By Tyler Pruett

tyler@southerntorch.com

Late last week, State Rep. Alvin Holmes (D - Montgomery) sent a letter to Gov. Robert Bentley requesting the Confederate flag be removed from the Alabama coat of arms on our state trooper’s vehicles and uniforms.

This follows a push across the south for removal of the historic flag after a racially motivated attack in Charleston earlier in the year. In the aftermath, Governor Nikki Haley ordered the flag removed, and many other states as well as local governments followed suit, though not without significant debate. Also last week, the New Orleans city council voted to remove all monuments within the city to Confederate soldiers who lost their lives in the war.

Lawmakers and activists who are proponents of the removal claim that the symbols insight hate and are offensive. Rep. Holmes is one of them, calling it “the official flag of the KKK,” and a, “symbol of racism and hatred towards black people in Alabama.” Keep in mind that Holmes is no stranger to controversial remarks, stating last year in reference to his support of gay rights that, “if a man meets a little mule and he wanna marry the little mule, as long as he and the little mule get along alright, that’s fine with me.” So while men marrying animals doesn’t offend Holmes, a very small flag on a uniform does?

When initially hearing the Montgomery representative’s comments, I wasn’t aware the stars and bars were displayed on Trooper’s uniforms. Which I thought to be odd, being that I possess a lead foot and have probably seen the grey and blue vehicles in my rearview more than I would have liked to.

The flag in question is very small, located on the state’s coat of arms, which was adopted in 1939 and added to the Department of Public Safety’s emblem in 1972. Although it is on the emblem, it is also displayed with four other flags, all representing the nations that have held sovereignty over Alabama territory since it had been settled starting with France. A red, white, and blue shield is displayed in the center, obviously representing the current nation, the United States. The same coat of arms is also on many other emblems within the state government, including the board of Pardons & Paroles, the Securities Commission, and Department of Public Health, though this is the only one Holmes has seemed to notice.

While Holmes has been championing removing flags he notices and mule marrying, it makes me wonder how the people of District 78 are faring. Judging by the website, www.statisticalatlas.com, his district seems a little neglected.

Starting with unemployment, at 7.8%, his constituents are a full two percent higher than the rest of the state. This area is traditionally hurting for jobs, but being that Holmes has been in office for nearly forty years, this is traditionally his area.

While many lawmakers can blame their predecessors, it’s impossible when someone has been representing a district for so long. A good measure of poverty for an area is the percentage of individuals on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in a given area, or more commonly known as “food stamps,” being that people must be under a certain income threshold to qualify. An astounding 30.9% of District 78 residents are needing government assistance to eat.

Education has suffered as well, with three schools within his district being labeled as “failing” by the Alabama Accountability Act. Among only his African-American constituents, the unemployment rate is 11.8%. I’m sure that many find it more offensive that he doesn’t take their economic well being seriously more than a small, hardly noticeable flag.

While the shooting at a historically African-American church was horrendous, there is no evidence that looking at a flag caused the shooter to feel the way he did. Even so, this has not stopped many politicians from trying to score easy political points by demanding its removal.

It’s much easier to pen a three sentence letter to the Governor than attack real problems and suffering for the people within Rep. Holmes’ district. This gives the illusion that he’s representing them well, when it’s really just a way of avoiding dealing with the difficult issues that have plagued this area for years.

For now, it seems that our state’s coat of arms will stay the same, much like man-mule relationships are still illegal, but unfortunately for the people of Mr. Holmes’ district, their economic situation will also go unchanged.