Jack & Jill Politics

Rachel Maddow discusses Tom Tancredo’s racist speech about returning the LITERACY TESTS for voting, with Prof. Charles Ogletree from Harvard.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

And STILL NO WORD from Michael Steele on Tancredo’s comments.

…………………………………………..

Good Morning.

As you go through Hump Day, don’t forget JJP.

Drop those links. Engage in debate. Give us trivia and gossip too.

And always, have a peaceful day.

Sometimes, the truth just has to come out. Watch this clip of Chris Matthews on Sarah Palin. I didn’t know that Matthews was capable of this type of honesty.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Thurgood Marshall

Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American jurist and the first African American to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States. Before becoming a judge, he was a lawyer who was best remembered for his high success rate in arguing before the Supreme Court and for the victory in Brown v. Board of Education. He was nominated to the court by President Lyndon Johnson in 1967.

……………………………

On June 13, 1967, President Johnson appointed Marshall to the Supreme Court following the retirement of Justice Tom C. Clark, saying that this was “the right thing to do, the right time to do it, the right man and the right place.” Marshall was confirmed as an Associate Justice by a Senate vote of 69-11 on August 31, 1967.[6] He was the 96th person to hold the position, and the first African-American. President Johnson confidently predicted to one biographer, Doris Kearns Goodwin, that a lot of black baby boys would be named “Thurgood” in honor of this choice (in fact, Kearns’s research of birth records in New York and Boston indicates that Johnson’s prophecy did not come true).

Read the rest of this entry »

As we celebrate Black History Month this year, I would like to invite us all to consider what African-American history means to our country, to our community, and to each of us as individuals.

For me, there are many touchstones, but often I think of a simple, heartbreaking statement I heard nearly three years ago: “They’re not going to let him win.” So I was told by an elderly, quietly dignified African-American woman who barely cracked open her front door in snowy Iowa when I knocked. I was there to help organize support for an African-American senator from Illinois who was running for President. Perfectly poised, the woman was impassive as she spoke past the chain still fastened to her door, maintaining the dignity that she had seen denied to so many others. For she remembered too well a time when water fountains and buses were a canvas for oppression, when the word “separate” drained all meaning from the word “equal.”

My generation is marked by different memories. When we think of struggle and injustice, we also remember a great man who taught us to dream. We remember walking arm-in-arm with an ever-growing community whose voices told a story of freedom, from neighborhood coalitions to the courtroom. I am a child of this time – my mother raised my sister and me in Oakland amidst marches for racial justice and equality.

Please continue reading… Read the rest of this entry »

hat tips- Angelar and MichelleObamaWatch

—–REUTERS/Jim Young

First Lady Michelle Obama to Appear on CNN’s Larry King Live
CNN’s Larry King Live will have a primetime exclusive interview with Michelle Obama on Tuesday, February 9th, 9pm ET and 6pm PT according to cnn.com. Larry King will discuss everything from the family’s first year in the White House, her husband, and her new initiative on childhood obesity, which is set to be unveiled on February 9th.

Ed Schultz at the Free Health Clinic in Connecticut.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Good Morning.

As you go through your day, don’t forget JJP.

Drop those links. Engage in debate. Give us trivia and gossip too.

And always, have a peaceful day.

Hi folks — I’m on the Board of Netroots Nation and also on the Agenda Committee. I believe strongly in this organization. The first Netroots Nation, then Yearly Kos, was so dynamic and inspirational that it’s one of the reasons I started this blog in the first place and co-founded it with Jack Turner.

This is the fifth anniversary and we’re going back to Las Vegas. Who’s we? Well, only thousands of bloggers, journalists, lawmakers, candidates (and their staff) plus activists and NGOs from around the country. It’s an amazing energy — you’ve got to be there to believe. It makes the news each year.

Today is the deadline for panel submissions (although due to the snopocalypse, they are being understanding if you need another day or two). Diversity is very important to the conference organizers so I’d really urge you to apply. I’ll be looking out for ya, although I can’t make any promises. Certainly though we will be alert to new voices and ideals for panels. So please do consider pulling together a panel.

Here’s more info:

In order to create the most well-rounded agenda possible, we need your help. As members of the community, we ask you to help us develop and organize the sessions you’ll attend at Netroots Nation 2010.

The deadline for submissions is February 8, 2010.

Click here to submit a Session Proposal for Netroots Nation 2010

We’re looking for sessions that range from policy discussions to best practices to case studies. Netroots Nation panels run the gamut of progressive policy, but we’ve set a few priority areas this year. We’ll be sure to cover these areas:

• Immigration reform
• Employee free choice/labor topics
• Economic/financial reform topics
• Organizing around the 2010 election
• Organizing for long term systematic and infrastructure changes to our political process

We also want forward-looking ideas, ones that provide attendees with tools to make change and ideas to build upon. Feel free to browse our archive of previous sessions and check out our video archiveto see what has been done in years past.

Read the rest of this entry »

Dr. John Hope Franklin

John Hope Franklin was the James B. Duke Professor Emeritus of History, and for seven years was Professor of Legal History in the Law School at Duke University. He was a native of Oklahoma and a graduate of Fisk University. He received the A.M. and Ph.D. degrees in history from Harvard University. He has taught at a number of institutions, including Fisk University, St. Augustine’s College, North Carolina Central University, and Howard University. In 1956 he went to Brooklyn College as Chairman of the Department of History; and in 1964, he joined the faculty of the University of Chicago, serving as Chairman of the Department of History from 1967 to 1970. At Chicago, he was the John Matthews Manly Distinguished Service Professor from 1969 to 1982, when he became Professor Emeritus.

