News-Record.com

First off, a question. Did you intend to post this both here and on the "Letters to the Editor" blog? Just curious...

Secondly, I always hear a lot from folks about shadowy bad guys with "their own agendas." Now, certainly, there were plenty of agendas that came along with the carpetbaggers after the Civil War. Scamming the poor ignorant slobs of he South being the top choice there.

But what on Earth could anyone have had for an "agenda" (I guess this is code for "ulterior motive") in trying to desegregate the south in the 50's and 60's?

What irks me is this mindset of "we'll make this change when we're good and ready." Whoever heard of anyone being both "good" and "ready" -- at the same time? {;-)

Thanks for the alert about the errant posting, Eric. I just deleted it from Letters to the Editor.
Don't know how that happened.
As for Helms' call for patience, that's easy to say when you're not the one denied equal access.

Glad I could help. Everyone manages to click on a button or two they don't intend to every once in a while.

And as for you comment on "access..." I agree completely. The people who hold the keys to power are rarely interested in changing their ways just because it would be "fair." They almost invariably have to receive a pretty strong kick in the pants, often for a very long time. Just ask the folks of India, for instance.

It's just like when you've got some coffee that's too black, which means it's too strong. What do you do? You integrate it with cream, you make it weak. But if you pour too much cream in it, you won't ever know you had coffee. It used to be hot, it becomes cool. It used to be strong, it becomes weak. It used to wake you up, now it puts you to sleep.

The point being ....????????

Somewhere near the top of steve's head, I'd guess.

(just kidding... I think)

I'm sorry, I left something out. That is a quote from Malcolm X. (message to the Grass Roots, Nov. 1963) Sounds better now, doesn't it?

Allen

Also, in your first post the link to the article about the memoir has a "mailto" prefix, fyi.

Okey doke. I'll keep trying till I get it right.

It's amazing how many people still do not understand the essential need for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. I suppose it shouldn't be shocking that Jesse Helms still defends his actions from that era. I've been having a discussion about civil rights on my blog.

In a blog post, "Freedom and Race," Ron Moore attempts to explain why he thinks racists, segregationists and other haters should be able to legally turn away minorities or anyone they don't like at restaurants, hotels and other public accommodations. I suppose Jesse Helms feels the same way.

Some people still don't "get it" and apparently never will. To Ron, property rights trump human rights. More discussion

Before I begin to write about these two quotes I would like to say that I'm a little concerned about the context of the two sentences. One must consider the alledged source, Jesse Helms, and try to attach the predisposition of Helms in general when he speaks on any subject. Therefore, from my knowledge of Helms, I can only speculate that these statements which are attributed to him are his.

I had to read the first statement at least five times and each time pick my bottom jaw from off the floor because I just could not beleive it. Okay, I could beleive Jesse said it, I just couldn't beleive someone would print it.

"We might never know how intergration would have been acheived..." Well as far as I can tell, it never would have. We would all be sitting on opposite sides of the street looking across and still creating our mythologies about each other. I can't comment on other parts of this country. I can only comment on what I know and that would be the south. I grew up, literally, during the sixties. I could feel the climate changing, but it was a heat as sufferable as an August afternoon in Greensboro. The embedded psyche of southern whites at that time was total fear of the change about to come. As anyone who is afraid, they fought to keep what was safe to them alive. That would be segregation. To ask people to change is a hard thing to do. To actually do it is close to impossible. Don't beleive it? Ask someone with a bad habit to stop it and see if that person goes cold turkey.

It would take "outside agitators" to change the thinking of southern whites. The irony here is that some southern whites did know it was time for change to take place. Unfortunatly, they could, and did, not speak out for fear of being thrown into the mix with the agitators who rode those buses down from the north. What was the agenda of these agitators of who Jesse speaks? Desegregation. Or maybe it was something else. Maybe they wanted to overthrow the south and take over like they did one hundred years before. Maybe they wanted to take the southern most state and make it their vacation and retirement community. Maybe they saw the benefit of working together and understanding we all can contribute to our nation in order to make it an example to others in this world. I think most of us know what the agenda really was. I don't think Jesse will ever understand it.

