Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Maybe you would prefer that we take Joelle’s side in ALL CAPS?

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

FFS people, this was a good thing. take the win.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

Let’s finish the job.

I’m more Christian than these people and I’m an atheist.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

I was promised a recession.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

The gop couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

In my day, never was longer.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Selma Open Thread

Reader Interactions

157Comments

  1. 1.

    lamh36

    I’m sure if won’t satisfy everyone, but I for one am looking forward to the wingnut tears if this is true!

    @WesleyLowery
    Follow
    Just read the prepared text of President Obama’s speech for #Selma50. His most robust public address on race in America since March 2008

  4. 4.

    Elizabelle

    @lamh36: I look forward to the Brake Stop (?) people fantasizing all the more fervently. Lamenting loudly. Their sorrow and our — well, some kind folks may feel pity.

  5. 5.

    Elizabelle

    Response to bemused re renaming the Pettus Bridge, previous thread:

    @bemused: Maybe they can use a few names.

    Much like Virginia’s wonderful Lee Jackson King Day. Celebrated from 1984-2000. There was a concept.

  6. 6.

    lamh36

    Again if you are NOT following Rep John Lewis on twitter you should. He’s livetweeting his recollections of Bloody Sunday. John Lewis will be speaking before the President.

    @repjohnlewis: I thought I saw death. I thought I was going to die. #Selma50 ” This was grace under pressure. #Selma

  8. 8.

    Elizabelle

    @Xboxershorts: If the news media shows that billboard, or the Obamas pass anywhere near it and are photographed, that could end up an own goal for the Klan.

  9. 9.

    Ruckus

    The white house site is overloaded and I haven’t been able to see it. CSpan3 online requires you to show a TV provider to watch there so that leaves me out as well.

  10. 10.

    lamh36

    @markknoller 3m3 minutes ago
    WH says Obamas now meeting with foot soldiers from the 1965 Selma marches before proceeding to ceremony at 2pm/CT.

  12. 12.

    bemused

    @Elizabelle:

    Yes. So many choices for a rename than a white supremacist, people or the movement. I know it’s Alabama but it’s shameful that it’s 50 years later and that name is still on the bridge.

  13. 13.

    Mike in NC

    @Xboxershorts: Driving through Georgia the day before Thanksgiving we encountered a billboard featuring a rebel battle flag and the words “Never Forget!”

  14. 14.

    lamh36

    Lord help me, but CNN is actually doing really good segments in Selma. MSNBC not so much.

  16. 16.

    Tommy Dee

    Also this month, on March 25, 1965, Viola Liuzzo, a 40-year-old housewife and voter registration worker from Detroit, was shot to death by the Ku Klux Klan on an Alabama highway. She was registering black voters in Selma with Martin Luther King and she driving a car with a black passenger. That was her offense.

    Besides the grief and loss to her family and to the Movement, there is the fact that because there was an FBI informant in the shooters’ car, the Bureau surreptitiously attacked Mrs. Liuzzo’s reputation and character, leaking to the press lies that she was a sex addict, commie, and mentally unbalanced.

    Her three daughters will be at the memorial events in Selma this weekend.

  17. 17.

    Montysan0

    We live in north Alabama and went to Selma in March of 2007, partly out of curiosity about newly-announced candidate Obama. It was a lovely, memorable day, an experience that I highly recommend to any American. We thought about going this year, decided not to when it became such a BFD, and are now regretting that decision.

  20. 20.

    Corner Stone

    @lamh36:

    but CNN is actually doing really good segments in Selma. MSNBC not so much.

    What’s wrong with the MSNBC segments?

  22. 22.

    Elizabelle

    @Xboxershorts: Thinking more on that, I’d love to see a pic of the Obamas pointing and laughing at that billboard. Even if it’s photoshopped.

    They’re too elegant to do so, prob, but it’s fun to think of wingnut reaction ….

    I sure hope the Obama daughters are properly attired or we won’t hear anything else about the events of today. It will be like Obama llamas. Who remembers what else happened that day?

  23. 23.

    Elizabelle

    @WaterGirl: C-Span 3. I think it is. You see everything. Other news channels were all on commercials … Governor Bentley speaking now.

  24. 24.

    Ruckus

    @Tommy Dee:
    An informant was not why they did that. They didn’t have to do anything and no one would have known. But they went the extra mile and destroyed a person’s reputation. Hoover was an asshole, along the lines of McCarthy.

  27. 27.

