•  67,27067,270 likes

Twitter Ads info and privacy

— But Democrats prevailed last night from sea to shining sea, up and down the ballot:

• Maine, where Trump won an electoral vote last year, became the first state to expand Medicaid via ballot initiative. Despite active opposition from the Republican governor and an influx of outside money, the measure passed by a nearly 20-point margin. This will mean health-care coverage for an estimated 70,000 low-income residents.
• Democrat Phil Murphy, a former banker and first-time candidate, won the New Jersey governor’s race by 13 points over Chris Christie’s lieutenant governor. That’s on par with Clinton’s margin a year ago, but it’s a remarkable turnabout from four years ago — when Christie got reelected with a 22-point margin of victory. It means that Democrats will have unified control of the Garden State’s government.
• By winning a special election, Democrats took control of the Senate in Washington State. This gives the party full control of all three states on the West Coast: a blue wall of sorts.

— Democrats didn’t just run up the score on blue turf, though:

• In Georgia, Democrats picked up three seats in the state legislature — replacing Republicans who stepped down to lead the state forestry commission, become a judge and run for governor.
• In New Hampshire’s largest city, Manchester, the incumbent Republican mayor went down. Joyce Craig is the first Democrat elected mayor there in 14 years.
• In the beating heart of Florida’s crucial Interstate 4 corridor, the former Republican mayor of St. Petersburg unexpectedly failed in a comeback bid after his Democratic opponent tied him to Trump and defined him as a denier of climate change.
• In North Carolina, the Republican mayor of Fayetteville lost his bid for a third term. In Charlotte, despite being heavily outspent, Democrat Vi Lyles will become the city’s first African American female mayor.

— For the first time, Democrats were winning because of Obamacare — not in spite of it. Maine approving Medicaid expansion by such a margin should be a warning sign for Republicans to tread very carefully when it comes to their continuing efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

In Virginia, the network exit poll asked respondents which one of five issues mattered most in deciding their vote for governor: 39 percent said health care, far more than any other issue. And health-care focused voters favored Northam by a giant 77 percent to 23 percent margin in preliminary exit polls. Gillespie won handily among those who named taxes and immigration as their top issue. The candidates split among those who picked gun policy.

— To understand the true magnitude of the Democratic victory, look to the down-ballot races in Virginia. Democrats, many of them unknown first-time candidates, are poised to pick up at least 14 seats in the House of Delegates. Unofficial returns showed Democrats unseating at least 11 Republicans and flipping three seats that had been occupied by GOP incumbents who didn’t seek reelection. Four other races were so close that they qualify for a recount, and results will determine control of the chamber. Democrats needed to pick up 17 seats to gain control of the House of Delegates. No one thought going into last night that it was seriously in play.

“The results marked the most sweeping shift in control of the legislature since the Watergate era,” writes Fenit Nirappil. “The biggest battleground for the House was Prince William, a Washington exurb where people of color constitute a majority of the population. A diverse group of five Democratic challengers hoped to channel demographic changes and Democratic energy to take seats held by white men — and all won.”

Virginia’s most socially conservative state lawmaker was ousted from office by a Democrat who will be one of the nation’s first openly transgender elected officials. The race pitted Danica Roem, a 33-year-old former journalist who began her physical gender transition four years ago, against Robert G. Marshall, a 13-term incumbent who called himself Virginia’s “chief homophobe” and earlier this year introduced a “bathroom bill” that died in committee. “Discrimination is a disqualifier,” Roem said in her victory speech, per Antonio Olivo.

“This is a tidal wave,” said David Wasserman, who tracks U.S. House races for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. “It’s hard to … conclude anything other than that Democrats are the current favorite for control of the House in 2018.”

One ominous sign for congressional Republicans: Northam won the district held by Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.) in the D.C. suburbs by 13 points.

Several other Democrats who won these down-ballot races are going to have national profiles: In southwest Virginia, former television news anchor Chris Hurst — whose girlfriend was fatally shot during a live broadcast in 2015 — toppled Republican incumbent Joseph Yost.

The results are a big validation for outgoing Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), who is term-limited and could use the gains as a rationale to run for president in 2020. He was surprised by the scale of the pick-ups. “I always say you’re going to get it back because you have to say that politically, but in my mind I was thinking six to eight [seats gained] would have been a great night for the Democrats,” he told one of my colleagues.

Virginia’s General Assembly has a well-earned reputation as an old boy’s club, but the composition of the body changed bigly last night: All 14 of the seats that Democrats flipped are held by GOP men. Ten of their replacements will be women.

 

Secret Sauce In Va Election? Black Anti-Trump Voters

While white non-Hispanics make up 68% of Virginia’s population, black folks make up 20%.

Turnout for the 2016 race was low for black voters, With Ed Gillespie, the Republican candidate supporting Trump and being against the removal of confederate statues and memorabilia, and the recent events in Charlottesville – it is looking like black turnout this election will be the highest since the Obama years.

Northam’s campaign has pursued the normal mamby-pamby Democrat losing attempt to appeal to white voters who aren’t going to vote Democrat in the first place. The threat of having a white supremacist like the Chumph as Governor has electrified the Minority vote for him this round, but his strategy may have costs should he win and pursue higher office.

Winchester Mayor David Smith (right) leads Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ralph Northam ( second from right) and Lt. Gov. candidate Justin Fairfax (second from left) on a tour of downtown Winchester’s pedestrian mall during a campaign stop by Northam and Fairfax on Oct. 25.

Activists eye post-Charlottesville surge in black voting in Virginia

Democratic activists expect a surge in black political engagement fueled by backlash to this summer’s violent white nationalist rally in Charlottesville could tip the scales in Tuesday’s Virginia gubernatorial race.

Black voter turnout rates have been down around the country in the post-Obama era, from the 2016 presidential election through a string of special elections in 2017. It has been a long-standing source of concern for Democrats in Virginia, where up to one in five voters in recent elections has been black and where some have criticized Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam’s outreach to black voters.

But amid a toxic political environment, activists going door-to-door say they have seen African-American interest in voting spike since the summer, when low engagement alarmed Democratic pollsters hoping to elect Northam over Republican Ed Gillespie. Turnout already shot upward in heavily black areas during the Democratic primary, compared with the last contested primary in 2009, and Northam won big in those regions in June. Since then, black political groups have run a steady stream of radio and digital ads invoking Charlottesville and inequality in the criminal justice system, including NFL players’ protests of the issue. And they are talking with voters one-on-one in Norfolk and other African-American population centers to make a personal case about voting this year.

“They feel that it’s not politics as usual,” said Adrianne Shropshire, executive director of BlackPAC, which has been working with the Northam campaign to turn out African-American voters in Hampton Roads. “They know that something else is going on here.”

When BlackPAC first polled voters of color in the state in August, what it found concerned it. The percentage who said they were extremely likely to vote was in the high 60s, and Northam was trailing Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s 2013 performance among voters of color.

But voters also said the political environment scared them. Fifty-four percent of black voters said they felt minorities were under attack, and 73 percent agreed with a statement that voting would “send a resounding message to [President Donald] Trump.”

Framing a vote as a way to stand up to racism increased willingness to turn out. Now, nearly 90 percent of those contacted by BlackPAC during door-to-door canvassing are willing to sign a pledge card to vote, and organizers said Gillespie’s ads accusing Northam of trying to “erase history” and take down “our statues” are part of the reason why.

