Virginia Has A Sociopath Pushing Its Reactionary Agenda-- Meet Bishop E.W. Jackson

Saturday Ken Cuccinelli got a Lt. Gov. nominee just as extreme and out of step with Virginia as he is. Bishop Earl Walker "E.W." Jackson is, basically, a slick-talking religionist crackpot and well-practiced far right ideologue. He gained a national audience on the right-wing fringes after year old video above in which he rages against marriage equality, released as he launched his failed campaign for the Republican Senate nomination.

Obviously deranged and warped by too many hours of conspiratorial Hate Talk radio, he accuses Planned Parenthood of “killing unborn black babies by the tens of millions” and being "far more lethal to black lives than the KKK ever was.” He insists Planned Parenthood, the Democratic Party, and civil rights leaders have been “partners in genocide.” The man needs a nice long rest, but instead he'll be taking his minstrel show oon the road for Ken Cuccinelli and the virulently racist Virginia Republican Party. He seems a little too obsessed with homosexuality for a straight man. When someone carries on about gays the way he does, it always leads to some kind embarrassing revelations in the not too distant future. Does Earl expect to keep his homosexual obsessions private?

The Democrat Party has equated homosexuality with being Black, which is another outrageous lie. They can keep their homosexuality private. You and I cannot hide being Black. I need not account to you the painful history of slavery, Jim Crow. lynchings and sterilizations all because of skin color. Anyone who dares equate the so-called gay rights movement to the history of Black Americans is exploiting the Black community. They say opposition to same sex marriage is the same as opposition to interracial marriage. That is an insult to human intelligence; it is a lie. No Christian should support this. Yet the Democrat Party has now declared same sex marriage an official part of its platform. And Black Christians remain in that party? The Civil Rights Establishment has embraced the lies and betrayed the Black community and God All Mighty for 30 pieces of silver from the Democrat Party.

Damn! He sounded just like the bigoted priests in Tbilisi Friday who whipped a mob of primitives up into a bloodthirsty frenzy or anti-gay rioting that sent 30 people to the hospital. He dresses well and speaks well, but, wow, is he ever a primitive hustler! "God will take care of us," he promises Blacks, if they just abandon the progressive policies that have fought slavery, Jim Crow, lynchings and sterilization and join up with the conservative perpetrators of these policies he has long ago sold his soul to. He won the nomination because he was the most radical and extreme and hate-fueled at the convention. He's likely to even further turn independents and mainstream voters away from the Republicans. As the Richmond Times-Dispatch put it, Cuccinelli "will head a ticket that cements the tea party’s takeover of the state GOP apparatus."

Jackson became the GOP’s first African American nominee for statewide office since 1988, overcoming six other hopefuls for the No. 2 spot on the ticket after four dramatic ballots lasting nearly 10 hours. He bested several candidates with deep ties to the state party, more money and long records in elected office, appealing to the more than 8,000 delegates in the Richmond Coliseum as a grass-roots crusader for the Constitution and social conservatism.

Before the balloting, the crowd erupted as Jackson vowed to “get the government off our backs, off our property, out of our families, out of our health care and out of our way.”

Jackson never trailed, leading after the first ballot and holding on despite sustained attacks and determined horse-trading by his opponents. He was joined on stage by Cuccinelli and Obenshain after 10 p.m., projecting an image of Republican unity at the conclusion of a fractious convention.

Right-wing Hampton blogger Tom Gear wrote an open letter to Virginia Republicans last week about what the Tea Party was about the shove down their throats.

Dear Republican Friends,

As many people know when they run for public office, the public has a right to full disclosure of their background. Everytime I ran I faced every question honestly and to the point. It seems that E W Jackson Sr. feels these rules do not apply to his candidacy. While I understand tough times, believe me I do, I also know that only thing that matters is EW Jackson Sr. is running to represent our Party as its nominee for Lt. Governor.

