Friday, November 20, 2015

Protests at the University of Alabama are not symbolic; racism resides in high places on campus, with "N word" used to describe Crimson Tide football players


UA students Kaylin Lee, Maiya Gaspard, and Alexis
Moody gather for a protest at Rose Hall
(from al.com)
The University of Alabama is one of several campuses around the country where students and faculty are protesting over race-based issues, in solidarity with students who recently forced leadership changes at the University of Missouri.

In fact, a student-faculty group called "We Are Done" staged a protest yesterday morning near Foster Auditorium on the UA campus. The group has issued a list of 10 demands that it claims will foster an environment of diversity and tolerance at UA.

We suspect the protests at several campuses are largely symbolic. But that should not be the case at the University of Alabama, where we have shown racism exists in very high places--and it's even directed at the powerhouse and supposedly beloved Crimson Tide football team.

Some students already have called attention to the ugliness that rests beneath the surface at UA. Several of them recently released a video about their encounters with racism on the Tuscaloosa campus. (See video at the end of this post.)

How high does racist rhetoric go at UA? As high as the private box of Paul Bryant Jr., a trustee emeritus and perhaps the Crimson Tide's most powerful booster.

J.T. Smallwood, the tax collector for Jefferson County, was in Bryant's box at an Alabama football game when he looked down over the enormous crowd and was heard to say the following:

"Can you imagine this many people pay us to watch n-----s beat up on each other?"

Language doesn't get much more vile and racist than that. When you consider that it was directed at football players, including those wearing crimson jerseys . . . well, it looks like "We Are Done" has a lot of work to do in Tuscaloosa.

Ironically, it was a threatened boycott from football players that apparently led Missouri's president and chancellor to announce their resignations after a series of race-based incidents on campus. Alabama, ranked No. 2 in the country, has a much better football team than Missouri. But that apparently has not earned much respect for Crimson Tide players among certain high-level fans and administrators.

Jefferson County tax collector
J.T. Smallwood
(from YouTube)
What was yesterday's protest like? Here is an account from Nick Privatera in The Crimson White student newspaper:

[Yesterday] morning, students with the We Are Done organization gathered in protest on campus at the Malone Hood Plaza and then marched to the steps of Gorgas library, where several students spoke at length and the protestors chanted for change.

The demonstration was held to promote changes on the issues of race, gender, sexuality, religion and socioeconomic status. We Are Done is also calling for the administration and the Board of Trustees to acknowledge the existence of the Machine and make strides to bring it above ground.

Some of the main goals for the group is to remove names of white supremacists and Confederate generals from University property, or at least erect markers denoting the racist history of the buildings’ namesakes.

Who is behind "We Are Done" at UA? The answer is not clear, but a recent article by Alyx Chandler in The Crimson White provides insight. From Chandler's article:

The group of concerned students, none representing specific organizations, collectively wrote a letter titled “We only have one demand” and placed it in University president Stuart Bell's secretary's possession that morning before classes started. The secretary confirmed that she received the letter.

“We want the administration to actually acknowledge that racism exists on campus," said Maiya Gaspard, a sophomore majoring in general health studies and one of the students standing in front of Rose. "We want for people to call it what it is, so we can start change."

The UA students stood for two reasons.

One was as concerned students for the University of Missouri, where the University president stepped down on Monday after controversies in which minority students demanded action from school leaders over what student activists called a climate of racism for the predominately white campus. . . .

“It's [Mizzou] creating a bridge,” said Kaylyn Lee, a senior majoring in political and communications studies.

The second reason dealt with students' grievances about administration involvement and acknowledgement on the UA campus about diversity and racism. The letter addressed the need for a diversity officer, a cultural diversity space and an updated version of the University's 2008 strategic diversity plan.

It should not be hard for university administrators to acknowledge that racism exists on campus. It easily can be found in the luxury box of perhaps the university's best known official. If it can be found there--directed toward Crimson Tide football players--God only knows where else it is present.



10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Paul Bryant Jr. is an old Confederate and Dixiecrat, masquerading as a successful businessman. He's probably fooled quite a few people, but not folks with functioning brain cells.

Anonymous said...

