By Roy S. Johnson and Cameron Smith
Something intriguing occurred during the most recent session of the Alabama legislature. Something historic, possibly seismic. And it happened quietly, with only conversations and negotiations between a specific group of members of the House of Representatives—Republicans and Democrats. Together, the members created a bipartisan alliance the likes of which hyper-partisan Alabama has not seen in, well, maybe ever. The alliance helped guide several pieces of legislation through the oft-divided chamber, bills created to benefit urban and rural Alabamians (that code for Black and white Alabamians) in new and potentially profound ways. The alliance was sparked, even more stunningly, by the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin on May 25, 2020. In this column, the first of two written collaboratively by columnists Roy S. Johnson and Cameron Smith, often a political ying and yang among our voices, you’ll read how those calls were received and the “raw” gathering between the Black Democrats and white Republicans in a Montgomery Baptist church less than three weeks after Floyd’s death.
Not today.
That’s how Rep. Laura Hall felt that Sunday morning in the summer of 2020. It’s how a lot of folks were feeling.
The state representative from Huntsville was home after attending mass and feeding her grandchild in the kitchen when the phone rang.
The voice on the other end of the line was an unexpected one. It belonged to Rep. Danny Garrett, the Majority Whip from Trussville. Garrett is a white Republican in the usually contentious, Republican-dominated state legislature; Hall is a Black Democrat.
In Alabama, the ‘twain just don’t meet. Let alone call. Not on a Sunday afternoon.
Especially not this one.
Not days after George Floyd took his last breath beneath Derek Chauvin’s knee. His life choked out by the then-Minneapolis police officer, now Minnesota state prisoner 261557. Not days after downtown Birmingham imploded as protestors, frustrated at being unable to topple a Confederate monument standing at an entrance to Linn Park, ravaged nearby businesses, shattering windows, and destroying property