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Here’s what I don’t get… town is 85% black and only has 275 people.
That means a 234 to 41 split black to white. 5.7:1 ratio.
If those 41 people really are that racist and regressive, you haul them all out of their homes, tar and feather them, and ride them out of town on a rail.
Our society needs to bring back public shaming, shunning and banishment.
Then in Alabama it would be used exclusively for black people.
Then start shaming and banishing the racist whites.
Seriously people, stop being afraid of them and combat them. It doesn’t even really matter how, what matters is not taking their bullshit lying down.
This. Violence is not the answer.
Until it is. Violence sometimes only can be corrected with violence.
Violence is not THE answer, but it is AN answer.
You are wrong violence is never the answer.
Its a question and the answer is yes.
The minute, and I mean THE MINUTE, some racist asshat burns someones house down, as happened here, you deserve the right to stop being polite about it.
I suspect (based on nothing, really) that most white people in this country are not racist. It’s the tiny pockets of diarrhea like this town that are disproportionately racist, and have disproportionate representation in national politics.
I wonder if WFH could change this, as liberal white people from places like California start moving to different states, and begin to turn them blue. Or maybe I’m being too optimistic?
Idk about moving state to state but I noticed people’s definition of “reasonable commuting distance” got a little bigger durring covid. Like I’ll do a longer drive if I’m doing it 2x a week instead of 5x. People that’d otherwise be in town or a blue suburb pushed a little farther into the exurbs.
I think a lot of people are racist tho so idk if that’s helping
Haha, at first I read “country” as “county” and was like…wtf are you smoking, this is Dumbfuck, Alabama but on a country-wide level, I agree.
The problem isn’t just small towns like this where the clock stopped 70 years ago, it’s huge portions of the South.
Gentrification from blue states isn’t happening because the services needed (high speed internet) aren’t available in small towns like this, and, because of other problems, nobody from the outside wants to live there.
Alabama ranks #44/50 on a “Best States” list:
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/rankings
40 Crime & Corrections
33 Economy
44 Education
20 Fiscal Stability
44 Health Care
36 Infrastructure
47 Natural Environment
32 OpportunityRacism/bigotry is not really a yes or no thing. It is a spectrum. Everyone is at least a little bigoted. Some people are pretty far up in that racism spectrum though.
That’s just cruel. Someone shouldn’t be not allowed serve soley for the color of their skin. That’s not the point of the election – it’s meant to be for the citizens elected this person! They’re just being racist at this point and it’s obvious!
It’s honestly kind of sweet that you sound so surprised.
I agree with you, with the caveat that the article says that there wasn’t an election - it was a win by default as the only person to qualify / submit candidacy.
So he was running unopposed? That happens all the time.
Sorta.
From the article, they’re such a “good ol boy” community that the people in power just kinda picked the mayor, who served until he was ready to retire and pick another. He was the first person in town, basically ever, to properly fill out electoral paperwork. So they had a mayor picked out (not him) and they basically just pretended he didn’t do it the right way because it isn’t THERE way.
Until I say the next thing and just looking at that, you could kinda see the back-and-forth about how the town’s so messed up his situation was like a loophole, and no doubt if it were a white person winning the mayorship on those terms people might have taken issue and justified a repeat election…
But his reason for running for mayor puts the whole thing into much clearer contrast. When he was a volunteer firefighter, they’d take away the keys when he tried to respond to fires at black folk’s houses, and when he made it he’d be the ONLY firefighter there. They wanted to let those residences burn because of the color of the residents’ skin. As one of the town’s medics, he was specifically locked out of the station for racist reasons and it led to a patient dying.
It’s THAT good-ol-boy a community, and it’s such an overwhelmingly black-majority town (like 80%) that going all democratic just won’t work for them. So fuck em. If they win their defense on claims of qualified immunity of an office they don’t actually hold, immo go down there and declare myself governor.
EDIT: Yet on reading more carefully, it’s complicated. The “lame duck” city council voted on a re-election where he did not get the paperwork, and elected themselves back into office, all before he and the new council were sworn in. They may have managed to push the whole thing into a legal grey area in their favor depending on what the local and state laws are. But the problem is that quite literally everyone is telling him “you’re not the mayor” when he tries to execute ANY mayoral duties. The bank is refusing him financial access. The staff at public buildings is refusing him physical access.