As a BlackPAC canvasser went door-to-door in a majority-black Norfolk neighborhood on Halloween, voters mentioned crime, support for public housing, voting rights and the unfair criminal justice system as reasons they would be voting this year. But one issue loomed above all. Sharon Williams, a disabled middle-aged woman, mentioned how her mother used to talk about the Ku Klux Klan when she was growing up. Williams thought the stories were just to scare her, until one day she saw some hooded men drive down her street.

“They’re trying to start that all over again,” Williams said.

Democratic National Committee Vice Chair Keith Ellison, who recently campaigned with Northam in Prince William County, said he had a visceral reaction to Gillespie’s advertising promising to keep Confederate monuments up in Virginia.

“The people who erected them wanted to make a point about who mattered and who didn’t,” Ellison told reporters, noting many of the statues were built as African-Americans pushed for civil rights during the 20th century. “And so, my opinion? When somebody says they’re for keeping a Confederate monument in the middle of downtown, to me, that says ‘You are subhuman, you don’t have any right to do anything except serve others.’”

Ellison also said Gillespie’s campaign tactics, and Trump’s rhetoric, were alerting voters.

“When Trump makes false equivalencies about neo-Nazis and the KKK and when Gillespie stands up for the monuments, we all know what that means,” Ellison said.

BlackPAC’s ads in Virginia have also addressed Charlottesville directly, both on the radio and online. Another group, CollectivePAC, has run digital ads invoking former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who is alleging NFL owners colluded not to sign him following his protests of police brutality last year.

“The first time I saw those people in Charlottesville trying to intimidate people of color, it made me angry,” a female narrator says in one of BlackPAC’s radio ads. “Trying to take away our voice. Then when they came back, it made me determined. No one is going to take away my voice.”

BlackPAC’s closing-argument ad uses images of the violent protests in Charlottesville and the civil rights movement.

“White supremacy stormed into Charlottesville and is being used for political gain,” a female narrator says in the 30-second ad. “We’ve fought too hard for progress to watch it pushed back in the name of Making America Great Again.”

 

Perhaps a Ray of Hope in Virginia

It is beginning to look like the Chumph’s acolytes in Virginia are in trouble in the State’s off -year election.

Roughly two months ago a series of vicious attack ads by the Republican candidate for Governor Ed Gillespie had put the race in range according to polls. Then Gillespie made the fata mistake, tying his wagon to Trump.

Northam, the Democrat candidate’s team finally got a clue about a month ago, and began relentlessly hammering away at the Trump association.

The result?

Now – the Russians have already made their appearance to support their boi Chumph. Unless the hack the voting machines as they did in the national election – it pretty much is looking like a Democrat (anti-Chumph) sweep.

October 30, 2017 – Democrat Holds 17-Point Likely Voter Lead In Virginia, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Small Gender Gap, Huge Racial Gap

With overwhelming support from non-white voters and double-digit leads among both men and women, Democratic Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam holds a 53 – 36 percent likely voter lead over Republican Ed Gillespie in the Virginia governor’s race, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Libertarian Party candidate Cliff Hyra has 3 percent.

Today’s result compares to a 53 – 39 percent likely voter lead for Northam in an October 18 survey by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University.

Non-white likely voters back the Democrat 72 – 15 percent, with 2 percent for Hyra. White voters are divided 46 – 46 percent, with 4 percent for Hyra. Women back Northam 56 – 36 percent, with 1 percent for Hyra. Men go Democratic 51 – 37 percent, with 5 percent for Hyra.

Independent voters tip to the Democrat 47 – 42 percent, with 6 percent for Hyra. Democrats back Northam 97 – 1 percent, with less than 1 percent for Hyra. Republicans back Gillespie 86 – 8 percent, with less than 1 percent for Hyra.

Virginia likely voters disapprove 60 – 34 percent of the job President Donald Trump is doing, compared to a 62 – 35 percent disapproval rating October 18.

“In 2014, Republican Ed Gillespie came oh-so-close to upsetting Democratic Sen. Mark Warner, at least in part because 2014 was a Republican year and Gillespie benefited from the national pro-GOP mood. But with President Donald Trump’s approval ratings in the dumpster in Virginia and in the nation, this year the shoe is on the other foot for Gillespie,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.

“Anything, of course, is possible in politics. But the size and scope of Lt. Gov. Northam’s lead is impressive. He leads among most voter groups. He even carries men.”

“And history does not provide many examples of candidates who have come back from this large a deficit so close to the actual voting,” Brown added.

From October 25 – 29, Quinnipiac University surveyed 916 Virginia likely voters with a margin of error of +/- 4.2 percentage points, including the design effect. Live interviewers call landlines and cell phones.

The Quinnipiac University Poll, directed by Douglas Schwartz, Ph.D., conducts public opinion surveys nationwide, and statewide polls in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, Ohio, Virginia, Iowa and Colorado as a public service and for research.

Visit poll.qu.edu or http://www.facebook.com/quinnipiacpoll

Call (203) 582-5201, or follow us on Twitter @QuinnipiacPoll.

1. If the election for Governor were being held today, and the candidates were Ralph Northam the Democrat, Ed Gillespie the Republican, and Cliff Hyra the Libertarian, for whom would you vote? (If undecided) As of today, do you lean more toward Ralph Northam the Democrat, Ed Gillespie the Republican or Cliff Hyra the Libertarian?

                     LIKELY VOTERS........................................
                                                               WHITE......
                                                               COLLEGE DEG
                     Tot    Rep    Dem    Ind    Men    Wom    Yes    No
 
Northam              53%     8%    97%    47%    51%    56%    56%    33%
Gillespie            36     86      1     42     37     36     40     53
Hyra                  3      -      -      6      5      1      1      7
SMONE ELSE(VOL)       -      -      -      -      -      -      -      -
DK/NA                 7      6      2      5      7      7      3      6
 
                     WHITE.....           Non-
                     Men    Wom    Wht    Wht
 
Northam              43%    50%    46%    72%
Gillespie            47     44     46     15
Hyra                  6      2      4      2
SMONE ELSE(VOL)       -      -      -      1
DK/NA                 5      4      4     10
 
 

2. Do you approve or disapprove of the way Donald Trump is handling his job as President?

                     LIKELY VOTERS........................................
                                                               WHITE......
                                                               COLLEGE DEG
                     Tot    Rep    Dem    Ind    Men    Wom    Yes    No
 
Approve              34%    79%     2%    35%    38%    31%    32%    54%
Disapprove           60     16     96     57     56     64     64     38
DK/NA                 6      5      2      8      6      6      4      8
 
                     WHITE.....           Non-
                     Men    Wom    Wht    Wht
 
Approve              47%    36%    41%    17%
Disapprove           47     58     53     79
DK/NA                 6      5      5      5

 

Stuck On Stupid In the Former Home of the confederacy

About the last thing anyone wants, other than a few whack-job Republicans in Virginia – is for these assholes to show up (from out-of-state no less) with their guns and flags.

These folks give new meaning to the words pathetic and stupid.I think I echo the sentiments of most residents that you are welcome to come here and waive your placards and signs… But you ain’t welcome if your purpose is to incite violence.

