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Page 2 Thursday, November 29, 2012
ALABAMA POLICY INSTITUTE
AEA leads blind to enhance Alabama racism
By Cameron Smith without being able to allege racial discrimina- cation and state budgetary reforms.
After Alabamians voted to preserve racist tion. With respect to Amendment 4, the AEA
language in their state Constitutiori, headlines In short, the AEA wanted to preserve as also stood in the way of tearing the vestiges of
nationwide gladly noted the state's failure. For much of its ability to use racial animus as pos- Alabama's racist past from the highest authori-
much of the nation, Alabama's failure was sible to shape education funding and tax policy ty in the state.
simply confirmation of the latent racism they through the courts, especially since it no At the same time, the AEA's misleading
believe pervades Alabama. longer has total control over the Alabama propaganda raised the specter of Amendment
If the majority of Alabamians who voted Legislature. 4 undermining a non-existent right to public
'no' on Amendment 4 laad actually done so tor The AEA remains one ot the most signifi- education, they conveniently left out the fact
racially-motivated reasons, perhaps that per- cant powerhouses in Alabama politics even that nobody was actually denying children of
ception would be justified. But the largest with Republicans in charge. The AEA corn- any color a public education. No one was at
driver for the 'no' vote was a massive misinfor- mands the votes of educators in Alabama who. the schoolhouse doors trying to block their
mation campaign launched by the Alabama trust the AEA to take positions in their best entrance. In fact, if Amendment 4 had passed,
Education Association (AEA). interest, nothing would have changed other than
Amendment 4's failure had nothing to do Most of that power is derived from AEA's Alabama being another step away from a
with the right of Alabama's children to a con- ability to extract dues and political donations racist past.
stitutionally guaranteed "liberal education." from its members. AEA cleared more than The AEA and its supporters made sure that
Alabama has not guaranteed the right to a pub- $15 milhon in membership dues according to did not happen.
lic education since 1956, and somehow, public their 2010 IRS form 990. Their A VOTE polit- As a result, the defeat of Amendment 4 per-
education has gone on. AEA's opposition to ical action committee holds almost $3 million, petuated the stereotype of Alabama as a racist
Amendment 4 was entirely about strengthen- Most importantly, every politician in state and gave Alabama another hurdle to clear
ing its ability to challenge the current constitu- Montgomery knows that the AEA has no in its efforts to change that image. Members
tional provisions in court. After losing its lift- problem using those resources to combat of the AEA who have fought tirelessly against
gation efforts in 2002 and again last year with opponents, racial discrimination should think long and
Judge Lynwood Smith's decision in the Lynch For decades, the AEA has effectively dictat- hard about the racial impact of their loyalty to
case, AEA realized the difficulty of challeng- ed most public policy in Alabama and contin- AEA the next time this issue makes its way to
ing a constitutional provision it does not like ues to stand directly in the way of needed edu- the ballot.
Comments by the editor are opinions, reasons, or recommendations ....
Send your written and signed opinions to the Editor, P. O. Box 480040,
Linden, Alabama 36748
Richard Shelby (U. S. Senator from Tuscaloosa)
said of Mitt Romney after the presidential election:
He was wounded coming out of the Republican pri-
mary.
A better perspective is that Mitt Romney was
wounded going into the Republican primary.
None of the Democrats or none of the Republicans
seem to remember George Corley Wallace who was
running for president four decades ago. Wallace
would not accept a commission going into the U. S.
Army because he said he thought people had rather
vote for a sergeant than for a colonel.
Wallace was well on his way to winning the
Democratic Party nomination when a penniless dish
washer shot him down in Maryland. The penniless
dish washer had followed Wallace half-way across
America until he got close enough to shoot him.
You match the loose ends, we can't. Somebody was
supporting that guy. Who?
Try the same crowd that supports people like
Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, the super rich who
have their bank accounts off shore.
Only one politician since Wallace has the ability to
connect with the average working American. That
person is Sarah Palin.
The fat Yankee from New Jersey has some of that
ability.
The rich Repubs look down on Sarah Palin and
they say she is dumb. None of them can skin a moose.
Case closed!