Cliff Sims, at Yellowhammer News, these protests are all hot air.


http://yellowhammernews.com/faithandculture/activists-are-desperately-trying-and-failing-to-recreate-the-mizzou-racism-scandal-at-alabama/?utm_campaign=559af5af73526a3223021a54&utm_source=boomtrain&utm_medium=email&bt_alias=eyJ1c2VySWQiOiI5M2NkMWZlYS1mMzA4LTQ2NjEtODlhYi0yN2UwYzM5YmY4ZWIifQ%3D%3D

legalschnauzer said...

Well, that should settle it. Cliff Sims is such a forward-thinking guy. Seriously, thanks for sharing the Sims' piece. I think it's a sign that the white GOP establishment is nervous about the protests.

Anonymous said...

Cliff Sims is the pool boy for Mike Hubbard, Dax Swatek, and Riley Inc. Anything that bothers Cliff, bothers them.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Cliff Sims. I think these protests are BS, and I don't buy your J.T. Smallwood article either.

Anonymous said...

Andy Ostrowski. He has a very nice show on the failure of the legal system.

*Bob Grundstein was in an interview w/Andy Ostrowski > Bob's tele> 802-888-3334 (*wrote the book VENDETTA)

http://www.skyvalleychronicle.com/GOLD-BAR/GOLD-BAR-WOMAN-ANNE-K-BLOCK-LIED-ALTERED-DOCUMENTS-br-i-Says-Wash-State-Bar-Association-i-1670152

http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/Board_members_quit_blast_Washington_State_Bar_in_fight_over_UPL/?

Gold Bar activist who resigned from WA Bar citing gross RICO violations issues press statement

January 16, 2015 by goldbarreporter

Press Release

January 17, 2014

Gold Bar Reporters

Contact Person: Anne Block

Anonymous said...

Anne Block Releases 41 page amended complaint with 110 page RICO statement

detailing Criminal Conspiracy to deny her Civil Rights

See http://twitdoc.com/view.asp?id=172712&sid=3P9K&ext=PDF&lcl=RICO-files.pdf&usr=Sunshine2015K&doc=252796214&key=key-vCgcyry8MG3PdTevxTaE

Today we are pleased to announce to the public release of a 110 page RICO statement that defines a RICO conspiracy that centers around public officials in Gold Bar Washington and the Washington State Bar Association. These documents were filed in a federal case that was filed in the United States District Court, Western District of Washington Case No. 2:14-cv-00235-RAJ. The complaint documents the greatest assault on freedom of the press in the history of the United States.

Anne Block has achieved a degree of notoriety in Snohomish County as the only reporter in the state to break a story involving corruption at the highest levels of government in Snohomish county. Chief Executive Reardan was forced to resign after a story published in the Gold Bar Reporter revealed that Reardan used taxpayer funds to finance affairs with two women employees. According to the complaint, Anne Block even had receipts to show airline tickets purchases, hotel receipts and receipts for sex toys used in Europe during the affair.

According to the complaint, before Reardan resigned, he assigned two employees to organize a “false flag” operation against Block, by having the employees pose as disinterested observers with aliases to organize a campaign to disbar Block. He had another employee destroy county records to hide the affair. That employee was eventually convicted of destroying evidence. As a result of the evidence being destroyed, an Island County prosecutor concluded that he did not have enough evidence to prosecute Reardan for misuse of public funds.

In enlisting support for the bar complaints, the false flag operation gained the support of two other Block targets. John Pennington had been attacked in the press by Anne Block and other newspapers such as the Seattle Times and the Everett Herald as being unqualified to hold the position of emergency operations director of Snohomish County. According to a study conducted by the IRS, Pennington received his college degree from a diploma mill which sold the degrees at a flat rate. According to the RICO complaint, Block published stories how Reardan acted on Pennington’s advise in allowing houses to be built on the Oso mudslide site even though professional engineers described the site as unsafe. The mudslide that eventually occurred resulted in the deaths of 43 citizens.

Anonymous said...

Racism at the University of Alabama? Really? Such an exposé, I must say.

Anonymous said...

The quote you attribute to Smallwood is pretty serious. Didn't think a source or even a mention of one was appropriate?

legalschnauzer said...

If you click on the link in the sixth paragraph, it takes you to a post that identifies the source, the person to whom Smallwood made the statement.