From The Advocate:

Now, a group called the Fairness Campaign is urging Louisville residents to ditch Woody’s by handing out fliers on Tuesday that warn of Norton’s homophobia and racism. The bar has been closed since the incident, and it sounds like Norton has no plans of reopening.

According to sources, four African-American patrons were playing pool at Woody’s on Sept. 21. After they had problems with the table and lifted it to dislodge the balls, Norton allegedly confronted them, yelling and chasing them out of the bar before saying, “Look at their skin color; you know what’s on the tip of my tongue.”

LEO Weekly called Woody’s today for comment but got no answer.

This incident comes on the heels of another high-profile case involving Norton and a group of mostly black LGBT students and faculty from U of L. In April 2008, Professor Kaila Story said she and some students were involved in a heated exchange with Norton that resulted in Norton showering them with racist epithets and slurs.

When LEO Weekly inquired about the incident last year, Norton denied the whole thing and said he wasn’t even at Woody’s that night. A day after the altercation, however, a bartender said Norton was indeed at the tavern when the incident occurred.

Almost a year later Fairness revisited the incident and pressured Norton to make a public apology to the group. “What came out of my mouth was pure filth,” he said at the press conference.

Check back with Fat Lip for more updates.

UPDATE: Seven other social justice organizations including the University of Louisville Office of LGBT Services have joined Fairness’ boycott of Woody’s, which will be formally announced tomorrow afternoon near the bar at 4 p.m. The organization plans to regularly flyer potential bar patrons and the surrounding community to alert them about the boycott and encourage their participation.

“Mr. Norton has now proven that not only was his public apology of a month ago empty, but that he refuses to change,” Fairness Campaign Director Chris Hartman said in a press release. “We, at the Fairness Campaign, believe a stand must be made against this series of injustices, which will undoubtedly persist if Mr. Norton continues to operate his business.”

The Magnolia Bar and Grille, which is currently owned by Norton, will not be included in the boycott, Hartman says, because Fairness leaders have received report of its ownership changing this month;however, it will be included if ownership has not changed hands by the end of October.

$2.28: The price for a gallon of gas at my pit stop. Tanking the American economy is one way to lower gas prices.

Grand(iose) jury: A Marshall County grand jury will decide — probably late next week — whether criminal charges are warranted in Recorder-gate, the faux controversy sparked when a GOP operative stashed an audio recorder on Bruce Lunsford’s podium during a McConnell-Lunsford debate and then didn’t get it back for 30 minutes. Lunsford says he’ll tell the grand jury he was illegally bugged — a felony in KY. 

Top 25: Celebrating Halloween early, the Boston Phoenix posted the 25 Scariest Conservatives in the country. Agh!

Where’s Biden?: With a lead in the national polls and perhaps to also protect the Democratic VP candidate from himself, Time Magazine writes that the Obama campaign is trying its best keep the Delware Senator on a tight leash.

University of Effigies: All sorts of bad press has visited the University of Kentucky after an effigy of Barack Obama hanging from a tree was found on campus. So much that UK officials will host a forum to discuss the matter. It isn’t the only lynched B-Rock effigy in the region. Many are yelling “double standard” because of the volume of outrage over the Obama effigy is higher compared to the noosed Sarah Palin manequin. They’re right. The context of actual lynchings in this country’s history is the reason the combination of a noose, tree and black people is worrisome. Just as cartoons of a man’s hand punching Palin raise the ugly specter of domestic violence.

Yarmuth/Northup

Lunsford/McConnell

(Editor’s note: LEO Weekly columnist Ricky L. Jones will be sending us weekly reports until Election Day. Enjoy.)

Message to the People

By Ricky L. Jones 

It is 1957.  John Lewis, one of 10 children reared on a small farm without electricity or plumbing in Troy, Ala., is graduating high school.  He is the first member of his family to do so.  He steps out into the Alabama air and remembers the horrors of slavery.  He remembers emancipation and a few years of progress.  It will not last.  1876 comes, Hayes is elected, troops are removed from the South, and it all falls apart. 

It is 1959.  John Lewis is a seminary student in Nashville, Tenn.  He is embarking upon a series of attempts to desegregate the city’s lunch counters, movie theaters and other public spaces.  He and his compatriots will be harassed, beaten, and arrested.  Through the bars of his cell, he peers into the past.  He remembers poll taxes, grandfather’s clauses, sundowner laws, and black codes.  He tries to shake away the visions of rapes, lynchings, and terror.