I asked EW Jackson, Sr to answer the following questions for the public record on May 5, 2013 and at the time of writing this email he has not responded.

• We have, without question, been through some of the toughest economic times our Country has ever experienced. That being said, it has been brought to my attention that you have had multiple bankruptcies, garnishments and tax liens. Is this true or just vicious negative campaigning?

It seems others feel the same as I do and a group called VA TRUTH documented the list of bankrupcties and they can be seen by clicking here.  As I said above there can be a good reason for asking for relief of debt but not disclosing this to the voters made me wonder what else is out there on EW Jackson. A simple online investigation showed the following;

1) On May 8, 2012, EW Jackson Sr. was issued a warrant in debt for not paying his personal property taxes.

2) On September 9, 2011, EW Jackson Sr. was issued a warrant in debt for a lawsuit involving his church.

3) On September 2, 2008, EW Jackson Sr. was issued a garnishment from a lawsuit involving his church.

4) On April 6, 2007, EW Jackson Sr. was served a unlawful detainer from a lawsuit involving his church.

Gear goes on and on and concludes that Jackson's financial baggage, inability to raise money (presumably from teh white racists who support the Virginia GOP) and his total lack of knowledge of state government will crush his chances to win. As for Jackson's claims about the fight against conservatives like himself for interracial marriage and the current fight against conservatives for marriage equality, Nanci Griffith and Mildred Loving could probably teach the bishop some good lessons on that one.

Who Remembers The Supreme Court Case Loving v Virginia? Nanci Griffith Says It Changed The Heart of America

Nanci Griffith put out an album in 2009 presaging the Supreme Court taking up the DOMA and Prop 8 cases today. Ostensibly the title track for The Loving Kind was about a couple in Virginia, Richard and Mildred Loving. Despite Virginia's anti-miscengenation law which prevented mixed-race marriages-- something that more the half the states in the country had when I was growing up-- the young couple got married in June, 1958 in Washington, DC. She was 19 and he was 25. The police broke into their home and arrested them in bed. They were found guilty and sentenced to prison sentences which were suspended on condition of them leaving Virginia. At the time of the sentencing (in 1959), Judge Leon Bazile read this excuse for bigotry from the 1700s:

Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.

I was surprised that Antonin Scalia didn't find a way to read that into the record today. He restrained himself. Of course Nanci wrote the song not just to commemorate Richard and Mildred Loving, but to draw attention to the plight of gay and lesbian couples today in the same predicament they are in, thanks to bigots like Judge Bazile and Scalia. In 1964 the Supreme Court of the United States didn't have any hack rightist judges like Scalia or Thomas or Alito or Roberts. The court unanimously overturned the convictions and declared that Virginia's and other states' laws denying equality for people to marry regardless of race were unconstitutional. It changed the law for every single state in the South (although Alabama kept their own anti-miscegenation laws on the books until... 2000!) From the decision:

Marriage is one of the "basic civil rights of man," fundamental to our very existence and survival... To deny this fundamental freedom on so unsupportable a basis as the racial classifications embodied in these statutes, classifications so directly subversive of the principle of equality at the heart of the Fourteenth Amendment, is surely to deprive all the State's citizens of liberty without due process of law. The Fourteenth Amendment requires that the freedom of choice to marry not be restricted by invidious racial discrimination. Under our Constitution, the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual and cannot be infringed by the State.

Just before she released the album, Nanci told me that she had "read Mildred Loving's obituary in the New York Times and it just floored me. She never remarried after Richard died and in her last interview before she passed she expressed hope that their case, Loving v. Virginia would eventually be the open door to same sex marriage. In the New York Times Sunday Magazine (the last one of the year) Mildred was one of 08's year of brilliant folks we lost. It was such irony that their name was Loving. Also, when they were arrested, Richard was only held overnight while Mildred was held for five days and had to beg for food and was terribly mistreated." A year before she died, May 8, 2008, on the 40th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that made her marriage legal, she issued a public statement that has inspired many gay people fighting for their rights to marry:

Surrounded as I am now by wonderful children and grandchildren, not a day goes by that I don't think of Richard and our love, our right to marry, and how much it meant to me to have that freedom to marry the person precious to me, even if others thought he was the "wrong kind of person" for me to marry. I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to marry. Government has no business imposing some people's religious beliefs over others. Especially if it denies people's civil rights.

