Ireland and Alabama

    Brian Lyman has written an interesting story comparing Ireland and Alabama.

It certainly caught my attention, being a dual U.S./Irish citizen and having lived in Alabama for almost 50 years now. He writes:

 

"Needless to say, the Emerald Isle and Alabama’s Black Belt are very different places. Ireland did not experience the authoritarian destruction of slavery and segregation, the key reasons the Black Belt is so much smaller than it once was. Alabama never had a religious institution that dominated (and often poisoned) daily life as the Irish Catholic Church did.

Yet the causes of demographic decline in both are similar enough that I think it’s worth looking at how Eire reversed it. At a minimum, it could give Alabama’s leaders some ideas for preserving the Black Belt. If they’re willing to think big."

 

Read the entire column HERE.