State Sen. Garlan Gudger (R-Cullman) is proud of his hometown and how it's grown and progressed over the years.
That's why when accusations of Cullman being a "sundown town" resurfaced online, he was quick to defend his city and constituents from the harmful, baseless "myth."
Gudger explained Friday on WVNN's "The Dale Jackson Show" how, despite hearing about an old sign that used to be hung up somewhere around town warning black people to leave the area before sundown, no one in his family has seen it.
"I've been looking for that sign forever, and I was born there in 1975. My parents moved to Cullman, Alabama, from Tennessee in 1966," he said. "My father said he's never seen the sign. I've never seen the sign. There's always rumors about it. But truly, I think that that sign never existed in my personal life, and I'm somebody that searches for those type of things of history all the time. And so I have never seen it."
Gudger said the sundown town myth has hurt Cullman's reputation well beyond the city limits, something he's experienced firsthand.
"It totally put a shadow over the people of Cullman, Alabama, wherever you go. I was taking in the beach one time, and they said, 'Oh, that's the place where the sundown town,' and I was like, 'That's not correct. You know, come back and see our people. It's different than what people have made it out to be.'"
The renewed interest in Cullman as an alleged sundown town came in response to Southern Living naming the city among the "cutest" Southern Christmas towns, particularly for its Cullman Christkindlmarkt. Several TikTok users posted videos trying to warn people that underneath the city's Hallmark surface ran an undercurrent of discrimination. Like former State Rep. James C. Fields Jr., a black Democrat and lifetime resident of the area, Gudger said nothing could be further from the truth.
SEE: No, Cullman is not a 'Sundown town' — 'The furthest thing from the truth'
"It hurts our town. We have got the best people, the most welcoming people. We have worked so hard for this Christkindlmarkt that we've opened," Gudger continued. "There's approximately 25,000 to 250,000 people coming to our town in the next four weeks. And just stuff like this, that's not true. All that does is hurt us, and it's ridiculous that this is still out there after 60 to 80 years of myths, but it is truly, I think, a myth. I've lived there my whole life, and I don't think there's a more welcoming town than Cullman, Alabama."
He added, "We do have to dispel that myth everywhere we go if people have heard about it. And that's just wrong for the people of Cullman, Alabama. It makes me mad thinking of what people are trying to do to our community, especially right now when we're trying to bring people together from all over the nation."
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