I am still not a political person, but I am proud that Richard's and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That's what Loving, and loving, are all about.

Nanci Griffith Has A New Song You Should Hear-- Even If You're Not A Music Fan

Nanci Griffith has a new album coming out in early June, The Loving Kind. I'll try to remind you about it when Rounder releases it. The record is spectacular but today I just want to say a few words about the title track. It's a really powerful song about a couple in Virginia, Richard and Mildred Loving. Despite Virginia's anti-miscengenation law which prevented mixed-race marriages-- something that more the half the states in the country had when I was growing up-- the young couple got married in June, 1958 in Washington, DC. She was 19 and he was 25. The police broke into their home and arrested them in bed. They were found guilty and sentenced to prison sentences which were suspended on condition of them leaving Virginia. At the time of the sentencing (in 1959), Judge Leon Bazile read this excuse for bigotry from the 1700s:

Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.

Judge Bazile, or any like-minded Republican today would have to find a different excuse for denying gay people the right to marry. Last week we saw the Iowa Supreme Court strike down that state's anti-gay marriage law. Obsessed and hysterical, the far right will fight it-- just the way they fought against interracial marriages.

In 1964 the Supreme Court of the United States didn't have any hack rightist judges like Scalia or Thomas or Alito or Roberts. The court unanimously overturned the convictions and declared that Virginia's and other states' laws denying equality for people to marry regardless of race were unconstitutional. It changed the law for every single state in the South (although Alabama kept their own anti-miscegenation laws on the books until... 2000!) From the decision:

Marriage is one of the "basic civil rights of man," fundamental to our very existence and survival... To deny this fundamental freedom on so unsupportable a basis as the racial classifications embodied in these statutes, classifications so directly subversive of the principle of equality at the heart of the Fourteenth Amendment, is surely to deprive all the State's citizens of liberty without due process of law. The Fourteenth Amendment requires that the freedom of choice to marry not be restricted by invidious racial discrimination. Under our Constitution, the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual and cannot be infringed by the State.

Mildred Loving died on May 2, 2008. A year before she died, on the 40th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that made her marriage legal, she issued a public statement that has inspired many gay people fighting for their rights to marry:

Surrounded as I am now by wonderful children and grandchildren, not a day goes by that I don't think of Richard and our love, our right to marry, and how much it meant to me to have that freedom to marry the person precious to me, even if others thought he was the "wrong kind of person" for me to marry. I believe all Americans, no matter their race, no matter their sex, no matter their sexual orientation, should have that same freedom to marry. Government has no business imposing some people's religious beliefs over others. Especially if it denies people's civil rights.

I am still not a political person, but I am proud that Richard's and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight seek in life. I support the freedom to marry for all. That's what Loving, and loving, are all about.

UPDATE Here's Nanci performing an acoustic version of "The Loving Kind" for the BBC:



Electing people like Dan Gelber in Florida-- he's running for the U.S. Senate seat being abandoned by homophobic Republican Mel Martinez-- will help make marriage equality a reality. Watch this short clip of him explaining where he stands on the issue-- from a very personal perspective.


UPDATE: What Is It With States Starting With V?

If anyone in Vermont knows Republican Governor Jim Douglas, could they forward him a copy of Nanci's song? Douglas just vetoed a marriage equality bill that passed in both houses of the Vermont legislature. Tomorrow the Senate, which passed the bill 26-4 will override and then the House will try to get to the 2/3 majority needed. Conservatives are too busy preventing loving couples from getting married to take care of "religious" predators raping their own children.