By: Ava Bourbeau
The rural South, particularly Alabama, has long been unfairly judged by the actions and decisions of a select few. History has plenty of examples of hardship in Alabama. The story can also depict the collective strength of overcoming that hardship.
Gov. George Wallace, on June 11, 1963, at the University of Alabama, used his own body to block against students trying to take a step toward integration of schools and proclaimed, “Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.”
Another example is “Bloody Sunday,” televised around the country on March 7, 1965. Alabama state troopers tear gassed and beat marchers in Selma, Alabama. Over 50 people were hospitalized.
History’s Influence
These examples don’t establish Alabama as an intolerant state though. They demonstrate how hard Alabamians are willing to fight for what they believe in.
Warren Tidwell, Hometown Action and Hometown Organizing Project representative, told Anna Clair Vollers at Reckon, “I’ve seen what happens to humanity when we’re knocked to our knees, and Alabamians—you can’t beat us when it comes to that.”
After “The Stand in the Schoolhouse Door”, the Black students were allowed to enter. “Bloody Sunday” became an event that shocked Americans and ultimately led to the passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Dr. Ryan Thomson, an assistant professor in Auburn’s Agriculture Economics and Rural Sociology department, acknowledges Alabama’s history of violence and segregation, but he said, “We also have a different legacy here and a lot of sources of inspiration.”
Thomson was reminded of the W.E.B. DuBois quote, “As the South goes, so goes the nation,” and added his own sentiment: “As Alabama goes, so goes the South.”
But inequalities are still ongoing battles in Alabama.
For example, a town like Waverly, Alabama, that is historically white, has a median per capita income of $46,955 as of 2019. By comparison, Camp Hill, Alabama, a historically Black town, has a median per capita income of $11,378 as of 2019.
There are also major differences in unemployment between the towns. In Waverly, out of residents 25 and older, 6.9% are unemployed. By the same parameters in Camp Hill, 10.6% are unemployed. It’s a stark contrast for towns less than 10 miles apart.
Hometown Action
Contemporary Alabamians also continue to persevere because contemporary intolerances encompass more than just race.
The nonprofit, Hometown Action, focuses on legislative intolerances primarily. They are currently aiding the striking coal miners at the Warrior Met in Brookwood, Alabama. The miners are fighting for livable wages after big coal companies cut the miners’ pay, benefits and pensions.
Hometown Action was instrumental in getting the Sierra Club, a powerful and established environmental organization, to donate $10,000 to the strike fund. A donation link to support the miners can also be found here.
Felicia Scalzetti, a Hometown Action member, also noticed some inequalities when they attended a rally against the proposed House Bill (HB) 445, deemed the anti-protest bill or the anti-riot bill depending on who you ask. It took place on March 9, 2021, at the Alabama State House.
HB 445 was reintroduced by Rep. Allen Treadaway after the response of Alabamians reacting to the killing of George Floyd in 2020. The bill defines a riot as, “the assemblage of five or more persons engaging in conduct which creates an immediate danger of and/or results in damage to property or injury to persons.”
At the Alabama State House, participants were greatly outnumbered by law enforcement officials with police barricades. In contrast, a rally they had attended the week prior—against legislation that would prevent trans-youth from receiving healthcare—had a much more relaxed police presence.
In their blog post on the Hometown Action website, Scalzetti recalled the increased police presence and noted the difference: this rally’s organizers were Black women.
The bill is dead now, but Scalzetti is prepared to rally against it for as long as it’s reintroduced. “They count on us being tired,” she said.
Hometown Organizing Project
On a cloudy Wednesday morning in March, sets of car tires crunch over worn gravel where weeds claw through in patches. The air is still damp from the rain that poured in the town the night before.
Inside the historic First Universalist Church of Camp Hill, there are rows of pews facing an altar. The pews are curved, concave to the front.
Everyone dons a white N-95 and takes a seat in mismatched wooden chairs arranged in a circle. The center of the circle is empty, and too large for the space. It creates distance between the attendees.
Those gathered are a mix of ethnicities and identities. Some needed an airplane to deliver them to the Plains. Some have only ever known the Plains of East Alabama.
Tidwell leads the meeting. Camp Hill is one of the latest recipients of Hometown Organizing Project’s help.
Also in attendance was the Rev. Joanne Finley, the senior pastor at Mitchell Springs Church in Lanett, Alabama. She also works as a business consultant and is creating a non-profit to help entrepreneurs in rural Alabama.
Another is Embry Zellars, who traveled from Maryland. Her grandfather owns buildings in the downtown area, and she is working to renovate them in order to drive business to Camp Hill.
The Bonners, Dean and Patricia, are also in appearance. They are artists, each with their own medium: words and paint, respectively. They hope to transform the crumbling building behind the Universalist Church into a publishing house.
These patrons, and others, are working with community organizers to bring the town of Camp Hill together. With the help of Hometown Organizing Project, they are planning a marketplace and food drive for the residents. The efforts will start with canvassing the town and inviting more participants to the community organizer meetings. They also plan to set up text notification alerts to get the word out.
“This town is made up of us, it’s not some omnipresence in the sky,” said Messiah Williams-Cole, Camp Hill’s mayor. The hardest part, he said, “is getting people to believe.”
One of the pillars of the South, however, is community and good ol’ southern hospitality.
Where is the Line Drawn?
Does that hospitality ever over-extend?
As Auburn, Alabama, becomes a more and more desirable place to live, property values are skyrocketing. Homes that didn’t exist a decade ago now have a million-dollar price tag. It’s also nearly impossible to get a hotel room in a 10-mile-radius of the town on a home game weekend at Auburn University.
Auburn now more closely resembles a “sprawling, growing city,” said Thomson, rather than a quiet village on the Plains. The residents who have longstanding roots in Auburn can’t always keep up with the rising cost of living.
This is why organizations like Hometown Action and Hometown Organizing Project try to work with the communities, rather than trying to take things over. Tidwell said it’s about asking, “How can we help?” rather than making assumptions.
As Thomson pointed out, many rural small towns in Alabama have declining populations. They need new residents. The dilemma is in balancing the benefit of larger communities and the strain of higher costs.
The Fight is Ongoing
Tidwell’s mother used to tell him, “A lie will go around the world while the truth is still putting it’s shoes on.” The caricature of Alabama has spread while the true character is still putting its shoes on.
Organizations like Hometown Action and Hometown Organizing Project, along with communities like Camp Hill and the miners in Brookwood, are tying the laces. Together they’re fighting against bias legislation, gentrification in their towns and inequality.
There is no solution or remedy that will fit all rural Alabama towns. The importance is in these towns retaining their sense of community, even as new communities are formed, and their will to fight.
It takes small steps—like Mayor Williams-Cole repaving streets in Camp Hill or Scalzetti being relentless in her opposition of an ambiguous bill—to bring big results.
Comments