It is April 1960.  John Lewis has journeyed to Raleigh, North Carolina.  He is helping to found the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) – the single most important student organization of the civil rights era.  He remembers Homer Plessy’s stand . . . and his loss.  He remembers Frederick Douglass succumbing to the years and Booker T. Washington not serving his legacy well.

It is 1961.  John Lewis has returned home to Alabama.  He is not welcomed.  He is in Montgomery staring through blood and pain at his white attackers.  “I am your brother!” he thinks.  They do not relent or embrace him.  They are rabid, wild-eyed.  Chains, bats, and hammers find their marks. John looks at his white brother and fellow Freedom Rider Jim Zwerg.  Life threatens to slip from them both — simply because they have ridden together on a bus.

It is now March 7, 1965 — Bloody Sunday.  John looks to his right and there strides Hosea Williams —young and strong.  They will be beaten this day — beaten badly.  John will never be the same.  During his civil rights stands in the sixties, John will be knocked unconscious four times and arrested at least forty. This day, in Selma, his skull will be fractured.  He cries in agony.  He falls limp.  He suffers.  He remembers, “Malcolm was shot dead just two weeks ago.  Martin’s popularity is waning. Charles Hamilton Houston died too young.  They shot Medgar in the back a couple of years ago.  I must endure.”

John remembers the Klan’s rides and “lightings” of their crosses.  He remembers Strom Thurmond railing against “niggras”.  He remembers Bull Connor and his fire hoses.  And yes, he remembers George Wallace proclaiming in 1963, “In the name of the greatest people that have ever trod this earth, I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny, and I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.”  He remembers “Bombmingham” and four children blown to bits.

It is 2008.  Congressman John Lewis sees supporters of John McCain and Sarah Palin approaching an all too familiar lunatic fringe.  At McCain-Palin rallies, supporters scream that presidential candidate Barack Obama is a “terrorist” and an “Arab”.  They say they are “scared” of him.  Others scream, “Off with his head.”  More than once, in different parts of the country, they howl, “Kill him!”  Their hateful madness goes unchecked until a public outcry forces McCain to temporarily rebuke their behavior.  Palin never does! 

John Lewis remembers and he speaks.  “As one who was a victim of violence and hate during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, I am deeply disturbed by the negative tone of the McCain-Palin campaign. Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are sowing the seeds of hatred and division, and there is no need for this hostility in our political discourse.

“During another period, in the not too distant past, there was a governor of the state of Alabama named George Wallace who also became a presidential candidate. George Wallace never threw a bomb. He never fired a gun, but he created the climate and the conditions that encouraged vicious attacks against innocent Americans who were simply trying to exercise their constitutional rights. Because of this atmosphere of hate, four little girls were killed on Sunday morning when a church was bombed in Birmingham, Alabama.

“As public figures with the power to influence and persuade, Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are playing with fire, and if they are not careful, that fire will consume us all. They are playing a very dangerous game that disregards the value of the political process and cheapens our entire democracy. We can do better. The American people deserve better.”

Of course, John is condemned for his words and warning.  McCain calls for Obama to repudiate the “Warrior of Troy, Alabama” and calls his statement “disgraceful”.  No matter.  John will endure.  He remembers so much and has suffered far worse.

Louisville Book Signing Reminder

Remember to join me at Borders Booksellers on the corner of Taylorsville Road and Hurstbourne LaneSaturday, October 25 at 3 p.m. for the local What’s wrong with Obamamania? book-signing.    

Remember, until next time — have no fear, stay strong, stand on truth, do justice, and do not leave the people in the hands of fools. 

___________________________________

Dr. Ricky L. Jones is Associate Professor in the Department of Pan-African Studies at the University ofLouisville. Visit him at www.rickyljones.com and contact him at blackvanguard@hotmail.com

Partnering with several charities and individual sponsors, Fitzgerald, who is a member of Pyro, a co-op gallery, said that since the May 16 reception many have appreciated the exhibit’s social justice message as a powerful and moving experience.

“It’s a product of an intense study of social justice,” he said. “We keep the people who are struggling out of our view.”

Fitzgerald is particularly excited that his exhibit will be included in the First Friday Trolley Hop, which is (you guessed it) this Friday on June 6, from 5-9 pm. You should check it out. Admission and the First Friday reception are both free and open to the public.

For more information e-mail Fizt or call 502.454.7204 (pb)