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Mon 29 Nov, 2004 09:43 pm
The "right to to public education," which would have been substituted for the segregation language, has fueled some litigation in the recent past re: adequate funding and the like. As I understand it, this was the core message of the opposition to the amendment. Unfortunately, the inadequate funding issue principally concerns minority schools. This failed amendment is a blow to black Alabamans no matter how you slice it.
well yeah wolf from the steppes, we don't need no friggin' civil rights stuff in our backyard. Send them ****lover liberals back to Boston where they belong.
What segregation era language did it seek to remove?
So, the vote was to remove the above quote (thanks Steppenwolf) and the population voted to keep it?
I think that the vote was to remove that language and replace it with something regarding the right to public education. That's what I gather from a Wash. Post
article, although I can't find the specific language that would be inserted.
Yes, and the population voted against this.
right littlek but the vote was by a margin of less than .05% requiring a recount.
Oh, I didn't know that bit about .05%. So close...
That's mindboggling. Could it be possible that the question was posed in such a way as to be confusing or misleading?
I think the advertising campaign surrounding it was a little confusing and misleading. The "increased taxes" bit may have clinched the deal. I refuse to believe that over 50% of the voters would vote on purely racist grounds -- perhaps that's optimism, but it seems unlikely that racism would win the day.
Boy, is Alabama ever going to be broke up when the hear about "Brown vs Topeka Board of Education", circa 1954
well, as I read it, the opponents of the amendment offered that it would raise taxes and was not needed rather than a question of vague or misleading language.
I have to admit, I am baffled by the fact that there actually was oppostion. This says reams about the southern red states that I don't think the repubs want to deal with. It's a very poor image to present to the rest of america.
Well, maybe we're all being a little optomistic. But, I hope we're right to think that this would have been defeated given fair representation.
Unfortunately for Alabamians, this paints them as either racist or dumb.
Ok, I am going to stick my neck out and ask, what does Neil Young have to do with it? Does he sing hippie songs and somehow that relates to the issue?
All in all, it is a shame either way it goes. If the reason that the voted not to remove the awful law there was because of taxes then they should have done it separately or something rather than leaving the impression of approval of racism for the blacks in Alabama.
I believe Dys is referring to lyrics of "Sweet Home Alabama":
Well, I heard Mister Young sing about her
Well, I heard old Neil put her down
Well, I hope Neil Young will remember
A southern man don't need him around anyhow
This in turn was a reference to the song "Alabama" by Neil Young:
Oh Alabama
The devil fools with the best laid plan.
Swing low Alabama
You got spare change
You got to feel strange
And now the moment is all that it meant.
Alabama, you got the weight on your shoulders
That's breaking your back.
Your Cadillac has got a wheel in the ditch
And a wheel on the track
Oh Alabama
Banjos playing through the broken glass
Windows down in Alabama.
See the old folks tied in white ropes
Hear the banjo.
Don't it take you down home?
Alabama, you got the weight on your shoulders
That's breaking your back.
Your Cadillac has got a wheel in the ditch
And a wheel on the track
Oh Alabama.
Can I see you and shake your hand.
Make friends down in Alabama.
I'm from a new land
I come to you and see all this ruin
What are you doing Alabama?
You got the rest of the union to help you along
What's going wrong?
Stumble It!
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