By the grace of God

This morning I heard Joe Scarborough say, “Born Southern, by the grace of God.”

Well, I fall under that grace, I guess, having been born in Montgomery, Alabama.  A year later Rosa Parks refused to obey a bus driver and a movement was started in that city.

In 1959, we moved to Birmingham, actually to a suburb of the Magic City. A few years later, dogs and fire hoses were keeping black people at bay and churches were being bombed and little girls being killed.

And we are supposed to feel fortunate to having been born here?

“By the grace of God” is a phrase that has its modern roots in the legitimization of Christian monarchs who through Divine Right ruled over their subjects. So the phrase as applied to Southerners might infer that we have a Divine Right to the “rich heritage” and “way of life” that we Southerners enjoy.

That way of thinking is aristocratic; in fact,  it’s offensive.

Did the young black men whose lives were documented by Douglas Blackmon in “Slavery by Another Name” feel that they were “born Southern, by the grace of God?”

 Picture credit Slavery by Another Name

Are the Hispanic middle school students who were born in Marshall County and now being withdrawn from public schools convinced that they, too, were “born Southern by the grace of God?”

 Picture credit Huffington Post

Being born Southern might have some advantages, among them the good food that we enjoy, but even that has left many of us obese. By the grace of God, I guess.

 Picture credit Joe

And what about the 522 infants who died during the first year of their life during 2010 in Alabama? Yes, our infant mortality rate has improved during the past few years, but still, for over 500 babies whose mother could not access the resources to have a healthy pregnancy and child; it doesn’t seem that the grace of God was enough.

 Picture credit WAAY

The 1901 Alabama Constitution begins by “invoking the favor and guidance of Almighty God.”

Is it God’s favor that has brought Alabama to where it is today;  ranking near the bottom in education, ranking among the most obese, ranking among the worst in toxic air pollution, ranks near the last in internet access. In fact, Alabama ranked 48^th in overall quality of life for children, which includes issues like health care, education and poverty.

No, it is not by the grace of God that we are born Southern. In fact, it is just by chance that any of us are born anywhere. There is no divine guidance in the race of the sperm to the egg.

And that one’s place of birth should determine their chance of making it through their first year of life, their chance of receiving a good education, their chance of developing obesity (and all the health issues that come with it), the chance of living in an area with clean air and water; is unfortunate, if not immoral.

Don’t insult God by implying that what we have in the South, and in particular Alabama, is the best he has to offer.  If that were the case, I would expect our state to rank highest in quality of life issues, and we are far from that.

Attorney General and SDEC

Here are some more endorsements and a recommendation.

For Attorney General, there are three good candidates in the Democratic Primary. Of the three, Michel Nicrosi comes across as the most qualified and made the best case for herself. Here's a video from the recent Madison County Democratic Reunion, recorded and provided by Left in Alabama.



Nicrosi is an experienced prosecutor and she will be able to make a fine case when she runs against the experienced lobbyist in November.

Races for which I am not making an endorsement include Jefferson County Sheriff and County Commission races or State School Board.

On the proposed Constitution Amendment (which would allow members of the propane gas industry to finance promotion programs) vote No. Not that the members of that industry should not be able to levy an assessment on themselves for promotion, but because we are sick and tired of having to vote on an amendment for every little action that an organization or local government wants to take. Sorry propane gas folks, your amendment just came up at the wrong time. Help us to get a new constitution and then maybe you won't have to be asking the people of Bessemer (and the rest of the state) if you can promote your own industry.

SDEC

Many of you will see these races on your ballot and have no idea of who to vote for or what the position is. The State Democratic Executive Committee is composed of representatives from each house district, a male and a female from each. They do not have to be, and probably should not be, your elected house member.

They compose the governing body of the Alabama Democratic Party. In Bessemer, these positions will be...well, Grover Dunn is running unopposed for the male position, and his wife Priscilla Dunn is being challenged by Marjorie McAdory. The Dunns will win this. I don't know Marjorie.

Here are three seats for which I know the people running and make these recommendations.
Ralph Young - SDEC # 46 male
Stephen Light - SDEC #47 male
Jacquelyn Manner - SDEC # 60 female

These are progressive candidates, and the Democratic Party of Alabama is slowly, but surely becoming progressive.

