The Crimson White Print Edition - November 2, 2023

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2023
VOLUME CXXX | ISSUE V
LOCAL
HISTORY
CW / Natalie Marburger
‘I’m just so damn tired of small steps’:
UA community discusses new congressional map
Rachel Seale
Staff Writer
After a monthslong
process that saw
multiple plans from the
Republican-majority
Legislature rejected by
federal judges, a new map
has been proposed. While
many Black Alabamians
say progress is beginning
to be made, some say it’s
still not enough.
“I guess it’s a small step
in the right direction. I’m
just so damn tired of small
steps, though,” Cassandra
Simon, associate professor
of social work and Agency,
Advocacy and Equity
Committee chair of UA’s
Black Faculty and Staff
Winter
MESTER
Association, said while
discussing Alabama’s
newest congressional
district map — a map
that includes only one
majority-Black and
one near majority-
Black district — as the
2024 election season
approaches.
District 2, the new near
majority-Black district,
was created by a panel of
three appointed federal
judges in October after
the Supreme Court found
that the state’s original
congressional map
violated the Voting Rights
Act of 1965.
REGISTER NOW!
Redistricting happens
every 10 years after
the national census is
completed to ensure
districts reflect any
population changes.
SEE PAGE 2A
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2A
news
continued from 1A — congressional map
The newest district
now consists of a
48.7% Black voting-age
population, making
it easier for Black
Alabamians, who make
up 27% of the state’s
population, to elect
a representative who
reflects their beliefs
and community.
“It’s not about just
getting a Black person,”
Simon said. “It’s
somebody who is going
to stand up for Black
people and Black rights,
and understand their
issues and what they’re
going through.”
Simon said that even
with the newly created
near majority-Black
District 2, she doesn’t
have much confidence
that someone who
accurately represents
the Black population
will be elected.
She said that the
new map still stifles
Black voters’ voices
by reducing their
legislative power
relative to other voters.
Simon also said
that young people
need to learn about
the history of voting
rights during the Civil
Rights Movement to
examine the tactics that
prevented minorities
from voting, as well
as learn how they
can become civically
minded and get
involved with politics.
“You have to be
able to connect that
historical past with the
present,” Simon said.
“Even research shows
that the more people
learn about the true
history of this country,
the more first personal
agency young adults
begin to feel."
Enrijeta Shino,
assistant professor
of political science,
said the original map
consisted of one
majority-Black district
in District 7, which
was determined to be
unlawful. Shino argued
that the old map did not
accurately reflect the
state’s Black population
and instead packed
Black voters into a
single district.
“The new map
is giving African
American[s] in those
two districts at least
the opportunity to be
able to vote for the
representatives that
they prefer,” Shino said.
Republicans
currently hold six of
the state’s seven seats
in the House, but Shino
said the new map
could allow a second
Democrat to be elected.
Makenzie Smith,
a junior majoring in
political science and
resident of District
7, described the new
congressional map
as empowering,
especially for Black
voters who have been
disenfranchised or
victimized.
“I think it really
makes me feel as
though my voice truly
will matter,” Smith said.
Zaraph Greene, a
junior majoring in
political science, said
the new map is still
disappointing.
“There’s still a lot
to be done,” Greene
said. “We need another
district.”
Dawson Wilcox,
a senior majoring in
political science and
the policy coordinator
of Vote Everywhere,
wrote in an email that
the significance of the
new map cannot be
overstated.
Wilcox, who lives in
the newly drawn District
2, said Vote Everywhere
is a nonpartisan
student organization
that promotes student
participation in
democracy.
“Going from a district
where competitiveness
only occurred in one
party’s primary to
a district that will
not only accurately
represent the electorate
but will also be subject
to national attention is
very exciting,” Wilcox
wrote. “I am looking
forward to working
and voting in my new
district.”
Wilcox said Vote
Everywhere is an
initiative of the Andrew
Goodman Foundation.
Goodman was a voting
rights activist who
helped register Black
voters and participated
in the Freedom Summer
of 1964; he was
murdered by the Ku
Klux Klan the
same year.
“We support
national policies,
such as the Freedom
to Vote Act, which
would ban partisan
gerrymandering,” Wilcox
said. “We also continue
to work and honor
the legacy of Andrew
Goodman.”
Braden Vick, a
junior majoring in
political science and
the communications
director for The
University of Alabama
College Democrats, said
the newly drawn District
2 map represents an
opportunity for Black
voters and college
students in the area to
elect a representative
who reflects their
values.
“I am ecstatic for
students of South
Alabama, Troy, Tuskegee,
Auburn University [at]
Montgomery and other
universities in this
second district, who
have the opportunity
now to have their voices
matter in a district that
is going to be viewed as
competitive, especially
in midterm elections,”
Vick said.
However, Vick’s
enthusiasm for the new
district is not without
concern. While he’s
uncertain whether the
new map will increase
voters’ confidence in
the election system,
given the map was
created only as a result
of a federal directive, he
does think confidence
in the federal
government’s ability
to create change for
Black Alabamians may
increase.
David Hughes, an
associate professor
of political science at
Auburn University at
Montgomery, said the
original map that was
drawn in 2021 slightly
shifted the district lines
but kept the majority of
districts the same as the
2011 map.
“The lawsuit was
filed under Section 2 of
the Voting Rights Act of
1965, alleging that the
state should be forced
to draw an additional
majority-Black district
or something close to
it,” Hughes said.
While the Alabama
Legislature held a
special session this
summer to redraw
the map, the federal
courts ruled that the
second proposed map
still failed to meet the
requirements of the
Voting Rights Act.
Hughes said the
federal courts met to
determine the current
map, which will be
going into effect for the
2024 election cycle.
Hughes said he
thinks this change
may create more faith
in institutions since
voters may see someone
who looks like them
representing them on
the ballot, a concept
commonly referred
to as descriptive
representation.
“A lot of my students
who are more leftleaning
are certainly
excited by the prospect
of having a Democratic
representative,
especially a Black
representative for the
first time in their lives if
they live in the second
congressional district,”
Hughes said.
Most of Hughes’
students were not
even alive the last
time Alabama had any
major changes to its
congressional district
lines, in 1991.
Shino said she
thinks the new map
will help increase Black
voters’ faith in the
institution of voting, as
well as mobilize future
Democratic candidates’
campaigns in these
districts.
“Their vote matters
and their vote counts,”
Shino said.
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news
‘No longer lying’:
What the Hallowed Grounds tours mean to campus
Makayla Maxwell
Race and Identity
Reporter
The Department of Gender
and Race Studies and
Black Faculty and Staff
Association Ambassadors
have collaborated since 2015
to run the Hallowed
Grounds tours.
These tours aim to
educate students and
community members
about the University’s long
history of slavery and how it
connects to existing campus
structures.
JaiOnna Terry, a graduate
student in the Department
of Gender and Race Studies,
helps guide the tours. Terry
said that each tour’s stops
can vary depending on the
person facilitating it, but
it usually begins with the
Gorgas House and ends with
the slave cemetery.
“For me, personally, I talk
about a spot of activism
that’s right outside of
Presidents Hall,” Terry said.
“The bricks that are laid out
around there [are] salvaged
bricks from the destruction
of campus. So of course,
enslaved people have
touched these bricks. Their
handprints are still on these
bricks, and the University
wants to put their enslavers’
names on top of these bricks,
like Manly, Garland, Wood.”