    Amir Khalid

    @Elizabelle:
    Malia and Sasha will definitely be properly attired for this occasion, no matter how vehemently the haterz argue otherwise.

  28. 28.

    lamh36

    @Corner Stone: they don’t have any. Just reporters.

    CNN had prepared video interviews, George Wallace’s daughter, Selma 65 mayor daughter, a video interview at the main house where the march was organized, where MLK slept and even watched LBJ’s “we shall overcome” speech.

    MSNBC…nothing. but I suspect that’s the new rebranding of MSNBC coming through.

  29. 29.

    Corner Stone

    This Selma event is reminding me of the apocryphal story of something in Ireland a few years ago. Something about a 100 entered and 1 million exited.

  32. 32.

    PaulW

    MSNBC is contractually obligated to show prison reality TV every weekend no matter what. It’s messy when a BREAKING NEWS event takes place.

  33. 33.

    Mnemosyne (tablet)

    @Ruckus:

    There is a longstanding rumor that Hoover was himself black, passing for white, which supposedly explains (a) why he was so obsessed with ferreting out everyone else’s secrets and (b) why he was so obsessed with trying to derail the Civil Rights Movement. But I think that can all be explained by Hoover being a garden-variety sociopath and racist. Sometimes an asshole is just an asshole.

  34. 34.

    PaulW

    Is it too early to start mentioning I’ll be at a Local Author’s Event selling wares in Wesley Chapel FL on May 30th?

  35. 35.

    Corner Stone

    @lamh36:

    MSNBC…nothing. but I suspect that’s the new rebranding of MSNBC coming through.

    Ok. I’ve been watching MHP and Joy Reid talk about things as well as Trymaine Lee (sp) interview people who have connections to the event. I think sometimes personal connections can give impact a canned segment may not. But, maybe it goes both ways sometimes.

    What’s the new rebranding of MSNBC going to be?

  36. 36.

    askew

    I’m liking MSNBC talking to people in the crowd many of whom who walked in 1965. The other pieces on Selma can wait until after the live event today IMO.

    This is a total random ? but seeing the large crowd of people for this event makes me wonder if it was open to anyone or if you had to know someone to get an invite.

  39. 39.

    Mnemosyne (tablet)

    @Elizabelle:

    I’m sure they will have scandalously exposed knees again, which will be the talk of the right-wing blogs. Because nothing makes you look rational and balanced like critiquing the fashion sense of a couple of teenage girls.

  40. 40.

    lamh36

    “He is a civil rights icon, and a lilttle girl from Selma stands in your shadow!”
    ‪#‎Selm50‬…Rep Sewell introducing Rep John Lewis!

  41. 41.

    Elizabelle

    @WaterGirl:

    Am I the only one holding my breath, worried about security?

    No.

    And I wonder if, no I will bet, Secret Service really checked out local cops and state police. Especially since this is same week that Ferguson report came out. Thinking Alabama law enforcement may not be a hotbed of Obots.

  42. 42.

    Xboxershorts

    @Mike in NC:

    Driving through Georgia the day before Thanksgiving we encountered a billboard featuring a rebel battle flag and the words “Never Forget!”

    Trust me, as I said above, being from Buffalo, those kind of humiliating losses aren’t easily forgotten

  44. 44.

    askew

    What the hell George W Bush? He is the only one on stage not clapping. He is the most awkward public official I’ve ever seen.

  46. 46.

    Tree With Water

    The notables at today’s commemoration might have been cast in a surrealistic film in the mid-1960’s. Times change. My pinko uncle lived to see Barack Obama elected to the presidency, and I’m glad that he did. He was pushing 90 when he kicked, which meant his lifespan encompassed well over 1/3 of this nation’s history (1776- present). Regrettably, my father missed Obama’s election by a full decade. It naturally would surely have ranked among the greatest shocks of his life had he known of it. He would have voted for Obama, too. Or Hillary, or Charles Manson himself had he gained the democratic nomination, my New Dealer father being a firm believer in the ‘lesser of two evils’ school of political thought.

  47. 47.

    Iowa Old Lady

    John Lewis is bringing me to tears. I am in awe of both his courage and his generous, hopeful spirit.

    ETA: OMG, Lewis says if you’d told him that day on the bridge that one day he’d be back introducing an AA president, he’d have said you were crazy.

    And the president answers that it’s a rare honor to follow one of your heroes.