I think Congress, if it wasn’t full of corrupt sold out NRA scumbags, should pass a law – that demonstrators must be unarmed.It is time to stop this madness.

Giving even so call white trash a bad name…

 

‘I hope nobody loses their lives’: Armed neo-Confederates descend on Virginia to defend statue ‘at all costs’

Richmond, Virginia is bracing for violence as neo-Confederates target the former capitol of the Confederacy less than one month after Heather Heyer was killed in what many are calling an act of domestic terrorism.

CSAII: The New Confederate States of America is planning an unpermitted “Heritage not Hate” rally to defend Richmond’s Robert E. Lee Monument following the deadly “Unite the Right” rally to defend Charlottesville’s Robert E. Lee statue.

“I hope nobody loses their lives tomorrow, on either side, I really do,” CSA II organizer and Three Percenter militia organizer Tara Brandau told WTVR. “That’s not why we are here.”

Friday morning, Brandau posted photos of her in a pickup truck, flashing a Three Percenter gang-sign while wearing a ‘POLICE’ hat and confederate fingerless gloves.

Two long rifles appear to be displayed in a rear window rack.

Brandau suggested to NBC 12 that she would be armed.

“We have not encouraged anybody to bring any weapons,” Brandau claimed. “The leaders of this will have some. The police officers know, but it’s so that our people are safe.”

Following the violence in Charlottesville, CSAII’s official statement said they would continue to defend “at all costs” confederate monuments, like the statues in Charlottesville and Richmond.

“We pride ourselves in honoring and protecting our Proud Confederate Heritage as well as our Confederate Monuments and Cemeteries to honor our past heros (sic) and not let their memory fade away as is being done by a lot of our government officials today,” the CSAII Commanding General wrote on Facebook. “CSA II® will continue to honor our heros (sic) memory by protecting our monuments to their memory at all cost and assisting our fellow members of the Heritage ~ Not Hate Movement to stop the oppressive tactics done by these above mentioned hate groups and government officials.”

The Southern Poverty Law Center explained the problem with such an approach.

SPLC noted, “the argument that the Confederate flag and other displays represent ‘heritage, not hate’ ignores the near-universal heritage of African Americans whose ancestors were enslaved by the millions in the South. It trivializes their pain, their history and their concerns about racism — whether it’s the racism of the past or that of today.”

CSA II’s “Heritage ~ Not Hate” efforts have included accusing the United States of terrorism that Confederates are fighting to this day.

 

The Second Nat Turner Rebellion

Nat Turner was neither the first, or the last black man held in slavery to rebel. He was just the white slave owners worst nightmare come true. During the Revolutionary War entire counties didn’t supply troops to the American Army because of fear of local slave rebellions. Despite the Southern Myth of “happy” plantation life, slave owner knew they were on thin ice, and exercised extreme brutality as a means to keep the slaves cowed. Bacon’s Rebellion, a prelude to the Revolutionary War was fueled and fought by slaves and indentured servants. It is never listed as a slave revolt, because the leader Nathaniel Bacon was an Aristocrat.

Not sure I can see the benefit of what Kalifah, mentioned in the story below, is doing. Black History isn’t just black history…It is American History.

The Racial Politics of Nat Turner Tours

The subject of an acclaimed new movie, the 1831 slave revolt led by Turner is also the focus of two tours, one black and one white, in a region still divided over Turner’s legacy.

Nate Parker entered his film The Birth of a Nation at this year’s Sundance Film Festival with little publicity and no distribution deal. It emerged having garnered the festival’s Grand Jury Prize, Audience Award, and a deal with Fox Searchlight for $17.5 million—the largest deal in Sundance history. Parker both directed and plays the central role of Nat Turner, who planned and carried out the most violent slave insurrection in American history in Virginia in 1831 that left 55 white men, women, and children dead. …

The controversy surrounding Parker’s past has obscured a far more interesting story currently playing out in Southampton County, where for the first time efforts are underway to interpret the 1831 slave rebellion for the general public. It is a promising development that comes amidst reports of police brutality within the black community, an active Black Lives Matter campaign, and a presidential election that has bitterly divided the nation along racial lines on the eve of the conclusion of our nation’s first black presidency. It also points to an increased willingness on the part of museums, historic sites, and even Hollywood to confront the violence of America’s slave past, but it is not without controversy.

It is difficult to exaggerate the challenges involved in interpreting Nat Turner’s controversial life in the place where so much blood was shed. This history remains contested ground for the black and white residents of Jerusalem (now Courtland) and the surrounding county. Local debates about how to interpret and remember Nat Turner point to tightly embraced competing memories of the past that fall along racial lines and more specific disagreements about what kinds of historical sources ought to be given priority, and who has the right to tell these stories.

Such differences stretch all the way back to the event itself and its aftermath, which included the execution of free and enslaved blacks by a community that feared additional violence, the eventual capture of Turner, his trial, and subsequent execution.

Efforts to interpret Turner and his slave rebellion began in 2002, when the Southampton County Historical Society (SCHS) gained possession of the Vaughan House—the only extant building dating back to the 1831 insurrection. Rebecca Vaughan, along with her two sons, niece, and overseer, were killed by Turner’s followers. Once restored, the home will serve as the centerpiece of an exhibit that explores the violent deaths of its occupants as well as the story of slavery in the community and the events that led up to and followed the bloody uprising. Its centerpiece will be the sword that Turner used throughout much of the rebellion.

Much of the history will eventually be shared through roughly 40 wayside markers at 17 stops throughout the county that will be accessible by foot and by car. Early drafts of individual markers reveal a clear commitment to deal with the horrors of chattel slavery in Southampton County as well as its connection to broader events. Visitors will be able to read about obscure slave rebellions such as The Plant Cutter Revolt of 1663, George Boxley Rebellion in 1811, as well as better known moments such as Denmark Vesey’s Revolt in 1822 and Gabriel’s Rebellion of 1800.

Turner’s story is told alongside other notable local African Americans, including Dred Scott, whose unsuccessful legal plea for his freedom was decided by the Supreme Court just a few years before the start of the Civil War. John Brown—not to be confused with the famous abolitionist—escaped slavery and eventually made his way to Great Britain, where he published his autobiography with the help of The British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. Finally, Anthony Gardiner traveled to Liberia with the help of the American Colonization Society and eventually became that nation’s ninth president. By highlighting the lives of these men, the SCHS hopes to frame the broader narrative around the quest for freedom and civil rights.

Any attempt to interpret a story like this for the general public, however, raises difficult questions of interpretation. Is it possible to tell a story that transcends racial divisions? How do you interpret the killing of women and children—a subject that even Nate Parker, who characterizes Turner as a hero, chose to avoid almost entirely in his movie? Most importantly, how should we understand Turner’s actions? Was he a freedom fighter, a murderer, or something else entirely? In short, what is his legacy?

These questions matter to Rick Francis, who is the Southampton County Circuit Court Clerk and belongs to the SCHS. Francis was born and raised in Southampton County and is descended from Nat Turner’s owner. From a very early age, he absorbed and re-told stories passed down by his father and others about members of his extended family, who ended up “on the business end of his ax” as well as others who were aided by local slaves and managed to survive.

