Bull Connor said, "Damn the law. Down here, we make our own law," and those words continue to resonate in Alabama, where "The New Confederacy" is still a force

Eugene "Bull" Connor

Eugene "Bull" Connor," the infamous commissioner for public safety in Birmigham, AL, from 1936-54 and 1957-63, had a favorite saying: "Damn the law. Down here, we make our own law."

In essence, Connor was saying, "We don't care what the U.S. Constitution, or any other document, says. We are going to run our city and our state the way we see fit, including our right to subjugate Negroes and deny them human rights that White people enjoy."

In an article published today at his Web site, longtime Alabama attorney and civil-rights advocate Donald Watkins points to several signs that Bull Connor's way of thinking remains prevalent in Alabama, and Watkins worries about what that might mean for the state's future. (Here is an associated question: What if Alabama thinking begins to infect other states, including some outside the South, especially in the age of Donald Trump -- who already has singled out certain groups for harsh language and treatment, while indicating a second Trump term as president would be built largely on extracting revenge against those he claims have wronged him and his MAGA believers?)

Having lived in Birmingham for more than 45 years, and with my mother's side of the family coming from Arkansas, I learned to recognize "Southern thinking" early on. In fact, I wrote about the Bull Connor mindset in a 2016 post, noted that it also applied to former Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard (who was convicted of ethics-law violations) and his allies, called it a sign of "The New Confederacy," and noted the Old Confederacy had never really died. From that 2016 post:

"The New Confederacy" includes individuals who tend to self-identify as "patriots," even though they reject fundamental tenets of the U.S. Constitution. These modern-day confederates tend to especially reject the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees of due process and equal protection, which became part of America's constitutional landscape after the Civil War.

From 1866 to 1868, Southern states bitterly opposed ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Hubbard trial showed that many Southerners, especially elites, still despise the principles of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Consider Hubbard's lawyer, Bill Baxley. He described several of the counts against his client as "mumbo-jumbo" or "gobbledygook." Baxley made little or no attempt to dispute the prosecution's version of the facts. Instead, he argued there was no crime -- essentially claiming the law does not apply to Mike Hubbard.

This is "New Confederacy" thinking at work. Donald Watkins seems to recognize it and analyzes the dangers it poses in a post titled "Those Who Do Not Know Their History Are Doomed to Repeat It." Writes Watkins:

Eugene "Bull" Connor served as Commissioner of Public Safety for the city of Birmingham, Alabama, during the 1950s and 60s. He strongly opposed the civil rights movement. His brutality against black Americans and whites of interracial goodwill was legendary.

As an avowed white supremacist, Bull Connor enforced legal racial segregation and denied civil rights to black citizens, especially during 1963's Birmingham Campaign led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He is well known for directing the use of fire hoses and police attack dogs against civil rights activists, including against children supporting the protests.

Bull Connor’s mantra was, “Damn the law. Down here, we make our own law.”

National media broadcast Bull Connor's law enforcement tactics on television, horrifying much of the world. The outrages served as catalysts for major social and legal change in the Deep South and contributed to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968.

What about signs that Bull Connor's thinking remains alive -- and a threat? Watkins writes:

Last week, Alabama returned to the Bull Connor era in bold fashion when it proudly rejected a U.S. Supreme Court mandate to revise its Congressional districting map for the purpose of creating two majority black districts as a remedy for the state’s purposeful racial gerrymandering of its Congressional districts.

In Milligan v. Allen (June 8, 2023), the ultra-conservative U.S. Supreme Court found that:

“[E]lections in Alabama were racially polarized; that “Black Alabamians enjoy virtually zero success in statewide elections”; that political campaigns in Alabama had been “characterized by overt or subtle racial appeals”; and that “Alabama’s extensive history of repugnant racial and voting-related discrimination is undeniable and well documented.”

An example of the Court's finding of "repugnant racial and voting-related discrimination" lies in this sad fact: Today, the Alabama Supreme Court is all-white in a state that is 26% black. This all-white status has existed since 2001. What is worse, the state's supreme court is led by Tom Parker, a Confederate flag waving chief justice who "pals around" with known white supremacists.

In an Alabama Supreme Court case decided on November 18, 2022, Chief Justice Parker asserted (in a concurring opinion) that the state Supreme Court had no duty to blindly follow the mandates of the U.S. Supreme Court. Former Alabama governor George Wallace called this viewpoint the "doctrine of interposition and nullification."

On Friday, Alabama’s Republican-controlled state legislature and Republican governor resurrected Bull Connor’s mantra in grand style. They sent this loud, clear, and unified message to the world: “Damn the law. Down here, we make our own law.”

With George Wallace's doctrine and Bull Connor's mantra, here is what essentially they were saying: "You're not going to tell me what to do." Those words still resonate for Mrs. Schnauzer and me because we've heard them directly in our own fight against injustice in Alabama. (More on that in a future post.) Writes Donald Watkins:

This is why I will not spend one second of my time bashing Carlee Russell. She deserves my empathy, love, and support, not my criticism. The people who are suppressing our legal rights on every front have my time and attention. We must stop them before it is too late.

Like Bull Connor, these Republican state officials will hurt our children and grandchildren and think nothing of it.

As a people, African-Americans in Alabama have been dragged back into the legal battles that our people fought and won in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Once again, we are in the fight of our lives.

I am frightened because our leaders today have demonstrated to me that they have no fighting skills.

Only those who are truly ignorant of American history do not realize what is happening to us.