Alabama: Politics and Pop Culture
If my name were George Wallace Jr., I would most certainly change my name before running for public office, especially in the state of Alabama.
Far from it, our Mr. Wallace is touting his ancestral name in the GOP runoff for lieutenant governor. "Vote for me, I'm George Wallace's son" might as well be his campaign slogan, juding from the ads I've seen.
Why on earth would he want to run under his father's name? Anyone remember the infamous Stand at the Schoolhouse Door? "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 and segregation forever." Most people in the state can quote the last part of that declaration, but thank god it didn't hold up.
Now don't get me wrong, I haven't come down with Guilty White Girl Syndrome. I don't feel the need to flagellate myself for being white in a state famous for its civil rights battles. I'm a Libertarian, and I'm even opposed to affirmative action. But George Wallace's legacy is one of the reasons I'm ashamed to tell people I'm from Alabama.
Non-Alabamians, particularly Yankees, have some pretty screwy ideas about what Alabama is. Either they think it's like the movie Sweet Home Alabama, where everyone talks like a redneck and runs around barefoot with one overall strap undone...or they think of the civil rights battles.
Yes, we are home to the march on Selma and the Montgomery bus boycott and the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. Yes, in the streets of Birmingham Bull Connor turned loose his fire hoses and his German shepherds.
But Alabama is more than that. We are also home to Marshall Space Flight Center, a leader in the U.S. and international space programs. We are home to the Alabama School of Fine Arts, the fourth best high school in the United States. We are home to Mobile, where the second-oldest Mardi Gras festival in the nation is held. We are home to Dothan, peanut capitol of the world. I live in Birmingham, the magic city--once known for its iron and steel industry, now the 5th biggest banking city in the U.S.
Yes, there is still racism here. There is still racism everywhere. No, we do not all go out on Friday nights to burn crosses on black people's front yards. I've never been part of a lynch mob, and you're more likely to hear "cracker" used as a racial slur than "nigger." I own several pairs of shoes, and I don't wear overalls. Just because I eat grits and say "y'all" doesn't mean I'm uneducated.
Yes, I'm from Alabama.
Sara
Far from it, our Mr. Wallace is touting his ancestral name in the GOP runoff for lieutenant governor. "Vote for me, I'm George Wallace's son" might as well be his campaign slogan, juding from the ads I've seen.
Why on earth would he want to run under his father's name? Anyone remember the infamous Stand at the Schoolhouse Door? "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 and segregation forever." Most people in the state can quote the last part of that declaration, but thank god it didn't hold up.
Now don't get me wrong, I haven't come down with Guilty White Girl Syndrome. I don't feel the need to flagellate myself for being white in a state famous for its civil rights battles. I'm a Libertarian, and I'm even opposed to affirmative action. But George Wallace's legacy is one of the reasons I'm ashamed to tell people I'm from Alabama.
Non-Alabamians, particularly Yankees, have some pretty screwy ideas about what Alabama is. Either they think it's like the movie Sweet Home Alabama, where everyone talks like a redneck and runs around barefoot with one overall strap undone...or they think of the civil rights battles.
Yes, we are home to the march on Selma and the Montgomery bus boycott and the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. Yes, in the streets of Birmingham Bull Connor turned loose his fire hoses and his German shepherds.
But Alabama is more than that. We are also home to Marshall Space Flight Center, a leader in the U.S. and international space programs. We are home to the Alabama School of Fine Arts, the fourth best high school in the United States. We are home to Mobile, where the second-oldest Mardi Gras festival in the nation is held. We are home to Dothan, peanut capitol of the world. I live in Birmingham, the magic city--once known for its iron and steel industry, now the 5th biggest banking city in the U.S.
Yes, there is still racism here. There is still racism everywhere. No, we do not all go out on Friday nights to burn crosses on black people's front yards. I've never been part of a lynch mob, and you're more likely to hear "cracker" used as a racial slur than "nigger." I own several pairs of shoes, and I don't wear overalls. Just because I eat grits and say "y'all" doesn't mean I'm uneducated.
Yes, I'm from Alabama.
Sara