Prometheus 6

Red state:

Jim Crow rides crimson tide
Tuesday, Nov 16, 2004
By John Brummett

…Like other Southern red states including Arkansas, Alabama chose in the overtly racist 1950s to pass a constitutional amendment presuming to interpose state constitutional law decreeing segregation. The foolhardy notion was to fend off federal court rulings requiring racial integration of schools. It was foolhardy because states can't defy the federal government, considering that the Union won.

Arkansas repealed its pointless but symbolically destructive amendment - narrowly - in 1990. This year the Alabama Legislature referred Amendment Two to the voters to take out of the state's constitution the three most egregious vestiges of racism in its segregation amendment. They were that schools must be segregated, that a poll tax had to be paid and that a right to an education at taxpayer expense did not exist for an Alabama child. (And you thought the purpose of a constitution was to grant, not void, rights.)

The idea of the latter was to make sure no lawyer, judge, outside agitator or godless liberal could ever say under constitutional imprimatur that Alabama bore any responsibility to its black children's schooling.

Alabamians voted Nov. 2 on whether to repeal. With nearly 1.4 million votes cast, it appears that Amendment Two failed by about 2,500 votes. The typical Alabama voter marked a ballot for Bush and segregation.

Blue state:

Banned in Boston: American Indians, but Only for 329 Years
By KATIE ZEZIMA

BOSTON, Nov. 24 - It is a prejudicial, archaic concept that prohibited Native Americans from entering a city for fear members of their "barbarous crew" would cause residents to be "exposed to mischief."

But it is more than notions and phrases in Boston. A ban on Indians entering Boston has been the law since 1675.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino took a step toward repealing the ban on Wednesday, filing a home rule petition. Mr. Menino said a repeal would remove the last vestiges of discrimination from a vibrant, diverse city that is looking past old racial conflicts.