This story is sad, just plain sad. On November, 2, America's voters did some pretty bad things, voting for homophobic laws in 11 states, adding Republicans to the Senate and House and, (if you believe the ballot totals) making George Bush President again. But as bad as these things were, Alabama won the race to the bottom, voting to keep segregation in its state constitution. The Washington Post has the full story, and it is not a pretty one. I have reprinted some of it below.
This is from today's edition:
On that long-ago day of Alabama's great shame, Gov. George C. Wallace (D) stood in a schoolhouse door and declared that his state's constitution forbade black students to enroll at the University of Alabama.
He was correct.
If Wallace could be brought back to life today to reprise his 1963 moment of infamy outside Foster Auditorium, he would still be correct. Alabama voters made sure of that Nov. 2, refusing to approve a constitutional amendment to erase segregation-era wording requiring separate schools for "white and colored children" and to eliminate references to the poll taxes once imposed to disenfranchise blacks.
The vote was so close -- a margin of 1,850 votes out of 1.38 million -- that an automatic recount will take place Monday. But, with few expecting the results to change, the amendment's saga has dragged Alabama into a confrontation with its segregationist past that illuminates the sometimes uneasy race relations of its present.
Well, at least the vote was close. So, apparently, not all the Alabamans who voted for George Bush were segregationists. Just some of them were. That should make everyone feel better. It really is hard to believe that we live in the same country sometimes, though I think it's important to remember that Alabama is not the most representative Red State. But this is some of what we're up against.
Read the whole story here. Keeping Segregation Alive