Doug Jones won a seat in the Senate. The first Democrat in about 25 years. What’s interesting about his win is that it was a close race. You wouldn’t have thought that on the face of the guy he was running against. Roy Moore, his opponent and standard bearer of the GOP, is a former judge, twice removed from office for refusing to follow federal guidelines. For example he refused to remove a huge stone with the ten commandments carved on it from the front of the court house. He was also a well-known racist, misogynist, and homophobe. He also had nasty words to say about immigrants of the browner ethnicities, Mexicans, and Democrats.
As though to place a cherry on top of the sundae of disgusting behavior and rhetoric from this man, it was common knowledge that he was a pedophile. So, you would think Jones would have beat him walking away. But, you’d be wrong. No, in fact the people of Alabama, or I should say, the evangelical “christians” came out in force to support the old reprobate. Weeks, I tell ya, weeks of hearing people make excuses for his inexcusable behavior was enough to make ya puke. Oh, an then he was asked a question that proved to be the defining moment of his entire public life. The question was, “In your estimation, when was America great?” The following is from Time Magazine’s coverage of the incident.
“A comment Moore made at a Florence, Ala., rally in September resurfaced Thursday and struck a chord with many users on the social networking site, including African-American celebrities and politicians. At the rally, an African-American audience member asked Moore when America was last “great,” the Los Angeles Timesreported in September. Moore responded in a way that appeared to condone, or at least downplay the impact of, slavery, the Times reported.
“I think it was great at the time when families were united — even though we had slavery — they cared for one another…. Our families were strong, our country had a direction,” Moore said, according to the Times.”
So, how did Jones win? Black women and men found him reprehensible and voted nearly 100% for Jones. And apparently about 75% of white folks (including 45 who gave him a full-throated endorsement at his aptly located pep rally in Pensacola, Florida right over the state line from Alabama) without a shred of decency and a boatload of bigotry voted for Moore. Somebody has to tell them it’s time to leave the Jim Crow era behind.
Before Jackie: The Negro Leagues, Civil Rights & the American Dream 