“My family was one of the first families in Fairhope and owned land but sold it to buy farmland. My grandmother was white and someone killed her when she was walking back from the city dump because she was married to a black man. Her name was Sadie Denton and no one found out who did it. Most of the blacks in Fairhope are zoned outside the city limits but other areas have been annexed in. That is not right. We can’t get representation like that. I ran for the city council this year. I knew I wasn’t going to win, but I had to speak out about it. If we don’t get it together, not just Fairhope but this state, it is going to be bad. It can’t keep being these people and those people. We have to find a way to come together.”
“I was a welding engineer for DuPont and went around the world as a welder. I went to St. Thomas, Singapore, Germany and Anchorage, Alaska and I was paid well to do it too. I was once a millionaire but give it to family, friends and church. Everything is paid for, my kids are in school. I am bling blinging hard and I am happy. The toughest thing I have been through was the death of my mother. She was 96. My brother had served in Vietnam, came home and was told to go around the back to be served at a restaurant. That was painful too.”
“I am happy because you and I can talk right now without discrepancy or me getting into trouble. When you know better you are supposed to do better. Much is given by God and much is required by God.”
My view on the “perceived” line you speak of between black and white in Fairhope, is as follows:
I have been to Fairhope many times and one of my sisters and my grown son have lived there for years. I pride myself in being a big observer of people and I have seen nothing but love, compassion and kindness between races there. There was a time that I traveled for AT&T as an instructor and I was shocked at the racial divide in a few other cities, none worse than Columbus, Ohio. I was shocked as the N-word was used openly in the all-white meetings (perhaps they saw me as an ally since I was from Alabama). I had to stand up to the general manager there who was attempting to railroad the only black student in my class; just because of her race. I took this fight all the way to the President of AT&T (who I had met at a formal dinner a year earlier). I won, she kept her job, and she outperformed everyone in that class once her training was completed. We stayed in touch for years after that. She was a beautiful soul.
Sometimes the race card needs to be thrown out there and sometimes it is unjustified!