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Posted on by Hunter Wallace

Birmingham, AL

Some new milestones in the long term decline of "The Magic City":

(1) As the Birmingham Barons plan to relocate from Hoover to downtown Birmingham, fewer fans will be showing up in the stands because, you know, it is not worth the risk of getting robbed, assaulted, or murdered to see a baseball game.

According to Crime in Alabama, 2010, African-Americans are responsible for 77 percent of robbery, 55 percent of aggravated assault, 59 percent of burglary, 62 percent of homicide, 55 percent of rape, and 91.5 percent of interracial rape in Alabama.

You won't find that in The Birmingham News.

(2) Mayor William Bell and the Birmingham City Council spend their time pardoning "civil rights activists" from the 1960s. This is the local version of what goes on in New York, which recently passed "gay marriage," and California, which recently passed a law requiring "gay history" to be taught in public schools.

Like Birmingham, New York and California are bankrupt. Also like Birmingham, New York and California claim that illegal aliens are essential to our "economic vitality" in Alabama.

(3) The 2010 Census shows that 30,583 residents have left Birmingham. By 2012, Montgomery could surpass Birmingham to become the biggest city in Alabama. There is a slight civic advantage in not having to put up with thirty years of black city government.

Moral of the story: the business owners who thought they could strike a deal with the civil rights agitators of the 1960s and somehow compete with Atlanta made the biggest mistake in the history of civilization in Alabama.

340,887 people lived in Birmingham in 1960. After the "Civil Rights Movement," 212,237 people live there today. Way to go, city fathers.

Surrender was good for business, right?

Filed under: Alabama, Birmingham, Crime, Economy, Race Relations Tagged: | Birmingham, Crime, Economy, Jefferson County, Race Relations, William Bell

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Birmingham, AL Some new milestones in the long term decline of "The Magic City": (1) As the Birmingham Barons plan to relocate from Hoover to downtown Birmingham, fewer fans will be showing up in the stands because, you know, it is not worth the risk of getting robbed, assaulted, or murdered to see a baseball...

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"The Norris family led by example. Not only was the snow always shoveled; cars were sparkeling clean, and children were always well mannered and well dressed" pg. 40

"Until recently, I never understood how much of Alabama lives in me. I always identifiy myself as Minnesotan. But the spirit of Ensley resides in my soul." pg. 55

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By Natacha Sagel, Collin Smith, and Toby Cooperman

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By Natacha Sagel, Collin Smith, and Toby Cooperman

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Michele goes over her fathers childhood in this chapter. He had five siblings, and they all teased and played with each other,

calling it "signifyin'". Their father had a car and made money by driving people from their neighborhood around, but never

on sunday. They always walked to and from church in their Sunday best, passing gum and mints around between the six

of them, with Belvin and Fannie leading. Michele used to spend her summers in Alabama when she was young, with her

grandparents. She later realized part of why her grandfather took her to the store was for protection. Anyone willing to

attack someone for race might slow down and think before hitting them with a child present. Her father always said that he

and his siblings matched up to the seven dwarves (excluding dopey).

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Michele Norris is one of the most trusted voices in American Journalism. Her voice informs, engages and enlightens listeners with thoughtful interviews and in depth reporting as one of the hosts of NPR's flagship afternoon broadcast, All Things Considered. Michele uses an approachable interviewing style that is at once relaxed and rigorous. She's interviewed world leaders, Nobel laureates, Oscar winners, American Presidents, military leaders, influential newsmakers and even astronauts traveling in outer space.

In her first book she turns her formidable interviewing and investigative skills on her own background to unearth long hidden family secrets that raise questions about her racial legacy and shed new light on America's complicated racial history.

Before joining NPR in 2002, Michele spent almost ten years as a reporter for ABC News in the Washington Bureau. She has also worked as a staff writer for the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times.

Michele has received numerous awards for her work. In 2009, she was named "Journalist of the Year" by the National Association of Black Journalists. NABJ recognized Norris for her body of work, in addition to her coverage of the 2008 presidential campaign - when she co-hosted NPR's Democratic presidential candidates debate, covered both conventions, anchored multi-hour election and inauguration live broadcasts and moderated a series of candid conversations with voters on the intersection of race and politics. That series earned Michele and Morning Edition Host Steve Inskeep an Alfred I. Dupont -Columbia University Award for excellence in broadcasting. Norris was honored with NABJ's 2006 Salute to Excellence Award, for her coverage of Hurricane Katrina; the University of Minnesota's Outstanding Achievement Award; and the 1990 Livingston Award for a series about a six-year-old who lived in a crack house. That series was reprinted in the book, Ourselves Among Others, along with essays by Vaclav Havel, Nelson Mandela, Annie Dillard and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. She was named one of Essence Magazine's 25 Most Influential Black Americans in 2009; elected to Ebony Magazine's Power 150 list in 2009; and honored with Ebony's 8th Outstanding Women in Marketing & Communications Award, in 2007.

Norris also earned both an Emmy Award and Peabody Award for her contribution to ABC News' coverage of 9/11. She is on the judging committee for both the John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Journalism, and the Livingston Awards. Norris is also a frequent guest on Meet the Press and The Chris Matthews Show on NBC.

She attended the University of Wisconsin, where she majored in electrical engineering and graduated from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, where she studied journalism. She lives in Washington D.C. with her husband Broderick Johnson, an attorney with their two young children and an adult step-son.

The Grace of Silence: A Memoir is Michele's first book.

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Michele Norris is one of the most trusted voices in American Journalism. Her voice informs, engages and enlightens listeners with thoughtful interviews and in depth reporting as one of the hosts of NPR's flagship afternoon broadcast, All Things Considered. Michele uses an approachable interviewing style that is at once relaxed and rigorous.

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Minnesota's "New" White Flight: http://www.minnpost.com/community-sketchbook/2013/01/minnesota-s-new-white-flight-school-open-enrollment-program

White Flight Era Enrollment Drop Reverses: http://www.startribune.com/local/minneapolis/176119201.html

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With all of their white neighbors moving into different towns, the Norris family made friends with the other black people who had moved in

since, and the white people who lived a little farther away and stayed. The Norris family kept the neighborhood, and their house especially,

as nice as they could -snow always shoveled, cars clean, kids dressed well. They did this, in part, because they were expected to not be clean,

well kept, and idyllic. Her father kept a beautiful garden in front of his house. As she talks about her home and her neighborhood, she discusses

that her parents' relationship was not as strong as she had thought, and in junior high her mother moved eight blocks away. Her father

required too much control for her mother to stay, but no other families would have realized that they were no longer together, as they kept

appearances and a friendly relationship.