It’s interesting because he’s tried to bring in several lawfirms, and they have mostly just taken his money and failed him. This is, at local scale, to too unlike the federal Constitutional crisis we almost had on 1/6/21. What do you do when a town says you’re not its mayor and the laws are unclear?
Sounds like a town so devoid of life that it would be more productive to just let it collapse.
There’s a bunch of tiny rural towns that have basically no jobs and no real reason to exist anymore.
Globalization was not kind to rural America. And people listen to snake oil salesmen like Trump because he’s the only one talking at them with a distorted compassion.
That vid does a good job of showing what some of the people that live in those towns are like. He doesn’t really ask them any pointed questions but you can get a better sense of the communities and why they might cling to someone like trump (even if it is bad for them)
Those white fucking kkk should be run out of town. It fucked up to have a town that as no elections.
Especially a town that is 89% black. They should come together and take their town back.
And qualified immunity should not keep you away from breaking civil rights act. Fuck racist states.
Small towns are rough man. People will run as both the dem and republican candidate in my town and you can’t vote in town meetings if you aren’t a property owner
Small towns need to be made a bit smaller, so they stop being cesspits.
Oh it’s happening quite fast. My very small rural home town was already dwindling when I graduated 15 years ago. Now sports teams in the area are having to consolidate with neighboring towns and consolidating entire districts is in talks.
Great idea, now how do we do that? Cities gentrify and force people into towns and rural areas. Where do these people get to live, the unincorporated wilderness?
The only real answer I have to that question is that leftists need to move to rural areas and help slowly change its political landscape. Or you know, let the elected official govern. Still, I don’t have an answer for this exact scenario. The ultimate problem is who (who have the power to do anything in that exact area) cares? We do, but we aren’t there and I am out of ideas.
wooosh
Where is this? Outside of HOA nonsense, I thought property ownership died as a requirement in the 1800’s.
I guess the slightly less doxx-y question is: what states still allow that crap?
New England
I was so sure your town was doing something unconstitutional because it sounded so blatantly wrong. Found the answer and man, your state needs to sort that shit out.
Fwiw, a few MA towns are going the other way: pushing the state to allow noncitizens to vote in TM.
Yeah town was founded around the Civil War and I suspect that has something to do with the way it is now. Had a brief klan revival in the 80s and 90s, and, given the size, hitting way above our weight for number of people arrested for january 6
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Bullshit. Don’t paint everyone with a broad brush.
This rural town is 89 percent black. 59 percent of the black population in the US lives in the south in mostly rural places. Rural towns would still exist, they’d just be more pleasant and less racist. I’d even argue that rural America would thrive, because the majority of the population down there would be able to live their lives and do whatever they want, free of discrimination and prejudice.
If all of the KKK were to leave their current towns and start their own, it would be relatively small. According to estimates from 2016 there are about 5,000 - 8,000 KKK members in the US.
So, after brown v board desegregated parts of the south the response of the white community of Memphis was simple:
They all picked up, moved 15 miles east through some wheat fields to set up a new city called Germantown.
I’m Indian, I’ve never seen that level of weapons-grade racism, usually it’s just poor people, this was everybody.
Two years ago, Braxton says he was the only volunteer firefighter in his department to respond to a tree fire near a Black person’s home in the town of 275 people. As Braxton, 57, actively worked to put out the fire, he says, one of his white colleagues tried to take the keys to his fire truck to keep him from using it.
There ain’t that many one solid protest from the surrounding communities would wreck the towns racists
They would arrest and convict the majority, and move on. With state support, 275 people is just not enough. A few surrounding communities? Their police forces would join in.
The small-town South Sucks if your skin isn’t white.
Spoken by someone who has clearly never lived in the south.
Brown people in the south are afraid for good reason, you can’t imagine the kind of terror those fat fucks will inflict because they know nobody can stop them.
Bullets work on them as well as they do on everyone else.
