Earlier this year, in the wake of the rise of the so-called Black Lives Matter protest movement, responding to the death of George Floyd while in custody of the Minneapolis police, the cities of Birmingham and Mobile moved to take down Confederate memorials, which was an apparent violation of the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act of 2017.
The result was a $25,000 fine for the two cities. Later, when the city of Huntsville followed in the path of Birmingham and Mobile, Attorney General Steve Marshall warned against local governments willfully violating the law.
State Senator Gerald Allen (R-Tuscaloosa), the sponsor of the 2017 Alabama Memorial Preservation Act, told Mobile radio FM Talk 106.5 he expects legislation to be introduced about the law but emphasized the importance of protecting history in Alabama.
“I understand there may be some pieces of legislation introduced,” he said. “And certainly, I have not looked at any of those pieces. I’m not sure how many more or if any more will be part of this coming session. But I’ve always said this, Jeff — is that it is important to protect history, and it is something that I think is vital for us, not only as a state but to look at what molded, shaped us as a state, and even as events occurred in our state that had very huge roles that it played in the formation of public policies for our nation.”
“And so yeah — protecting history is important and certainly, there’s going to be some issues this session, most likely, as I’ve been told that there will be issues,” Allen added.
@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Alabama, the editor of Breitbart TV, a columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly, and host of Mobile’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. on FM Talk 106.5.
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