  50. 50.

    lamh36

    Pres. Obama: “It was not a clash of armies, but a clash of wills. A contest to determine the true meaning of America.” #Selma50

  51. 51.

    lamh36

    Pres. Obama: “We gather here to honor the courage of ordinary Americans willing to endure billy clubs and the chastening rod” #Selma50

  53. 53.

    Elizabelle

    “They were called every name except the one their parents gave them.”

    So true. I remember a Meet the Press where the pressing question to MLK, Jr. was “are you a communist?” One forgets that part …

  56. 56.

    Mnemosyne (tablet)

    @Elizabelle:

    A lot of Black people joined the Communist Party in the 1930s, because it was the only political party willing to call for racial equality. So it’s one of those smears that was technically true (as in the case of Bayard Rustin) but functionally meaningless.

  57. 57.

    max

    @Mnemosyne (tablet): There is a longstanding rumor that Hoover was himself black, passing for white, which supposedly explains (a) why he was so obsessed with ferreting out everyone else’s secrets and (b) why he was so obsessed with trying to derail the Civil Rights Movement. But I think that can all be explained by Hoover being a garden-variety sociopath and racist.

    He was a hyper-Red-hater. He saw Reds everywhere, including MLK.

    max
    [‘He would’ve liked the tea baggers.’]

  58. 58.

    Iowa Old Lady

    @raven: Yes, and all credit to him. And to the Gov of Alabama too. His speech was scroogish, but he’s there.

    ETA: Ha! “Some people might say racism is over except for people who ‘play the race card.’ This is not true.” (paraphrased of course)

  59. 59.

    Elizabelle

    Thank you for bringing up Ferguson and the race card.

    Fox News, to its credit, is broadcasting this (and showed John Lewis’s intro as well.)

    Hope that one stung or made a few think. It’s possible. The Fox audience lived through the 1950s and 1960s. Many of them have changed their views, to some extent. Maybe they will think.

    (Of course, most Americans are watching sports or other TV now, Fox world included.)

  61. 61.

    Elizabelle

    Voting rights! Amen!

    ETA: And noting that George W. Bush signed it. Very good.

  62. 62.

    Omnes Omnibus

    Nice call out of voter suppression.

    ETA: Also nice call out of those who don’t bother to vote.

  63. 63.

    lamh36

    “…citizens in Ferguson and New York and Cleveland just want the same thing young people here marched for – the protection of the law.”

  69. 69.

    Elizabelle

    @Mnemosyne (tablet): Looked like the WaPost was streaming the speech. How well that works, I cannot say.

    But love the WaPost website right now, with the prominent photo of the Obama motorcade travelling the Edmund Pettus bridge.

  72. 72.

    beth

    If he does nothing after his term but encourage people to vote, he will have spent his time well. This speech is wonderful.

  75. 75.

    Mike in NC

    Maybe someone classy like Newt Gingrich will be invited to appear on one of the Sunday yakfests tomorrow, where he can blather on about post-racial America and rail against the ‘food stamp president’.

  85. 85.

    Bystander

    Glad to see Jr up there. Didn’t know he had it in him. Also think it is very telling that George Wallace’s daughter is there today.

    Let me take a break from congratulating all these white people to mention that John Lewis is easily the greatest human being in Congress.

  89. 89.

    Ruckus

    @lamh36:
    There is a reason I’ve said before that he is the greatest president since this old white man was born. This speech is one of them. It didn’t overwhelm me with oratory but it sure did with inclusiveness and truth. This one seemed delivered by someone who got to be there by the grace of others and knows it full well.
    It was grand.

    ETA Not to say he doesn’t deserve it but that path had to be cleared and people like John Lewis did that. And he fully respects them for that.

  93. 93.

    WaterGirl

    That’s my president.

    Come January 20, 2017, I’m going to be really pissed at myself if I have spent the previous 22 months being beaten down and discouraged by the raging bullshit and not appreciating every single day that this man is my president.

  95. 95.

    moderateindy

    I’m more of a Patty fan……………..
    Has anyone seen the documentary on the Freedom Riders? Really amazing the balls those people had.

  96. 96.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    OT – @Elizabelle: Thanks for the link!! I thought it might have been that one, but I couldn’t find it. I’m grateful.

  98. 98.

    Hildebrand

    Was just thinking about this – my daughter is 12, President Obama is the only president she has ever really known. She mentioned after the speech that the next president has mighty big shoes to fill. Can you imagine, thinking that all presidents should be this thoughtful, eloquent, and measured?

  99. 99.

    WaterGirl

    The reverend who spoke after President Obama was really terrific. I think that’s the one time I’ve seen someone follow Barack Obama and hold their own.

