This is incredible reporting about a bonkers situation but honestly my biggest takeaway is that I need a TV show about Alecia and John and their time at the Crimson White! This story has everything!
As someone who has lived in Alabama most of my life, I'm fascinated, disturbed, and not as surprised as I wish I was.
This is a great series! It's an interesting subject even if none of it's relevant to your life. It's been a lot to think for about for me as someone who grew up around Alabama old money without being rich myself and having no idea what the social norms were yet knowing I wasn't doing it right. And also helps explain a little of my dismal experiences volunteering with political and advocacy groups in this state. There's such a deep sense of fatalism.
I lived in Alabama for a couple years right after finishing college. "Fatalism" seems really spot on. I never fully understood it but I also wasn't there long enough to really become part of the community. The podcast S-Town by Brian Reed also really captured this vibe to me in a way that's hard to put into words.
Next level work on this, for sure, AHP. Yesterday was great fun, today was jaw dropping. I can't wait to see my reaction to tomorrow!
(Also, and maybe you already plan to do this, but I'd love to know how you got from #RushTok to car chases and stakeouts with a two-time Pulitzer winner and his badass wife! So many threads to follow, and you found an amazing one.)
Casually read yesterday’s newsletter thinking I was one of the folks mentioned at the heading, just biding my time until we get back to regular programming next week. Greek life? Eh, gross. Yawn. Except now I am absolutely on the edge of my seat 👀, captivated by what has been informing that ‘gross’ feeling I didn’t have words for yet.
I grew up and went to high school in Mobile, AL. I remember very clearly going to Girls State in maybe 1999 or 2000 at Troy State University in the middle of nowhere during what felt like the hottest summer ever - living in dorms, doing pretend state legislature and pretend running for Governor. It was the first time I had seen Alabama norms for young white women of certain backgrounds (not me, lol, I was arguing that prayer in schools was unconstitutional so I was *not* getting a lot of votes) enforced they way they would be at college a year or two later. It was this unspoken code that all the already-winners knew, and it was very visible who was In and who wasn’t. If you weren’t In, you just didn’t matter at all. It was a very strange experience and it taught me a lot.
My former Bama fraternity president husband, who I’ve been with for a decade, has never once mentioned the Machine to me…until yesterday, after he read the first installment of this series. We’ve discussed Greek life and the UA experience in depth, so I find it fascinating this never came up. Can’t wait to read tomorrow’s edition!
Fascinating & horrifying. As I read this I’m also thinking of Gimlet Media’s deep dive into the special election of Doug Jones to the Senate, and the reveal of some deeply fucked-up dynamics in the Democratic Party there. Is The Machine embedded into both sides? https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/llhd33
I lived in Mobile for many years. After the 2016 election I connected with a lot of friends who were similarly upset and we formed a private FB group for progressives in the area so people could share resources, bitch and moan, etc. When Doug got the nomination and Roy Moore won the primary (Doug would absolutely not have won against any of the other nominees, but, in typical fashion, none of them coalesced to stop Moore from winning) the state party did nothing. My friends and I decided to hold a fish fry at a friend's empty house on Dog River in October (think cooler air, on the water, surrounded by hundred year old oak trees), with one of my friend's husbands providing most of the fish and doing the cooking, and then getting donated beer, entertainment, etc. We put it together in about a month. We had about 300 RSVPs. I don't know how many people actually showed up, but estimates ranged from 750-900. It was amazing. NPR was there, as were some Democratic operatives who commented that it was the best Democratic event they'd been to in 20 years. And it was purely because we did it independently--we used our contacts to get in touch with and coordinate with the campaign, didn't worry about who was ok with it versus who wasn't, etc. And Doug Jones won Mobile.
That sounds incredible--and yes, totally agree, everything the Jones campaign achieved came without any real state party support, just these sorts of big lifts from independent volunteers (thank you!). Same thing happened in the 2018 midterms, when several people stepped up to run for statewide offices--all long-shots, but still worth applying some time and effort, and volunteers poured their hearts out but it was just crickets from the state party.
