I could be wrong here, as I don't know the races of all the parties are politicians involved, but I would hazard a guess that race isn't as big as an issue here as you might think, as blacks are the major majority in Birmingham, and in this case, it's probably just politicians (likely black) screwing over citizens (also likely black). Correct me if I'm missing something.
The city politicians (corrupt and incompetent, likely both) were almost certainly black, if the situation is anything like my hometown.
But there's a long history of racial tensions in Alabama, and nowadays one of the main ways it's expressed is through the white-dominated state government absolutely hating the city of Birmingham.* A combination of under funding and interference in local matters makes it very hard for an already poor city to prosper and, some would say, fosters a corruption-inducing urban insularity.
And now the families who lack indoor plumbing and running water? Suffice it to say that if they were mostly white, state politicians would be much more interested in remedying their situation.
Take this with a grain of salt, as I'm projecting my Georgia experiences. (I will note that Alabama is, if anything, less cosmopolitan than Georgia, so I doubt I'm being too harsh on them.)
*This is a repeated pattern through the South: compare, for instance, the Atlanta/Georgia divide. It goes beyond the typical urban/rural divide.
