Poverty’s roots lie in state constitution September 1, 2008
REPORTS THAT Mobile County and the rest of Alabama continue to
have unreasonably high rates of poverty — despite considerable
economic growth — should energize citizens and government alike
to work for a new Alabama Constitution. Among counties with more
than 250,000 population, Mobile’s 21.1 percent poverty rate
stands among the 10 worst. As for the state, 16.9 percent of
Alabama’s residents lived in poverty in 2007. That compares
unfavorably with a national rate of 13 percent. Granted,
personal incomes in Alabama rose slightly in 2007, but so did
the state’s rate of poverty. The contradiction isn’t
coincidental. The framers of the state’s 1901 constitution wrote
the document to keep poor people poor and wealthy people
(themselves) wealthy. Direct, sometimes racist language
declares, among other things, that the state has no
responsibility to educate its citizens, and limits local
government to keep power in Montgomery. Moreover, the
constitution se