Thoughts provoked by Southern Lit class and NBC 15 News at 5

How ironic it was to learn that on our first day of Southern Lit class, the very day that we talked about the contrdadictions present in the post-Civil War South, one of those contradictions was the top story on the evening news. The president of the Alabama NAACP very publicly criticized the Mobile Azalea Trail Maids, saying that the girls' dresses reminded him of the days of slavery, and that they would be a "laughing stock" at President Obama's Inaugural Parade. The group was really fresh on my mind, as we had just talked about them in class as well. In my husband's family, there are four girls, myself included, who served or are serving as Azalea Trail Maids, so it's obviously very important to us. We naturally get a little defensive when comments like this are made against our beloved organization (we're a little fanatical, I know). As much as I love the Azalea City, what really interested me in the story was how it connected so perfectly with our class discussion. How do we, in 2009, deal with the racial tensions that still exist in our society? Slavery is a harsh part of our Southern heritage, but it is our heritage nonetheless. It is possible, or even right, to dress up in an antebellum costume and then require people to remember only the good and not the bad?
But we also know that dwelling on past events prevents progress, and dwelling on that aspect of the past is not something the Azalea Trail has been doing--22 percent of the currently serving Maids are minorities. In fact, the negative response to the NAACP president's remarks was so overwhelming that he has since apologized for his comments. Obviously this long-standing Mobile tradition is beloved by many people, minorities included, who feel that celebrating our history is serious and important, not a "laughing" matter. I think that so many of us recognize that the troubling elements of Southern history and culture are forever intertwined with the beautiful and good. If we can't get rid of the tensions that exist, but we can't stop the celebration of tradition, what should we do? Marching in the inaugural parade of the first African-American president of the United States sounds like a good start to me.