Southern leaders use same logic that sparked Civil War | ELAINE HARRIS SPEARMAN
Americans live in the United States of America, not the United States of Alabama or the United States of the Southern Region.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 114,555,744 people, or 37% of the entire population of the United States reside in the Southern region of the United States. The country is divided into four regions. Sixteen states make up the Southern region in the description used by the Census Bureau.
When American citizens were asked which states comprised the heart of the South, the overwhelming response was Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and Tennessee.
Every state in the union has an attorney general. Each has its own governor. Why do these governors and attorneys general of the Southern region think that they should dictate policy and what should be the rule of law for all of America?
If all of the Southern region states would agree on their regressive policies and thinking and oppressive legislation, can’t they see that their 37% of the population of America is not the whole?
There is 63% of the country remaining and those people have witnessed how Southern states, with backward practices and policies, have had little regard for the treatment of every man.
The Southern governors uniting against the efforts to unionize the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, is an example of the Southern leadership mentality. In Alabama, the Mercedes plant outside of Tuscaloosa has experienced the same treatment.
The Southern governors uniting to decry the efforts to unionize the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga face the same challenges as the workers at the Mercedes plant outside Tuscaloosa. It is a modern example of the "take over this country" mentality exemplified by the Civil War. Too many Southerners are still fighting a war that was lost by the South in 1865 with the passage of the 13th Amendment.
Unions have been around a long time and in many cases have ensured that wealthy employers paid their employees a living wage and provided decent working conditions. Republic Steel, back in the day in Gadsden, was a union shop.
The real reason for this deprivation of democracy to the workers was pointed out by the group. The United Auto Workers support the re-election of President Joe Biden. What about a wage that can support a family, allow homeownership and provisions of conditions that don’t contribute to poor health and early death?
Each state has an attorney general who is the chief law enforcement officer of the state. He gives advice to executive and administrative departments or agencies.
The Southern region attorneys general have forgotten what the law says their responsibilities are. The Alabama attorney general has allowed his political ambition to guide his agenda and push for appeasement to the MAGA (Make America Great Again) crowd.
Attorney General Steve Marshall has chaired the Rule of Law Defense Fund since 2014. This group is comprised of attorneys general and helped organized protests supporting Donald John Trump on Jan. 6, 2021, claiming election fraud or irregularities and sought to overturn the 2020 election. Should this person speak for Alabama and the rule of law?
In 2020, he successfully led a challenge to the Supreme Court of the United States, which struck down a federal court order allowing curbside voting as an accommodation for voters worried about contracting COVID-19. He refused to acknowledge Joe Biden as the duly elected and lawfully serving president of the United States as he made a rude, ugly, snide appearance during the confirmation hearings on the nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court.
He co-chairs the Governors Opioid Overdose and Addiction Council. Why? He has not promoted any new programs. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, of the 207,000 adults in Alabama who did not receive mental health care, 49.6% did not because of cost. Seven in 10 youth in the juvenile system have mental health conditions. Much of it is traceable to drug use. Depression and anxiety is running rampant in Alabama.
The attorney general spent his time and taxpayer dollars fighting the federal court over redistricting after it was found to be discriminatory. The state initially refused to obey the court order to redraw the map.
This is the same logic and Southern states' attitudes that sparked the Civil War.
Elaine Harris Spearman, Esq., a Gadsden native, is an attorney and is the retired legal advisor to the comptroller of the City of St. Louis. The views expressed are her own.
This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Southern leaders need an attitude adjustment | ELAINE HARRIS SPEARMAN