I'm a local (although not a Machine member, lol) so these are just my impressions, but: I don't really think Machine interests extend too far into the state Democratic Party, simply because it isn't a useful route to power for them. Machine politics are conservative politics, as AHP writes, and the traditional goal is to move along a well-oiled path from SGA into the state legislature or major business interests like Alabama Power. (Black student groups and Greek life may route people towards Democratic strongholds for local and state offices in B'ham, Montgomery, or the Black Belt, however.)
That said, the 'leadership' of the state Democratic party was so disorganized, unsupportive, and even hostile to the Jones campaign that some people joked that they must be plants paid off by the state Republican party to ruin all attempts at effectiveness. I suspect unfortunately they have just been a small group of people comfortably running a fiefdom and lashing out at anyone failing to kiss the ring (or, you know, wanting to actually win elections). So their own little mini-machine, perhaps, but not The Machine. John Archibald and Kyle Whitmire have both had a lot to say on this!
I guess I was thinking that Machine folks might be placed in there to roadblock (through incompetence?) any kind of organizing or real growth. These comments are all so interesting and provide some depth to the reality there. I was amazed when Doug Jones won and didn't really know too much about Alabama politics until I listened to that podcast.
Great reporting and writing. I'm enjoying this deep dive into this topic. My initial reaction about half way through reading about what happened in the 1980s was "the Machine at UA is the KKK."
Some quick thoughts. There is so much going on here with the social sorting created by Greek collegiate life - both historically and today - and as AHP has pointed out, all the ways that social capital is deployed, how power is maintained in the political realm, both on campus and far beyond it, and a lot of it is tied up with white supremacy and class status. This is also not exclusively a southern thing, although Greek life certainly has a big presence on southern campuses, no doubt and the UA Machine is real and worth probing and exposing like John and Alecia did. I think there are also other campuses (several come to mind) where the Greek life voting bloc has tried to control student activities and hold power in disturbing "Machine-like" ways.
I don't have a book recommendation for white sorority history but for those interested in reading more about the history of white fraternities, I recommend N. Syrett's The Company He Keeps as an interesting starting point: https://uncpress.org/book/9780807859315/the-company-he-keeps/
I too didn't care about 'Bama Rush but I read every word AHP has to say about it. Now I'm gripped by this Machine story! You mentioned this was originally intended as a podcast. Just curious what happened (funding?)
I love reading it, of course, but I would listen to at least 16 hours of this reporting.
Reading this has brought up some questions for me about Substack and the nature of so much journalism moving onto this platform. In 5, 10, 15 years from now, if someone is also reporting on The Machine, will they be able to find and reference this piece to build off of it? I worry how much other vital journalism is happening that many people will never know about because it's on Substack instead of traditional media.
As an archivist I am constantly thinking about this, both from an access and preservation perspective. Most major libraries either have group passes to things like the NYT or aggregated databases like LexisNexis. And last I checked, the only thing you can export out of Substack is basic metadata like post titles and links to the original story, but not the text, or media. So even if authors wanted to go about DIYing preserving their own archives, it seems the platform does not provide the tools to do it.
This is incredible reporting about a bonkers situation but honestly my biggest takeaway is that I need a TV show about Alecia and John and their time at the Crimson White! This story has everything!
Loved the reveal about them being married! What a twist!
Would watch the hell out of this show!
Same!
As someone who has lived in Alabama most of my life, I'm fascinated, disturbed, and not as surprised as I wish I was.
This is a great series! It's an interesting subject even if none of it's relevant to your life. It's been a lot to think for about for me as someone who grew up around Alabama old money without being rich myself and having no idea what the social norms were yet knowing I wasn't doing it right. And also helps explain a little of my dismal experiences volunteering with political and advocacy groups in this state. There's such a deep sense of fatalism.
