Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 08:47 pm Post subject: Regarding the death of an unrepentant racist and homophobe
Conservatives can claim him as one of theirs if they wish, but they diminish themselves by the association.
Quote:
What really sets Jesse Helms apart is that he is the last prominent unabashed white racist politician in this country — a title that one hopes will now be permanently retired. A few editorials and columns came close to saying that. But the squeamishness of much of the press in characterizing Helms for what he is suggests an unwillingness to confront the reality of race in our national life. […]
What is unique about Helms — and from my viewpoint, unforgivable — is his willingness to pick at the scab of the great wound of American history, the legacy of slavery and segregation, and to inflame racial resentment against African Americans.
Many of the accounts of Helms’s retirement linked him with another prospective retiree, Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina. Both these Senate veterans switched from the Democratic to the Republican Party when the Democrats began pressing for civil rights legislation in the 1960s. But there is a great difference between them. Thurmond, who holds the record for the longest anti-civil rights filibuster, accepted change. For three decades he has treated African Americans and black institutions as respectfully as he treats all his other constituents.
To the best of my knowledge, Helms has never done what the late George Wallace did well before his death — recant and apologize for his use of racial issues. And that use was blatant.
In 1984, when Helms faced his toughest opponent in Democratic Gov. Jim Hunt, the late Bill Peterson, one of the most evenhanded reporters I have ever known, summed up what “some said was the meanest Senate campaign in history.”
“Racial epithets and standing in school doors are no longer fashionable,” Peterson wrote, “but 1984 proved that the ugly politics of race are alive and well. Helms is their master.”
A year before the election, when public polls showed Helms trailing by 20 points, he launched a Senate filibuster against the bill making the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. a national holiday. Thurmond and the Senate majority were on the other side, but the next poll showed Helms had halved his deficit.
All year, Peterson reported, “Helms campaign literature sounded a drumbeat of warnings about black voter-registration drives…. On election eve, he accused Hunt of being supported by ‘homosexuals, the labor union bosses and the crooks’ and said he feared a large ‘bloc vote.’ What did he mean? ‘The black vote,’ Helms said.” He won, 52 percent to 48 percent.
In 1990, locked in a tight race with an African American Democrat, former Charlotte mayor Harvey Gantt, Helms aired a final-week TV ad that showed a pair of white hands crumpling a rejection letter, while an announcer said, “You needed that job and you were the best qualified. But they had to give it to a minority because of a racial quota.” Once again, he pulled through.
I guess he was just about as big a racist as Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and that guy Farracon, excuse the spelling. , but let's keep it on an even keel.
To keep "it on an even keel" you would have to list a thousand Farrakhans to equal the damage caused and the number of people killed by one awful Senator Helms.
That's the problem with trying to balance "white" racism against "black" racism. The "whites" hold the power and they are much more dangerous. Even more so when they become Senators or Judges.
So start listing 999 other "Farrakhans", if you what to keep things, "even." When it comes to pure malice, ignorance, and blind hate, Farrakhan is not even close to Helms in the damage done to others. (Not for lack of trying or bile, but for lack of power.)
Also, I disagree with your goofy assessment of Jackson and Sharpton. They are advocates for their "people" but not "anti-white." But to some in the south, any advocacy for minority rights is "anti-white." Don't you think? Or don't you?
For examples of how Helms used his power to put people in graves consider this:
Quote:
The senator's primary weapon was obfuscation. As chair, Helms could shut down the committee when he didn't get his way—and he did, for months at a time. Important treaties like START II and the Chemical Weapons Convention languished. Ambassadorial appointments remained in limbo. The effects were devastating. In 1996, I wrote an article for The Nation chronicling some of the lesser-known consequences of Helms' delay tactics:
"In August, Guyana suffered a massive cyanide spill from a gold mine into its largest river, and no U.S. ambassador was present to marshal cleanup resources. Pakistan needed a high-level American presence when four Western tourists, including a U.S. citizen, were taken hostage in Indian-ruled Kashmir. During an unsuccessful coup attempt in São Tomé and Príncipe in August, there was no U.S. ambassador to coordinate an international response. In Thailand, issues of intellectual property, taxes, narcotics, money laundering and refugees went unresolved; so did trade issues in Gabon, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates."