Professor Franklin’s numerous publications include The Emancipation Proclamation, The Militant South, The Free Negro in North Carolina, Reconstruction After the Civil War, and A Southern Odyssey: Travelers in the Ante-bellum North. Perhaps his best known book is From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African-Americans, now in its seventh edition. His Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities for 1976 was published in 1985 and received the Clarence L. Holte Literary Prize for that year. In 1990, a collection of essays covering a teaching and writing career of fifty years, was published under the title, Race and History: Selected Essays, 1938-1988. In 1993, he published The Color Line: Legacy for the Twenty-first Century. Professor Franklin’s most recent book, My Life and an Era: The Autobiography of Buck Colbert Franklin, is an autobiography of his father that he edited with his son, John Whittington Franklin. His current research deals with “Dissidents on the Plantation: Runaway Slaves.”

Read the rest of this entry »

hat tip-Angelar

Upcoming Guidance on “In Performance at the White House: A Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights Movement”

Event marks the continuation of White House Music Series by celebrating Black History Month

The 2010 White House Music Series begins on Wednesday, February 10th, when the President and First Lady will host “In Performance at the White House: A Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights Movement” – a concert celebrating Black History month. Participants include Natalie Cole, Bob Dylan, Jennifer Hudson, John Legend, John Mellencamp, Smokey Robinson, Seal, the Blind Boys of Alabama, the Howard University Choir and others. Morgan Freeman and Queen Latifah will serve as emcees for this concert which will feature songs from the Civil Rights Movement as well as readings from famous Civil Rights speeches and writings. The President will make opening remarks at this concert held in the East Room which will be pooled press and streamed live on www.whitehouse.gov starting at 5:15 p.m. ET.

The concert will be televised on February 11th at 8:00 p.m. ET on public broadcasting stations nationwide as part of WETA Washington, D.C.’s “In Performance at the White House” series. NPR will also produce a one-hour concert special from this event for broadcast nationwide on NPR Member stations throughout the month of February, beginning February 12th. The special will be available on www.npr.org/music.

As part of this special event, Mrs. Obama will host “Music that Inspired the Movement,” a workshop that several of the event’s performers will lead for 120 high school students from across the country on Wednesday, February 10th from 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. ET. The students will come to learn about the continuing relevance of music from the Civil Rights Movement to today’s generation and its original impact in the 1960s. This event will be streamed live on www.whitehouse.gov and students all over the country will be invited to watch and engage in the workshop.

First Lady Michelle Obama kicked off the White House Music Series last year with a Jazz Studio, and since then has hosted a celebration of Country Music, a Fiesta Latina and a celebration of Classical Music. Many of these events included evening performances as well as daytime educational workshops designed to educate and inspire talented young people to use their gifts to develop a future for themselves in the arts community whether as a hobby or as a profession.

In Elon James White’s new TWiB — a brutha takes a 30,000 foot perspective on blackness. He lays out a series of 13 truths by, for, about black folk. It’s almost some kinda manifesto…a bit of humor with a heaping side of philosophy. Here are a few of my favorite truths…

• There’s no such thing as “Good Hair.”
• Racism isn’t over. When someone of color says this, they aren’t complaining. They’re observant.
• Black people don’t have to live up to a definition of #blackness. “We” define it w/ everything we do.
• Intelligence does not equal lack of black authenticity. (Jill — Attention: Chris Matthews)
• There’s no better “SHADE” of Black. Light, Dark, Medium. We’re all STILL black. (Jill — Attention: Harry Reid)
• “Black” and “Ghetto” are not interchangeable. One describes a people. One describes a class.
• No one can speak for black people. People speak ABOUT blacks; for “groups of blacks”, but not “FOR BLACKS.”

And my number one favorite:

Obama didn’t come to save Blacks. He came from years of Black Struggle. He’s a product, not the solution.

Peep it…then add your reactions and your own take on the Black Truths in the comments. What did Elon get right and what did he leave out?

The First Lady discusses ‘ date night’ for her and the President.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Good Morning.

As you begin a new week, don’t forget JJP.

Drop those links. Engage in debate. Give us trivia and gossip too.

And always, have a peaceful day.

From The Political Wire:

Cohen Quits Race in Illinois
Scott Lee Cohen (D), the Democratic nominee for Illinois lieutenant governor, “removed himself from the campaign Sunday, freeing Gov. Pat Quinn from the baggage Cohen brought to the ticket, but also leaving him without a running mate,” NBC Chicago reports.

Said Cohen: “I’m someone who made mistakes in my life. And look where I am. If I let you down I”m sorry”.

It’s never boring.

In honor of Superbowl XLIV, today’s historical person is Doug Williams, the first Black Quarterback of a Superbowl Team.

Douglas Lee Williams (born August 9, 1955 in Zachary, Louisiana) is a former American football quarterback. Williams is best known for his MVP performance in Super Bowl XXII with the Washington Redskins. He is, to date, the only African-American to win a Super Bowl as starting quarterback.

Read the rest of this entry »