Don't Let This Be Anniston's Last Epitaph

In an article from April 14, 2016 titled "Three words about Anniston" written by Phillip Tutor for The Anniston Star it starts out with this, "You’ve been hired by the city of Anniston to develop its new marketing slogan, a peppy catchphrase for billboards and letterhead and business cards. Three words. That’s all you get. Three words to describe Anniston." A little bit later it mentions the long recognized moniker of Anniston which is "The Model City". I missed this article when it was first published, but with some of my recent readings and research I happened upon it and have thought of what that "slogan" or "catchphrase" could be. But I'll get to that a little later on. Back in December 2018 here on my Blog I wrote an unintended series of articles regarding Anniston's past, present and future, "Anniston Alabama: The "Model City" Has Been Broken", "Anniston, Oxford & Oxanna: The "Model City" Has Been Broken (Part 2)", "Anniston, From A Private Town To A Public Town: The "Model City" Has Been Broken (Part 3)", "Anniston, “One City, One Vision”: The "Model City" Has Been Broken (Part 4: The Epilogue)". In these articles, with addition to telling about Anniston's founding and history, I also mentioned that it was in 2002 when my family and I moved to this area. Up until 2010 we did actually live within the corporate city limits even though it was on the very most outskirts. In 2008, when the antics of what then seemed to me to be more of a "dysfunctional" city council, caused me to start paying closer attention to the ongoing business of Anniston's City Council. It was then when I started commenting or posting on the The Anniston Star Facebook page when articles would appear in the paper about the City Council. I may have even written a letter or two to the "Speak Out" Section, some of which were actually printed, about those things happening. I remember a day during this time-frame when I was at the local radio station, WDNG, for an on-air interview on matters totally unrelated to the politics of Anniston. But as I was waiting, Anniston City Councilman Ben Little walked in. It was the first time I had seen him in person but I quickly thought that if he might have known who I was and about those few postings and letters, would he have become violent and possibly verbally or physically attack me. There had been other times back then in which he had openly shown his hostility to others in public to those that have disagreed with him, some of which were others on the City Council. Thankfully nothing did happen that day though. More recently there has been made available to the public, if only in part, a video in which it shows Councilman Little on the verge of hostile actions during a city meeting towards another member of the Council and an individual of the general public that was in attendance. This person was identified as a family member of that Councilwoman that was being addressed.

Over the many years, every couple of days or so, there would be an article in The Anniston Star, and sometimes even a story on a Birmingham television newscast, that would often include many of the same names of those elected leaders in the city of Anniston. That trend seems to continue to this day. These stories would be about, just to name a few, lawsuits, assaults, arrest, and claims of racism by or including other members of the council including certain municipal agencies. And people wonder why the population in Anniston is declining and businesses are closing and others are not opening here? It is now January 2019 and the continued woes faced by "The Model City" should not only be laid squarely upon the shoulders of those that have been elected to lead Anniston into the future, but to those citizens that put those individuals in office too. If positive measures aren't taken up, then the future of this city will forever remain grim and only make matters worse for all concerned.

This city has certainly seen more than it's fair share of hatred and division over the many decades and it seems that the hatred and division will continue here for many more decades to come. On January 15, 2019, as I attended for the first time, an Anniston City Council meeting, I heard from some of the citizens and members of the council talk of some of the issues that plague this city. The issue of Blacks versus White was mentioned several times even though, at the same time, claims were being made that it shouldn't be "black and white", but about ALL of Anniston. Councilman Little even tried to defend his actions that had been recorded in the previous mentioned video. If the other members of Council were indeed wrong in those accusations against him, it doesn't make it alright for him to react in such a violent way in public. There is a lot of name-calling, finger-pointing, arguing, personal insults and more happening here. This will never bring unity to a city that needs to be brought together for some healing. I am reminded of a line from the 1989 movie "Batman" that for some reason I keep thinking about lately. The "Joker" suggest what Gotham City needs. That may be just what would work for Anniston too. Somebody has got to clean it up!

I was born in 1963, on August 28th, the very day that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his now famous "I Have A Dream" speech in Washington D.C. I grew up hearing and seeing some of the racial injustice taking place back then. I heard, laughed at and retold some jokes back then that were very racial in nature. But when I joined the US Air Force in 1982 and started my Basic Military Training I remember being told that the color of one's skin will not matter for it may be the one beside you that would save your life if ever in a time of battle, or you saving their life. This same lesson was taught to me again when I was training to become a Police Officer in the state of Alabama. This is something that I have never forgotten!

To the citizens of Anniston I would like to say once again, "The Model City" has been broken, for far too long now. "North" Anniston, "East" Anniston, "South" Anniston and "West" Anniston needs to become just "ANNISTON". Maybe one day soon someone somewhere will ensure that the future city of Anniston will be a viable one. And what about that three word "slogan" or "catchphrase" I said that I had come up with? "The Muddle City"... Of course the word "muddle" is defined as "to bring into a disordered or confusing state, an untidy and disorganized state or collection". Seems as if this could define the current city of Anniston to a tee! Don't let this be Anniston's last epitaph.

[DISCLAIMER: All comments posted by me are my own thoughts and are not those of my place of employment or any agencies or organizations that I may be affiliated with.]