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The Relentless Alabamafication of America
Source: al.com, observations by southern historian Wayne Flynt
Replace every reference to "Alabama" with "America" and see if this doesn't ring true in your neck of the woods.
"Probably, if you interviewed every Alabamian individually, with no one else in the room, they'd probably say a plague on all your houses, that there's no such thing as an honest politician, in Alabama that's an oxymoron. They don't think anyone really shares their problems, nobody really cares about them, all they're doing is feathering their nests and obtaining power, acquiring power, and I don't think that's just true of their attitudes toward national politics, I think that's their attitude toward local politics, too."
"They're conservative, and so they vote Republican, just as once upon a time they voted Democratic, and the Democrats were both racist and conservative. I think Alabama is still defined primarily by race, that's the most important issue."
"The most obvious example of that is blacks vote almost all together one way, whites vote almost all together another way. Blacks worship altogether in one setting, whites altogether in another setting. When blacks hit a tipping point of 40 or 50 percent in schools, all the whites tend to go to another school. When the neighborhood gets to be more than 50 percent black, all the whites move."
"Race defines Alabama completely and we're just now learning what I've been arguing for a long time, which is race defines America to a much higher degree than most people who don't live in the South understand....We live with it all the time. Right now, if you live in Washington state, you are in a state of shock because you can't believe what's happening in America, to which I would just say historians oughta come live in Alabama a while. They'd understand perfectly what's happening."
"Alabamians are anti-black, they're anti-establishment, they don't like Washington, they don't like the federal government despite the fact that Alabama couldn't exist without the federal government. We're the fourth largest recipient of federal transfer payments .. and yet Alabama detests the hand that feeds them."
"They're conservative, and so they vote Republican, just as once upon a time they voted Democratic, and the Democrats were both racist and conservative. I think Alabama is still defined primarily by race, that's the most important issue."
"The most obvious example of that is blacks vote almost all together one way, whites vote almost all together another way. Blacks worship altogether in one setting, whites altogether in another setting. When blacks hit a tipping point of 40 or 50 percent in schools, all the whites tend to go to another school. When the neighborhood gets to be more than 50 percent black, all the whites move."
"Race defines Alabama completely and we're just now learning what I've been arguing for a long time, which is race defines America to a much higher degree than most people who don't live in the South understand....We live with it all the time. Right now, if you live in Washington state, you are in a state of shock because you can't believe what's happening in America, to which I would just say historians oughta come live in Alabama a while. They'd understand perfectly what's happening."
"Alabamians are anti-black, they're anti-establishment, they don't like Washington, they don't like the federal government despite the fact that Alabama couldn't exist without the federal government. We're the fourth largest recipient of federal transfer payments .. and yet Alabama detests the hand that feeds them."
The "original sin" of the founding of America continues to this day. This is the battle for the American soul.
http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2017/08/wayne_flynt_alabama_senate_con.html#incart_river_home?li_source=LI&li_medium=default-widget