  101. 101.

    Elizabelle

    I was reading the last 3 paragraphs of the prepared speech as PBO delivered, and the text alone cannot show the build at the end. Really good to hear this one.

  104. 104.

    Ruckus

    @Bystander:
    Not to be defending jr in any way but I don’t believe that among his many faults that he is racist. Certainly not overtly. And didn’t Wallace at least try to repent publicly about his life before he died? Even assholes can change and grow.

  106. 106.

    J R in WV

    I am so proud to have President Obama leading our country in my lifetime.

    We watched him deliver a speech at the Democratic Convention when he was a newly elected Senator, and it was a stemwinder. I looked at Mrs J and she looked back at me, and we agreed that “This guy is going places!”

    Just Wow! What a leader!

    I don’t know how the haters manage to keep their firey hate burning in the face of this President of the United States…

  107. 107.

    lamh36

    Ok, so is anyone showing the POTUS and First Family walk across the bridge…CSPAN is on historical footage and CNN is back in studio.

    MSNBC has gone back to “Caught on Camer”…smh

  108. 108.

    Baud

    Apparently, a video of the Obama’s speech isn’t available on the Internet.

    I blame Obama.

  109. 109.

    Elizabelle

    @lamh36: Rats. I really wanted to see that. I wonder why C-Span is not showing it … security? Technical probs?

    ETA: Is John Lewis tweeting that they’re crossing the bridge now?

  110. 110.

    Ruckus

    @TooManyJens:
    Clicked on your link. Like (among others) that Imani ABL retweet of @elonjames, “Hold on I gotta call someone a douchebag on the internet.”

  114. 114.

    minachica

    @Omnes Omnibus: He was a friend of our family, and I can’t help but picture him as the little boy he was just a few years ago. We are sick over this :(

  115. 115.

    WaterGirl

    @Smiling Mortician: What moment was that?

    I watched it live but I am also recording the repeat tonight on C-SPAN3 at 8pm ET and plan to watch it again.

    I’m also recording the event at the church on Sunday morning – can’t wait to hear this reverend again and Eric Holder and others. That starts at 11:45 ET

  118. 118.

    CarolDuhart2

    The Obama Diary

    For WaterGirl. We are diehard Obots, and we post all of the Obama Video we can find at the first time we can find them. Say hi to Chipsticks.

  122. 122.

    max

    @Baud: Thank you!

    No sweat! I was reading it after you asked but before I saw. Took a minute.

    max
    [‘The snow is melting. The temps will be above freezing all night next week! Woo!’]

  124. 124.

    askew

    2nd best speech of Obama’s career after his race speech. It was an extraordinary celebration of America and spoke so emotionally about how much more we need to do. No one can say he doesn’t love America after this.

    What I think I loved the most was his inclusiveness. I’ve never heard another US President talk about Native Americans as much as this president has and for his to include Sacagawea and NAs in WWII was impressive. I also loved that he celebrated immigrants coming from not just Europe but crossing the Rio Grande.

    Best president of my lifetime by a mile and there is no one in either party who even comes close to filling his shoes.

  125. 125.

    Tommy

    Just watched John Lewis on Democracy Now from the Friday show. No matter how many times I hear him talk about Selma my eyes leak more than a little. Thank gosh our nation has and does have people like him. I am 99% sure I would not have been as brave as he was and many others to walk across that darn bridge. I like I think I would have, but not if I am really honest with myself.

  126. 126.

    Baud

    @askew:

    My lifetime also.

    No one can say he doesn’t love America after this.

    They couldn’t have said it before this, but they did and will continue to do so.

  127. 127.

    Amir Khalid

    @askew:

    No one can say he doesn’t love America after this.

    No one can honestly say it, true. But those who want to say it shall say it, won’t they?

    @Baud: Dang. You were quicker on the submit button.

  128. 128.

    askew

    @Elizabelle:

    Yeah, really surprised Carter wasn’t there. HW’s health is bad so not surprised he wasn’t there and the Clintons are laying low right now so not surprised they weren’t there.

  129. 129.

    ruemara

    Watching President Obama and the First Family crossing the bridge right now. Very inspiring. Also, fuck Edmund Pettus.

  130. 130.

    askew

    @Baud:

    Yep, apparently Jeb said that Obama doesn’t understand America’s promise while stumping Iowa during Obama’s speech which is pretty ironic.

    But, there was a section of the speech that was a definite mocking of Rudy and other GOP who have questioned Obama’s love of America.

