BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Alabama voters have approved an amendment that would begin the process of deleting racist language from the state's 119-year-old constitution, which was approved to entrench white supremacy as state law during the Jim Crow era.
Voters in the majority white, conservative state rejected similar proposals twice since 2000, but the measure passed easily in balloting Tuesday.
Glenn Crowell, a retired restaurateur and registered Republican who is Black, said he voted to strip away the old phrasing, which the amendment's sponsors viewed as an embarrassment and potential roadblock to economic development.
“I just want to get rid of that language. It just doesn’t make any sense nowadays,” said Crowell, 63, of Montgomery.
Courts have long since struck down the legalized segregation that was enshrined in the 1901 Alabama Constitution, but language banning mixed-race marriage, allowing poll taxes and mandating school segregation remains.
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