Tuesday, June 9, 2009

History unmade . . .

History was made in Birmingham Saturday. Artur Davis, Congressman from Alabama's 7th Congressional District, held a gubernatorial campaign kick-off rally in Linn Park. It was a typical Alabama gubernatorial rally. There were free hotdogs and drinks, live music (Ruben Studdard and a great cover duo), hot sun, young enthusiastic volunteers, and other politicians taking advantage of a gathered crowd.

But Artur Davis is African-American. That is not so typical. Perhaps it is obvious that his candidacy is historic, considering Alabama's record on race.

But to Mr. Davis' credit, he did not dwell on that particular historical significance. He talked instead of a new direction for Alabama. He talked of education and economy, of environment and opportunity.

Perhaps equally as historic was that a significant portion of the crowd of five hundred or so was not African American.

But maybe the most significant thing of all is that at this point, Artur Davis is the candidate with the best campaign organization, the most money, and the support of several of the most powerful political forces in the State of Alabama.

It is far too early to predict anything about the governor's race, especially with the Roy Moore wildcard sitting out there.

But Saturday, the historic event in Linn Park didn't seem so historic.

It seemed like a typical political rally in Alabama.

That is historic.



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2 comments :

  1. Our next door neighbor is an older African American man and he clipped the article that was in the local paper about Artur Davis out for us. We have some wondeful conversations about racism in the south so he was very surprised when he read the article

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