AL50501 chooses accountability over “Southern hospitality”
"Southern Hospitality" is a pervasive cultural value of the Deep South. The term hails from the 1830s, when slavers held weeks-long, lavish parties sustained by the labor of enslaved people. At its core, Southern hospitality is whites flaunting privilege and hoarding wealth by harming those they oppress. The concept was leveraged by the Confederacy to depict emancipation as a threat to Southern culture, purporting their "natural order" must be maintained. It's born-and-bred racism, packaged and sold to white people with a fancy bow. It's been so deeply romanticized that "Southern charm" is a selling point for historic homes. Over time, its cultural significance has elevated "order" as the paramount virtue of Southern culture. It prioritizes artifice over authenticity and gives no quarter for accountability. This pervasive view still shapes the South today, and in Alabama it's leveraged by both parties to silence the movement. To wit—the biggest threat to the success of the movement in the Deep South isn't MAGA, it's performative allyship.
When Trump invited himself to speak at the University of Alabama's commencement, the university announced they would withhold diplomas from students for disruptions and reminded faculty the code of conduct applied, effectively silencing many who were opposed to Trump's visit. Backlash from educational institutions is nothing new in the South, especially when order is threatened. The move by UA evoked anger and outrage, but not shock; many students bravely insisted their voices be heard, especially following ICE’s kidnapping of UA grad student Alireza Doroudi in March. For the privileged in the South, bravery begets recklessness. For those without the privileges enshrined by cis white men, bravery here can be a death sentence.
Alabama 50501 knew our mission was to uplift the students whose graduations would be marred by the non-consensual insertion of Trump's ego. We would be there to champion their courage, shield them from MAGA and the university, and amplify their voices. We quickly built a coalition with the like-minded community and student-led organizations. We anticipated MAGA opposition in the Heart of Dixie. Trump was in town, and we were marching down Frat Row. The university also anticipated our opposition; they created a counter protest space just down the road from the student's space. Our protest planning was meticulous; we would rally, march for visibility, then join and buffer the students who were taking on the most risk. We pulled several of our local organizers to Tuscaloosa for this protest, and it was necessary for the success of our mission. We had MAGA screaming in our faces and trucks encircling us as we marched. I watched a child in our assembly start to cry because a man was screaming at their parent.
After Trump's speech, we encountered students who supported his presence. They hurled insults at us and bulldozed their way through our line. An officer escorting us held them back so we could safely escort the students through. Because we anticipated MAGA interference, these barriers were easily overcome. What we failed to anticipate was performative allyship. Some like-minded partisan organizations chose to organize an off-campus event, effectively negating any accountability for the University. The neutral location and their big beautiful budget pulled several of our attendees to their event. They lauded well-known speakers and flashy comforts, yet left the most vulnerable students protesting on campus and at risk. Their event garnered attention from within the movement and without, but by refusing to confront the elephant that UA let in the room, they lost sight of our mission and actively interfered.
Photo via Alabama 50501
Just as UA statements had a chilling effect on free speech for students and employees of the university, our movement being cleaved in half had a chilling effect on our impact, for both student safety and visibility of the movement. In a town bristled with "Southern Charm," we struggled to fully support our student activists who already felt slighted by the University for Trump's intrusion. We didn't have the numbers we’d hoped, and the frustration some students felt was valid. If you come to our events, you'll hear us hollerin’, "the people united can never be defeated," but that day, our impact was limited because Alabama was divided by ego.
With Trump just a field goal kick away from the student protest space, May Day could have been a massive event that turned the tide for organizers in Tuscaloosa. Those inauthentic actions that fail to hold others to account or don't apply pressure to systems fail to meet the burden of civil disobedience. The power of the people derives from collective action, but when we are divided so is our impact. We must interfere with systems and processes of oppression and fear, not our own movement. The decision to deviate from our prime directive—accountability—by partisan organizations is just new-age Southern hospitality dressed up as performative allyship. The South's reticence to value authenticity and accountability will be our demise.
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