Alabama Vote Opens Old Racial Wounds

[The1calledTKE]

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- On that long-ago day of Alabama's great shame, Gov. George C. Wallace (D) stood in a schoolhouse door and declared that his state's constitution forbade black students to enroll at the University of Alabama.

He was correct.


If Wallace could be brought back to life today to reprise his 1963 moment of infamy outside Foster Auditorium, he would still be correct. Alabama voters made sure of that Nov. 2, refusing to approve a constitutional amendment to erase segregation-era wording requiring separate schools for "white and colored children" and to eliminate references to the poll taxes once imposed to disenfranchise blacks.


The vote was so close -- a margin of 1,850 votes out of 1.38 million -- that an automatic recount will take place Monday. But, with few expecting the results to change, the amendment's saga has dragged Alabama into a confrontation with its segregationist past that illuminates the sometimes uneasy race relations of its present.


The outcome resonates achingly here in this college town, where the silver-haired men and women who close their eyes and lift their arms when the organ wails at Bethel Baptist Church -- a short drive from Wallace's schoolhouse door -- don't have to strain to remember riding buses past the shiny all-white school on their way to the all-black school.


"There are people here who are still fighting the Civil War," said Tommy Woods, 63, a deacon at Bethel and a retired school administrator. "They're holding on to things that are long since past. It's almost like a religion."

for full article...

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...6443_2004nov27

It is funny long after segregation is over, the people of Alabama can't even vote to erase the segregation-era wording in their constitution. I am not surprised though.

[AlphaSigOU]

Originally posted by The1calledTKE
It is funny long after segregation is over, the people of Alabama can't even vote to erase the segregation-era wording in their constitution. I am not surprised though.

"...segergation now, segergation for-evah!" as the late, unlamented Guv'ner Wallace once said.

There's still some people out there that sport bumperstickers that proudly proclaim "FORGET, HELL!". To them the Civil War (or the War of Northern Aggression, depending on which side) is still in full swing.

[Phasad1913]

this is so sickening. I was just about to post this article. I just don't understand what is WRONG with the people in this country.

[DeltAlum]

Hatred and bigotry die hard in some people.

Then again, some people are just too dumb to change.

[hoosier]

Just to put in a little dig at you'all, remember tht George Wallace, Lester Maddox, Robert Byrd, the Mississippi governors, and all these people who kept their boots on the necks of minorities, were the leading democrats of their day.

Here in Avondale on the east side of Atlanta, Wal-Mart has bought a defunct shopping center on a very busy street, on the dividing line between blacks and whites, poor and not-so-poor. All of the blacks in the area want a Wal-mart Super Store, and the jobs, selection, and low prices it offers. Most of the whites are having a heart attack, and using every excuse in the book (except the probable truth) to oppose it.

[AlphaSigOU]

Originally posted by hoosier
Just to put in a little dig at you'all, remember tht George Wallace, Lester Maddox, Robert Byrd, the Mississippi governors, and all these people who kept their boots on the necks of minorities, were the leading democrats of their day.

Here in Avondale on the east side of Atlanta, Wal-Mart has bought a defunct shopping center on a very busy street, on the dividing line between blacks and whites, poor and not-so-poor. All of the blacks in the area want a Wal-mart Super Store, and the jobs, selection, and low prices it offers. Most of the whites are having a heart attack, and using every excuse in the book (except the probable truth) to oppose it.

Izzat Memorial and Columbia Drive? Haven't lived in that area in over 25 years. Even then, it was starting to go downhill.

[DeltAlum]

Originally posted by hoosier
Just to put in a little dig at you'all, remember tht George Wallace, Lester Maddox, Robert Byrd, the Mississippi governors, and all these people who kept their boots on the necks of minorities, were the leading democrats of their day.

Yup. There were a few Republican governors in the South as well. And, as I recall, the Nixon White House tapes confirmed a fair amount of racism on his and his administrations part as well.

And didn't the Civil Rights Act pass under a Democratic administration?

Frankly, to play politics with this in hindsite is offensive.

Neither side was blameless.

[AGDee]

I heard an interesting spin on this today that the main reason that this did not pass is that it required equal education across the board and the opponents to it feared that if they had to fund the poorer school districts equally, their taxes would go up.

I find it disturbing that anybody would fall for a campaign ploy like "vote for equal rights and your taxes will go up".

[Shortfuse]

Racism never died, most people just put better and BIGGER WORDS around it.

*sigh*

[AlphaSigOU]

What disgusts me even more is the institutionalized racism and prejudice that is still going on in Freemasonry, especially with recognizing the predominantly African-American Prince Hall lodges.

Out of the 51 Grand Lodges in the United States (all 50 states plus DC), 38 out of the 51 recognize Prince Hall in one form or another; with the exception of Virginia and Oklahoma, practically all the grand lodges in states of the former Confederacy do not recognize Prince Hall as regular, or come up with the excuse that only the 'mainstream' (predominantly white) grand lodge has 'exclusive territorial jurisdiction' over all Masons within its boundaries. Any other grand lodge operating within its territory is considered 'irregular and clandestine'.

I am a member of two Grand Lodges; one that does not recognize PHA (Texas) and one that just did (Oklahoma). I hope to God the Grand Lodge of Texas doesn't do something stupid like withdraw its recognition of Oklahoma for its decision to get with modern times. (Mississippi did temporarily withdraw Masonic recognition from Connecticut for the latter's recognition of PHA; pressure from other jurisdictions forced them to re-recognize them.)

[Rudey]

It's not about modern times and old times. This is about something just purely and utterly wrong.

It's also not something just American.

But this raises a big question.

Why wasn't this publicized more?!?

The law was allowed to stay there for so long and then challenged and removed barely and it hardly made the news. Why?

-Rudey

[KSigkid]

Pretty ridiculous if you ask me - it's a sad statement that this has been on the books for so long and remains on the books.

[AKA_Monet]

Originally posted by Rudey
It's not about modern times and old times. This is about something just purely and utterly wrong.

It's also not something just American.

But this raises a big question.

Why wasn't this publicized more?!?

The law was allowed to stay there for so long and then challenged and removed barely and it hardly made the news. Why?

-Rudey

And KSigkid too...

To throw everyone off what is really going on...

One usually calls out the bigots when they are ready to put the masses in order with "dogs"...

Typical rile of the spirit... Piss folks off enough to get your stuff enacted...

Or it is a smoking out campaign to see who is on who's side...

[Rudey]

Originally posted by AKA_Monet
And KSigkid too...

To throw everyone off what is really going on...

One usually calls out the bigots when they are ready to put the masses in order with "dogs"...

Typical rile of the spirit... Piss folks off enough to get your stuff enacted...

Or it is a smoking out campaign to see who is on who's side...

I don't think anyone made enough of a big deal of it...not the whites, not the blacks. Personally if I had to guess this is somehow something that is tied to something else...

-Rudey

[Phasad1913]

Obviously it's something tied to something else Rudey. That is the entire problem. Its the something else that folks don't seem to want to come to terms with.

Believe me, Black people are talking about it. A whole lot. You don't hear about that for the same reasons why you don't hear about a lot of other things going on in the Black community other than the negative things. It isn't the Black people talking about it that is going to get the attention, though and I don't think the Black Alabamians are the least bit surprised that this happened. If anything, those people are friggin tired and worn out putting up with the crap about of those folks down there.