While Francis fully supports the efforts of the SCHS to interpret Nat Turner’s rebellion, including its emphasis on white supremacy and the violence of slavery, he betrays a certain uneasiness when asked to evaluate Turner himself and the legacy of his actions. In a recent interview with 60 Minutes, Francis questioned whether emancipation is what motivated Turner and said that whether or not he was a freedom fighter “is not my call to make.”

Francis believes that it is possible for the SCHS—an organization that he admits is overwhelmingly white—to tell an “objective” history of Nat Turner through electronic maps, video, a driver app, artifacts, and primary sources such as The Confessions of Nat Turner penned by white Southampton lawyer Thomas Gray. Gray’s interview with Turner while in his jail cell during his trial was published shortly after his execution. It is an indispensible source for historians, but it remains a challenge to interpret. Francis’s goal from the beginning remains for the public interpretation to stay as far away from the “saint or sinner debate” and “let people come up with their own interpretation.”

But for H. Khalif Khalifah, this is neither satisfactory nor does it allay concerns that the story of Turner itself is being told by the wrong people. Born in Gosport, Alabama, and raised in New York City, Khalifah was introduced to Turner’s history during the height of the civil rights movement through publications distributed by radical black political organizations that referenced the slave as one among many “revolutionaries and militants who had waged a physical fight to Free Black People.” Trained as a master printer, Khalifah eventually started his own company that marketed books about black history to black communities.

In the mid ’80s, Khalifah and his wife moved to Southampton County, Virginia, on 123 acres of the “birth land” of Nat Turner, where he established the Nat Turner Library and Nat Turner Trail tours. He has had very little contact with the SCHS and is not involved in the organization of the new exhibits and trail tour. This distance reflects a deep skepticism that a largely white organization can accurately engage the general public about Turner’s story and the history of slavery.

Khalifah’s tours are geared specifically to African-American tourists and he rarely allows white visitors to join. When asked why, he suggested that “the pain that was visited upon black people is so brutal that emotions may become aroused against white people on the tour.” The language used along the tour adds to his concerns about how whites might respond. Stops along the tour are referred to as “battle sites,” while Turner and his men are referred to as the “Black Liberation Army of 1831.”…The Rest Here…

 

Prince William County…Again. Black Teen Charged With Larceny over $.65 box of Milk at School

Prince William County has a deplorable racial history. It was the site of the longest running school desegregation effort in the country in the 60’s. They actually shut the public school system down for four years, building “Charter” Private Schools for the white kids so they didn’t have to integrate. More recently, they came up with the brilliant idea that illegal aliens shouldn’t be able to buy houses there and demanded to check everyone’s citizenship status. They yanked their real estate market for 6 years behind that one.

Teen Charged With Stealing 65-Cent Milk Carton To Go To Trial

Ryan Turk’s family says the 14-year-old was handcuffed, searched for drugs and suspended from school.

A 14-year-old Virginia boy will face trial after he was charged with stealing a 65-cent milk carton from his school cafeteria ― despite being enrolled in the free-lunch program.

Police arrested and charged Ryan Turk with two misdemeanors of disorderly conduct and petit larceny in May after a school resource officer claimed to have seen him “conceal” the drink at Graham Park Middle School, according to the Prince William County Police Department.

The debacle ended with Turk being handcuffed, suspended and allegedly searched for drugs in the school principal’s office, his mother alleged in an interview with WTVR shortly after his arrest.

The boy’s family has since accused the officer and school of unfairly targeting him because he’s African-American. They declined to handle his arrest non-judicially, police said, leading to a trial date being set for November, The Washington Post reports.

The acting officer, who is with the Prince William County Police Department, reported seeing Turk take the beverage after cutting in his school’s lunch line on May 10, police said.

Turk told WTVR after his arrest that he had forgotten to pick up the drink during his first pass through the line. He put it back and explained himself after being the officer confronted him, the teen added.

When he was ordered to go to the principal’s office, however, things apparently got hostile.

Police said in a statement, which The Huffington Post obtained, that the boy “refused and became disorderly.”

“When the officer attempted to escort him to the office, the student leaned back and pushed against the office,” the statement read. “As they were approaching the principal, the student attempted to push past the officer to get away. The student was subsequently handcuffed and taken to the office without further incident.”

Turk admitted that he did pull away from the officer and told him to get off of him. He said the officer grabbed his neck in response.

The family’s attorney, Emmitt Robinson, argued that it was merely a case of someone not wanting to go along with someone who was being unfair. But he also alleges that Ryan was targeted and accused of stealing because of his race.

The 14-year-old boy was enrolled in his school’s free lunch program, so he was entitled to the milk without paying, his family has said.

“No one needs to be punished for stealing a 65-cent carton of milk,” Robinson told The Washington Post last week. “This officer treats kids like they’re criminals, and guess what happens — they’re going to become criminals.”

The boy’s mother, Shamise Turk, said her son’s ordeal left her “angry” and “frustrated.”

“It just went too far,” she told WTVR. “They are charging him with larceny, which I don’t have no understanding as to why he is being charged with larceny when he was entitled to that milk from the beginning.”

She said that her family’s decision to go to trial is over wanting to set the record straight.

“My son is not going to admit to something he did not do,” she told The Washington Post.

A spokesman for Prince William Public Schools said in a statement Monday that it had no role in how the situation was handled, beyond academic discipline. Local authorities brought the legal charges and police action, he said.

The school suspended Turk because his actions broke its code of conduct, school spokesman Philip B. Kavits wrote.

“As every parent and student knows, principals must look at how a student behaved, and how that behavior affects both the student and others at the school. Following that determination, principals act in the best interest of all concerned,” he added.

Addressing allegations of racism, Kavits  noted that both the school’s principal and the police officer that handled his arrest are African-American.

“These individuals are well known in our highly diverse community for their dedication and caring approach to ALL students,” he wrote.

Requests for comment from Robinson and Shamise Turk were not immediately returned.

 

 

How the Second Black Wall Street Died

Tulsa, Oklahoma was considered by many black historians to be the first black Wall Street. It had black owned banks, homes, businesses, and homes. It was destroyed in an act of white genocide when white rioters attacked and burned the town, killed hundreds of black residents, and destroyed the town beyond any hope of recovery.

The second Black Wall Street was Richmond, Virginia. Home of the first black millionaire, Maggie Walker. It met a far different fate – being a victim of the end of Segregation.

The St. Luke Penny Savings Bank in Richmond was one of the first black-owned banks in the United States.

The Rise and Fall of Black Wall Street

Richmond was once the epicenter of black finance. What happened there explains the decline of black-owned banks across the country.

On April, 3rd, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech in Memphis. In it, he urged African Americans to put their money in black-owned banks. It wasn’t his most famous line, but the message was clear: “We’ve got to strengthen black institutions. I call upon you to take your money out of the banks downtown and deposit your money in the Tri-State Bank. We want a ‘bank-in’ movement in Memphis … We begin the process of building a greater economic base.”

The next day, King was assassinated, and his hope of harnessing black wealth remains unfulfilled. Before integration, African Americans in cities like Richmond, Chicago, and Atlanta relied on black community banks, which were largely responsible for providing loans and boosting black businesses, churches, and neighborhoods. After desegregation, black wealth started to hemorrhage from these communities: White-owned banks were forced to open their doors to African Americans and the money that once flowed into black banks and back out to black communities ended up on Wall Street and other banks farther away.

