Tears and Laughter: It’s not pearls spilling off a string, but it’s broken nonetheless

I was a regular Pollyanna when I first moved to Camden. I thought if we could all just get along, and be kind to one another, have positive attitudes and say our prayers, everything would change for the better. That was before I spent a few years following and studying Wilcox County politics, which does not yield itself to much positive energy. It doesn’t factor out to equal hope.

I understand that not everyone appreciates my sometimes describing certain failures in Wilcox, especially since I have also professed my love for this area. And it is true that more than once I have cooed over the beauty. Every season offers a new palette of color – fresh hues in the mornings and cool shadows in the afternoon. Visitors are drawn to what remains untouched…the river and the woods – to the sounds, scents, and mysteries of both. Most people who live here appreciate it for the same reasons, or else are trapped by their circumstances or heredity.

Newspapers and news outlets aren’t allowed the luxury of publishing many articles that read like a novel, mainly because their purpose is to deliver news, inform readers, and hold paid public officials accountable. They raise awareness about issues and problems. Solutions are not so much the responsibility of newspapers or their writers. Solutions usually boil down to money and elections. But if I were to venture out and suggest a solution, it would be that voters maybe not copy the sample ballot New South hands out at the polls every election anymore. They no longer need to steer voters. Their picks have not proven to be fruitful over the past 40 years. Wrong tends to be frequently reelected. Voters today are capable of looking at a candidate’s past and knowing if a person has failed at everything they ever attempted, then not to vote for that person. And if they have been disqualified from their original profession due to misconduct, then the likelihood of that person being an effective leader is slim.  It is a slow process, but voters alone hold the power to change the continuing line of poor leaders who try and make what amounts to nothing seem like opportunity. The Wilcox Commission chair traveling to Washington D.C. with a list of needs for the county in an effort to meet with not yet confirmed Attorney General Jeff Sessions is an example of such manipulation.

Mr. Sessions is well aware of the struggles this county faces. This is where he was raised and he has been active in politics for decades. If his wink and nod could provide for Wilcox County, help would have long since arrived. The Department of Justice has a division that offers grants for specific aspects of law enforcement. There is a process through which they can be applied for that does not require anyone going to lobby or beg. Kissing Mr. Session’s rings won’t accomplish anything but costs. And it is quite telling, considering all the vile things the commission chair has said about President Trump, weighed further against the fact that Sessions was the first senator to come out wearing one of those red hats. It was Senator Session’s loyalty that helped him to be chosen to become Attorney General.

You can say it as diplomatically and professionally as you would like, but anytime a county becomes so heavily dependent upon federal funding and the unemployment remains so high for so long, where political corruption and barely getting by become the normal way of life…it doesn’t come across as pretty. It’s not pearls spilling off a string, but it’s broken nonetheless.

Amanda Walker is a columnist with The West Alabama Watchman, Al.com, The Thomasville Times, and The Wilcox Progressive Era. For more information, visit her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/AmandaWalker.Columnist.