Birmingham: A faded town riven by racial strife, with an American namesake. No such problems have ever faced the US version, at least according to a succession of governors and mayors, who uniformly assert that any apparent problems are caused by "outside agitators"... which brings us to your intrepid investigators, who agitated vigorously in favour of racial equality and tasty soul food for all.
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| pickled veg, southern style |
The tasty food, including some spectacularly good pickles, was provided by the good folks at
Ollie Irene, who wasted none of their creative energies on naming the place. The racial equality... let's just say it remains a work in progress.
Birmingham's civil rights museum paints a pretty terrifying picture of southern life from the late 19th century rollback of post civil war voting rights, up until the time when racist politicians stopped trying to disenfranchise minority voters, which we're hoping will be any day now. It's very hard to listen to
Alabama's unofficial national anthem proclaim "in Birmingham they love the (segregationist) governor" without remembering just how limited a definition of "they" is being used.
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| whipping into Tennessee at approx 80mph |
Perhaps by way of karma, Birmingham now features a hollow, empty downtown and an inviting highway, heading north, to Tennessee...
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