Alabama and segregation

The remnants of segregation continued to exist in the constitutions and statutes of Southern states long after federal laws made them moot.

By now, though, most official vestiges of Jim Crow ought to have disappeared as states crafted modern constitutions or stripped offensive language out of old documents. Not so in Alabama.

The state still uses its 1901 Constitution, which was written expressly to deny voting rights and a decent education to African Americans. What's worse, voters refused this fall to remove language supporting segregation from the 103-year-old document.

Holding onto segregation, even if it is only on paper and is unenforceable, will hold the state back. Alabama has a hateful history on racial issues, a history that has affected its image and limited its ability to thrive economically.

This was a chance to walk away from the past and show the world that Alabama has changed. The truth may be that it hasn't changed much after all.

-- The Times-Picayune, New Orleans