Erin Stoneking, an
assistant professor in the
Department of Gender and
Race Studies, helps schedule
the tours, as well as train the
graduate students and BFSA
Ambassadors who facilitate
them. In her experience,
responses to the tour have
been very positive.
“People respond
enthusiastically to it. There’s
a lot that gets revealed that
I think people are sort of
shocked is not part of a larger
conversation,” Stoneking
said.
Stoneking gave the history
of the Mound on the Quad
as an example of a piece
of campus history most
students are unfamiliar with.
According to her, the Mound
was first established after the
destruction of campus during
the Civil War and became a
marker of the antebellum
period.
“During that
Reconstruction period, it was
a symbol of the old South
and the lost cause,” she said.
“Yet that is used as a literal
platform for recognizing the
best and brightest students
on campus.”
The Mound is the location
of the annual Tapping on the
Mound ceremony, during
which honor societies induct
new members and the
achievements of students
and faculty are recognized.
DeCarlos Caple Jr., a
junior majoring in computer
engineering, is a current
BFSA Ambassador, and he
said the tours have made
him look at the campus a bit
differently.
“Something from the tours
that’s surprising to everyone
is at Smith Hall: the bullet
holes still there that aren’t
covered up,” he said. “But
they really help show the
history, so I’m glad it’s not
covered up.”
Terry attributed the
success of the tours to Hilary
Green, who began the tours
during her time working at
the University from 2014
to 2022 as an associate
professor of history.
Green said the project
began as an attempt to reflect
on the lives of enslaved
individuals who helped
build the campus but were
not honored during their
lives. She currently works
at Davidson College as the
James B. Duke Professor of
Africana studies.
Green said she began to
research the campus’s history
of enslavement after a
student in one of her classes
did not see the purpose of
studying it. She looked into
the University’s archives and
realized that creating a tour
for her students might be the
best way to teach this side of
its history.
“The tour was created
to fit in a class period of a
Tuesday/Thursday class,”
Green said. “So we walked
the campus as part of one
of the lectures. That was the
goal. It just expanded well
beyond that, and by the time
I left, I had reached over 5,500
individuals in person.”
Once Green got permission
from Utz McKnight, the
chair of the Department of
Gender and Race Studies,
she began to recruit students
and alumni, and pressure
grew for the University to
make the tours more widely
available.
Nowadays, tours are led
in large part by student
members of the BFSA
Ambassadors.
Green made sure that
when she left, the tours
were still being facilitated by
graduate students within the
Department of Gender and
Race Studies.
“I wanted to make sure the
tour was still being done, but
by students who would get
it as either credits but also
work-study,” Green said. “So
students are able to get paid
to do the work and not have
their labor extracted and
exploited, especially students
of color and marginalized
communities in a system
talking about enslavement on
the campus.”
Despite her goal, BFSA
Ambassadors are currently
not paid for these tours.
Earlier this year, the SGA
urged the University to
compensate the students
who host the tours, to no
avail.
The history of the tour has
not been without controversy.
Even at the tour’s inception,
Green experienced a lot
of pushback from some
students, faculty and
community members.
“Some of the pushback I
got was from other faculty
who did not feel that this
information should be
told,” she said. “One faculty
member in particular said,
‘Well, we gave them
a marker.’”
According to Green, a
few students and faculty
members wrote letters
to President Stuart Bell
attempting to stop the
tours. Despite this, she felt
immense support from most
people as she continued.
“I got emails from former
Bama football players turned
NFL coaches, and I kept all
of those for when I needed
it. Other Black alum, other
3A
students going into the
community,” Green said.
“So there was pushback, but
there was a lot of support.
I like to say I was tolerated
rather than accepted by the
administration.”
To Green, the tours are
important because they
showcase sides of campus
history that she argues the
University is not forthcoming
about.
“One of the things the
Hallowed Grounds tour
means to me is we are no
longer lying to students and
faculty and other community
members who come on
the campus and are told in
various ways that this past
has not shaped current race
relations on the campus,”
Green said.
Green believes that the
tours are one way the school
has aimed to reckon with its
history.
“Is our history perfect?
No,” Green said. “But
we’re not the same. It’s
not the same campus of
enslavement. So who were
the people who made these
changes? Because it wasn’t
the administration; it was
people. How can they be
role models for students
who might not feel that they
belong today? They can see
that history and resilience
and find a way to continue
and to persist.”
Anyone interested in
attending a tour can visit the
Department of Gender and
Race Studies’ website and
schedule a tour by emailing
Stoneking. All of Green’s
research can be found online,
along with materials for a
self-guided tour.

4A
news
Ahmahdre Turner
Contributing Writer
On June 12, 1973, a
group of 30 students
and members of The
University of Alabama
community came together
for the first time to create
a “solid, visible
gay community.”
The organization,
GAZE, highlighted its first
meeting in The Queen City
Sometimes, a publication
that debuted June 28, 1973,
the fourth anniversary
of the Stonewall Riots.
It also included the
personal accounts of
Lynn Johnson and Ed
Wallace, who shared their
personal experiences
in their sexuality to
provide recipients of the
newsletter an essence of
relatability in hopes of
continuing growth in
the organization.
According to an
April 1983 news article
by Jack Wheat of the
Tuscaloosa News, “the
purpose of the group was
to debunk myths about
homosexuality and to
provide a support group.”
Forty years later, GAZE
is now named the Queer
Student Association and
the organization has one
clear goal in mind: to
create a more inclusive
campus for LGBTQ+
students.
Underrepresented in the South:
How UA LGBTQ+ students created their community
“The reason for
our name change is to
promote inclusivity and to
give a little more direction
into the organization,”
said Sean Atchison, the
president of the Queer
Student Association. “QSA
has always been about two
words: connection and
action. We pair those two
pretty well as we reach our
40-year anniversary.”
In its early days, the
organization struggled to
earn formal recognition by
the University. This lasted
until Sept. 6, 1983, when
The University of Alabama
formally recognized
the Gay Student Union,
making it the first official
LGBTQ+ student group in
the state.
Young Americans for
Freedom, a conservative
student group at the
University, petitioned
protesting the recognition
of the GSU in 1983, saying
that such behavior would
encourage the violation of
Alabama state laws.
Amid the petition
and YAF’s threats of a
lawsuit, the GSU and
other gay communities
across the country
were also responding to
conversations about the
AIDS epidemic.
These efforts to combat
the epidemic extended
far past campus into local
organizations such as West
Alabama AIDS Outreach,
which eventually became
Five Horizons Health
Services.
“When West Alabama
AIDS Outreach was
born, that is local people
that are organizing to
support local HIV positive
people. ... They’re all local
people, most of them not
medical professionals,
just concerned friends
and lovers and sisters
and brothers,” said Joshua
Burford, archivist and
director of outreach for the
Invisible Histories Project,
a nonprofit organization
that documents Southern
LGBTQ+ history.
In the ’90s, West
Alabama AIDS Outreach
began publishing a
newsletter called The
Ankh that was focused on,
in Burford’s words, getting
“as much relevant, correct
information out to the
public as they could.”
This type of community
support allowed the GSU
to grow into a larger role
on campus and in the
local area.
“At age 72, I have done
a lot of looking back,”
David Miller, the GSU’s
first faculty adviser, said.
“But my involvement with
GSU is a memory I cherish
and take pride in. It just
took the country a few
decades to catch up.”
The University’s
LGBTQ+ student
organization has presently
seen a total of eight
name changes since 1983.
These name changes
have followed a constant
evolution of efforts to
include LGBTQ+ identities.
