Writing

The problem with a Mountain Brook education

They recognize that you could have the best classical education in the world, but it won’t prepare you for anything other than a life in Mountain Brook if it doesn’t reflect the realities of the city, state and country you live in. So many of the best things in American culture and history were shaped by Black and Brown Southerners and Mountain Brook students will be at a permanent disadvantage if they close themselves off to those stories.

You cannot be the best school system in Alabama if you look nothing like Alabama.

Capitol riot: The 48 hours that echoed generations of Southern conflict

Hours after Mississippi legislators took the final step of removing a Confederate emblem from their state banner, a violent white mob waved the rebel flag as it ransacked the U.S. Capitol. 

The ratification of a new Magnolia flag followed a year in which white Southerners were forced to confront the legacy and symbols of the Lost Cause, an enduring, pernicious myth that the Confederacy had fought for a valiant purpose and a noble way of life had been brought to an end. The removal of the Confederate emblem and the historic elections in Georgia should have signaled a moment of celebration for the South, embracing its multicultural reality. 

Dismantling America’s Biggest Lies

Much of our American consciousness is built on the intentional and strategic lies of white supremacy.

The truth is older than the lies. You can see that because of how the lies have mutated in order to survive. How new lies have been built to justify and perpetuate the old ones.

Alabama’s Story is America’s Story

If Philadelphia is the birthplace of America, Alabama is where the nation was reborn.

One square mile of Montgomery tells the story of the state’s first 200 years, as well as the story of an imperfect nation striving to be made whole. Built on the banks of the Alabama River, the capital city was shaped by slavery and later remade through the Civil Rights Movement. The First White House of the Confederacy is steps away from Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. From Rosa Parks’ bus stop you can see the Capitol dome, where George Wallace defiantly raised a Confederate flag in the face of Federal pressure to desegregate.

New memorial ends the 'silence' on a history of lynching

In July 1933, Elizabeth Lawrence walked down a road just outside of Birmingham when a group of white children began to hurl stones at her. Lawrence responded the way most of us would respond: she reprimanded the children.

Later that night, a mob appeared at Lawrence's door, seized her, lynched her and burned her home to the ground. When her son, Alexander, attempted to report the murder of his mother to the local sheriff, the mob turned its attention to him. Fearing for his life, Alexander fled to Boston. He was one of six million African Americans who fled the racial terror of the South during the great migration.

Editorial: Alabama voters must reject Roy Moore; we endorse Doug Jones for U.S. Senate

By the various misdeeds, miscalculations and mistakes of its voters and leaders, Alabama has left itself with few options. Alabamians must show themselves to be people of principle, reject Roy Moore and all that he stands for.

There is only one candidate left in this race who has proven worthy of the task of representing Alabama. He is Doug Jones.

The voters must make their voices heard.