Only The 'Negro Leagues' Can We Celebrate -- Black Members of Birmingham City Council Wield Political Authority, Black-Power Style

It was never about equality. 

It was never about being judged by "the content of character."

No. 

It was about something else. 

Remember what voting actually represents, as Robert Heinlein outlined it succinctly in Starship Troopers: 

We all live under the shadow of this hegemon

To vote is to wield authority; it is the supreme authority from which all other authority derives—such as mine to make your lives miserable once a day. Force if you will!—the franchise is force, naked and raw, the Power of the Rods and the Ax. Whether it is exerted by ten men or by ten billion, political authority is force.

This is why Eric Holder and Barack Obama happily entertained Al Sharpton at the White House and pledged to do everything possible to strengthen the Voting Rights Act. 

This is what the victory in Birmingham back in 1963 represents and why the fight must endure, so Black-Run America (BRA) can continue to wield authority. 

Power. 

Force. 

Naked and raw. 

The supreme authority. 

In 2013 Birmingham, we see the end result of this authority play out, where elected council members argue against financially supporting an Indy Grand Prix event for the lack of 'black faces' [Birmingham mayor/council battle of wills kills million-dollar Barber Indy racing contract, Birmingham News, March 26, 2013]. 
It's a 74 percent black city, so those who elect these black individuals to represent their interests must be satisfied, right? 
Well, a recent city council debate (seven of the nine members are black) in Birmingham powerfully showcased Heinlein's axiom, when black council members voiced their opposition to honoring the white Southern League in a proposed museum for the Negro Leagues. [What's in a name? Apparently a lot when it comes to Birmingham's baseball museum, Birmingham News, July 31, 2013]:

The name and scope of Birmingham's planned baseball museum stirred heated debate and speeches on history and racial pride during today's Birmingham City Council meeting.

Controversy erupted over the proposal to add 'Southern League' to the title of the upcoming Negro League baseball museum. It wasn't the $252,000 amount on the agenda, but rather the working title of the project that lit fireworks on the dais.
The facility in its last conception was deemed a Negro League museum, but the listing from Mayor William Bell appeared to reintroduce the Southern League back into project.

Bell said the name was just a working title.

"That's the operational name," he said. "That's not going to be the permanent name."

Bell's staff as early as last fall said the museum would pay special homage to Birmingham's history in the Negro Leagues, but not necessarily exclude all of the Negro Leagues.

However, that wasn't enough for several council members including Council President Roderick Royal, Lashunda Scales and Steven Hoyt, who said the working title brings a changed focus for Birmingham's museum. They said Bell was wrong to renege on the city's commitment to creating a shrine to the Negro Leagues.

Royal, who early on advocated the Negro league museum concept, said the city should hold to its approved scope.

"I'm just saying. Let's just keep our commitment," he said. "I'm not trying to fan flames. I'm just saying that's what we committed and we need to honor that commitment."

Councilwoman Valerie Abbott said the group should cut the mayor "some slack" when it came to the name, after Bell said the council would be involved.
That spurred both a defense of the mayor from Councilman Jay Roberson and more criticism from Hoyt. Roberson said the city was correct in taking time to study the project.

"We have to be open-minded in that process," Roberson said.

Hoyt countered, saying city leaders should be ashamed for shying away from the Negro League concept. He described the inequities of the past and said the black players deserved the honor.

"This is Birmingham," Hoyt said. "I don't know how we correct the wrong until we somehow understand it's ok to celebrate black history in this city."

Today's debate reawakened an old debate going back four years.

Under former Mayor Larry Langford, the proposed museum was set to honor the Negro Leagues and Southern League and be built at Rickwood Field.

That concept came after an original plan for a Negro League museum at the site was expanded to include Birmingham's entire baseball history.

Some former Negro Leagues players then advocated building a museum downtown in the Civil Rights district rather than Rickwood, which was segregated at the time of the dual leagues.

Current Mayor Bell then proposed building the facility next to the new Barons stadium near Railroad Park. The concept, with council pressure, was also narrowed back to the Negro Leagues.

Both Hoyt and Scales called it shameful that a black mayor and a majority black council had to debate the issue.

"It's so unfortunate that you're looked upon as being a racist when you celebrate your race," Scales said. "Charity begins at home."

Finally, Bell distanced himself from the idea of expanding the museum, saying the joint name was simply an old working title.

The fight ended with a history lesson from Roberson and a motion that the working title be changed to the "Negro Southern League," taking the 'and' from the masthead to solidify the commitment to a singular league.

Birmingham is a city where it's city council passed an emergency bill banning the issuing of permits to new title loan, pawn shops, and check cashing stores, because these businesses represented the only growth industry in the 74 percent black city [Birmingham City Council extends ban on new payday lending, title pawn shops, Birmingham News, 10-16-12].

Power. 

Force. 

Naked and raw. 

The supreme authority. 

Used to stop the growth of payday loan stores, because the black residents of Birmingham lack future-time orientation. 

As do those elected to power in the city. 

Fitting, this year celebrates "50 Years Forward" for Birmingham -- a liberation of the city from the hands of evil white rule, to enlightened, noble, and inclusive black rule: 

THEY SAY IT’S ALWAYS DARKEST BEFORE THE DAWN. And this has never been more true than in 1963, the height of the Civil Rights Movement. The events of that year revealed the best and worst humanity had to offer, as some of Birmingham’s most courageous citizens fought to release their city from the terrible grip of hatred and discrimination. 

Now, 50 Years Forward, we’re coming together to commemorate “The Movement That Changed The World.” And to celebrate those who sacrificed so much to make it happen, armed with nothing more than hope in their hearts, a prayer on their lips, and the winds of freedom at their backs.

The state of Birmingham in 2013, and the actions of those elected officials in the city council represents the exercising of political force and authority few people wish to acknowledge. 

Black power, pure and simple. "50 Years Forward" is merely the celebration of the enshrining into law universal black power and white acquiescence to this concept.  

White dispossession. 

Let's leave on another Starship Troopers quote, shall we?:

“There is an old song which asserts ‘the best things in life are free.’ Not true! Utterly false! This was the tragic fallacy which brought on the decadence and collapse of the democracies of the twentieth century; those noble experiments failed because the people had been led to believe that they could simply vote for whatever they wanted . . . and get it, without toil, without sweat, without tears.