...... 7~
Folks are getting all upset about wild hogs in
Marengo County. When there was a tenant house on
every hill and a spring in every hollow in the county,
a hog had no chance. It would end up in the smoke
house. Usually hog-killing time was in the Fall when
it was c0ol, the crops had been harvested, and the
farm family had a little time.
The entire carcass was immersed in scalding hot
water and the hair was scrapped off.
The various organs and other entrails were being
:washed and cleaned for use, even down to the feet for
:pickled pigs feet,
The carcass or its parts were hung inside the smoke
• house where oak or hickory was burning slowly.
This smoke also masked the odor coming from the
nearby whisky still.
There is one documented case where the close
proximity caused the Smoke house to catch afire and
bum to the ground, and that mined the hog the two
cousins were smoking.
We suppose the moral to that story is to keep the
still way up the hill from the smoke house and hope
the revenuers don't catch a whiff of what's cooking
up there. Or is it that the still should be down in the
hollow under the hill?
On a late fall afternoon when there is no wind,
smoke will rise up out of the bottom and then drift
parallel to the ground.
The answer to wild hogs is to allow those who are
"above" any physical labor to learn a tittle about
smoke houses and how good a fine ham can be.
There may be strong motivation there.
Those who become hungry for a good ham will
soon devise ways to catch all the wild hogs.
Concussions in football players is reaching epidem- college, and professional teams have rules that blood
ic proportions, cannot be visible on a player because he might give
Now that hundreds of young men have been affect- somebody else AIDS.
ed, the wags of the talking tongues on the boob tubes When you can see players are able kiss each other,
mention the problem and think of new rules to protect there will be a lot fewer concussions.
i the players.
We have watched football for more than 60 years
! and the problem with concussions is one thing, face
: masks!
Those devices are being utilized as weapons instead
: of for protection.
Take them off the mules and monkeys on the team
and they will be quite a bit more reluctant to stick
their heads into the path of a churning fullback. They
will be more reluctant to smash their heads into
One recent game we saw on television showed a
defensive player charging into a quarterback and
burying his face mask into the spine of the quarter-
back as he drove him into the ground.
No kissy and make up after that hit. The quarter-
back had to "take a •breather."
Yessir, mommas, get those face masks off your pre-
cious little boys' helmets and protect his brain, even if
it.at the risk of his nose, teeth, lips, and chin.
Of course, on the first play, the little guys will hit
another's head. the big guys in the nose and make them bleed and
- Ow! We'll get our big fat noses bust and blood- have to leave the game, even if it is for just a few
ied. Uht We'll get some teethknocked out. Ugh! Our plays...just adding a little strategy to the coaches
pretty little lips will ggt busted and bloodied. = chess skills, t..
Also, there will be more fists coming at eyes, noses, Quarterbacks who are good passers will get a lot
• and mouths after a dirty play. more bloody noses, but that's better than a brain-dam-
Since the revelation that homosexuals have spread aging concussion from a face mask jamming against
the HIV virus and AIDS across America, high school, his helmet.
USPS 153-380
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In Mar'~n/gt). Clarke. C'hoftaw. SUIYIter. ~IW~; title* |~rr~. I)&kllas, url~ wilcox *
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Goodloe Sutton
Barbara Quinney
Jim DeWitt
Henry Waiters
Angela Compton
Millions give up
leave work force
Obamacare
taxes= lead
to layoffs
Deficit
in
OLD TIMES BY THE LATE JOEL D. JONES
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED APRIL 1, 1937
A letter from a party says, "He enjoyed the writeup about
the Ku Klux Klan," and would like to know something about
the Farmers Alliance.
A farmers organization for the promotion of interest of
agriculture whose object is, "to labor for the education of the
agricultural classes in the science of economical government
in a strict non-partisan spirit, politically and financially. To
oppose all forms of monopoly as being detrimental to the best
interest of the public and to demand the rights for all and spe-
cial favors to none. To promote the best interests of agricul-
tural people in a practical and legitimate way. To cooperate
in buying and selling for the purpose of securing an exchange
of commodities with the least possible tax upon enterchange,
to protect the livestock interests of the
country against contagious diseases
and to protect and foster agricul-
tural interests in every way feasi-
ble and just."