The GSU was renamed
Gay/Lesbian Support
Services on Feb. 10,
1985, by group decision
including David van der
Griff, the active president
of the organization.
“Obviously, GSU did
not say ‘lesbian,’ so some
women didn’t think it
was an accurate name,”
van der Griff said. “Also,
members felt we were
more than a student
organization. We provided
support and services.
Hence, the name G/LSS.”
The organization,
since then, has changed
its name six more times,
responding “to what the
needs of the students
[were] at that time,”
Burford said.
According to the Queer
Alabama History website,
John M. Giggie, director of
the Summersell Center for
the Study of the South, led
a student group in the first
research seminar in queer
history offered by The
University of Alabama.
“A lot of people don’t
remember the past,”
said Russell Howard, the
president of the University
of Alabama LGBTQ Alumni
Association. “This is an
educational process, and
it’s slowly getting better
because of the people who
came before us.”
Although Howard
wasn’t involved with
the LGBTQ+ student
organization during his
time as a UA student, he
still wanted to “find a way
to leave this place a little
bit better for the ones who
come after.”
Sure enough, the
LGBTQ+ students that
came to the University
after Howard continued to
make his dream of a more
inclusive campus a reality.
The organization
continues to hold annual
events such as Shantay,
UA and the State of the
Queer Union.
To many, the
preservation of queer
history is essential to
combating stereotypes,
misconceptions and
misinformation.
“We’re building
collections so that our
community can have
something that it’s never
had, which is the physical
record of who we have
been and what we’ve done,
accomplished, lost and
gained,” Burford said. “To
queer people, it is
a necessity.”
To read the complete
version of this
story, please visit
thecrimsonwhite.com
Modern challenges Alabama’s diverse natural history
Alex Gravlee
Staff Writer
Environmental issues
are a recurring concern
for Tuscaloosa community
members, as seen in
recent efforts to protect
water quality and combat
pollution in the Black
Warrior River.
Although Alabama is
widely recognized for its
biodiversity, many of the
state’s residents find that
preserving and defending
the natural landscape
presents its own set
of challenges.
Preserving early
history
During much of Earth’s
early history, Alabama was
mostly ocean, but over
time, fossils and other
deposits layered and gave
rise to extensive caves. As
of 2007, Alabama had more
than 4,200 discovered
caves, according to the
Alabama Cave Survey
of 2007.
These fossils continue
to inspire citizens to
pursue paleontology to
satisfy their curiosity
about the past, including
Jim Braswell, the
president of the Alabama
Paleontological Society,
an organization dedicated
to expanding and
disseminating knowledge
about Alabama’s fossils
and natural history.
Braswell said he has
been interested in fossils
since he was a child. He
attributes his interest to
growing up in a family of
rock collectors in northern
Alabama, a region
containing many
Paleozoic fossils.
“I got to go looking for
fossils ... with my family,
my older brothers, my
father, and then I was just
hooked,” Braswell said.
When he married,
Braswell returned to his
hobby of paleontology. He
said he has an incredible
time working with
professionals and traveling
the state in search
of fossils.
“It’s just fun being
out there,” Braswell
said. “If you know what
you're kind of looking
for, anybody can go out
there and find something
that’s absolutely new to
science and make a huge
discovery.”
When tectonic
collisions created the
supercontinent of Pangaea
around 300 million years
ago, they created the
Appalachian Mountains,
whose southern terminus
makes up the Talladega
ranges seen in northeast
Alabama.
“Alabama is an
amazing state,” Braswell
said. “When you look
at north Alabama, we
have fossils covering the
entire Paleozoic with the
exception of the Permian
period, and ... just an
incredible amount of
fossiliferous rocks.”
Water flowing from the
mountains helped carve
Alabama’s landscape even
more and even broke apart
and deposited quartz
along the modern-day
coastline. This gave rise
to Alabama’s white, sandy
beaches.
Around 34 million to
35 million years ago, the
southern portion of the
state was flooded with
water, making it a haven
for aquatic life. This
is where many fossils,
including Basilosaurus
cetoides, Alabama’s state
fossil, were found. The
Basilosaurus cetoides can
be found at the Alabama
Museum of Natural
History on campus.
Conservation and
defending wildlife
U.S. expansion
during the 19th century
disturbed ecosystems and
created some concern for
Alabama’s wildlife and
natural landscape, which
were greatly affected.
Over time, the U.S.
government began
setting aside land for
conservation, including
national parks and forests.
According to Matthew
Capps, the deputy
director of Alabama
State Parks under the
Alabama Department
of Conservation and
Natural Resources, the
federal government
granted states land to
build national parks, but
many of these projects
were left unfinished
when the United States
entered World War II.
These abandoned projects
became state parks, with
Cheaha Resort State Park
being Alabama’s first.
Capps said the
biodiversity of Alabama
makes visiting the parks
especially rewarding.
“Finding love with
the natural resources
we have available in
Alabama, being one of
the most diverse states
in the country, and ...
they provide something
for us to do and find new
experiences every time we
go out,” Capps said.
Despite Alabama
citizens’ conservation
efforts, including the 1935
formation of the Alabama
Wildlife Federation, which
sought to prevent the
overhunting of wildlife,
Alabama wildlife still faces
challenges today.
Kevin Anson, the chief
marine biologist at the
CW / Shelby West
Wildlife and Freshwater
Fisheries Division in
the Department of
Conservation and Natural
Resources, said one of the
most challenging parts
of conserving wildlife
is communicating the
meaning of the data and
analytics the department
provides as to why certain
species are regulated.
“The biggest challenge
is getting people on board,
so to speak, or to reconcile
maybe what they see in
their interactions with
particular species and
what [changes in their
access] management is
coming forward with,”
Anson said.
To read the complete
version of this
story, please visit
thecrimsonwhite.com

culture
5A
The survival of Native American history through storytelling and art
Alejandro Jimenez
Contributing Writer
Brandon Smith
Race and Identity Reporter
November is Native
American Heritage
Month and highlights
the persistence of Native
American cultures and
traditions despite years
of oppression and the
constant threat of erasure.
This month is meant
to bring attention to
Indigenous groups in
the United States, such
as the Cherokee and
Creek, and celebrate
their achievements as
a testament to their
survival, particularly
through storytelling
and art.
A storyteller and bone
flute musician named
Billy Whitefox, a member
of the Muscogee (Creek)
Nation, discussed how he
has preserved and shared
his culture throughout
the years despite the
challenges he faced
growing up.
Whitefox said he was
once forbidden to speak
his Native language when
away from his home, even
around his friends.
“When I was about 7,
living with my grandfather
in Silas, Alabama, and
learning my language from
my great-grandmother,
I spoke some words
outside,” Whitefox
said. His grandfather
immediately warned him
not to “because our friends
were not tribal. We were
not supposed to be there,
or you were meant to
blend in with everybody
else.”
Whitefox admitted
it was hard for him
to understand his
grandfather’s attitude
growing up. He wondered
why he was expected
to lose or hide a part of
who he was as he came
into adulthood. Rather
than submit to this truth,
he learned as much as
he could from his greatgrandmother,
his language
and folktales, before
her passing. His greatgrandmother’s
stories
survive today because
of him.
“Since the ’50s and the
’60s, everybody’s wanting
to learn,” Whitefox said.
In this new day and
age, Whitefox takes the
Speakers talk about their Native American heritage at the Moundville Native American Festival. CW / Caroline Simmons
opportunity to share
the stories he knows so
that they can survive for
another generation.
