Van Zant 's other response was also controversial , with references to the Governor of Alabama , George Wallace ( a noted supporter of segregation ) and the Watergate scandal : It has been pointed out that the choice of Birmingham in connection with the governor ( rather than the capital Montgomery ) is significant for the controversy as " In 1963 , the city was the site of massive civil rights activism , as thousands of demonstrators led by Martin Luther King , Jr. sought to desegregate downtown businesses ... and was the scene of some of the most violent moments of the Civil Rights Movement . Segregationist police chief Bull Connor unleashed attack dogs and high-pressure water cannons against peaceful marchers , including women and children ; just weeks later , Ku Klux Klansmen bombed a black church , killing four little girls . " In 1975 , Van Zant said : " The lyrics about the governor of Alabama were misunderstood . The general public did n't notice the words ' Boo ! Boo ! Boo ! ' after that particular line , and the media picked up only on the reference to the people loving the governor . " " The line ' We all did what we could do ' is sort of ambiguous , " Al Kooper notes . " ' We tried to get Wallace out of there ' is how I always thought of it . " Towards the end of the song , Van Zant adds " where the governor 's true " to the chorus 's " where the skies are so blue , " a line rendered ironic by the previous booing of the governor . Journalist Al Swenson argues that the song is more complex than it is sometimes given credit for , suggesting that it only looks like an endorsement of Wallace . " Wallace and I have very little in common , " Van Zant himself said , " I do n't like what he says about colored people . " Music historians examining the juxtaposition of invoking Richard Nixon and Watergate after Wallace and Birmingham note that one reading of the lyrics is an " attack against the liberals who were so outraged at Nixon 's conduct " while others interpret it regionally : " the band was speaking for the entire South , saying to northerners , we 're not judging you as ordinary citizens for the failures of your leaders in Watergate ; do n't judge all of us as individuals for the racial problems of southern society "
killing four little girls
16th Street Baptist Church bombing
Sweet Home Alabama