The governor would send the national guard with tanks.
You don’t understand the south, black people aren’t citizens there, they’re the enemy.
🤔 I get what you’re saying. They’re very powerful, very well-armed and very organized. But that can’t stop us from stopping them from hurting us.
We can look up the National Guard bases throughout a particular state and just steal the tanks beforehand so they can’t just roll up on us.
You know, we ourselves could actually organize. Possibly claim a big land area and vote for it to be a new state so none of their bullshit is possible anymore.
This has the same problem as the southern white NRA attitude.
There aren’t enough untrained civilians to enact a violent rebellion without the support of our military. They don’t have to beat us to win, only stop us from beating them, and the law will take over from there. Unlike in Vietnam, the war of attrition would be against whoever rebelled. Nobody wants to be in a long and protracted war against the US, and if the rebellious behavior doesn’t break down, the perpetrators will stop being seen as heroes and start being seen as criminals.
We saw it firsthand recently with CHOP/CHAZ. Ultimately, a vast majority of onlookers (including some members of CHAZ) were done with it all by the end.
This small town in this snippet is not going to fix its problems by a bunch of people robbing tanks from the Federal Government.
Well then, we can organize, ger the training, or get weapons and go hide in the cities or the forests or the mountains and fight a guerrilla war. There’s always a way around every logistics problem, so arguing a revolution is impossible on logistics grounds is hopeless for you. No matter how many problems you’ll bring forth, we’ll solve them, and we know it’s possible because successful uprisings happened all the time throughout history.
We are not helpless babies and we are not going to be helpless victims acquiescing to racism and genocide just because you don’t want the left to accept use of force as a morally acceptable means to save their own lives. It’s just not gonna happen.
And that “X is the same as Y” shit isn’t gonna fly with me either, because I am not broken enough to be taken in by a pathetic attempt to derail the conversation.
CHOP/CHAZ failed because there was no real plan, no real leadership, no real attempt to do much of anything. But we don’t have to repeat the mistakes of the past.
You say this shit like the right wing hasn’t thought of it and organized militias of their own in response already, in fact, you use them as a wedge to scare leftists inti surrender and complacency, while ignoring 1) the right proves a political faction can successfully organize and arm themselves in the United States, 2) you’re a hypocrite with an agenda, for you try to bully us inti compliance when we so much as try to talk about use of force while they stand around in armor and AR-15s and you are silent. The most you do is use them as an emotional cudgel to beat us, and it’s not gonna work anymore.
We don’t have to listen to you anymore, and I sure as fuck won’t. It is possible for the left to use force to end the racism and it’ll likely have to, end of story.
I think it’s a nice thought, I just don’t think it would work.
When I lived there it felt like the entire social fabric of the source was founded deep down on unimaginable hate, I think they would gladly see everything burn before admitting they were equal in any way.
There’s a reason the civil war and ww2 only ended when there was literally no other choice, hate closes doors.
That being said, ww2 left Germany a much nicer place because all the most hateful people were not around as much anymore, we should have done the same after the civil war, maybe that’s a second chance.
I think this is the same guy who was arrested by his own police force not long ago for “trespassing”. The guy walked down the driveway of a house he thought was abandoned, the homeowner saw him, grabbed his gun and held him at knife point until the police arrived and arrested him. I’ll see if I can’t find a link.
Edit: I was thinking of another (acting) black mayor of a southern state who’s being stymied by his racist colleagues. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna93318
Sounds about white.
but he’s the mayor, wouldn’t he have legal jurisdiction do serve anyway? up to and including arresting those that try to stop him?
The previous administration is still running the town, so how is Braxton going to arrest them when they control the police force?
He became mayor because he was the only one to qualify for election in 2020, because the incumbent declined to submit paperwork (because they weren’t planning to actually hold an election; the last proper mayoral election was at least 60 years ago, according to the article). The city council responded by holding an unannounced (and probably illegal) special election to re-elect the previous mayor, which no one knew about so Braxton couldn’t apply for it. So the previous mayor has simply continued doing the job, with the backing of the council and all his officials. That’s why Braxton is bringing a lawsuit against them.
presumably the mayor will win the lawsuit, the other guy has no case.
