Forgiving when an old enemy acquires new way

Friday, October 18, 1996

HISTORY:

Humbled by disability, a segregationist changes, makes amendsBy
Bob Ray Sanders

New York Times

Several people gathered around my desk that spring afternoon in
1972 to see what was in the package.

The large brown envelope, clearly marked "Governor’s Office,
State of Alabama" had attracted attention even before I arrived in
the newsroom. So when I started opening it, my co-workers couldn’t
help trying to have the first peek.

There was laughter as I removed the contents to reveal a letter
on the governor’s official stationery and an 8-by-10 color
photograph of George Wallace with the hand-written inscription:

"To my friend Bob Ray Sanders.

"Best Wishes.

"George C. Wallace

"Gov."

The laughter came because anyone who knew me then knew that I
was no fan, let alone a friend, of the man who stood in the doorway
of the University of Alabama in 1963 and tried to block the
admission of African-American students Vivian Malone and James
Hood.

As it turned out, one of our reporters had traveled with Wallace
a few weeks earlier and had told him he had a friend in Texas who
"just loves you." Wallace promised to send the autographed photo,
and he kept his word.

My buddies guessed that Wallace saw a down-home name like "Bob
Ray" and figured he was writing to another good ol’ (white)
boy.

I’ve misplaced the letter, but for years the photograph has hung
in my house along with autographs and pictures of other famous
people like athlete Jesse Owens, former President Jimmy Carter,
singer Charley Pride, former Texas Gov. Ann Richards and actor
James Stewart.

Just a few weeks after I received Wallace’s gift, he was shot
and left paralyzed by Arthur Bremer, who is serving a 53-year
prison term in Maryland for the crime.

Over the years, I have watched Wallace change. Life-threatening
incidents and disabilities requiring you to depend on others have a
way of changing people. He was "born again" and renounced his
segregationist ideas. He was elected to a third term with a
majority of the African-American vote, and he crowned and kissed
the first African-American homecoming queen at the University of
Alabama.

Last week, Wallace met Malone for the second time in his life
when he presented her with the first Lurleen B. Wallace Award of
Courage, an honor named for his late wife.

The ex-governor also met earlier with Hood in July.

At 77, and at a time when he says he’s in constant pain, it
seems the governor is trying to make amends.

Malone says she had forgiven the governor years ago, and that
she harbors no bitterness toward him.

"There is no question Wallace and I will be remembered for the
stand in the schoolhouse door," she says. "There is no way you can
overcome that. But the best that can happen at this point is to say
it was a mistake. We all make mistakes."

Indeed we do.

I remember the day I forgave Wallace and further liberated
myself.

He had come to Fort Worth for a speaking engagement and I was to
interview him for a television news show.

Wallace was in a wheelchair then, and there was something about
having to kneel down to him while conducting the interview that
caused me to pity him rather than despise him.