Dan Townsend, a
member of the Muscogee
Nation and Cherokee
Nation, rescued a dying
Native American art. He is
a full-time artist and has
been for 45 years, carving
seashells.
“When I first started
carving, there were only
two shell carvers that I
knew of in this country. It
was me and another artist
from Oklahoma. He has
since passed,” Townsend
said.
Seashell carving was
a style of art for many
Native tribes along the
eastern and southern
seaboard of the United
States. What was once
an art close to extinction
has made a revival
thanks to Townsend’s
efforts in teaching tribal
communities over the past
20 years. Over that time,
he says he has taught
about 400 students. His
students have won blue
ribbons across the nation.
His personal
achievement is having
documentation of his
work from the Creek
Nation Council House
Museum submitted to
the Smithsonian National
Museum of the American
Indian in 2004.
“There must have
been a million and a half
spectators. I think 525
different tribes throughout
the United States, almost
all the federally recognized
tribes in North America,
had gathered there, and it
was quite phenomenal,”
Townsend said.
Out of 3,700
applications to the
Smithsonian Institution,
“maybe a dozen were
chosen” to represent a
different region of the
United States, Townsend
said. His shell-carving
work was selected to
represent the tribes of
the Southeastern United
States. “And it was
an honor.”
Townsend has
taught his art at the
University of Maryland,
Northwestern University
and the University of New
Mexico, but his primary
concentration is teaching
Native communities.
Storyteller Amy
Bluemel of the Chickasaw
Nation discussed how
influential Indigenous
cultures have been
to American society
despite their erasure and
assimilation into white
American culture.
“We were told that
there was a dance we
did in school, and it was
called ‘Crack the Whip.’
It’s the ‘Snake Dance.’ This
is a Native dance and as
colonization came across,
they saw it and they joined
in,” Bluemel said.
However, despite
the erasure and
shunning of Native
cultures, Bluemel sees a
newfound pride among
younger generations
of Native Americans
and a resurgence of
Indigenous cultures. She is
particularly aware of how
social media has helped
diffuse Indigenous voices
and cultures to
the mainstream.
“My grandfather grew
up in schools where they
beat you and put you in
a closet if you spoke your
language. And these kids
now are learning their
languages and they’re
speaking it,” Bluemel said.
As a storyteller, she
finds the preservation
of oral tradition to be
important, as many
people are ignorant of the
Indigenous influence in
American culture
and history.
“It doesn’t matter if
you’re Indigenous or non-
Indigenous. If you live
here, this is your history.
And what a wonderful
history,” Bluemel said.
Heather Kopelson,
an associate professor
of history at the
University, emphasized
the importance of talking
about Native Americans as
“active agents,” especially
in conversations about the
erasure and preservation
of their cultures. Some
of the examples she gave
are the Dakota Access
Pipeline protests in 2016,
the review of the Indian
Child Welfare Act, and the
renaming of Washington,
D.C.’s NFL team from
the Redskins to the
Commanders.
Her point was that
Native Americans are
continued survivors and
are persistent in their
efforts to keep their land
sacred, their children kept
within their communities,
and their cultures
safe from misuse and
appropriation.
Here at the University,
a student-led organization
for Native Americans
and Native allies is
developing. BISON, the
Bama Indigenous Student
Organization Network,
is an up-and-coming
group founded to bring
awareness to Native issues
and struggles, according
to Kopelson.
A Cherokee language
class led by Gary Drowning
Bear has also been
introduced to students
over the summer and is
being taught this fall.
Native American
Heritage Month is a time
to remember and honor
the contributions that
Native Americans have
made to this country
and continue to make to
this day. Because of their
persistence, their cultures
have stood the test of
time and are key to the
multicultural identity of
the United States.
Dan Townsend discusses his
work at the Native American
festival in Moundville,
Alabama.
CW / Caroline Simmons

The hidden history behind
Bryce Hospital
Ava Morthland Staff Writer
Gabriella Puccio-Johnson Assistant Culture Editor
The historic Bryce Hospital
is now being given the
chance to pave an educational
path. In the 1850s, Bryce
Hospital was constructed
in Tuscaloosa, and it was
officially inaugurated as the
Alabama State Hospital for
the Insane in 1861; in 2010
the University of Alabama
acquired the property to turn
it into a performing
arts center.
Bryce’s background
The hospital was renamed
Bryce Hospital in 1900
after the death of its first
superintendent, Peter Bryce.
During Bryce’s time at the
hospital, he implemented a
plan called “moral treatment.”
The plan allowed patients
to continue work they were
most familiar with, which
included working on the farm,
in the laundry room or in the
sewing room.
Bryce believed that this
would help his patients heal
and change their focus from
their mental condition to
something more productive.
However, after Bryce’s
death, citizens around
the hospital started to get
concerned with the time
patients were spending there.
In 1970 a lawsuit, Wyatt v.
Stickney, challenged the
treatment of patients at
the hospital.
The lawsuit said that
patients had the right
to receive a humane
psychological and physical
environment, qualified
staff in numbers sufficient
to administer adequate
treatment and individualized
treatment plans. The
decisions from the case
established what are
now known as the Wyatt
Standards.
“To deprive any citizens
of his or her liberty upon
the altruistic theory that the
confinement is for humane
therapeutic reasons and
then fail to provide adequate
treatment violates the very
fundamentals of due process,”
Judge Frank Johnson Jr., who
ruled in the case, wrote.
According to the
Encyclopedia of Alabama,
the hospital was accused of
using patients for free labor.
In fact, some patients wrote
and edited a newspaper,
called The Meteor, that The
Crimson White covered in
2017. However, in 2003 the
lawsuit was dismissed, and
the humane treatment of
patients has become standard
practice through statutes
and regulations.
The Disability Justice
website says that the
treatment of patients at state
hospitals was inhumane,
and the practices were
inadequate.
The editor of a
Montgomery newspaper
compared the conditions
at Alabama’s inpatient
institutions to the conditions
at the concentration camps
in Germany during World War
II, according to the Disability
Justice website.
The building, now
abandoned, has been a
piece of discussion for years
due to its worn-down and
“haunted” manner. YouTube
videos, X/Twitter threads,
photo galleries and Instagram
posts have been platforms
for people to share their
visits to the abandoned
hospital. Peeling paint, broken
windows and destroyed
ceilings help create the eerie
feeling people get when
stepping inside.
Bryce Hospital also had
a cemetery, which can be
found close to campus. It
is located on the north side
of Jack Warner Parkway —
formerly River Road — behind
Bryce Hospital. It has been
used since the 1920s and is
home to patients who died at
Bryce. These people did not
have another place for burial
or had no family members
who would claim them, so
the cemetery offered them a
peaceful place to rest
after death.
The first recorded burial
dates to 1861. While only a
few graves are marked, it is
estimated that thousands of
individuals are buried here.
New beginning for Bryce
Hospital
Bryce Hospital was moved
to McFarland Boulevard in
2009, and The University of
Alabama acquired the original
property in 2010, embarking
on a substantial $40 million
renovation endeavor that
focuses on the original fourstory
central hospital building
and four out of the original
six wings.
This renovation project is
an integral component of a
larger $121 million initiative,
which also encompasses
the construction of a new
performing arts center on
the premises. As outlined
by University of Alabama
planner Dan Wolfe, the
revitalized hospital structures
will serve a variety of
purposes, including a
University welcome center,
a museum dedicated to
mental health, a repository
of the University’s historical
heritage, event venues and
classrooms for students
studying performing arts.