“We started to lose a lot of our businesses and support for our businesses,” says Michael Grant, president of the National Bankers Association, a trade group representing nearly 200 minority and women-owned banks across the United States. “That was the toxic side of integration.” The financial meltdown of 2007 wiped out 40 percent of African American wealth in the United States, killing off many of these already-struggling community banks (they were not part of the big Wall Street bailout). Tri-State Bank in Memphis still exists, but it’s among the few that survived. Only 25 black-owned banks remain in the United States, according to the latest data from the FDIC, compared to 45 a decade ago. At their height, there were more than 100, says Grant.

The decline raises the question of whether these niche banks still have a place in modern America. I visited the Jackson Ward neighborhood of Richmond, Virginia, once dubbed America’s “Black Wall Street” and “the birthplace of black capitalism.” At the turn of the 20th century, it was one of the most prosperous black communities in the United States, with thriving theaters, stores, and medical practices. Richmond is where the first black banks opened, including one chartered to a former schoolteacher named Maggie Walker—the daughter of a freed slave. The St. Luke Penny Savings Bank, which Walker opened in 1903, made loans to qualified borrowers who were shunned by traditional banks, such as black doctors, lawyers, and entrepreneurs. St. Luke’s would eventually merge with other black banks and become Consolidated Bank and Trust. By the end of the 20th century, the bank was the last black-owned bank in Richmond and was struggling to compete with much bigger banks downtown. It had several troubled loans on its books and couldn’t raise enough capital to stay afloat. In 2005, a Washington, D.C.-based bank bought it, then a West Virginia-based bank took over in 2011 and renamed it Premier Bank. The last bank of “Black Wall Street” was gone.

Premier’s president, Darryl “Rick” Winston, says he too wonders what role black banks will play in the future. He once reviewed loans at Premier Bank when it was still the black-owned Consolidated Bank and Trust. At one point, he says, the bank had $111 million in assets and seven branches. Winston, who is African American, left for a consulting job in 2000, and returned last year to take over as regional president after the buyout. Winston drove me around Jackson Ward, pointing out the shuttered businesses that once made Richmond a bastion of black wealth and culture. “Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong stayed there,” he said, pointing to the former site of the Eggleston Hotel, one of the few upscale lodgings for blacks in the Jim Crow south. As we drove by, a construction crew was busy building a mixed-used complex that will house 31 apartments, 10 townhomes, several stores, and restaurants.

Two blocks away, Premier Bank remains in the same brick building as its predecessor. Much of the bank’s staff is the same. Winston says it’s important to make sure his employees reflect the community they serve, even if it’s no longer a black-owned institution. That’s in part because African American borrowers still face immense bias in the banking and lending industry, he says. “It’s more subtle. A black person goes into a mainstream bank and the loan officer might think of rejecting their application before it’s even complete,” he says.

Racial bias in the lending industry remains all too common, despite legislation aimed at preventing it. In 1992, a landmark study from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston examined 4,500 mortgage-loan applications and discovered that black borrowers were twice as likely to get rejected for loans than white borrowers with similar credit histories. More recently, an economics professor at the University of Massachusetts found that banks in Boston and across the state of Massachusetts continue to reject black and Latino borrowers for home mortgages at a much higher rate than whites….Read the Rest Here…

The author is partially correct. The partial end of segregation did lead to black folks putting their money into white banks. White owned banks offered services, and capabilities the smaller black owned banks couldn’t. But the real destruction of community banking started under Raygun with “deregulation”. the destruction of “brick and mortar laws”, and the changes in the interstate banking laws which allowed the big banks to spread like wildfire across the country, buying out of shuttering small banks.

Now we have banks which are “too big to fail”, and a credit system which segregates by other means.

“deregulation” and “privatization” are nothing more than another means of domestic terrorism and financial genocide against minorities.

 

Va Gov Restores Voting Rights to Felons

Republicans hate this, especially sine the vast majority of people incarcerated at the state level under “Get tough on…” knee jerk laws have been black. Incarcerating black folks was a key to Jim Crow in eliminating the possibility of blacks voting. No different than under the New Jim Crow Voter ID Laws.

Va Governor McAuliffe is a close Clinton ally, so this may presage a larger effort should Hillary Clinton win the Presidency.

If it is true that 1 in 5 black men in Virginia is disenfranchised, and will ultimately allowed to vote…It is the death of the Republican Party in statewide and federal Senate elections in the state, as the difference in the last few elections has only been less than 100,000 votes.

Virginia Governor Restores Voting Rights to Felons

Gov. Terry McAuliffe of Virginia used his executive power on Friday to restore voting rights to more than 200,000 convicted felons, circumventing the Republican-run legislature. The action overturns a Civil War-era provision in the state’s Constitution aimed, he said, at disenfranchising African-Americans.

The sweeping order, in a swing state that could play a role in deciding the November presidential election, will enable all felons who have served their prison time and finished parole or probation to register to vote. Most are African-Americans, a core constituency of Democrats, Mr. McAuliffe’s political party.

Amid intensifying national attention over harsh sentencing policies that have disproportionately affected African-Americans, governors and legislatures around the nation have been debating — and often fighting over — moves to restore voting rights for convicted felons.

In Kentucky, Gov. Matt Bevin, a newly elected Republican, recently overturned an order enacted by his Democratic predecessor that was similar to the one Mr. McAuliffe signed Friday. In Maryland, Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, vetoed a measure to restore voting rights to convicted felons, but Democrats in the state legislature overrode him in February and an estimated 44,000 former prisoners who are on probation are now eligible to register for voting.

“There’s no question that we’ve had a horrible history in voting rights as relates to African-Americans — we should remedy it,” Mr. McAuliffe said in an interview Thursday, previewing the announcement he made on the steps of Virginia’s Capitol, just yards from where President Abraham Lincoln once addressed freed slaves. “We should do it as soon as we possibly can.”

The action, which Mr. McAuliffe said was justified under an expansive legal interpretation of his executive clemency authority, provoked an immediate backlash from Virginia Republicans. They issued a statement Friday accusing the governor of “political opportunism” and “a transparent effort to win votes.”

“Those who have paid their debts to society should be allowed full participation in society,” said the statement from the party chairman, John Whitbeck. “But there are limits.” He said Mr. McAuliffe was wrong to issue a blanket restoration of rights, even to those who “committed heinous acts of violence.”

There is no way to know how many of the newly eligible voters in Virginia will register. “My message is going to be that I have now done my part,” Mr. McAuliffe said.

Friday’s shift in Virginia is part of a national trend toward restoring voter rights to felons, based in part on the hope that it will aid former prisoners’ re-entry into society. Over the last two decades about 20 states have acted to ease their restrictions, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University.

Only two states — Maine and Vermont — have no voting restrictions on felons. On the other side, 12 states disenfranchise felons after they have completed probation or parole, said Marc Mauer, executive director of the Sentencing Project, a Washington policy organization that advocates restoring felons’ voting rights.

Virginia has been one of four states — the others are Kentucky, Florida and Iowa — that impose the harshest restrictions, a lifetime ban on voting for felons. The Sentencing Project says one in five African-Americans in Virginia cannot vote….The Rest Here…

 

Federal Appeals Court Overturns Anti-LGBT Law in Virginia

And because it is the 4th Federal Appeals Court the ruling also sets legal precedent for North Carolina.

