Comeback Town is an opinion column exploring all things Birmingham. It is coordinated by David Sher.
Editor’s note: I don’t do this often. But when we lost J. Mason Davis on April 4, I knew I had to bring back one of the most remarkable pieces ever published on Comeback Town — because it deserves to be read again, and because the man who wrote it deserves to be remembered.
Read it as a tribute to a man who wasn’t afraid to tell the truth — and as a reminder that honest voices, once gone, leave a silence that’s hard to fill.…