This dude sounds like a pretty weak mayor. He is literally the mayor, he can unilaterally appoint a new sheriff and arrest all 30 of the “white town leaders” for interfering with the official duties of the mayor. He has 100% of all official power that a local government has and I’d say at least 60% of the unofficial power, and yet he can’t stop <30 people from running amuck?
He is either a collaborator, or so clueless that he should have never been mayor to begin with. Similar to Obama honestly.Tell me you don’t understand soft power without etc…
Yea, that’s what I’m saying, this dude has no fucking clue about soft-power, so why is he mayor and complaining to some random news conglomerate?
They’re arguing he isn’t the mayor, though, and intimidating anyone and everyone into not supporting him.
Oh no, 30 in a town of 275 are upset about something. Guess we just need to appease them no other options.
Typical out of touch oldhead who’s never had to think, “Hm, is there a probability that these 30 angry white folks in rural Alabama might cause me harm?”
There’s also something to be said about carrying yourself with tact. Do you think your idea elsewhere in this thread of man-handling his local government into accepting his position is going to win any favors with his constituents and community?
Oh no! The threat of violence to enforce the status quo? I’m sure 89% of people in that town have never considered that possibility. Perhaps if they just showed a bit more “tact” with the requests for equality, they would already have it by now? I’ll tell you this, if an elected official actually leveraged their power to end racism, I’d be elated! But I guess for people like you who benefit from the status quo, that would just be uncouth.
You sound ignorant and like your blissfully unaware of the nature of what’s actually going on in that town, giving yourself the ability to sound like a tough guy. It’s embarrassing to read
If those 30 people include the local sheriff and the judge, as well as the council, then you might just find yourself in trouble.
arrest all 30 of the “white town leaders” for interfering with the official duties of the mayor
This is America, negroes can’t arrest whites, that’s how it’s always been. If he tries anything like that he’s going to jail and never coming back out.
There is no racism law in America, does that sound crazy? It is.
Sheriff is an elected position, not appointed.
So the 89% black town can elect a black mayor, but replacing the sheriff was just a bridge to far? Sounds like they have voted for what they want.
Well you have to wait for an election for sheriff to happen. It also sounds like there’s some general fuckery happening in that county. Maybe it’s a life or death situation to try to unseat the current sheriff. There are a lot of possible reasons why the sheriff may not represent the people’s choice.
I’m sure there is general fuckery happening, much like the previous 150 years. But if you want to change anything in America, you can’t play by the rules, and you can’t appeal to decency. If you aren’t willing to fight dirty, you aren’t the right person for the job.
Mid. Even if they did, you’d find some other reason to undermine the victim or defend the bigots like people like you always do.
I have zero power or soft power in that town. But if your projection of me can stop the elected mayor of a town from doing anything beneficial, it sounds like you are just looking for an excuse to support the status quo, like you and your kind always do.
Lol die mad bro, you’re racist and got called out. Nothing’s going to save you from your terrible stances except you. Go to a log cabin in the woods and go meditate on how it is you got to the point where you’re openly defending blatant racism. But don’t cry to me when you’re told the truth.
You are the one being instructed here, Mr. liberal defender of the status of the quo.
Horrific article to read, old mate had to go to fires by himself and respond to emergencies from black people while all the white people hid. Terrible
Not just that, but they locked and restricted his access to medical equipment so he had to make a detour to get a different one, and that time cost the person he was trying to save her life.
Complete scum.
Not just hid but tried to prevent him from responding at all.
Undeniably racist and absolutely disgusting.
Hopefully their houses catch on fire and no one helps them.
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If theres one thing that pisses me off about lemmy its the word filter. I have no idea what you said.
You’re better off
On lemmy.world you can see it.
If I switch instances its gonna be to one I set up for myself. Just been putting it off
I do see it, “Rtrd” is probably the filter. But I agree - the filter is justified, but there should be a “redacted for [reason], view anyway” option.
I’d switch servers.