Court overturns Va. school’s transgender bathroom rule

A federal appeals court has overturned a policy barring a transgender student from using the boys’ restrooms at his Virginia high school.

A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that the Gloucester County School Board policy is discriminatory. A federal judge had rejected Gloucester High School student Gavin Grimm’s sex discrimination claim.

The appeals court’s ruling establishes legal precedent in the five states in the 4th Circuit, including North Carolina, which faces a lawsuit challenging a new state law requiring transgender public school students to use the bathroom that corresponds to the sex on their birth certificate.

“I feel so relieved and vindicated by the court’s ruling,” Grimm said in a statement released by the American Civil Liberties Union, which represents him. “Today’s decision gives me hope that my fight will help other kids avoid discriminatory treatment at school.”

Grimm was born female but identifies as male. After complaints, the school board adopted a policy requiring students to use public restrooms corresponding with their biological gender.

Grimm, 16, said he started refusing to wear girls’ clothes by age 6 and told his parents he was transgender in April 2014.

Grimm’s parents helped him legally change his name and a psychologist diagnosed him with gender dysphoria, characterized by stress stemming from conflict between one’s gender identity and assigned sex at birth. Grimm began hormone treatment to deepen his voice and give him a more masculine appearance.

School officials told CBS affiliate WTVR they received complaints from dozens of parents in regards to the bathroom issue.

“It shall be the practice of the (Gloucester County Public Schools) to provide male and female restroom and locker room facilities in its schools, and the use of said facilities shall be limited to the corresponding biological genders, and students with gender identity issues shall be provided an alternative private facility,” the school board said in its ruling on the issue.

At that time, the school also built several unisex private restrooms for all students to use.

Grimm said for him, this battle is about much more than just using a certain restroom.

“I’m banned from a gender specific place and it is a big issue for me, this is one way the school is saying, we do not believe you are legitimate, and that is a big deal to me,” he said.

The case of Grimm has been especially closely watched since North Carolina enacted a law last month that bans transgender people from using public restrooms that correspond to their gender identity. That law also bans cities from passing anti-discrimination ordinances, a response to an ordinance recently passed in Charlotte.

In the Virginia case, a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals — which also covers North Carolina — ruled 2-1 to overturn the Gloucester County School Board’s policy, saying it violated Title IX, the federal law that prohibits discrimination in schools. A federal judge had previously rejected Grimm’s sex discrimination claim, but the court said that judge ignored a U.S. Department of Education regulation that transgender students in public schools must be allowed to use the restroom that corresponds with their gender identity.

“We agree that it has indeed been commonplace and widely accepted to separate public restrooms, locker rooms, and shower facilities on the basis of sex,” the court wrote in its opinion. “It is not apparent to us, however, that the truth of these propositions undermines the conclusion we reach regarding the level of deference due to the department’s interpretation of its own regulations.”

Maxine Eichner, a University of North Carolina law professor who is an expert on sexual orientation and the law, said the ruling — the first of its kind by a federal appeals court — means the provision of North Carolina’s law pertaining to restroom use by transgender students in schools that receive federal funds also is invalid.

“The effects of this decision on North Carolina are clear,” she said, adding that a judge in that state will have no choice but to apply the appeals court’s ruling.

Other states in the 4th Circuit are Maryland, West Virginia and South Carolina. While those states are directly affected by the appeals court’s ruling, Eichner said the impact will be broader.

“It is a long and well-considered opinion that sets out the issues,” she said. “It will be influential in other circuits.”

 

Toni Morrison…A Pornographer?

More on conservatives getting stupid. The Republican majority house and senate in Virginia has passed a law banning Morrison’s books because there are sexual scenes in the books.

The right wing christian Taliban is at it again.

Virginia’s Governor is trying to decide whether Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison is a pornographer

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe is currently deciding whether Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison is a pornographer.

Last month, both houses of the Virginia Legislature passed a bill requiring schools to warn parents if teachers are planning to read books with explicit content. The bill was prompted by a concerned parent, Laura Murphy, who learned that one of her sons was reading Morrison’s novel “Beloved,” which includes graphic depictions of rape and infanticide. Murphy and sympathetic lawmakers cited similarly explicit material in books such as “The Bluest Eye,” also by Morrison, “Invisible Man” by Ralph Ellison and “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy.

“I don’t shelter my kids, but I have to be a responsible parent. I want to make sure every kid in the county is protected,” Murphy told the Washington Post.

McAuliffe has not yet said whether he will support the bill. As a teacher, parent and avid book reader, I believe he should not. This bill simply doesn’t go far enough. In fact, New Jersey lawmakers should go further than their Virginia counterparts and draft a law that takes us back to the days of banned books. After all, this may be the last chance we have to actually make books interesting to students.

It is true, as critics have charged, that the Virginia proposal puts the state on a slippery slope to censorship. It also makes the good folks of Virginia look a tad provincial.

“Toni Morrison has won the National Book Award, the Pulitzer Prize, and she’s the last American author to win the Nobel Prize for literature,” noted state Sen. Janet D. Howell, who opposed the Virginia bill. “So let’s just make ourselves look ridiculous.”

But what’s really ridiculous is that we are bypassing a golden opportunity to remind kids that great books contain sex, love, comedy, sex, drama, violence and — finally — sex. You know, all the stuff they think the Internet invented.

Indeed, supporters of the Virginia book bill are right about one thing: We are facing a crisis. But it has nothing to do with books. The prevalence of visual media in the lives of both adults and children is so overwhelming that it threatens basic things that make us human: contemplation, solitude, sustained thought. One doesn’t have to spend much time on Vine or YouTube to realize that if young minds are being damaged, it ain’t a poetic 300-page Toni Morrison novel we have to worry about.

Obviously, there are distinctions to be made here between third-graders and high school seniors. Nevertheless, the fact that anyone believes more harm than good can come out of reading a book with challenging ideas and language is ignorance in its purest form: a sad yet disturbing lack of knowledge.

On the other hand, if word gets out that classics written by the likes of James Joyce, Philip Roth or Morrison have naughty bits, maybe kids will be tempted to put down their phones for a minute or two. Or maybe they’ll pick their phones up and spread the word that literature actually pulses with stuff that’s interesting and important.

Plus, the Virginia bill, as currently written, might not even work. Notify parents that Jane or Johnny is reading smutty books? That would require Mom to remove her steamed-up glasses and stop reading “Fifty Shades of Grey” for the 50th time. And that would require Dad to … pause the video game he is playing. Because, as is well-known, adult men have pretty much given up on reading.

And by the way: Shouldn’t parents already know what their kids are reading in class? Aren’t they supposed to speak to their children about school from time to time? I know most kids offer grunts in lieu of coherent responses. But if you can’t get the title of a book out of your child — and perhaps read and judge the entire book for yourself — then you just might have bigger parental problems.

It’s worth mentioning here that there’s a tendency to sneer at the conservative Republican leanings of those who support the Virginia book bill. But overly sensitive liberal types have their own problems in this area. Some believe college professors should stay away from books with racist or sexist elements, which might traumatize fragile minds.

If the good Virginia legislators are so worried about kids seeing pornography…

Then they better ban the Internet…Where they can see the naked Women for Trump.

