The enactment of these laws occured over a most of American history, ranging from the earliest of colonial times (the Massachusetts Bay Colony) to the post civil war days and every time period in between. Not one of these pernicious group of NEGRO CODES have been stricken from any body of ACTIVE (yes, I said) ACTIVE LEGISLATIVE state law. Not only are these laws on the books, but they are still part of the state laws for the year 2009!

A legislative effort was made by a group of black lawyers in the 1980's to strike down the infamous BLACK CODES OF OHIO. Their efforts failed by a slim margin due to vigorous opposition by the Police Chiefs Association of Ohio, who claimed the laws were an important law enforcement tool necessary for handling riots and terrorism in the black community. This illustrates the core root of racism in local police as no other ethnic group in the United States have punitive laws written specifically against them purely on the basis of their racial characteristics.

African Americans willl always be non-citizens in this country as long as these laws remain on the books in statehouses around the country, regardless of the presence of a black President or not. Likewise there are BLACK CODES on the books in Illinois, and Barack Obama could in theory be arrested under some of the provisions in those laws the next time he sets foot in Chicago. You want to end this “war” between black folks and the police? Then work to get rid of these horrible out-of-date BLACK CODES!

White Kids on Poutrage

“To the extent that the aforementioned “progressive, political blogosphere” has grown slightly more diverse over the past two years since that May 2007 snapshot, the Obama movement gets the credit for bringing most of the refreshing newcomers in. The gates of the “unbearable whiteness of blogging” have been stormed by a new generation of black, Hispanic and other minority bloggers, readers and commenters, some of whom, like our colleagues over at Jack & Jill Politics, have risen to the front tier of the Netroots. The May 1, 2006 general strike against immigration raids in the United States and the movement it launched likewise provoked a new generation of blogs like that of one my favorites, The Unapologetic Mexican, who have generally been skeptical if not scornful of the white Netroots personalities.”

You don't like th gloating, yet you lead with that poster?