Thursday, June 9, 2005
Helms: Integration Didn't Need To Be Forced On Us...
Oh, how proud I am to be living in a state that elected this guy to the U.S. Senate five times. It seems Jesse still feels integration was forced on the South by “outside agitators who had their own agendas.”
Hey Jesse, those "outside agitators" are some of true heroes of the last several decades of American history. Sorry you still have such a bitter taste in your mouth about them.
“We will never know how integration might have been achieved in neighborhoods across our land, because the opportunity was snatched away by outside agitators who had their own agendas to advance,” according to the uncorrected proof. “We certainly do know the price paid by the stirring of hatred, the encouragement of violence, the suspicion and distrust.”
Am I crazy, or is Jesse saying that the push-back against the civil rights movement (which included lynchings, beatings, and other atrocities that lead to wonderful images like this), was actually the fault of those who sought to aid those being denied their rights?
The fact is that desegregation was the right thing to do all along, whether or not you like the idea of federal intervention, it had to be done. The wait had been long enough already.
The problem with Jesse's logic is that the wait for the time to be "right" might still be going on today in some parts of this country without the civil rights movement.
I guess you really can't teach an old bigot new tricks.
Did he really need an entire book to say "We would've shut off the hoses eventually"?
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