George Wallace, Jr.: ‘Selma’ movie’s portrayal of my father is pure, unadulterated fiction

Via Billy

I realize more than anyone the legacy of my father and the feelings he engendered in so many for so long and how he still does today.

There was a time in his life when he supported segregation because as he said, “We were taught as children that a segregated society was best for both races, and anything other than that would bring about adverse relations between the races.” He believed that then, as did most southerners, and his acceptance of segregation was with no sense of ill feeling, malice, or hate toward black people.

His conscience eventually led him to believe that the South’s commonly held views on segregation were wrong, and he publicly renounced them. He even visited the Dexter Avenue Baptist church, where Martin Luther King once pastored, and asked the congregation for its forgiveness. I believe my father’s journey toward redemption helped lead the South and, indeed, much of the rest of the nation, along the path to reconciliation.

It is important to note that while support for segregation was part of his early life and career, he never advocated violence. He was defiant, charismatic, and energetic in his battle against what he saw as a threat from the central government to seek and control every aspect of our lives, but he was never violent.

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