There’s a very common saying, “perception is reality,” It is this saying we are hoping doesn’t necessarily apply to Alabama’s new governor Robert Bentley.

For if that saying does apply, then the issues facing Alabama’s Black Belt will rarely find a voice inside the governor’s mansion or the governor’s offices.

In October we offered what some called a “non-endorsement endorsement” in the race for Alabama’s next governor. The perception was that neither Bentley nor Democratic nominee Ron Sparks had any interest in the voters of Alabama’s Black Belt and made that perception reality when they failed to make one single campaign stop to Selma during their campaigns.

Well, there were those courtesy stops they made less than a week before election day when the race was all but decided.

After election day, Bentley again backed up the perception his administration would not be focused on the region when his transition team lacked any representation from the Black Belt. Birmingham was covered. So was Huntsville and Mobile. And, not long after taking office, Bentley dissolved the Black Belt Action Commission, merging it with the Alabama Rural Action Commission, to create the new Alabama Rural Development Office. And guess who he named to lead that new office … that’s right, Ron Sparks.

Perception is quickly becoming reality.

As Bentley prepares for his first state of the state speech and the next session of the Alabama Legislature, we are going to be very interested if he has any plans for our region or if he has plans to continue ignoring a region that simply did not vote for him. If that’s the case, then the perception Bentley and his administration want nothing to do with our region may very well be reality.