Alabama Reminded of George Wallace

There's a thread here on DU about this already (http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1028481) and when I read the article I couldn't believe the argument against revising the amendment - taxes.

Here's a clip from the article found here: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1802&u=/washpost/20041128/ts_washpost/a16443_2004nov27&printer=1

<clip>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."


There are competing theories about the defeat of Amendment 2, the measure that would have taken "colored children" and segregated schools out of Alabama's constitution. One says latent, persistent racism was to blame; another says voters are suspicious of all constitutional amendments; and a third says it was not about race but about taxes.


The amendment had two main parts: the removal of the separate-schools language and the removal of a passage -- inserted in the 1950s in an attempt to counter the Brown v. Board of Education ruling against segregated public schools -- that said Alabama's constitution does not guarantee a right to a public education. Leading opponents, such as Alabama Christian Coalition President John Giles, said they did not object to removing the passage about separate schools for "white and colored children." But, employing an argument that was ridiculed by most of the state's newspapers and by legions of legal experts, Giles and others said guaranteeing a right to a public education would have opened a door for "rogue" federal judges to order the state to raise taxes to pay for improvements in its public school system. <end clip>

we're a long way from that mountain top.

So sad, so very sad.

UGRR

There is no way this can be explained any other way than blatant racism. Who in their right frickin' mind could oppose removing a passage requiring separate schools for "white and colored children" and guaranteeing a right to a public education????!

The rest of America, in fact the rest of the world, should boycott travel to Alabama and boycott any products from that state until they either secede from the United States or agree to stop acting like idiots.

And Christian churches all over country should loudly condemn John Giles and the Alabama churches for leading the fight.

THIS REALLY PISSES ME OFF!

I remembered seeing little black girls walking between screaming white adults on TV....I thought it was NO, but no one, even blacks from LA knew anything about this

the first recent remembrance was in a booklet put out by Tom Joyner and McDonald's

thanks for bringing this up

welcomed and secure.

I hope that my participation on this forum can share some experiences that I had growing up during the civil rights era with some of our younger members. I was very young when MLK started his crusade, but every young person, black and white of my era was indelibly marked in one way or the other, by what we saw every night on the evening news. Imagine watching black folks attacked with dogs and hoses on the evening news when you're 7 or 8 years old. It's something you can never forget.