Nov. 5, 2004 | Montgomery, Ala. -- Old times are not forgotten in the heart of Dixie. Alabama voters elected a Supreme Court candidate linked to Old South ideals and apparently killed a move to strike segregationist language from the state Constitution, a victory of sorts for the state's neo-Confederate crowd.
Michael Hill, president of the pro-secession League of the South, said Tom Parker's election Tuesday and the Amendment Two results make it obvious many Alabama voters still identify with Southern causes.
A black law professor said the twin developments were worrisome.
"The message is that people don't care, they don't understand, and that some people are bigots," said Bryan Fair, who teaches at the University of Alabama.
...
Parker -- a former aide to Roy Moore, the Alabama chief justice who was ousted from the bench for refusing to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the courthouse -- did not back down when stories emerged shortly before the vote about his handing out tiny Confederate flags and associating with leaders of ultraconservative, pro-Confederacy groups, including the League, which campaigned heavily for him.
Parker and Moore also were leading opponents of Amendment Two, which would have stricken from the Constitution language mandating segregated schools and imposing poll taxes -- provisions, now unenforceable, that were approved in 1901 to repress blacks and poor whites. Critics claimed another part of the proposal could have led to federal court orders for big tax increases to fund schools.
More ... http://www.salon.com/news/wire/2004/11/05/ala/index.html
Very, very interesting.
Michael Hill, president of the pro-secession League of the South, said Tom Parker's election Tuesday and the Amendment Two results make it obvious many Alabama voters still identify with Southern causes.
A black law professor said the twin developments were worrisome.
"The message is that people don't care, they don't understand, and that some people are bigots," said Bryan Fair, who teaches at the University of Alabama.
...
Parker -- a former aide to Roy Moore, the Alabama chief justice who was ousted from the bench for refusing to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the courthouse -- did not back down when stories emerged shortly before the vote about his handing out tiny Confederate flags and associating with leaders of ultraconservative, pro-Confederacy groups, including the League, which campaigned heavily for him.
Parker and Moore also were leading opponents of Amendment Two, which would have stricken from the Constitution language mandating segregated schools and imposing poll taxes -- provisions, now unenforceable, that were approved in 1901 to repress blacks and poor whites. Critics claimed another part of the proposal could have led to federal court orders for big tax increases to fund schools.
More ... http://www.salon.com/news/wire/2004/11/05/ala/index.html
Very, very interesting.
