Birmingham, Alabama: A much more interesting city

Chapter 28 of A Kiwi on the Amtrak Tracks

ALABAMA sits in the southeast of the United States. The population of the state is roughly five million and the biggest city in the state is its capital city, is Birmingham. It is a place filled with very recent civil rights history and an iconic place to visit for those interested in that. I mean, I only have to mention the name of Dr Martin Luther King Jr — that says it all.

I stayed in a place that cost $74 a night. It was horrific, the roof leaked and the tiles in the hallways were wet so you had to be careful you didn’t slip over.

I went out into the city and looked around and met a few people. One woman I spoke to told me she prayed every day. Her husband was a cop and had two sons. We talked about the old civil rights protest days, and she surprised me by saying, “you know they had to put the dogs on the children because they wouldn’t stop what they were told to do”. She said, “if a cop, if a policeman tells you to do something you do it”. I thought well not necessarily, not when it comes to protesting, because the state of Alabama had opposed the Federal Government…