The construction end date
is still to be determined, but
the groundbreaking occurred
Oct. 20.
The performing arts
center will be called the
Smith Family Center for the
Performing Arts after Mark
Smith, the father of UA
graduate Clay Smith.
“The groundbreaking
honors many years of
planning and fundraising
efforts to create a cuttingedge
facility that will meet
the performance, design and
production needs of a theatre
and dance department that
has more than doubled its
enrollment over the last
20 years,” Alex House, the
University’s assistant director
of communication, wrote in
an article.
The center is going to
replace Bryant-Jordan Hall,
Marian Gallaway Theatre
and the Dance Theatre as the
primary performance space
for students.
House wrote that the
center will have larger stage
openings and offstage spaces
as well as orchestral pits,
adjustable acoustics, deeper
stages and engineered floors.
The Campaign for the
Performing Arts page has
floor plans, pictures of the
outside and inside, and
opportunities to name parts
of the center.
“A new Performing Arts
Academic Center will have
a tremendous impact on
both UA students and the
surrounding community,”
the page says. “Our
students will experience a
seamless transition into the
professional world as they
will now learn and perform
in theatres rivaling major
performance venues across
the country.”
The performing arts center
will allow for a new history to
be started on historical land
and grant the opportunity to
turn the space into
something extraordinary.
sports + culture
1B
The yellow hammer:
An Alabama superfan’s autograph collection
quickly reaching legend status
Nacho Alabamo has been trying to get as many signatures as possible since creating the hammer
pictured above. CW / Elijah McWhorter
Abby McCreary
Sports Editor
The Alabama
yellowhammer. To some,
it’s a bird. To most, it’s a
drink. To all, it’s a part of the
Rammer Jammer, the song
that means a Crimson Tide
victory.
Sometimes, though, it’s just
a yellow hammer.
But this yellow hammer
belongs to Nacho Alabamo,
the Alabama superfan and
game day personality who
has amassed over two dozen
legendary Alabama signatures
on his trademark tool.
“It’s probably the best thing
that I’ve done, because even
when you can’t see me, you
can see the hammer,” Nacho
Alabamo said.
Since getting its first
signature from former
Alabama and current New
York Jets defensive tackle
Quinnen Williams a couple
years ago, the hammer has
been signed by everyone
from players to media
personalities.
His favorites, though, go
“hand in hand.”
At the Mississippi State
game in Starkville two years
ago, Nacho looked to his right
and saw Terry Saban, better
known as “Miss Terry” for her
role on her husband’s football
team. As she came over to
sign the hammer, Nacho told
her that he was hoping for
her husband’s signature next.
“Don’t you worry, honey,
we’re going to get that for
you,” she said.
Sure enough, Alabama
football head coach Nick
Saban’s signature currently
graces the top of the hammer
after a successful Fan Day
outing. However, in order to
put it at the top next to Miss
Terry’s, Nacho had to cover up
another signature.
“Paul [Finebaum] has been
talking some trash about
Alabama these past couple
years,” he said. “I didn’t feel
he deserved such prime real
estate on the hammer.”
Nacho Alabamo said that
although he covered up
Finebaum’s signature with
the same yellow duct tape
that is used on the rest of the
hammer, he’s planning on
having the signature back on
there in the future.
“When I get Paul
Finebaum’s signature again,
I’m going to get him to sign
it on the ‘no rat poison’ side,”
he said. “I think that’s where
those guys need to be.”
The hosts of “SEC Nation,”
including Roman Harper, are
some of the other signatures
on the hammer; all are on the
“no rat poison” side.
The hammer, which also
has sides that read “Roll Tide,”
“Give ’em Hell Alabama!” and
“Rammer Jammer,” consists
of yoga mat foam, PVC pipe
and yellow duct tape. Nacho
Alabamo said he originally
got the idea when he dressed
up as Fat Thor for Comic Con
and made “Stormbreaker,” the
hero’s legendary weapon.
The prop was a huge hit,
and he knew he needed
something similar to
complete his superfan getup
since before the hammer, he’d
just “walk around and point”
on game days.
“I got to thinking about
it: ‘Rammer Jammer, Yellow
Hammer,’” Nacho Alabamo
said. “I knew yellowhammer
was a bird, but I could just
make a big, yellow hammer.”
Since the creation of
the hammer, the superfan
decided that he wanted to
get as many signatures as
possible. Right now, former
softball player Montana Fouts
and former football players
C.J. Mosley and Jordan Battle
have all contributed to
the hammer.
Kicker Will Reichard is the
only current football player
who has his signature on the
hammer. Nacho met Reichard
and several other players at
Fan Day last year.
“I told him [Reichard], ‘Man,
I am so happy you came back
for one more year. You’re the
only person I’m going to ask
for a signature,’” Nacho said.
“I wanted to go around and
meet all the players. When
you have that opportunity,
you take advantage of it. The
cool thing was most of them
knew who I was.”
While the superfan loves
asking for as many signatures
as he can, he said he does it
only when the opportunity
presents itself, and a lot
of times taking a picture
takes priority over asking
for a signature, especially in
the case of meeting former
Alabama quarterback
Bryce Young.
Nacho Alabamo waited
nearly an hour and a half
for Young at SEC media
days after the quarterback
promised to return. Nacho
didn’t think he would, but
sure enough, Young came
back and headed straight for
the superfan.
“I never even thought
about asking him to sign the
hammer for me. I just thought
it was so cool he came back
and got the picture with me,”
he said.
Although the hammer
has 26 signatures, there’s still
plenty of room for more, and
Nacho already knows whose
he wants next.
“I would love to get Joe
Namath’s signature,” Nacho
said. “That would be huge.
I had the opportunity since
he walked right past me at
the Texas game on ‘College
GameDay’ ... but he was in a
hurry to get up the stage. That
would be my ultimate goal.”
Dreamland’s rich history of unifying
people through food
Luke McClinton Staff Writer
Taylor Paton Contributing Writer
“A
in’t nothing like ’em
nowhere,”claims the
slogan of Dreamland Bar-
B-Que. It’s a bold assertion,
yet if you ask a Southerner
with an awareness of the
region’s barbecue scene, or
even just an enjoyment
of high-quality smoked
meats, it’s true.
“The barbecue sauce
and the ribs are hard to
beat,” Jasper native Keith
Gilbert said. “I always
make sure to stop in when
I am in Tuscaloosa. I enjoy
it too much to skip over.”
For how delectable the
food might be, however,
it is only half the story.
Behind the hickorysmoked
ribs, tantalizingly
unique sauce and fanfavorite
banana pudding is
a rich, colorful history.
SEE PAGE 3B

2B
sports
The legends behind the Crimson Tide’s favorite athletic facilities
Abby McCreary
Sports Editor
Michael DeVito
Contributing Writer
John and Ann Rhoads
Softball Stadium
Whether it’s a party at Rhoads or an afternoon at The Joe, many of UA Athletics’ favorite facilities are constantly
referred to without a second thought given to their namesakes. Here are the Alabama legends who lend their names
to some of the most visited facilities at The University of Alabama.
Photos by Riley Brown and Natalie Teat
Bryant-Denny Stadium
Coleman Coliseum
Stran-Hardin Arena
Sewell-Thomas
Stadium
Although John and Ann
Rhoads lend their names
to several scholarships
at The University of
Alabama, they are best
known for their names
on the Alabama softball
stadium. John Rhoads, a
Birmingham businessman
involved in several
Alabama industries,
such as aerospace and
manufacturing, stayed
heavily involved with the
Capstone throughout
his career.