 

Virginia Ends Reciprocal Handgun Permits

In a move that has already toasted the Republicans and associated gun crazies, the AG of Virginia has ended agreements with states who allow people with mental disorders, convicted felons, are fugitives of state or federal justice, and/or convicted stalkers to conceal carry guns.

Good Move!

Virginia revokes handgun permit agreement with 25 states

Concealed handgun permits held by residents of 25 states will no longer be valid in Virginia, the state’s attorney general said Tuesday, drawing swift criticism from GOP lawmakers.

Attorney General Mark Herring, a Democrat, said the state will revoke its reciprocity agreement with the states because their concealed weapon laws don’t meet Virginia’s standards. Those states hand out permits to people who are barred under the Virginia law, like fugitives, convicted stalkers and drug dealers, which undermines the state’s law and puts residents at risk, he said.

“Evenly, consistently and fairly enforcing Virginia’s concealed handgun permit law, as we are now doing, means that it will be more difficult for potentially dangerous individuals to conceal their handguns here in Virginia and that will make Virginians safer, especially Virginian law enforcement,” Herring said.

The move means that Virginians will no longer be able to use their concealed handgun permits in six states that require a mutual reciprocity agreement: Florida, Louisiana, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Wyoming.

John Whitbeck, chairman of the Virginia Republican Party, said Herring’s announcement was further proof that Democrats have “declared war on the Second Amendment.”

The top Republican in the GOP-controlled House of Delegates said that Herring is “damaging the integrity of the office he holds.”

“Despite promising to take politics out of the attorney general’s office, Mark Herring consistently seeks to interpret and apply the law of the Commonwealth through the lens of his own personal, political opinions,” House Speaker William Howell said.

Lars Dalseide, a spokesman for the National Rifle Association, said concealed handgun reciprocity agreements between states have ended before, but his organization is unaware of another state ever implementing a change of this magnitude.

 

 

More of that Persecution and Ignorance By christians in Virginia

This is the Statement of Faith in Islam in Arabic, called the Shahada, and is the first of the “Five Pillars” of the Islamic Faith –

It says –

“There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.” In the Middle East you will find this statement at the entry to every Mosque, as well as displayed in the homes and businesses of the faithful.

It also is quite possibly the most recognized piece of Calligraphy in the world, even among those not of the Islamic faith.

So what happens when American christian bigots confront the world’s most known calligraphy? You betcha. For a religion supposedly founded on the blood of martyrs who were fed to the Lions and tortured but stood firm in their faith…These modern “christians” sure have some weak faith. So weak in fact, it is no faith at all.

“You may be 38 years old, as I happen to be. And one day, some great opportunity stands before you and calls you to stand up for some great principle, some great issue, some great cause. And you refuse to do it because you are afraid…. You refuse to do it because you want to live longer…. You’re afraid that you will lose your job, or you are afraid that you will be criticized or that you will lose your popularity, or you’re afraid that somebody will stab you, or shoot at you or bomb your house; so you refuse to take the stand.

Well, you may go on and live until you are 90, but you’re just as dead at 38 as you would be at 90. And the cessation of breathing in your life is but the belated announcement of an earlier death of the spirit.”
― Martin Luther King Jr.

Virginia Schools Close After Uproar Over Arabic Calligraphy Lesson

“It is outrageous to believe she is trying to convert anyone to Islam.”

A Virginia school district closed all of its schools and offices after an outcry over a high school geography lesson that included an example of Arabic religious calligraphy.

The lesson, which was part of a world geography class at Riverheads High School, asked the students to copy the Arabic letters that translate to: “There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.”

The school said the lesson wasn’t to promote Islam but to study “the artistic complexity of the calligraphy,” superintendent Eric Bond said in a news release cited by the News Leader newspaper.

In addition, the Virginia Department of Education confirmed to the Daily Progress that the lesson met state geography standards, which require learning the language and religion of each region under study.

But some parents were outraged.

“I will not have my children sit under a woman who indoctrinates them with the Islam religion when I am a Christian, and I’m going to stand behind Christ,” Kimberly Herndon, an Augusta County parent, told CBS 6.

Herndon also organized a community meeting at a local church.

On Facebook, Herndon said the geography teacher, Cheryl LaPorte, should lose her job.

“She should be FIRED for that,” Herndon wrote. “She should be fired because she had them write an abomination to their faith and causes a little girl to cry herself to sleep because she was worried she had denounced her God.”

Some students said the lesson made them uncomfortable.

“A lot of people got really upset and I refused to do the paper,” Laurel Truxell, a ninth grader, told NBC 29. “I just felt uncomfortable learning about it in a world geography class, you shouldn’t teach religion in school unless you’re in a religious class.”

A Facebook page set up to protest the school was quickly overwhelmed by posts in support of the teacher. It was eventually taken offline, according to the News Leader.

“I love this school, and Mrs. LaPorte is a wonderful teacher,” the paper quoted Kari Watson as saying. “It is outrageous to believe she is trying to convert anyone to Islam. Please, choose your media outlets wisely and be aware of what you’re spreading.”

“The thing is, she wasn’t forcing Islam on anyone,” Anna Arneson, a sophomore who took LaPorte’s class last year, told the Daily Progress. “As a Christian, I didn’t find it oppressing at all.”

Arneson said the class taught her to understand people of different cultures and faiths.

“I feel that’s a part of growing up is learning acceptance,” she said.

“I was hoping that we’ve come further along in our community to be more open-minded,” Riverheads alumni Grace Zimmerman told ABC station WHSV.

Despite support from students, the district has been receiving numerous complaint calls and emails, many of which were sent from people outside of the area.

The Augusta County Public Schools said the sheriff’s department recommended the closure of schools due to “concerns regarding the tone and content” of the communications, according to a statement from the school board posted online by NBC 29.

 

New Documentary on Rosenwald Schools

The history of black education in America is difficult to separate from the legacy of the Rosenwald Schools. Julius Rosenwald, who rose to be President of Sears and Roebucks, charity built nearly 5,000 schools in the segregated South for black children. Black parents paid a “double tax” to get the schools built and operated in the 14 states of the South, as on top of their normal state and local taxes, they had to raise and donate about 14% of the cost of the school – which I will detail in the second article below.

Julius Rosenwald, center, started the Rosenwald Fund to help build schools in the segregated South. “Rosenwald” is a new documentary by filmmaker Aviva Kempner.

Rosenwald’s generosity captured in new film

In age that exalts politicians and entertainers who can’t stop telling us how wonderful they are, it is refreshing to honor a man who accomplished a lot without wanting his name on all of it.

Julius Rosenwald, who never finished high school but rose to become president and co-owner of Sears, Roebuck and Co., didn’t want his name on the store that he led to worldwide success.

Rosenwald, who died in 1932, didn’t want his name on Chicago’s magnificent Museum of Science and Industry, although he funded and promoted it so much that many Chicagoans called it “the Rosenwald museum” anyway.

He didn’t want his name on his other edifices, including more than 5,000 schools that he helped fund for black schoolchildren across the segregated South.

Yet, alumni of those schools still call them “the Rosenwald schools.” I know. Some of those alumni are in my family.

I discovered that tidbit of family information in the way journalists often stumble across information about themselves while pursuing stories about somebody else.

