The Seventh Time’s the Charm

The First Annual Bailey Thomson Awards Luncheon honors Dr. Thomas Corts and others in CR Movement.

By Todd Keith

“The Deep South and my home state have come a mighty long way in the last 50 years and still have a long way to go.  But please, don’t be discouraged by the journey.”
~ Cynthia Tucker, Alabama native and editorial page editor of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

It was the best of constitutions; it was the worst of constitutions. Mark Twain didn’t say that, though if he were alive today you could safely wager the humorist would have plenty of fecund material in Alabama’s 1901 Constitution. In fact, any modern satirist would have difficulty creating a document so plainly, so awkwardly, and so tragically out of step with modern American ideals of justice, equality, and democracy.

On August 30, an estimated 400 attendees from across the state gathered for the first annual Bailey Thomson Awards Luncheon to celebrate the progress of the people who want a better state Constitution and to honor the life of Thompson, a journalism professor at the University of Alabama and former Mobile Press-Register’s editorial page editor who died in 2003 of a heart attack at the age of 54.

It was appropriate that Dr. James Nash, ACCR Foundation Board Chair, gave the invocation to begin the day’s activities.  Before thanking the Lord for the food and good company, Nash asked for assistance with what everyone had gathered for—to move forward the cause of constitutional reform. It signified that, though everyone was grateful for the many blessings bestowed, those in attendance realize that there was still much work to be done.

The Bailey Thomson Awards program included a keynote speech by Cynthia Tucker, an Alabama native and editorial page editor of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Indeed, Bailey was one of those who made me proud to be from Alabama,” she remarked.  Quoting Thomson’s famous op-ed when he called the constitution a “legal abomination,” Tucker said, “I wish I had written that.” It raises a fair question: who among Alabama’s representatives and senators would conceivably stand up today and say the same of the state’s ruling legal document?  “The Deep South and my home state have come a mighty long way in the last 50 years and still have a long way to go.  But please, don’t be discouraged by the journey.”

Following Tucker’s remarks, Governor Albert Brewer presented the first Bailey Thomson Award to former Samford University President Dr. Thomas Corts whose pivotal speech in 2000 to the Rotary Club of Birmingham expressed how crippling the state’s constitution was for Alabama.  Following that speech, Corts and Thomson went on to found the ACCR Foundation.  Seven years later, Dr, Corts shared with the hundreds of CR advocates gathered that he sees progress and encouraged people to keep walking down the path to Alabama’s seventh Constitution.
 
“I didn’t learn any of this when I was young,” said Teresa Boody, a Latin teacher at Oak Mountain High School who attended the luncheon and a gathering afterwards to discuss ways advocates of reform can become more involved. “But the more I learn about our Constitution, the angrier I get. There are so many people who know what the Constitution is all about but are willing to keep quiet.”

After taking her students to visit the state capital during a hearing held about the Constitution, Boody and her class saw first hand how misguided yet pervasive many of arguments against changing this flawed document have become. “This one poor woman got up and said how, ‘If we change the Constitution, they’re going to take God out of it,’” Boody remarked. “I don’t know if the talk shows got to her or not, but it was sad.”

In attendance at the hour-long meeting were individuals from places such as Mobile, Birmingham, Tuscaloosa, Florence and Huntsville in addition to Blountsville, Demopolis, Rainsville, Livingston and Lowdesboro.  It was a great representation of people wanting to learn more about how they can spread the word about the need for constitutional reform. After the luncheon, 45 attendees stayed for an interactive, brainstorming session facilitated by Mark Berte, the ACCR Foundation Grassroots Education Director.  Several excellent ideas for furthering the cause of reform were generated in that discussion.

It’s not yet clear if among those attending the day’s activities there was a new Mark Twain, humorist, or editorial page editor who can communicate to Alabama’s citizens just how tragically bad the current constitution is. But until this “worst of documents” is replaced with a new, fair, and balanced one, the joke is clearly on us.

© 2010
Post Office Box 10746
Birmingham, AL 35202-0746