In November 2000, after a statewide vote in a special election, Alabama became the last state to overturn a law that was an ugly reminder of America's past, a ban on interracial marriage. The one-time home of George Wallace and Martin Luther King Jr. had held onto the provision for 33 years after the Supreme Court declared anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional. Yet as the election revealed -- 40 percent of Alabamans voted to keep the ban -- many people still see the necessity for a law that prohibits blacks and whites from mixing blood.A few of you have posted responses to my screed below, saying that lots of state have "archaic" laws on the books, and that not all Alabamians and southerners are redneck racists. Well, I get that. But it seems that 51% of you are. Otherwise, the miscegenation laws would have been repealed LONG before the year 2000 (they weren't). Otherwise 51% of you would have voted to repeal the racist laws in your state constitution last month (you didn't). And otherwise you guys wouldn't constantly be bashing gay people and getting away with it.
Let's face it, when it comes to civil rights villains, far too many have a southern accent for it to simply be coincidence.
And as for calling miscegenation laws simply "archaic" - they're downright Nazi era, AND I USE THAT TERM IN THE REAL AND NOT METAPHORICAL SENSE, and 51% of you guys still tolerated them until 4 years ago (when 40% of you STILL wanted them on the books). That makes 40% of you Nazis, again, in the LITERAL sense of the word. Or, if you prefer not to be compared to Nazis, we can stick with the KKK. You can't weasel out of that comparison.
You guys have a problem. It's a racism problem. And a bigotry problem. And while I'm sure there are a number of southerners who are good people, all too often 51% of you get together and support the bigoted proposal or candidate that comes along. That makes this much more than the problem of simply a few wingnuts.
