Here’s a little interesting information about George Wallace. He was first and foremost a politician.
Before his election as governor he was a circuit judge. There was a single black lawyer in his district. Reportedly, if an out-of-town white lawyer were to be disrespectful to this man Wallace would quickly put him in his place. If a black lawyer were to visit from out of town, Wallace would send word during the lunch recess that he would like to speak to him for a moment in chambers. When the black lawyer would arrive there would be a plate of sandwiches and a pitcher of lemonade on his desk and Wallace would ask the lawyer to join him for lunch. There was no restaurant in town which served blacks.
In his 1958 run for governor, Wallace ran on a progressive platform in which he expressed the required support for segregation, but without a great deal of fire. He was endorsed by the NAACP, in large part because his opponent, John Patterson was openly supported by the KKK. Patterson won. Following his defeat, Wallace told an aide, “I was outn**ed by John Patterson. And I’ll tell you here and now, I will never be outn**ed again.” And he wasn’t.
At the end of his career Wallace was actually supported by black voters, and why shouldn’t they. He supported liberal causes which they supported. Throughout the South a number of staunch segregationists changed their tune and became very popular with black voters. Politics can be a strange business.
Thanks EarlVanDorn! I actually learned some of what you wrote while I was a student at UA majoring in Poli Sci, but the info about how Wallace would see to it that Black lawyers felt more comfortable was a nice thing to learn. I remember Wallace trying to remove the state sales tax from food to help poor people. He had a good heart, but was blinded by ambition at a critical point. It is heartening to remember that he saw the light and asked Alabama’s Blacks for forgiveness.
That video is ridiculous, both of those guys are being melodramatic. The “People don’t notice me” guy needs to learn he will not always be the center of attention and not cry wolf about “Racism”. Seriously. A student with 4 exams and 3 papers due in a week is going to have 100000x other things to think about than gawk at pedestrians walking around campus. People aren’t ignoring him because he’s black, they’re ignoring him because they have stuff to do and he’s not the center of the universe.
The other guy takes things way out of proportion too. A handful of intoxicated students call him a bad word and now an ENTIRE school of 35,000 students +faculty/staff are Grand Wizards of the KKK.
Mandalorian, I hurt for anyone who is disrespected, especially when it is at the school I attended and love. But I agree for the most part with what you wrote. Although SGA Pres. Elliot Spillers only alleged that one drunken student called him the n word. Regardless, I wish I could have been there to stand up for Elliott. I also thought that maybe White students are afraid to look at him too long out of fear of it being taken the wrong way.
Finally, I care most about the video’s unsubstantiated claim made by Amanda Bennett, UA student/activist/Huff Post writer, someone with a huge platform. She claims that Whites at UA were attacking Blacks and kicking in doors when Obama was elected. I have investigated this claim. There is nothing to back it up. For her to make such a claim, given her position with the Huff Post, is really disappointing. I consider it a serious betrayal by her toward her own school. She is using a falsehood to try to whip up support for a list of very unreasonable demands. I hope Dr. Bell doesn’t give in to these demands.