Ann Rhoads followed
suit, involving herself with
several UA educational
and athletic programs.
Before she died in 2021,
she increasingly followed
UA Athletics, especially
softball.
Although John Rhoads
died in 2001, Ann Rhoads
was present for the softball
stadium’s dedication in
their honor in 2011.
“Ann Rhoads is a dear
friend to the University
and a great supporter
of Alabama Athletics,”
then-UA athletic director
Mal Moore said at the
dedication. “I would like to
thank her for all she has
done to help the Crimson
Tide remain one of the
nation’s elite programs.”
Bryant-Denny Stadium is
certainly the best-known
stadium in UA Athletics,
and its namesakes hardly
need introduction. Former
Alabama president George
Denny expanded the University
in large part due to his
methods of increasing funding
via donations, gifts and
other sources of revenue.
Denny also jumpstarted
the football program and
witnessed the creation of
several UA traditions still in
practice to this day. His career
is commerated with the
creation of Denny Chimes,
the belltower situated on
the Quad. He was the sole
namesake of Denny Stadium
until 1975.
While Alabama legend
Paul “Bear” Bryant was still
coaching for the Crimson
Tide, the Alabama Legislature
voted to add his name
to the stadium. At that
point, Bryant had won four
national championships,
and he added two more before
he retired in 1982 with
323 collegiate head coaching
wins — a record that stood
until Penn State head coach
Joe Paterno broke it in 2001.
Although Jefferson Jackson
Coleman was known
more for his contributions
to UA football, his name has
become synonymous with
Alabama basketball since
both the men’s and women’s
teams play in Coleman
Coliseum. The Livingston,
Alabama, native started
working for UA Athletics at
the age of 19, when he was
hired as former Alabama
football head coach Wade
Wallace’s student secretary.
He continued working
for Alabama Athletics until
his retirement nearly 50
years later. Coleman worked
in various administrative
positions, including director
and the school’s purchasing
agent. He also created the
University Supply Store and
the University Club during
his tenure.
Coleman oversaw the
construction of the court,
then called Memorial Coliseum,
in the 1960s, and
in 1988, it was renamed in
his honor. When he died in
1995, he was the only person
to have attended every bowl
game that Alabama football
played in, including the 1926
Rose Bowl.
As co-founders of the
Alabama Adapted Athletics
program, Margaret Stran
and Brent Hardin lend their
names to Stran-Hardin Arena,
the one-of-a-kind facility
that has brought home over
a dozen national championships
and sent several
athletes to the Paralympics.
The couple immediately
created the women’s wheelchair
basketball program
when they came to the University
in 2003, and in the
past 20 years, several sports,
facilities and athletes have
been added.
In 2018, the $10 million
facility opened, largely possible
because of UA alumni
Mike and Kathy Mouron.
Originally, Mike Mouron
told Stran and Hardin that
the facility would be named
in honor of his wife and to
keep the name a surprise.
“When we went to a
naming ceremony, that’s
when we found out,” Stran
said. “I remember he said
something to the effect of he
paid for the naming rights,
but we earned the naming
rights. It’s very humbling,
and kind of a responsibility
to make sure that what I do
and who I am reflects the
honor that Mike and Kathy
gave us.”
Originally opened March
26, 1948, under the name of
Thomas Stadium, the baseball
stadium was named
after former Crimson Tide
football head coach Frank
Thomas. The Muncie, Indiana,
native had a successful
career for the Crimson Tide’s
football program along with
being the UA athletic director
from 1940 through 1952.
During his 21-year stint at
Alabama, Thomas brought
four SEC championships
along with two national
championships to Tuscaloosa.
In the spring of 1978,
Thomas Stadium was renamed
to what it is known
as today, Sewell-Thomas
stadium, or “The Joe” for
short. Joe Sewell, a member
of the Baseball Hall of Fame
and the Alabama Sports
Hall of Fame, was one of the
most successful players to
don the crimson and white
of the University of Alabama
baseball program.
After a 13-year major
league career, the Mobile,
Alabama, native tallied up
an impressive .312 career
batting average in the big
leagues, playing for the New
York Yankees and eventually
reaching the Baseball Hall of
Fame in Cooperstown, New
York.
Opening Dates of UA Stadiums
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John and Ann Rhoads Softball Stadium
February 23, 2000
Bryant-Denny Stadium
September 28, 1929
Coleman Coliseum
January 30, 1968
Stran-Hardin Arena
January 10, 2018
Sewell-Thomas Stadium
March 26, 1948

culture
continued from 1B — Dreamland
3B
The original location,
located in the heart of
Tuscaloosa, radiates a
classic hole-in-the-wall
aura. It was opened in 1958
under the creative vision
of John “Big Daddy” Bishop.
This vision was apparently
divine; according to the
opening line of the “About
Us” page of Dreamland’s
website.
“It all started with a
dream ... and it was in that
dream that God visited John
‘Big Daddy’ Bishop and told
him to open a restaurant,”
the website reads.
Its exterior is free from
flashy imagery, more akin to
a mom-and-pop shack than
the famed brand Dreamland
has become. The interior
has a similarly niche and
old-timey construction.
The walls are lined with
license plates, black-andwhite
framed pictures,
signed dollar bills and
other distinct iconography.
Perhaps most striking is
a sign with the simple
imperative “no farting.”
This pioneer location
didn’t immediately adopt
the singular identity of a
barbecue restaurant. The
website’s biography details
how Bishop’s eatery “sold
everything from burgers to
postage stamps.” It was only
after the hickory-fired ribs
and vinegar-based barbecue
sauce became runaway
favorites that such an
identity was taken on.
Dreamland’s popularity
spread steadily over the
ensuing decades, and
eventually expansion
became unavoidable.
In 1993, after 35 years
of solitary residence in
Tuscaloosa, a new location
was opened in Birmingham,
dubbed “Southside.” In
the years since, nine new
Dreamlands have popped
up, expanding as far east as
Duluth, Georgia, and as far
south as Mobile, Alabama,
and Tallahassee, Florida.
These locations have a
more modern build while
maintaining the classic
Dreamland feel. There isn’t
quite the down-to-earth feel
of eating in a 1950s-style
shack, but the larger and
nicer venues house the
same iconography and
homeyness. If one visits a
variety of Dreamlands, one
might notice the ubiquity of
the “no farting” sign; it is a
small but powerful symbol
of the restaurant’s smalltown
character despite
prosperity and expansion.
The personality of
Dreamland goes even
deeper than the looks,
even beyond the humorous
signage and classic
Alabamian composition.
Roscoe Hall is a
renowned chef and artist
who has worked in and
helmed a motley array of
restaurants, from David
Chang’s now-closed
Momofuku Ssäm Bar
in New York to Rodney
Scott’s Whole Hog BBQ in
Birmingham. He competed
in Season 18 of Top Chef.
He is also the grandson
of Big Daddy Bishop, and
that connection helps him
provide a fresh perspective
on Dreamland that’s infused
with familial admiration.
“It was like home for
me,” he said when asked
what the restaurant meant
to him. “It means a lot to
the culinary world ... but to
me it will always just mean
family.”
More than just a provider
of great food, the restaurant
was a unifier of sorts,
bonding people of all walks
of life through the universal
quality of deliciousness.