The order originated in Texas,
the first alliance of permanence
being organized July 28, 1869.
The Farmer Alliance was the
Fourth state-wide agricultural
society represented in Alabama.
The first local alliance was insti-
tuted at Beech Grove, Madison
County, in 1887, by A. T. Jacobs,
of the Texas alliance, the charter
being received March 30. Others
were soon after established in
Jackson, Limestone and Marshall
counties. Still later national orga-
nizers visited the State and started
alliances in Coosa, Bibb, Shelby,
Lauderdale, Talladega, Perry, St.
Clair, Elmore, Marengo, and
Clarke counties. Practically simul-
taneously with its entrance into the State, the Alabama
Farmers' Alliance was affiliated with the national organiza-
tion. At the annual meeting, at Auburn, August 6-8, 1889, the
Alabama Farmer's Alliance and the Agricultural Wheel in
Alabama were consolidated, and a new constitution and by-
laws were adopted. The consolidated organization was called
the Farmers' and Laborers' Union of America; but at its first
meeting, at St. Louis in 1889, the name was changed to the
National Farmers Alliance and Industrial Union. The state
and local subdivisions of the national organization continued
to be known by their former name, some being called
"alliances," some "wheels," some "unions." However, they
were all chartered by the national order, conformed to its
constitution and used its secret work. In 1890 shrewd politi-
cians succeeded in getting the following plan adopted into
their constitution: "to secure representation in the State and
National Legislatures, and to secure the strict legislative con-
trol of railroads in the interests of equity and justice to the
public." The outcome of this political act, was that the field
was filled with candidates, and the first election they had
some success, by being shrewd enough to play on both sides.
Some that were elected in this county, were alliance men in
south Marengo, and anti-alliance men in north Marengo.
After this success they believed they had everything fixed to
where they could control the political situation, and united
The late
Joel Desaker Jones
with other political elements and formed the People's or
Populist Party. However this did not work so well in the
South, for many of the members declined to leave their old
political connections, and endorsed the democratic candi-
dates. After this, they went down in defeat, a split in the orga-
nization, and after 1892 it ceased to exist as a political party.
During the existence of the Alabama Farmers' Alliance, its
activities looking to the improvement of agricultural condi-
tions, and including better methods of growing farm produce
and better system of schools to encourage education.
Whether as a direct result of their action or not, the
Legislature at its session in 1892, appropriated $100,000 for
the common schools of the state.
During 1889 the state alliance estab- lished a commercial exchange at
Montgomery, and undertook to
establish a cooperative industrial
enterprise at Florence.
Dissatisfaction having arisen with
what was called the "Bagging
Trust," a special meeting at
Birmingham was called for May
15, 1889, at which delegates from
all the Cotton States were in
attendance. The convention
resolved not to use just bagging
and to insist on all commercial
fertilizers and grain being sacked
in cotton bagging. This action
aroused considerable discussion
and the controversy continued
through two or three years.
In 1907, the legislature reorga-
nized the works of the Farmers'
Institutes and made an appropria-
tion of $4,000 for the use of the
Department of Agriculture and
Industries. Among other purposes for which the sum was to
be expended was the "holding of farmers,' institutes, making
experiments, fathering statistics, and carrying into effect all
laws now in existence or may hereafter be passed for the bet-
terment of agricultural interest of the State."
Meetings have not been held with fixed regularity, nor in
conformity to a rigid schedule, but every year they have been
arranged in such a way as to meet the immediate demand.
The work has taken in part the form of special campaigns,
as to promote diversifications, to combat the boll weevil, the
promotion of the livestock industry, better farming methods,
working for farm economy, farm sanitation, farm machinery,
good roads and rural schools.
In the farmers' institute work, the several departments of
the Alabama Polytechnic Institute and the Agricultural
Experiment Station at Auburn and state and local farm agents
are supposed to cooperate with the Department of Agriculture
and Industries. The work of the institute is regarded as a part
of the extension activities of the State.
The early societies were mainly educational, but later
questions of cooperation in marketing products and buying
implements and supplies came into prominence. The first
agricultural organizations in the State had no secret features
nor were they active politically as they are now.
So long until next time.
J