I lived in Alabama for a couple years right after finishing college. "Fatalism" seems really spot on. I never fully understood it but I also wasn't there long enough to really become part of the community. The podcast S-Town by Brian Reed also really captured this vibe to me in a way that's hard to put into words.
This is our Roman Empire
Next level work on this, for sure, AHP. Yesterday was great fun, today was jaw dropping. I can't wait to see my reaction to tomorrow!
(Also, and maybe you already plan to do this, but I'd love to know how you got from #RushTok to car chases and stakeouts with a two-time Pulitzer winner and his badass wife! So many threads to follow, and you found an amazing one.)
Yes this, would love a behind-the-scenes of what it takes to make this, as even with a previous, brief journalism life, I'm mystified and fascinated!
I want to read this too!
Casually read yesterday’s newsletter thinking I was one of the folks mentioned at the heading, just biding my time until we get back to regular programming next week. Greek life? Eh, gross. Yawn. Except now I am absolutely on the edge of my seat 👀, captivated by what has been informing that ‘gross’ feeling I didn’t have words for yet.
Also, uh…do we need to be concerned about your safety, AHP? *more wide side eye emojis*
Honestly, that was my thought as well.
I couldn't get this post to load for a while yesterday and my first thought was "The Machine took it down!" (Turns out it was Substack wide, I think).
This is my watergate! I feel like in ten years Sydney Sweeney could play AHP in the movie version of this week's substack posts.
I grew up and went to high school in Mobile, AL. I remember very clearly going to Girls State in maybe 1999 or 2000 at Troy State University in the middle of nowhere during what felt like the hottest summer ever - living in dorms, doing pretend state legislature and pretend running for Governor. It was the first time I had seen Alabama norms for young white women of certain backgrounds (not me, lol, I was arguing that prayer in schools was unconstitutional so I was *not* getting a lot of votes) enforced they way they would be at college a year or two later. It was this unspoken code that all the already-winners knew, and it was very visible who was In and who wasn’t. If you weren’t In, you just didn’t matter at all. It was a very strange experience and it taught me a lot.
My former Bama fraternity president husband, who I’ve been with for a decade, has never once mentioned the Machine to me…until yesterday, after he read the first installment of this series. We’ve discussed Greek life and the UA experience in depth, so I find it fascinating this never came up. Can’t wait to read tomorrow’s edition!
I want to hear more of what he has to say about the Machine!
Fascinating & horrifying. As I read this I’m also thinking of Gimlet Media’s deep dive into the special election of Doug Jones to the Senate, and the reveal of some deeply fucked-up dynamics in the Democratic Party there. Is The Machine embedded into both sides? https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/llhd33
I lived in Mobile for many years. After the 2016 election I connected with a lot of friends who were similarly upset and we formed a private FB group for progressives in the area so people could share resources, bitch and moan, etc. When Doug got the nomination and Roy Moore won the primary (Doug would absolutely not have won against any of the other nominees, but, in typical fashion, none of them coalesced to stop Moore from winning) the state party did nothing. My friends and I decided to hold a fish fry at a friend's empty house on Dog River in October (think cooler air, on the water, surrounded by hundred year old oak trees), with one of my friend's husbands providing most of the fish and doing the cooking, and then getting donated beer, entertainment, etc. We put it together in about a month. We had about 300 RSVPs. I don't know how many people actually showed up, but estimates ranged from 750-900. It was amazing. NPR was there, as were some Democratic operatives who commented that it was the best Democratic event they'd been to in 20 years. And it was purely because we did it independently--we used our contacts to get in touch with and coordinate with the campaign, didn't worry about who was ok with it versus who wasn't, etc. And Doug Jones won Mobile.
That sounds incredible--and yes, totally agree, everything the Jones campaign achieved came without any real state party support, just these sorts of big lifts from independent volunteers (thank you!). Same thing happened in the 2018 midterms, when several people stepped up to run for statewide offices--all long-shots, but still worth applying some time and effort, and volunteers poured their hearts out but it was just crickets from the state party.