While on the topic
of his relationship with
Dreamland, Hall intimated
details of his teenage
life that illustrate this
unifying quality. When
he first began attending
St. Bernard Preparatory
School in Cullman, he was
one of only a few African
American students. What’s
more is that he was a “punk
rock kid” who, thanks to
the demographic skew as
well as his personality, had
mostly white friends.
On Friday afternoons,
he would venture to
Dreamland and come into
the restaurant through
the back door. Often, these
fellow punk rock friends
would come with him and
follow suit.
Dreamland opened in 1958 and it has become a staple barbecue restaurant in the South.
CW / Caroline Simmons
“I would walk through
with, like, a mohawk, and
my friends would have, like,
pink hair,” Hall remembered.
One day, his grandfather,
who founded the restaurant
in a time of high racial
tensions, noted the
unbelievable nature of it all.
“This is how far we’ve
made it,” Hall recalled him
saying. “I never thought
I’d see white kids coming
in the back door of my
restaurant.”
It wasn’t only racial
divides that were broken by
Dreamland’s indiscriminate
allure. In addition to his
eccentric high school
comrades, Hall recalled
encountering Bo Jackson
and a college-aged
Shaquille O’Neal.
In these memories,
Bishop’s realization rings
true. Dreamland is the
consummate example of a
good meal breaking down
barriers. The Alabama
Tourism Department
articulates it well: “The
point is that it doesn’t
matter who you are. At
Dreamland everybody is
special and everybody is
there for the same reason —
the ribs.”
This is where the real
Dreamland can be found. It
isn’t about the license plates
or the “no farting” signs, but
rather the environment the
restaurant creates and the
openness that environment
fosters. The restaurant has
its own history, but more
importantly, it has lived
through history as a whole
and kept its character.
Whether in the tumult of
the ’60s or the modernity of
the 2020s, it’s all about the
ribs, sauce and white bread.
Such simplicity is
refreshing. Life can be
hard; when struggles come,
however, Dreamland will be
there, unchanged and with
open arms, ready to serve
good food to any who
may come.

4B
sports
Underfunded, underappreciated and underwhelming:
The humble beginnings of Alabama soccer
Theodore Fernandez
Staff Writer
When Janko Emedi
took a job teaching
Russian at The University
of Alabama in 1983, he
pushed for the creation of
a soccer program.
Emedi, by all accounts,
was a renaissance man.
Having escaped his
homeland of Yugoslavia
with his family at the age
of 15, he bounced around
the U.S., first living in
Chicago, then finding a
home playing soccer at
University of Alabama-
Huntsville, then studying
at the University of
Indiana.
It was there in
Bloomington that Emedi
first found a love for
coaching, as a soccer coach
at a local YMCA. From
there, Alabama soccer
took root.
Prior to Title IX in
1972, women’s collegiate
athletics had been
essentially nonexistent,
but now colleges had no
choice but to create teams
for them to play on.
In 1986, one of those
teams was soccer.
Emedi was given just
two months to field a
team. In these 60 days,
he managed to pull
together 20 players, mostly
freshmen from the South.
Emedi’s squad played
a “tough schedule” in his
words, which primarily
consisted of Division II and
III schools from the South.
But Oct. 26 marked the
biggest game of the year
for the Crimson Tide — a
trip to Nashville to take
on Vanderbilt.
The Commodores were
the only other SEC school
with a soccer program,
having launched one the
year before.
The teams were both
severely underfunded
and outmatched. The
two teams agreed, halfjokingly,
that the winner
of the game would be
able to call itself the SEC
champion.
The honor did not
go to Alabama, as the
Commodores defeated the
Crimson Tide 2-0.
After finishing 2-9
in year one, Alabama
turned things around in
1987. Despite returning
just three players from
the previous team, the
Crimson Tide went 9-4-
1, avenging many of the
last year’s losses in the
process, while playing
Vanderbilt to a scoreless
draw.
But an 8-0 loss to
North Carolina late in the
season made it clear that
this program still had a
lot of work to do. The Tar
Heels were — and still
are — the class of college
soccer. Coached by the
legendary Anson Dorrance
IV, North Carolina had
won four of the five NCAA
championships played up
to this point, and would
capture a fifth this season.
North Carolina was the
gold standard. In total, the
Tar Heels would go on to
win 16 of the first 19 NCAA
Championships while
being led by icons such
as Mia Hamm. Dorrance
is still at the helm to this
day as arguably the most
decorated coach in the
history of sports.
This Alabama team had
a good story but was just
wholly unable to compete
Alabama soccer players kicking the ball around during warmups. CW / Natalie Teat
with a team like the
Tar Heels.
The 1988 season further
illustrated this.
“It’s really looking good
for us,” Emedi said of the
program heading into this
third year.
The Crimson Tide
returned most of its
players, and there was
reason to believe the
team could take the next
step and make an NCAA
tournament.
But following an 8-8
season in 1988, punctuated
by a 3-1 loss to the
Commodores, athletic
director Steve Sloan pulled
the plug on the program.
Soccer at The University
of Alabama was no more.
The school decided it
would be better fit giving
scholarships and funding
to the volleyball team.
The girls on the 1988
team all either transferred
to other programs or
stayed enrolled as regular
students at the University.
Emedi went on to work
teaching English as a
second language and coach
soccer at Warren Central
High School in Kentucky,
never again returning to
the collegiate level.
For six years, soccer
was nowhere to be seen at
the University.
Then, in late 1993, right
before the World Cup,
athletic director Hootie
Ingram, the man best
known for hiring Gene
Stallings, reinstated
the program.
The process for
launching the program was
much more coordinated
and drawn out than the
first time around. First,
Don Staley was hired as
head coach in December
1993, giving him a full nine
months to recruit and plan
for the start of the
1994 season.
Staley was someone
who lived, breathed and
slept soccer.
He started playing at
the age of 10, and by his
sophomore year of high
school, when he realized
he was not good enough
to play college football,
devoted himself to being
a full-time goalkeeper,
and played on a partial
scholarship at Virginia
Wesleyan University before
being kicked off the team
due to a low GPA.
Following that,
his hopes of playing
professionally were dashed
when he broke his leg
in an all-star exhibition
game in 1982. At this
point, Staley directed his
attention to coaching,
taking over at Radford
University.
In his nine
seasons there, Staley
simultaneously coached
the Highlanders’ men’s
and women’s teams, taking
the women to an NCAA
Tournament, no small feat
for a school that small. He
achieved sustained success
and, not wanting any of
his players to go down his
path, put a high emphasis
on academics.
So in 1993, there really
was no debate over who
was going to get the job
at Alabama.
Staley also interviewed
for the job at Auburn,
another SEC school that
was launching a program,
but knew he wanted to
come to T-town from
day one.
“When I was offered
the position, it was like
a dream come true,”
Staley said. “I was
getting to coach and
live at a prestigious
university in the most
prestigious league in the
country. I sought out the
Southeastern Conference
because I wanted to go to
a very competitive school
that was adding the sport.”
Also different this time
around was the supporting
cast. While Emedi had
just one assistant, albeit a
great one in Philip Dodds,
Staley had a whole crew
around him.
First there was Karen
McGrath, a former player
at Radford.
“Coach Staley and I
had a unique professional
relationship,” McGrath
said. “We sort of feed off
each other. On the field,
I tend to be the coach’s
right hand. We work pretty
closely together. There’s
nothing I don’t do as
a coach.”
Joining McGrath on
the staff was graduate
assistant Laura Topolski
and Tim Ramsden, a
volunteer assistant
working primarily with
the goalies.
