Wallace was a politician, he was not a fascist.
But it was fascism and its leaders that egged it all on and infiltrated and propagandized the mass of white working middle class and poor, and anyone else that would listen for that matter. But Walace would make a deal.
The late date re-election of George Corley Wallace (initially he had two or three terms and then his wife Lurlene served a term as governor also) was with the added support of the black vote. One of his last interviews on camera, in the documentary (…) Wallace was asked about his switch of doctrines and he was matter of fact about it saying – I was always elected by the voters and I always represented what the voters wanted.
He was not a fascist, but he knew the fascists and left them room to operate.
American fascists then and now, and as they still are worldwide, are just going to be hard right wing. My dad and all his friends were hard far-right bigots and demanded and got their way.
My elementary school was the first integrated in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963.
It was peaceful black protestors, and church going little girls, and a president who would try to take care of them, and make peace with Russia, and then by the time the frosts covered the ground in the south they were dead.
Spike Lee told the girls’ stories in the movie. 4 Little Girls. and countless have told Kennedy’s so I could not really have anything to add. My 1963 story is so puny, compared, I have always shrunk in trying to describe any of it.
The bars, The Goal Line and The Tide N’ Tiger both on Graymont were often packed with men who were either klan or klan wannabe’s.
- Like a behemoth, Legion Field Stadium, one block south of my house at 828 5th Street, over looking so much history. (I climbed on top of one of those lions, with the help of Jackie, Randy and Mike.) 2. The Tide and Tiger at 409 Graymont. See the link to the B’ham Wiki page for a history of The Tide and Tiger Restaurant and Bar. Right across from the stadium. Segregated in added ways, the Black Schools had their night. 3. A little farther west toward Arkadelphia Road and Vickie’s house was the infamous Goal Line. 4. The map of my little world with my father’s family.
I had a catch 22 life, my father’s family about 3/4 for fascists, for segregation, of course, kept me out of the integrated school – in the next weeks the truant officer came to the house explaining I would be taken if they did not put me in school. But every private school in the land had filled and about half of the city of Birmingham moved to Atlanta over the summer – (and Atlanta was integrated the next year).
My mother and her husband had me in their world every other weekend. The sainted priest Father Raya, a civil rights worker, would just remind me that I had to shake off those teachings of many of my father’s family – in so many words.
https://www.saintgeorgeonline.org/
But I was with my father’s family the weekend of the bombing of the 16th Street Church, which horribly killed Addie Mae Collins (14), Cynthia Wesley (14), Carole Robertson (14), and Carol Denise McNair (11).
I was in the bedroom of my house, up on the hillside, which faced toward the general direction of the church. The bomb was so large and loud and concussive, I felt it through the earth and the house. The window pane in the window rattled and the small crack in the bottom corner cracked farther. I was 11 years old.
It felt much larger — and so we knew likely much worse — than those we had felt through the years from across Legion Field in the Black neighborhood, out Center Street. And it was much worse – four little girls murdered and no one is over it yet – in many circles.
That was September. It was October when Wallace signed an order certifying the newly organized segregated private school that I was to go to. On November 22, Mrs. Shaw came into our segregated 5th-6th grades class with Mrs. Phillips and announced that Kennedy was dead. Half the class cheered.
We were being roused to get on the bus and were sent home.
I went to my mother’s and they set up a television in their restaurant and kept it open, more or less, for the next four days, serving food and serving the neighborhood and community. It was a stark contrast between seeing the one group almost celebrating, then being with my mother and her group who were mourning the death of the president. I stayed there through the funeral.
I was learning how to appease both sides and convince both sides that I was firmly in their camp. Mostly working to convince the right wingers, I was a devoted follower. In just a few years it became impossible to hide the fact that I had become an anti-fascist.
What’s In A Name: A Rose is not still a Rose – it is an Antifa
The slang name changed the following and acceptance.
In the UK this weekend, right wing Fascists are protesting and vandalizing and commiting violence. The opposition protestors are called anti-fascists.
In America, in recent years, several instances of violence have been credited to antifa but we later learned that on several occasions the violence, fires and vandalism were actually by right wing fascists and some skinhead bikers.
But Antifa – has a bad name.
The Blacks in the 1960s were called communists – and now the Antifa are called – what all?
The terror in GB this week made me think back to Wallace and how we might hope for a politician like him to continue now to save us.
The documentary about Wallace and the integration of the university events, had interesting footage and explanations of how Attorney General Bobby Kennedy knew they needed to leave Wallace an out and a face-saving win – the history explained the effort Kennedy went to to set up a way out for Wallace.
In June of 1963 Wallace might have stood in the university doorway and gotten in a sound bite – but he left and left them all to pass.
Wallace did not call on men like my dad and his bigot buddies to burn anything – everyone went home – at least that day.
But Birmingham would be different – Birmingham had Eugene “Bull Conner” and men planning at the Goal Line.
Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment
Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment First aired on ABC television in 1963, Robert Drew’s cinéma vérité documentary chronicles how President John F. Kennedy and his brother Attor …
The rest to read and see is free on you tube
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/wallace/
Google pictures and maps walk me through time and space. I search and find. They are invaluable in researching genealogy to search for the places of ancestors or planning your upcoming vacation. Search in the side offer for my other two stories about my love of Google! All pictures carry the name GOOGLE!
I do not see anyone mentioning the “Goal Line” Bar and Grill in any online memories. The Tide and Tiger has a B’ham Wiki page…
https://www.bhamwiki.com/w/Tide_%26_Tiger
I credit him with coping with so many milestones in my life – the life with my mother and step father.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Raya
Be sure to watch Spike Lee’s movie 4 Little Girls
Here is a ten minute interview and info with the 5th girl who survived
Cherie Lynn's Herstory 