JD Crowe: Alabama Republi-chickens are scared to death of DEI

This is an opinion cartoon.

Old, white, homophobic GOP lawmakers in this state protest a little too much against diversity, don’tcha think?

Alabama Republi-chickens are scared to death of diversity, equity and inclusion. They see ‘DEI’ and they think it spells ‘DEVIL’. These chickens are obsessed with and threatened by everything they don’t understand.

Read Roy S. Johnson’s column: ‘Running scared’ from students supporting DEI, Republicans choke on their red-meat bill – al.com

Here a few excerpts: “They are running scared.”

“They are Alabama Republicans. On a day when they were to squash diversity, equity, and inclusion—daggumit—throughout the state; when they were going to defund programs that create safe, welcoming spaces for employees, students, and citizens; when they were going to emphatically ramrod Alabamians with a bill based on their ill-informed, unfounded fears, they shrank, hid, and squirreled away.

“They avoided more than 100 students—children!—from colleges and universities across the state who came to the statehouse in Montgomery Wednesday to protest divisive (yes, I’m boomeranging their word back on them) SB129. To share what DEI is to them. To tell their elected officials how DEI, as University of Alabama senior Sean Atchison bravely told my AL.com colleague Rebecca Griesbach, “saved my life.”

“They ducked, dived, and dodged the mosaic of students waiting patiently in the hall outside Room 200 where legislators were lunching. When they were done, “They ran out the back door to avoid us,” said University of Alabama-Birmingham sophomore Sydney Testman.

Related: Alabama college students rally against anti-DEI bill: ‘We won’t stand for it.’

“Added Atchison: “They are so afraid of students showing our voices and being heard on SB129 because they know the damage they are trying to do to this state and to students, and they are running scared from us.

“He added this: “They want to bring back Jim Crow.”

“Or hang a “white’s only” sign at the statehouse door.

“They were, quite simply, an embarrassment.”

Goodman: Alabama’s war on DEI could impact what unites us all – al.com

Joe Goodman agrees these lawmakers are an embarrassment and cites another problem with this anti-DEI bill: It could be devastating to college football. Lordy, now that’s a problem.

Goodman writes:

“The proposed bill, which has already passed through the Alabama House of Representatives, could make university compliance departments illegal. That’s a problem because universities are required to have compliance departments to be full members of the NCAA.

“The bill is a train wreck waiting to happen, in other words, and needs to be killed immediately. If not, and the NCAA doesn’t fit the mission of Alabama anymore, then I guess there’s always the ol’ Alabama Independent School Association to fall back on.

Woodfin says if anti-DEI bill passes, he would urge athletes to leave Alabama – al.com

“The AISA was formed back in 1970 to give the state’s segregation academies a league of their own, so to speak, or are we not supposed to speak about that at all anymore? When so-called “divisive concepts” form the backbone of a state’s history it’s hard to avoid all the topics.”

“Alabama should be attracting diversity and fostering inclusivity as public policy instead of fighting to keep it away. What’s next, Alabama anti-DEI nut jobs standing in the schoolhouse door?”

Read all of Goodman’s column here.

Anti-DEI bill heads to Alabama House of Representatives for final vote – al.com

Op-ed: What seeds are we planting when we attack DEI? – al.com

Guest opinion: The land of the free-ish – Alabama and the DEI ban bill – al.com

More cartoons by JD Crowe

Is Katie Britt auditioning for VP, SNL or The Handmaid’s Tale? – al.com

‘Burn the freaking books:’ Alabama libraries under fire from witch hunters – al.com

GOP owns this IVF minefield: Theocracy is a dangerous playground – al.com

Steve Marshall’s law: Alabama’s war against diversity – al.com

White fragility, fear of diversity rules Alabama legislature. The cost? Our future – al.com

Latest Alabama star in transfer portal hits Nick Saban hard – al.com

True stories and stuff by JD Crowe

The mysterious ‘Bubble Guy’ of Fairhope and the art of bubble Zen – al.com

How I met Dr. Seuss

Robert Plant head-butted me. Thanks, David Coverdale

I was ZZ Top’s drummer for a night and got kidnapped by groupies

Check out more cartoons and stuff by JD Crowe

JD Crowe is the cartoonist for Alabama Media Group and AL.com. He won the RFK Human Rights Award for Editorial Cartoons in 2020. In 2018, he was awarded the Rex Babin Memorial Award for local and state cartoons by the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. Follow JD on Facebook, Twitter @Crowejam and Instagram @JDCrowepix. Give him a holler @jdcrowe@al.com.

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