In addition to the
coaching staff, the team
had a trainer, equipment
manager, promotions
director, information
director, and strength and
conditioning coach.
Furthermore, ground
was broken on the
Alabama Soccer Stadium,
where the team still
plays to this day. It was
a true designated facility
that could meet all the
team’s practice needs
while providing a great
fan atmosphere for home
games.
The University had
finally invested in soccer,
and just through this
commitment, a message
was sent.
This was not going to
be a team fighting for its
survival. Soccer was not at
risk of ever being cut from
the school again. Before
the team had even played
a single game, everyone
knew that it was here
to stay.
The difference between
this squad and the
’80s squads was clear
immediately.
First of all, the 1994
team boasted players
from all over the country,
decorated high school
athletes from everywhere
from New Jersey to
New Mexico.
On the field, Alabama
was elite, going 13-5-1 with
a 2-1-1 conference record.
But unfortunately, while
the Crimson Tide spent
six years not playing,
the Commodores were
improving.
Vanderbilt dominated
the 1994 matchup in a 7-0
rout of Alabama en route
to an SEC Championship.
The Crimson Tide was
good, but not great.
In his 14 years as head
coach, Staley established
the Crimson Tide as one
of the most consistent
programs in the SEC,
winning multiple SEC
Coach of the Year awards
in the process and
becoming just the fifth
NCAA soccer coach at the
time to win 300 career
games.
But the fact of the
matter still was that the
team could not reach that
next level.
In 2022 it all came
together.
After having notched
the program’s first ever
tournament win the year
before, head coach Wes
Hart’s squad shocked the
soccer world by making it
to the College Cup, losing
to eventual champions
UCLA in the national
semifinals.
It was a breakthrough
for the school, and the
entire year served as a
homecoming of sorts
for Crimson Tide soccer
alumni who came back to
watch the program they
had helped build.
“Seeing them come
back 20, 30 years after they
finished playing is just
insane,” senior forward
Gessica Skorka said of
the former players. “It
shows just how dedicated
they are and how much
this meant to them. Their
passion is really exciting.”
But one person’s
support in particular
meant a little extra.
“He was awesome,”
Hart said of Don Staley’s
support of Alabama soccer.
“We’ve had a relationship
ever since I took the job
here. We got in touch, and
we talk a few times a year.
He’s really proud of where
the program’s come. He’s a
big supporter of us, and it
means a lot.”
Staley currently serves
as the CEO and founder of
the Southeastern Network
of Athletic Professionals,
a consulting firm
specializing in issues such
as Title IX; name, image
and likeness deals; and the
transfer portal, meaning
that he is still working
with college athletes.
“It’s my goal to give
back to the industry to
which I have dedicated
40 years of my life by
providing innovative
solutions to destination
marketing organizations,
sports commissions,
sporting venues and
facilities, municipalities
and student-athletes to
help achieve economic
impact and personal
goals,” Staley wrote on his
LinkedIn profile.
Alabama soccer’s
success has carried over
into this year. For the
first time in program
history, the Crimson Tide
spent the entire season
ranked inside the United
Soccer Coaches Top 25 and
earned wins over big-time
opponents.
Regardless of how the
remainder of this season
shakes out, Alabama
soccer is in great hands
with Hart at the helm, but
it would not be possible
without Emedi, Staley, and
all the players, assistants,
personnel, boosters and
fans who supported
Alabama soccer in
its infancy.

opinion
5B
Racial profiling:
A harmful reality for people of color in America
Angel Scales
Contributing
Columnist
In today’s age, you would
think blatant racist
ideologies would start to
dwindle away, considering
the rather progressive way
of thinking that develops
as the generations go by.
However, these
backward ways of thinking
still impact people of color
today and are a prominent
explanation for how
people of color are treated
in their everyday lives.
Racial profiling, the act
of using someone’s race
as a basis for suspecting
them of an offense, is
rooted in America’s
history, with the earliest
known account of legal
profiling dating back to
1693.
Court officials in
Philadelphia gave law
enforcement the ability
to detain enslaved or
freed Black people if they
were caught wandering
around. Slave patrols,
groups of armed men who
would monitor slaves to
eradicate defiance, started
in the 18th century, and
Black codes, a set of unfair
laws used to govern Black
Americans, appeared in
the 19th.
Racial profiling has also
affected people looking
to gain U.S. citizenship.
During World War II,
Japanese immigrants were
denied citizenship as a
result of the 1941 Pearl
Harbor attack. Japanese
Americans were put in
concentration camps.
They were targeted,
even though they were
American. Racial profiling
led to their forced
displacement.
In the late ’90s, the
Traffic Stops Statistics
Act of 1997 was passed
unanimously in the
House of Representatives.
According to University of
Pittsburgh School of Law
professor David A. Harris,
it “constituted the first
attempt by any legislative
body to come to grips with
what had become known
as ‘racial profiling.’”
The bill addressed the
disproportionate rate at
which Black and brown
people would be stopped
in comparison with their
white peers.
Drivers of color were
targeted with the idea in
mind that, since they were
not white, they likely had
drugs on their person or
were involved in drugrelated
crime. It was
almost as if police officers
were hoping to catch Black
and brown individuals
with illegal paraphernalia,
completely disregarding
the potential that white
individuals may have
been the ones with the
contraband.
Profiling will only
continue to target and
greatly hurt people of
color, as the obvious
prejudice leads to
things such as unjust
arrests, traffic stops,
sudden questioning
and/or interrogation
of individuals, and, in
extreme cases, severe
harm or even death.
In 2021, the Alabama
Senate approved a bill
to stop racial profiling
committed by police
officers. Sen. Rodger
Smitherman sponsored
the bill, and described
it as a bill that would
define racial profiling;
prohibit law enforcement
from engaging in such
conduct; and require state,
county and municipal law
enforcement agencies “to
adopt written policies to
prohibit racial profiling.”
The bill called for the
immediate cessation of
traffic stops that were
based on “race, color,
ethnicity, age, gender, or
sexual orientation.” The
bill moved to the House of
Representatives but died
in committee.
A year after the bill
was proposed, Huntsville,
Alabama, pastor Michael
Jennings was approached
by police officers as he
watered his neighbors’
flowers. He had been
asked to tend to their
flowers while they were
away from their home. He
had a hose in his hand
when he was approached,
and told the officers he
was permitted to be on his
neighbors property.
However, the officers
told him he “wasn’t
supposed to be there,”
and proceeded to arrest
him. Jennings, when
recounting the incident,
said he believed his skin
color solidified him as
being “just another Black
criminal who fit the
description” in the eyes of
the officers.
In August of 2023, a
waitress at a South Dakota
Denny’s refused to serve
two Black truckers. The
men claimed she walked
past them and continued
to serve people who
arrived before and after
them, so they called out to
her to try and order their
food.
She ended up calling
the police after she
insisted they were causing
a disturbance, continually
saying “you people” when
referring to the men.
The event prompted
the NAACP to hold a
conference to address the
incident.
CW / Shelby West
Race undeniably plays
a large role in the way
authority figures interact
with people on a day-today
basis. A Black man
walking down the street in
a nice neighborhood will
definitely turn more heads
than a white man doing
the same thing.
Racism comes in a
multitude of different
forms. Some of those
forms hide behind
an excuse of simple
“suspicion,” suspicion
that was formed from
harmful stereotypes that
were attached to people
of color. Racial profiling is
just another tactic used to
humiliate those affected
by it.

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