I was being interviewed by Washington, D.C., filmmaker Aviva Kempner for her new documentary, “Rosenwald,” when she asked if any of my southern relatives, most of them in Alabama, attended Rosenwald schools. I didn’t know, I said, but it was possible. I have a lot of cousins.

I later asked my cousin Willie Howard, a whiz in the telecommunications industries, and he broke out in a big grin. “We all did,” he said.

Alumni more famous than my cousins include poet-author Maya Angelou, director George C. Wolfe, U.S. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia and Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson, all of whom are interviewed in the film.

Indeed, Kempner’s “Rosenwald,” now in select theaters, may well leave you convinced that former United States poet laureate Rita Dove, another Rosenwald school alum, was right when she called the Rosenwald Fund “the single most important funding agency for African-American culture in the 20th century.”

Besides underwriting the mostly rural grade schools, the Rosenwald Fund awarded fellowships to such rising stars as classical vocalist Marian Anderson, poet Langston Hughes, painter Jacob Lawrence, photographer Gordon Parks and writers James Baldwin, Arna Bontemps, Zora Neale Hurston and Ralph Ellison.

The most intriguing question, among the many that the film explores, is why Rosenwald, whose father immigrated from Germany in 1851 with $20 in his pocket, was so modest yet so generous.

As the late civil rights leader Julian Bond, whose father and uncle were Rosenwald fellows, puts it in the film, “He did not have to care about black people, but he did.”

The answer, Rosenwald’s biographers say, can be found in his faithfulness to the Jewish ideals of “tzedakah” (charity) and “tikkun olam” (repairing the world).

According to Stephanie Deutsch, author of the 2011 book “You Need a Schoolhouse: Booker T. Washington, Julius Rosenwald and the Building of Schools for the Segregated South,” Rosenwald said in one of his speeches that “We like to look down on the Russians because of the way they treat the Jews, and yet we turn around, and the way we treat our African-Americans is not much better.”

Rosenwald was also influenced by Booker T. Washington, conservative founder of the Tuskegee Institute, who suggested the funding of schools as the best investment for the future of black America.…More…

 

Rosenwald Schools

By: Dr. Alyce Miller, associate professor of history at John Tyler Community College and Dr. Brian J. Daugherity, assistant professor of history at Virginia Commonwealth University

The Rosenwald school building program, in many ways the brainchild of Virginia-born and Hampton-educated Booker T. Washington, occurred during the period of segregation and Jim Crow across the American South. Segregated school systems were supposed to be, according to the U.S. Supreme Court in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), “separate and equal,” but in reality educational systems for African Americans in Virginia and the South were anything but. This made the funds provided by educational grant programs such as the Rosenwald Fund so significant.

Rosenwald schools were public schools that were built using matching grant funds. The Rosenwald Fund required matching funds from any combination of public and private sources. According to Julius Rosenwald Fund records (JRF), the JRF helped construct 367 schools, three teacher’s homes, and eleven school (industrial) shops in Virginia. Of the total cost of Rosenwald-associated buildings, grounds, and equipment in Virginia from 1917 through 1932, African Americans contributed 22%, white contributions totaled 1%, the Rosenwald Fund contributed 15%, and state and local government contributions equaled 62%. In the fifteen states in the South where the school building program operated, African Americans collectively contributed 17% of the funds, the Rosenwald Fund contributed 15% of the funds, private white contributions totaled 4% of the funds, and public funds made up the remaining 64% of the funds. Without the organization of local African American communities willing to pay what historian James D. Anderson referred to as the “double tax,” these schools would not have been built.

In late Fall 2015, VCU Special Collections will launch an online exhibit, Black Education in Goochland County: From Rosenwald Schools through Brown v. Board of Education, comprised of research and oral history interviews related to African American educational activism in Virginia and, specifically, Goochland County. The interviews and research were conducted by Dr. Alyce Miller, Dr. Brian Daugherity, and Cris Silvent, associate professor of art at John Tyler Community College.

The local activism surrounding Rosenwald schools continues today in movements throughout the Commonwealth to preserve the histories, and structures, of these schools. John Tyler Community College (and the Virginia Community College system) has been working on an initiative to increase student engagement and success using student and faculty involvement in Rosenwald school activities. The excitement and commitment surrounding this activism provides us with an opportunity to engage the younger generation in this history and in education in general. We have also partnered with Preservation Virginia (among others) to create a larger network of Rosenwald school information across the Commonwealth.

In today’s featured image, you can see the number of Rosenwald schools built in counties throughout Virginia. You can find more information on the number of schools built in each county in Virginia (and throughout the South) by accessing the Rosenwald Schools Database at Fisk University. This is available online here. Schools were not often named after Julius Rosenwald, at his own request.

This short documentary (not the one Paige discusses above) is about the restoration of the Russell School in North Carolina

 

Policeman Indicted in KIlling of Portsmouth, Virginia Teen

The reason the racist right is in a near frenzy to attack BlackLivesMatter …

Is quite simply that the BLM Movement has gained traction.  We have seen more indictments of Police for egregious and illegal behavior this year, than I dare say in the last 20 years.

Which is pissing the racist right off. Now, more than ever they need folks who will deny what is going on….And it is a sellers market for any low moral Negro who is willing to buckdance.

Virginia Cop Indicted In Murder Of Unarmed Black Teen

WIlliam Chapman II

Portsmouth, Virginia, officer Stephen Rankin was indicted on a first-degree murder charge Thursday after the fatal shooting of an unarmed black 18-year-old earlier this year.

A grand jury decided to charge Rankin, who shot and killed William Chapman II outside a Walmart on April 22, according to The Virginian-Pilot. Autopsy reports obtained by the paper show that Chapman was shot in the face and chest, and that his body was carted off to the city medical examiner’s office with his hands cuffed behind his back.

“After a methodical deliberation of a thorough investigation by the Virginia state police, the state’s attorney determined that William Chapman was murdered by a police officer,” Chapman family attorney Jon Michael Babineau told The Guardian. “Today, the citizens of Portsmouth agreed.”

The Guardian reports on the incident:

The pair had engaged in a physical struggle after Rankin tried to arrest the 18-year-old on suspicion of shoplifting, according to police.

Witnesses said Chapman broke free and then stepped back towards the officer aggressively before being shot twice. The 18-year-old was the second unarmed man shot dead by Rankin in Portsmouth. An autopsy indicated Chapman was not shot at close range.

The shooting was investigated by the Virginia State Police, which passed its investigation to Portsmouth Commonwealth’s Attorney Stephanie Morales earlier this month. She said last week that she’d seek an indictment in Chapman’s death.

Rankin’s lawyer said the cop’s actions were justified.

“He gives Mr. Chapman commands, and it’s at that point Mr. Chapman charges at him and the officer had to respond,” Nicole Belote told WTKR.

Officer Rankin

Rankin was in the media spotlight in 2011 when he shot and killed another unarmed man, Kirill Denyakin, though he was cleared of all wrongdoing. Denyakin’s lawyer told 13 News Now that he was “unsurprised” the latest incident occurred and “thought he would do this again.”

The vast majority of Police Officers never discharge their weapon in the line of duty. Hard to believe one officer could be involved into situations of confronting unarmed suspects and need to fire his weapon…

Which gets into why the First Degree Murder Charge.

Officer Rankin’s previous unarmed victim Kirill Denyakin, whom he shot 11 times…