Western Tribune column March 3, 2010 Lawrence McAdory

This is my column printed in the March 3, 2010 edition of the Western Tribune (with added emphasis and photos).


Last week the Alabama House of Representatives voted to table a resolution that would allow voters in the state to decide if they want a new Constitution.

We are currently governed under the 1901 Constitution.* John Knox, the convention president, clearly stated the purpose of writing a new constitution: “(We must) take care of the Negro problem” and “establish white supremacy in this state.”



John B. Knox, 1901 Convention President, who led the way in establishing white supremacy in Alabama

Since that document was passed and approved (by deceitful and fraudulent means) we have learned the problem has not been the “Negro” but rather the powerful special interests that controlled the state legislature then and continue to exert their power and influence today.
The 1901 constitution invokes the “favor and guidance of Almighty God,” but since God and any reasonable person would reject the racist document it seems safe to say that the favor of God has never been bestowed upon the state and never will be as long as that constitution prevails.

The rich, white men who wrote the 1901 Alabama Constitution, under whose racist and elitist mandates we now live, 109 years later

For years there has been an effort to replace the Alabama Constitution by allowing a convention of citizens to draft a document and allow the voters to approve or reject it.

Their efforts have not been successful, but citizen support continues to grow.

This brings us to 2010 and the attempt by legislators to move the resolution forward.

Lawrence McAdory was elected to represent the people of Bessemer in a special election last year. He voted against allowing the people he represents to decide if we want a convention of citizens to draft a new constitution.

It would be hard to imagine McAdory being a supporter of the 1901 Constitution except that we know he is supported by a radical right winger who in a letter to this newspaper wrote that he was “supporting Lawrence McAdory for a house seat not because he is black but because of what he brings to the table.”

It is also possible that McAdory feels more aligned with the special interests that fund his campaign than the people he represents.

Whatever the reason, this vote is enough to alert the citizens that Lawrence McAdory is not the person we should have representing us in Montgomery. We are fortunate that even though he was just recently elected we will have an opportunity to replace him in the Democratic primary this year.

As of this writing no candidates have qualified for the race according to the party web site. Expect that to change.

*this link to the 1901 Constitution may not get you there today for some reason. It's the same link I've been using, but this morning I can't get there. I'm working on it.

Evolution and Constitutions

Yesterday was Darwin Day (along with Lincoln's birthday) and in view of that, Wayne at Niches posted a link to this video from Seed Magazine. It portrays the 4.6 billion years of our planet in 60 seconds. Things really get cranking at the end, when evolution was facilitating changes from things like blue-green algaes and eukaryotic cell organisms to the first vertebrates and finally (don't blink) Homo erectus and Homo sapiens and domesticated dogs and writing (stop the video close to the end and look at what is going on). It only lasts a minute, worth watching.

We, and all our ancestors, are significant only in the last teeny bit of earth history.

It was during that teeny bit of time that the 1901 Alabama Constitution was passed. It's odd, when you think about it, that a milliblip in time could hold so much suffering and despair as was caused by that document. And when one looks at the entire universe, and the entire expanse of time, is that suffering really significant in comparison?

You're damn right it is.



The 1901 Constitution was written, as the Choctaw Advocate wrote, "by white men, for white men." The paper also urged whites (men) to "stand together".

A lot has been said and written about the 1901 Constitution and how it unfairly burdened blacks and elevated whites, and how blacks were not "at the table" when the document was written.

Let's list the others who were not at the table. Women, poor whites, Native Americans.

It is often brought up that voter fraud is what allowed the 1901 Constitution to be passed. Vote totals for passage in several counties was greater than the total number of registered white voters in those counties.

So a suit has been filed to declare the 1901 constitution unratified and to order a new vote, or a constitutional convention to write a new constitution. Good idea.

If there was a re-vote and the current constitution failed to pass, would that mean we would be operating under the Constitution of 1875 until a new one was passed? That would be interesting.


1875 Constitutional Convention

To find out more about what is wrong with Alabama's constitution and what is being done about it (there is some good news) click here. And follow the suggestions to help us get out from under this burden.