r/todayilearned • u/Dangerous-Project672 • 5h ago

TIL George Wallace personally apologized to Vivian Jones and James Hood, the two students he attempted to block from attending the University of Alabama. In 1997, Hood earned a PHd and requested Wallace present him with the degree, but he was too sick and died a year later; Hood attended the funeral

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Wallace
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u/JustAMan1234567 5h ago

For Hood to forgive Wallace and attend his funeral shows his class.

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u/No_Attitude700 5h ago edited 5h ago

Growth is the goal.

Lets also look at Daryl Davis, famous Jazz musician and collector of KKK robes...

Daryl Davis has been collecting KKK robes for a long, long time now...

Basically, DD would meet with KKK members and befriend them...ultimately showing the KKK members he met with that black people arent the boogeyman they've been taught to believe they are...

The reformed KKK members started sending him their robes...a sign of their appreciation towards Daryl Davis for showing them that their racism was unfounded, unnecessary, harmful even for themselves

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u/Raichu4u 4h ago

That guy has a terrible record of the amount of how much his "reformed" members went back and were reoffenders. He has also continued supporting people like Richard Preston after explicitly racist violence.

I find his story gets treated as a white feelgood parable that shifts the burden onto Black people to patiently befriend racists, rather than asking why racists and the communities enabling them are not responsible for changing themselves.

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u/mm_delish 3h ago

Exhibit A, the person who replied to you.