Helms, an opponent of foreign aid, also used his chairmanship to hold up vital programs, including HIV prevention efforts in Africa, democracy initiatives in the former Soviet Union, and oversight for Haiti's elections.
Well I guess whe have all have our own racists, if you truly believe Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson do not play the race card, your are completely cluleless.
Joined: 17 May 2004 Posts: 1147 Location: Michigan
Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 08:56 pm Post subject:
"If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."
I would rather besmirch someone's character in life rather than in death.
Come on Dave – the dirty little secret is that you are just a loveable teddy bear at heart and a rehabilitation counselor as your prior framework. We need to rehabilitate some of these folks.
There is a difference between "playing the race card" and being "racist."
Blacks have been seriously oppressed in this country for a very long time. To be "color blind" as a advocate for that race would be foolish and impossible.
There is no doubt they are not perfect, but there is no doubt they do not hate and killed the way Helms hated and killed.
If you think I am wrong, and you do, why not try providing some examples of their "hate." Quotes and links would make your arguments more than just another anonymous opinion. I doubt you can do it (not only because the examples do not generally exist, but also because you are not too good at finding and providing facts.) _________________ David Traver
Attorney
Traver & Traver, S.C.
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Joined: 13 May 2004 Posts: 721 Location: Federal Hill, Baltimore, MD
Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 09:33 pm Post subject:
No, it's a lot easier to put on the "good ole boy" persona and pretend to be open-minded,while dropping the right wing-nut comments hither,thither and yon, sans attribution and/or support. Good argumentation takes work and effort, and I doubt that either is going to come from this source. And that's a bit sad.
Oh, and with regard to Olan's comment. I am quite sure that David fully took on Jesse Helms when he was alive, so any comments he makes now only repeat what he said quite openly when Helms was alive. Death does not put anyone beyond criticism.
Well I missed Olan's comment before. Olan and I are friends and it is nice that he sees the teddy bear in me. Does he also see the other bear, the one with teeth? I hope so.
People complain that I am too political on this site. My predecessor (the nice attorney who Connect before me) opposed the first Iraqi war. However, he was shouted down when he posted a comment at the top of the page opposing the war. He immediately caved. I simply won't be shouted down. I don't cave.
Racism, conservatism, militarism, war-corporatism, and all the rest sincerely hurt the disabled and disadvantaged more than others in society. In fact, militarism creates more disabled people than any other aspect of government. One awful Jesse Helms or Vice President Cheney will do more damage in a day of than we can remedy with a thousand individual disability hearings.
Over nine million people have visited Connect since I took over the site. I hope some of them saw that it is not enough to advocate for the disabled and disadvantaged one case at a time. There must be political action and persistent opposition to bad ideology and bad government as well. One without the other is ineffective advocacy. Similarly, it is not enough to oppose. For that purpose I have suggested solutions to problems and written to help other attorneys do well in their work.
I find myself torn between the Sufi ideals of nonviolence/surrender and the legal ideals of advocacy and involvement in politics. I don't always strike an even balance between the two, but I'm happy to err on the side of making too much noise as needed. If I can shout well enough to make Mr. Helms uncomfortable in Hell, so be it.
I know for sure I have made one person look at these issues carefully. That person is me.
By the way, there are two things Mr. Helms now knows about God that he did not know before.
She's black.
Joined: 17 May 2004 Posts: 1147 Location: Michigan
Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 12:53 am Post subject:
Yep - always saw the teeth - the bear is carnivores not a vegetarian.
I took a course in Black History in the 60s taught by a black professor and he said he hated no man because hate has a tendency to destroy only the person who is doing the hating.
There is a lot of folks to dislike - did not care much for George Wallace.
Well enough this retired guy is going with his grandson and the family to the Toledo Zoo tomorrow - how can there be worry about an old dead guy when there is that to do - not to mention I am taking my 4 year old grandson to the movies on Thursday when the women folk are going to IKEA - do not underestimated retirement.
Dave - enjoy those young girls - they are not young long!
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, but let's keep it on an even keel.