As for that second sentence, to quote Vinnie Barbarino,"...whoa." "We know the price paid by the stirring of hatred,...violence, the suspicion and distrust." I can't figure this one out. I don't know if Helms is saying that everything was all peaches and cream below the Mason/Dixon line or if he is acknowledging that it existed but was kept under a cordial blanket until those "agitators" showed up. I think it would be delusional to beleive the former and would be historically inacurate to beleive the latter. It is undeniable that hatred and violence occured before desegregation. Usually in the forms of lynchings. Suspicion and distrust usually followed those. Violence followed in the form of retaliation. Then suspicion and distrust. Then the cycle started all over again. Did it escalate when the outsiders appeared or was it just brought to national attention then? Who knows? I guess only Jesse knows for sure.

What was the price we paid for all that stirring up of hatred, violence, suspicion, and distrust? We sacraficed the status quo. We shook it's foundations loose until we all could collect our civil rights. The right for every one of us to pursue our dreams no matter what race, creed, or religion we are. We are able to educate ourselves and our children. We are able to become what our great-grandparents never could dream. That is the price Mr. Helms.

I know former Senator Helms tried to do a lot for the farmers of this state. He tried to look out for our best interest. Okay, what he thought was our best interest. However, public speaking was his downfall. It would seem that writing is escaping his grasp also. Whenever I have heard Mr. Helms speak I am reminded of the Samuel Clemens quote, " It is best to keep your mouth shut and thought a fool, than to open it and remove all doubt." There are some things we all should keep quiet about and for Mr. Helms segregation is one of them. Maybe this one was mine.

I've often heard this attributed to Benjamin Franklin, "I'm sorry to write you such a long letter. I didn't have time to write you a short one." My appologies for such a long post.

No problem, Joe. You make some very valid points. How does integration ever begin without someone stepping forward and challenging the status quo?'
How does it begin down here without threats from federal courts or civil disobedience?
How does a nation's conscience stir without shameful footage of peaceful protesters being beaten and hosed in Alabama?
I sat in segegrated movie theaters during much of my childhood. I attended segregated schools until high school.
Jesse's message: "Just keep waiting and it'll better."
Yeah, right.

Allen, here are some words for thought from my favorite lyricist:
"Come on come on
I see no changes wake up in the morning and I ask myself
is life worth living should I blast myself?
I'm tired of bein' poor & even worse I'm black
my stomach hurts so I'm lookin' for a purse to snatch
Cops give a damn about a negro
pull the trigger kill a nigga he's a hero
Give the crack to the kids who the hell cares
one less hungry mouth on the welfare
First ship 'em dope & let 'em deal the brothers
give 'em guns step back watch 'em kill each other
It's time to fight back that's what Huey said
2 shots in the dark now Huey's dead
I got love for my brother but we can never go nowhere
unless we share with each other
We gotta start makin' changes
learn to see me as a brother instead of 2 distant strangers
and that's how it's supposed to be
How can the Devil take a brother if he's close to me?
I'd love to go back to when we played as kids
but things changed, and that's the way it is

[Bridge w/ changing ad libs]
Come on come on
That's just the way it is
Things'll never be the same
That's just the way it is
aww yeah
[Repeat]

[2]
I see no changes all I see is racist faces
misplaced hate makes disgrace to races
We under I wonder what it takes to make this
one better place, let's erase the wasted
Take the evil out the people they'll be acting right
'cause both black and white is smokin' crack tonight
and only time we chill is when we kill each other
it takes skill to be real, time to heal each other
And although it seems heaven sent
We ain't ready, to see a black President, uhh
It ain't a secret don't conceal the fact
the penitentiary's packed, and it's filled with blacks
But some things will never change
try to show another way but you stayin' in the dope game
Now tell me what's a mother to do
bein' real don't appeal to the brother in you
You gotta operate the easy way
"I made a G today" But you made it in a sleazy way
sellin' crack to the kid. " I gotta get paid,"
Well hey, well that's the way it is

[Bridge]

[Talking:]
We gotta make a change...
It's time for us as a people to start makin' some changes.
Let's change the way we eat, let's change the way we live
and let's change the way we treat each other.
You see the old way wasn't working so it's on us to do
what we gotta do, to survive.

