Tales from the Dark Side of Alabama

It was the early 1960s. For those of you who are historically challenged, Alaska and Hawaii had been in the union only a very short time and the south was in the news every day...and not for any good reasons.

A history teacher walked down a residential street on a warm federal holiday. When she came to one house, she stopped to address a boy playing in the front yard.

"Young man, tell your father that he needs to replace that flag. It's short two stars."

"Oh, that's okay," the young man shot back. "Daddy says he doesn't count Alabama and Mississippi."

*****

A United Nations official is soon coming to Alabama. He will be looking into extreme poverty in Lowndes County where many citizens don't even have safe water to drink.

Indeed, if Texas can be classified as really five states as they said in Bernie, Alabama can be classified as three. The Black Belt is not only nothing to brag about, it's patently certifiable as something to be greatly ashamed of. Oh, you say, but that's not us. No, it's not, but outsiders don't know that...and it's still Alabama.

*****

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So, who's ashamed of Alabama? Some time ago a reader took great umbrage at something we wrote and called in reinforcements from around the country. One such person to post was a young woman from New York City. Only she wasn't really a nice Jewish girl from NYC. She at least was a Free Will Baptist from East Florence. (She didn't seem to appreciate it when I said I knew her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother.)

In her posts she let us and our readers know how she felt about Florence. Will she still feel the same way in 10 years? Or 20? We somehow doubt it, but we'll admit to being more than just a little shocked at the attitude of someone who grew up in such a grounded home. 

It might not be to NYC, but how many of our youth move away? Even if they don't want to, they have to relocate in order to get jobs. We'll never forget a woman standing in line in front of us at a bank several years ago. She was in tears that her son and his family were having to move a thousand miles away after he lost his administrative job in the textile industry. She had two grandchildren she said. Now they would never really know her. 

What should this young man have done? Taken a job at ANCO packing books?

*****

It's been 55 years since the incident we mentioned in our first snippet. Alabama has made some progress. It still has a long way to go to be another North Carolina. 

No, Saturday Night Live sketches don't really hurt our state. Jeff Sessions? The worst thing we can say about him is that he has set a chain of horrible events in motion. Just when you think it can't get any worse, it does.

Pray about the election. God gave you a brain to recognize the code words rabble rousers use. How many have you heard in the past few months and from whom? Now, is it that hard a choice?