Hale County Debrief

I’ve been trying to congeal my thoughts enough to write something cohesive here about my experience in Alabama, but it isn’t an easy one to wrap my head around, or express in a very succinct way. I’ll do my best to get to the heart of the matter though.

Hale County, Alabama is, in many ways, a place of contradictions. It is a place that seems to be in a time warp—still espousing the injustices of decades past—yet it is infused with an abundance of very forward-thinking people who are responding daily to what is literally a humanitarian crisis of pretty epic proportions. It is difficult to comprehend the dichotomy that is Hale County without first-hand experiencing its culture, understanding its roots, and speaking to its people.

After just one short week there, I feel very much that I have lived my entire existence in a well-insulated and protected bubble. I am grateful to have burst this bubble. I feel so naïve, so ignorant, so sheltered—because I had no idea that right now, in 2009, there are places in America that are essentially still racially segregated. To hear that a black child can’t go to the swimming pool, or play in his front yard, or that due to complicated Alabama property laws and white bank managers who won’t loan money to “those people,” blacks can rarely own property and therefore don’t have access to the means to live with dignity…well, this really burst my bubble of idealism.

I did my best to immerse myself (judgment-free) into the culture of the deep, rural South…even to the point of attending a church dinner. That’s right—I infiltrated the enemy camp. I’d like to think they didn’t know about my dissenting beliefs; surely they would be praying for my lost soul if they did.

It’s not really possible for me to go into detail here about my experience…but that will come later with the completion of my project. All I can say right now is that I had a wonderfully enlightening experience, and once again feel more aware, more informed, and in possession of a new perspective. Makes me love this journey we call life.