Alabama Black caucus threatens filibuster over Segregation language Change
/The Legislative Black Caucus announced plans Thursday to filibuster any
new version of Amendment Two that does not remove all segregation-era
language from Alabama's constitution. State Rep. Alvin Holmes,
D-Holmes, said the caucus won't be satisfied with leaving 1956 language
in the constitution that says there is no right to an education at
public expense in Alabama. "No bill is going to pass the Legislature
unless it is exactly as it was on the Nov. 2 ballot," said Holmes,
spokesman for the black caucus. On Nov. 2, Alabama voters narrowly
defeated Amendment Two, which would have removed unenforceable language
in the constitution that provides for segregated schools and poll
taxes. Amendment Two also would have removed language -- added to
Alabama's constitution in 1956 in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's
school desegregation decision -- that says there is no right to an
education in Alabama at public expense. Critics of Amendment Two,
including the Christian Coalition and former Chief Justice Roy Moore,
said removing the 1956 provision from the constitution could lead to
judges ruling that education is a constitutional right and ordering the
state to spend more on public schools, forcing tax increases. Holmes
said opponents misled the public about possible tax hikes and merely
used the tax issue so they wouldn't appear openly racist. "The efforts
to keep the racist language in the Alabama Constitution was led by an
unholy axis of the Christian right, racists and right-wing neo-Nazis
who constituted the triplets of deceit," Holmes said in a statement. [more]
- Racist language excised from Ala. constitution would be a gift [more]
