The Mayor of The Village of Love and Luck Goes on Facebook

Carbon Hill, Alabama was officially incorporated on February 14, 1891--Valentine's Day. According to Wikipedia the founding fathers wanted the new town to be known as, "The village of love and luck."

The moniker has been a tough sell from the very beginning. A mere two weeks before becoming a state recognized township there was a race riot significant enough the Sheriff of Walker County wired the governor begging for at least 50 national guard troops to help quell it. The primary employer in the area at the time was a coal and coke mine company. The employees, who were all white, had gone on strike presumably for the usual reasons. They were prompted to attack the African American population because a rumor circulated the mine owners were going to use black laborers to take their jobs.

So much for love. When it comes to luck, Carbon Hill and the surrounding area has been devastated three times by tornadoes. The first was in 1917, the second in 1957, and the latest in 2002.

In the 2010 census the population was counted to be 2,021 souls. 89.43% of that number was listed as white, 8.74% black, 0.10% native American, 1.45% mixed race, 1.01 Hispanic, and 0.29% other races. There are no statistics which indicate the number of LGBTQ citizens residing there--at least not yet.

If it ever does come to census takers asking that particular question it is doubtful their stats for Carbon Hill will be accurate, at least not so long as Mark Chambers remains the mayor.

Earlier this week, Mr. Chambers, who was first elected to office in 2014, charged onto Facebook with a post straight out of the current MAGA psyche. He jumped in with, "We live in a society where homosexuals lecture us on morals, transvestites lecture us on biology, baby killers lecture us on human rights, and socialists lecture us on economy." He didn't come up with the words on his own. The same cheapjack trope had been circulating around the internet for a few weeks. He simply reposted it.

Then, as these things happen, one of his Facebook pals wrote back. The unidentified fellow traveler ranted about minorities having more rights than the majority, then proclaimed we need a revolution. The unspecified, "we," apparently being portly middle aged white guys who invest heavily in purple pills and firearms.

The response, as they say, got the mayor's blood up. He answered, "The only way to change it (the current state of affairs) would be to kill the problem out. I know it's bad to say, but without killing them out there is no way to fix it."

So tell us, Mr. Mayor, how do you think your final solution should be accomplished?

Actually, Chambers isn't saying right now. The post was found online by an Alabama journalist who gave him a call, asking him for further comment. Chambers, apparently a student of Don Trump, immediately denied he had ever written such a thing then hung up. After thinking about it for a few minutes he called her back and gave the old, "my words have been taken out of context," excuse. Finally, at the end of the weird and awful dance these clods always do, Big Mark told the reporter he thought the conversation was in private.

Well, that certainly makes what you wrote okay doesn't it, Mr. Chambers? Yeah, my mistake wasn't thinking that's what should happen, but just saying it aloud. 

Some members of the city council have demanded he resign. So far he refuses. He even offered an apology of sorts, posting, "Although I believe my comment was taken out of context and was not targeting the LBGTQ community, I know that it was wrong to say anyone should be kill (sic)."

The evil of Chamber's thoughts aside, you would think by now everyone on this small blue ball would understand there is no such thing as privacy on any social media platform, or the internet as a whole. In other words, if you don't want some troll, adversary, member of the media, or two billion Facebook users to see your bullshit, don't fucking post it.

But then a guy like, Mark Chambers isn't the brightest bulb in the chandelier, even if he does remain the mayor of, "The village of love and luck."

Tragically, these days, guys like him are the norm in the republic's government from bottom to top.

They are, in the end, the ever present and resurgent devil within us.





6-8-19