[3]
And still I see no changes can't a brother get a little peace
It's war on the streets & the war in the Middle East
Instead of war on poverty they got a war on drugs
so the police can bother me
And I ain't never did a crime I ain't have to do
But now I'm back with the blacks givin' it back to you
Don't let 'em jack you up, back you up,
crack you up and pimp slap you up
You gotta learn to hold ya own
they get jealous when they see ya with ya mobile phone
But tell the cops they can't touch this
I don't trust this when they try to rush I bust this
That's the sound of my tool you say it ain't cool
my mama didn't raise no fool
And as long as I stay black I gotta stay strapped
& I never get to lay back
'Cause I always got to worry 'bout the pay backs
some buck that I roughed up way back
comin' back after all these years
rat-tat-tat-tat-tat that's the way it is uhh"
~~Tupac~~

Tupac Forever.

Joe, i before e except after c.

Except when it sounds like "a." Sorry. I was in a rush and didn't proof anything. I guess I would have to fail myself for that if I still taught.

Joe, the thoughts were much more important that the spelling. Truth, give the man a break!

Michael, "truth" is simply the "truth". You just have to come to terms with it.
Joe didn't take it negative, why are you tryin' to hate? *rolls eyes*

Well, Lilly, I guess spelling errors are no big deal. And while we're at it, for heaven's sake, who said anything about hate?

At some point we all have to forgive each other's foiables and be called on it when we don't. Otherwise we perpetuate the hateful atmosphere promoted by the culture of shows like American Idol and Survivor. And Lilly, what if Joe had not taken it well? Suppose Joe had not been a teacher and had not known that 'i' comes before 'e' except after 'c'. Is it Truth's place to publicly embarrass him?

So, who is being hateful, Lilly? Truth? me? You?

Well Michael, the "truth" is always just that. The truth. Whether its i before e except after c or whatever. (he wasn't being mean) I think Joe is a grown man who can handle the "truth".
I said something about hate because I interperted your comment as hateful.
I do not watch American Idol or Survivor, so I know nothing about the perpetration of hate based on those 2 shows.
Does this about clear it up for ya Michael? I hope so. :)

So, Lilly, the truth being just that, no matter whom it hurts, we should just go ahead and put it out there.

Sometimes, even with the truth, we need to temper our actions in favor of the moral climate in which we find ourselves. Example: it is true that some whites hate blacks. It is also true that they may want to express that hate through virulent words. All of this is true. At the same time a higher truth exists - it is morally reprehensible for them to do so.

In the case of Joe, to which truth are you, Lilly, being faithful? The truth that says "tell it like it is?" Or the truth that says "be kind to one another?"

"I think Joe is a grown man who can handle the "truth"." Finally, at what point can we start making judgements about one another's feelings? This is what I believe to be the whole moral issue around which the segregation/integration and denial of responsibility turns. We have to look one another in the eye and ask, "How could you do that?" and "How can you tolerate the perpetuation of the system, even today?"
Lorrainne Ahearne's column this Sunday makes that truth so present for all of us.

That, Lilly, is the hateful truth.

The TRUTH can/will hurt, it can/will set you free, it can enlighten, its all a matter of interpertation. The truth can do what it wants to wif.
It can be positive or negative. It can be good or it can be evil.
The TRUTH is that was simply my opinion regarding Joe, I wasn't judging. That was YOUR assumption.
Some of us cannot, in my opinion, face ANY truth, but you know what, the truth will always set you free. :)

Lilly, for whatever reason, I don't think you and I are on the same page here. This whole time I have been trying to get you to look at this from Joe's perspective and you keep bringing it back to yourself: The TRUTH is that was simply my opinion regarding Joe, I wasn't judging. What we do as a society is forget that our actions have an effect on people - - that when we tell the truth, which is setting US free, we may be shackling someone else.

Our ancesters were able to enslave Africans because they did not live inside the spirits of the human beings they were enslaving. Jesse Helms was able to personify denial because he could not take up the same burden carried by Allen Johnson who was forced to use the 'colored-only' balcony of the Carolina Theatre. And Lilly, neither you nor I are sitting in Joe's shoes being corrected on the web for his misspellings.