Local Elections are as White as the Oscars

The population of Alabama is 25% African American. The population of Florence is also 25% African American. So locally how many blacks were on Tuesday’s ballot? With the exception of Gale Satchell, none comes to mind. So how about women? Rhea Fulmer and again Satchell come to mind; not a very large crop, is it? Municipal races in August will be more diverse. It’s been some time since the citizens of Florence elected a woman to the council—probably because so few have run.

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Why comment on lack of racial diversity in local government? A reader questioned our reaction to the New York Times poll on Alabama voters. Our take is that the poll was a small number of individuals in isolated areas. Some of the voters may not have even comprehended the questions, which speaks volumes about education in this state. Perhaps many who understood just who was asking and why decided to answer with tongue planted in cheek?

So why is Trump a front runner? We’re not a psychologist, but the American public should be very afraid.

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Racism in the Shoals? This story is from the early ‘80s; while that may be the dark ages to some of our readers, it’s really not all that long ago in the grand scheme of things. We were reminded of the incident during the recent campaign.

It seems an older woman suffered a broken hip and decided to sell her long-time home near downtown Florence. She began to search for accessible apartments and called several property management companies including what was then Hensley-Thompson. One Mr. R. was then the property manager, an older white man whom many considered something of a character.

Hensley’s ads referred to the company as “The Home Folks,” and the gregarious woman couldn’t resist asking Mr. R. exactly what that meant. Without missing a beat, the property manager replied: We don’t allow no n*****s and no furuhners.

Just think, if he were alive today, he could include “no Democrats.”


Shoalanda