When I was a child, some of the most violent film footage of the Civil Rights battles came out of Alabama. I remember looking on in horror as demonstrating blacks were knocked down with fire houses and dogs were sicced on them. These actions were ordered by the Birmingham Commissioner of Public Safety, Bull Connor. Men, women and children were the object of the hoses and the dogs. These were horrifying scenes, especially for children. I will never hear the word Alabama that I don’t think of the images branded in my mind.
These kinds of enforcement behaviors do not exist in a vacuum. Alabama will always wear the shame of those firehoses and police dogs. They will always have the tragedy of Birmingham Sunday in someone’s memory, as long as any of us alive during that time are still on this earth. Alabama needs to move away from its history of divisiveness.
Unfortunately, that is not happening. Recently enacted laws targeting illegal immigrants have some baggage attached to them that I am not sure Alabama is ready to handle. The new Alabama law seeks to collect data on all school children as to their status in the United States. Read More