Yep! Even when we were canvassing in 2017 and 2018 it was either through local groups (2018) or the unions that came down (2017).
What’s up Mobile ppl in the comments!! I love that you did this!
This sounds awesome!!! That's real community happening and you put it together!!
I'm a local (although not a Machine member, lol) so these are just my impressions, but: I don't really think Machine interests extend too far into the state Democratic Party, simply because it isn't a useful route to power for them. Machine politics are conservative politics, as AHP writes, and the traditional goal is to move along a well-oiled path from SGA into the state legislature or major business interests like Alabama Power. (Black student groups and Greek life may route people towards Democratic strongholds for local and state offices in B'ham, Montgomery, or the Black Belt, however.)
That said, the 'leadership' of the state Democratic party was so disorganized, unsupportive, and even hostile to the Jones campaign that some people joked that they must be plants paid off by the state Republican party to ruin all attempts at effectiveness. I suspect unfortunately they have just been a small group of people comfortably running a fiefdom and lashing out at anyone failing to kiss the ring (or, you know, wanting to actually win elections). So their own little mini-machine, perhaps, but not The Machine. John Archibald and Kyle Whitmire have both had a lot to say on this!
Just in time for this conversation, a new column today from Whitmire about the ongoing dysfunction: https://www.al.com/news/2024/08/whitmire-alabama-democrats-take-their-toxic-mess-to-the-chicago-dnc.html
I guess I was thinking that Machine folks might be placed in there to roadblock (through incompetence?) any kind of organizing or real growth. These comments are all so interesting and provide some depth to the reality there. I was amazed when Doug Jones won and didn't really know too much about Alabama politics until I listened to that podcast.
Thank you for writing this!! Truly eye opening. And I’m sharing this with all my former PM sisters because Alecia is a star.
This is the best thing I am currently reading.
The reporter angle—I am here for it! Yesterday’s piece was train wreck fascinating to read, but THIS. Truly great work of reporting and writing, AHP!
Great reporting and writing. I'm enjoying this deep dive into this topic. My initial reaction about half way through reading about what happened in the 1980s was "the Machine at UA is the KKK."
Some quick thoughts. There is so much going on here with the social sorting created by Greek collegiate life - both historically and today - and as AHP has pointed out, all the ways that social capital is deployed, how power is maintained in the political realm, both on campus and far beyond it, and a lot of it is tied up with white supremacy and class status. This is also not exclusively a southern thing, although Greek life certainly has a big presence on southern campuses, no doubt and the UA Machine is real and worth probing and exposing like John and Alecia did. I think there are also other campuses (several come to mind) where the Greek life voting bloc has tried to control student activities and hold power in disturbing "Machine-like" ways.
I don't have a book recommendation for white sorority history but for those interested in reading more about the history of white fraternities, I recommend N. Syrett's The Company He Keeps as an interesting starting point: https://uncpress.org/book/9780807859315/the-company-he-keeps/
I too didn't care about 'Bama Rush but I read every word AHP has to say about it. Now I'm gripped by this Machine story! You mentioned this was originally intended as a podcast. Just curious what happened (funding?)
I love reading it, of course, but I would listen to at least 16 hours of this reporting.
Reading this has brought up some questions for me about Substack and the nature of so much journalism moving onto this platform. In 5, 10, 15 years from now, if someone is also reporting on The Machine, will they be able to find and reference this piece to build off of it? I worry how much other vital journalism is happening that many people will never know about because it's on Substack instead of traditional media.
As an archivist I am constantly thinking about this, both from an access and preservation perspective. Most major libraries either have group passes to things like the NYT or aggregated databases like LexisNexis. And last I checked, the only thing you can export out of Substack is basic metadata like post titles and links to the original story, but not the text, or media. So even if authors wanted to go about DIYing preserving their own archives, it seems the platform does not provide the tools to do it.
WOW....Thank you, Anne Helen Petersen, for all of your work on this. It deserves a big award!