You’re removeding my conversation
Then use an instance that doesn’t have the word filter?
these people’s misplaced loyalty and abhorrent actions speak for themselves. there is no need to resort to slurs that demean others
That slur was very clearly directed at the orange retard, not anyone else. He’s demeaning the exact person he means to demean.
i understand, and that is the point. using a term for how some people simply “are” as an insult is demeaning to them regardless of who the insult is aimed at.
i only ask that you try to see it from a so-called “retard’s” point if view, the message being that trump is as stupid as they are. its not very considerate to be compared to trump, or to be considered the lowest bar for intelligence.
i only ask that you try to see it from a so-called “retard’s” point
WHOA dude you can’t actually call them that
Wow, anyone who feels like we just have the “casual racism” of some people being impolite to other races needs to read this article. Full of stuff like:
Two years ago, Braxton says he was the only volunteer firefighter in his department to respond to a tree fire near a Black person’s home in the town of 275 people. As Braxton, 57, actively worked to put out the fire, he says, one of his white colleagues tried to take the keys to his fire truck to keep him from using it.
It’s worse than the old cross-burning shit. Horrific. Not sure how to combat it when a whole town’s leadership and infrastructure is so overtly racist.
With bricks through the windows of all their homes. Fuck these racist fucks. They’re willing to let black peoples houses burn down for no reason? Yeah fuck them.
Perhaps not just “let”. Look up the lady that’s been helping him. Her house recently burned down. I didn’t dig deep enough to know if anyone has tried to tie it to this particular town, but I’m gonna let them be guilty until proven innocent in this particular case.
Sounds about right. When I joined the military I met people from Alabama, and even people from other Southern states had nasty things to say about that state. I didn’t believe it at first, but then I saw enough over time to realize, “I hate to say it, but maybe they’re right. At least about some of the smaller towns and more rural areas.”
I met a few nice people from Alabama, yes. I also met… a surprising number of not so nice types. I’m Asian by the way, not White. I’ll let people fill in the gaps.
Asian who had to live in the south before I managed to escape.
It’s probably worse than you’ve heard, I loved the midwest, but the south was just vile.
This is not a state specific thing, and it’s using a single state as a scapegoat because of this single news story. This kind of shit could happen in rural areas of almost any state. This is a ignorance and racism issue, not a geography issue.
I feel like we need to have a more concerted focused effort against the racist bigoted trash people, wherever they are. Because they are the ones that don’t belong in this country.
From the looks of it it takes another civil war, where the less barbaric people remove the more barbaric people from power. Unfortunately i am afraid that nothing short of that will work, as the system is so unstanle that things like this can happen.
You really think the less barbaric people are going to win a fight? Lmao
All a civil war will do is put a bigger boot on all our necks.
Nobody rational wants to see that happen.
Unless you enjoy the thought of American military might amped up to 11 and deployed on it’s own citizens.
This already happened in Portland 2 years ago
From the other side of the world, it would be fun to see that happen.
Your racist uncultured citizens citizens duly deserve that and the collateral damage would be overlooked.
The US military putting racist authoritarian southern states into order seems like a fairly okay alternative to people constantly being supressed, denies their democratic rights and often being outright murdered without any consequences for the perpetuators.
As you mention the might of the US military that could also mean the issues to be resolved within a short time and without much bloodshed, as the local cop gang probably is made up of pussy posers that only attack the weak.
As a bonus, many of those lunatics who have weapons “to protect themselves from the government” would finally see how laughable is the thought of a redneck with a gun overpowering trained soldiers in their prime.
And by “concerted focused effort” does that mean we beat them within an inch of their lives until they promise never to do it again? Because that’s what it’s gonna take.
Why bother with stopping at an inch? We didn’t beat the nazis by doing that. Stamp out racism where ever it is found.
We didn’t fight Nazi Germany because they were racist. We fought them because they attacked us (through their ally, Japan). The sad truth is there were a lot of Americans who were ok with Nazi ideology.
Noah, get the boat.
"If we don’t get them, they gonna get us all
I’m down for runnin’ up on them crackers in they city hall" - Dead Prez
Jesus, that article just kept getting worse the more I read. Thanks for posting this. I was able to send a donation their way.
