Black Belt Residents not Happy as State Closes Satellite Driver’s License Offices
Rural Alabama residents are not happy state law enforcement closed 31 satellite driver’s license offices Wednesday. The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency says the closures were due to an eleven million dollar cut in the new budget that went into effect Thursday. While drivers can still renew their license in most counties, they’ll have to travel further to get a new one.
Particularly hard hit is the Black Belt, which is one of the poorest regions in the state.
Lowndes County Commissioner Carnell McAlpine regularly lets teens borrow one of his cars to take the driving test, but that’s going to be a lot harder now that the satellite office in his county is closed.
The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency says the closed offices accounted for less than five percent of the driver’s licenses issued in the state. Even though his office was only open one day a week, McAlpine says it was critical.
“That five percent is for us,” McApline says. “We need more offices close to us, cause of the travel time and economics. So, basically they are saying we don’t matter.”
Now people in Lowndes County have to drive to Montgomery or Selma which is about an hour away. Lowndes is one of the poorest counties in the state. McApline says many families don’t have a car and pay people to drive them to the store, to the hospital, and to get a driver’s license.
Lowndes is also predominately African American. Harriett Means is a retired professor who lives there. She thinks that’s one reason the rural offices were closed.
“I absolutely think it’s racism by another word,” says Means.
Last year, a new state law went into effect requiring voters to show a state issued picture ID, usually a driver’s license, in order to vote. Now Means worries it will be harder and more expensive to get a license, so a lot of people will be unable to vote.
“It is a poll tax,” Means says, referring to tax levied in during Jim Cow that prevented poor people from voting. “The ways of obstructing poor people, African Americans from voting has taken on a different hue, but it’s the same thing. It’s the same result.”
A spokeswoman for the Secretary of State’s office said voter IDs are not a poll tax, because they don’t cost any money. She explained voter IDs are still available at county Board of Registrars. Voter ID supporters have repeatedly said it’s not an attempt to disenfranchise citizens but will cut down on voter fraud.
The March Madness men’s bracket is out, and the SEC dominates with a record 14 teams
In an all-time record, 14 of the tournament's 68 teams all come from one conference — the SEC. The women's bracket will be unveiled at 8 p.m. Eastern time. Games tip off this coming week.
Pope Francis seen praying in first photo since his hospitalization a month ago
In the image published online by the Holy See Press Office, the pontiff was seated in a wheelchair and praying in the private chapel of Rome's Gemelli Hospital.
3 dead in Alabama after tornadoes pummel the South
The deaths came in Dallas and Talladega counties.
Hundreds of alleged gang members deported from U.S. despite court order
It was not immediately clear if the deportations happened before or after a federal judge in D.C. on Saturday issued an emergency order that told the administration to stop using wartime powers to deport anyone, and turn around any planes already in the air.
The missing children of Syria: Hidden in orphanages under Assad, where are they now?
Assad's forces detained mothers and children and sent many of the youth to orphanages. Syrians whose children vanished during the war are now seeking information on their fate. NPR investigates.
51 dead and more than 100 injured in nightclub fire in North Macedonia
A massive nightclub fire killed 51 people early Sunday in North Macedonia 's eastern town of Kocani, and injured more than 100. The blaze broke out during a concert by a local pop group.