  133. 133.

    Botsplainer

    @ruemara:

    Heritage, not hate! It was about states rights and tariffs, not slavery! The KKK wasn’t so bad, but they were all liberal democrats! It was so long ago, get over it but honor my treasured white forebears!! Confederate officers were men of honor and had great manners!!

  134. 134.

    Iowa Old Lady

    @askew: Because American promised that if you were born rich, and your father was president, and your brother was president, you can be president too.

  138. 138.

    Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)

    I was watching Rachel Maddow last night or the night before, and she was talking about how, until the last minute, not one Republican Congressional leader was going to go to Selma. In the end, somebody, I think it was the House majority leader, said he’d go. She said that it was like the Republicans aren’t even trying to look like they give a shit about Black people any longer. I guess that’s about right.

  140. 140.

    Ruckus

    @ruemara:
    I’m taking a wild guess here, not actually being Christian? Of course neither am I and I still believe in the basic ideals of Jesus, which pretty much described the general tone of President Obama’s speech.

  143. 143.

    ruemara

    @David Koch: More like the 29 minute mark. I’m surprised they don’t cut to just before he speaks in these postings, but there’s probably a rule.

  144. 144.

    Jacks mom

    Haven’t had a chance to read the comments but noticed open thread and really wanted to introduce my new puppy Jade ( that’s his name for now anyway). He is the bestest goggy ever.

    Unfortunately I am an old and not very tech savvy so you will have to wait for pics until I figure that part out.

    Now back to your regular scheduled etc.

  145. 145.

    Tommy

    @ruemara: Because folks are kind of crazy these days. I was raised a Methodist (atheist now), but many of my family (all other than my mom and dad) are Catholic. Spent a more than a little time in a Catholic church.

    The priest in that Catholic church was fired about 5-6 years ago.* It is said he was fired by the Bishop because he changed the Liturgy and members recorded him and forwarded it to said Bishop. He said he made VERY minor changes because he saw his congregation getting older and older (and frankly dying) and wanted to make it more accessible.

    The people in the know say this was just how they got him fired, they were more upset that he preached/advocated for the poor, the sick, those without a voice with a white hot passion. And he did, I’ve witnessed it and it seemed like a true passion.

    In the good news part of this post he got a ton of donations from local people, another job, and now using his Air Force pension to run a homeless shelter. Think he was one of the “good” guys. He wants to live what he preaches.

    *He worked for FREE BTW, since he lived off his Air Force pension.

  147. 147.

    Mnemosyne (tablet)

    @ruemara:

    And yet the only reason anyone has ever heard Edmund Pettus’s name outside of that town is because of the march across that bridge. I hope Pettus is spinning in his grave (or on his spit in hell) right now seeing a Black president walk across “his” bridge.

  148. 148.

    Debbie

    @raven:

    I’m almost looking forward to hearing Glenn Beck’s reaction to the speech. He’s taken to comparing himself to Gandhi and MLK, so it should be priceless.

  149. 149.

    Chris

    @Mnemosyne (tablet):

    But I think that can all be explained by Hoover being a garden-variety sociopath and racist. Sometimes an asshole is just an asshole.

    This is my interpretation as well.

    That, plus the fact that the powers that be were probably much more disturbed by the disruptive potential of the civil rights movement than by its enemies in the Ku Klux Klan. And you probably don’t get to climb the ladder to Number One Cop In America without sharing most of the “establishment”‘s prejudices and preconceptions about who is or isn’t a matter of grave concern.

  152. 152.

    J R in WV

    @David Koch:

    Thanks, I needed that!

    What a wonderful day for all of those folks who could go to Selma on this anniversary, I hope and expect they understand the meaning of this day. Keep on working for the prize!

  153. 153.

    Tree With Water

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.): “…it was like the Republicans aren’t even trying to look like they give a shit about Black people any longer”.

    Or anyone else, for that matter.

    “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also”. The republican party’s worship of mammon is where its cankered heart is to be found, it’s what makes it tick. Mammon today, mammon tomorrow, and mammon forever….

  154. 154.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @askew:

    President Carter had been committed for a long time to attending a Nobel Peace Prize forum on human rights. Too bad the organizers didn’t realize that the date would conflict with the Selma 50th anniversary, but I’m not going to fault him for participating in another important conference on human rights.

    And I agree, props to Dubya and Laura for being in Selma. Someone upthread noted that for all his faults — and FSM knows they are legion — he is probably no more racist than anyone in this country. I’m glad he was there.

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