Thursday, July 10, 2008

Jesse Helms



Some of Jesse' kinder moments:

On civil rights protest in 1963:
"The Negro cannot count forever on the kind of restraint that's thus far left him free to clog the streets, disrupt traffic, and interfere with other men's rights

Soon after the Senate vote on the Confederate flag insignia, Sen. Jesse Helms (R.-N.C.) ran into Mosely-Braun in a Capitol elevator. Helms turned to his friend, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R.-Utah), and said, "Watch me make her cry. I'm going to make her cry. I'm going to sing 'Dixie' until she cries." He then proceeded to sing the song about the good life during slavery to Mosely-Braun (Gannett News Service, 9/2/93; Time, 8/16/93).

While working on the 1950 campaign of Republican Willis Smith against Democrat Frank Porter Graham, Helms helped create an ad that read "White people, wake up before it is too late. Do you want Negroes working beside you, your wife and your daughters, in your mills and factories? Frank Graham favors mingling of the races." Another ad featured photographs Helms himself had doctored to illustrate the allegation that Graham's wife had danced with a black man. (FAIR 9/1/01, The News and Observer 8/26/01)

Helms once claimed that "The New York Times and Washington Post are both infested with homosexuals themselves. Just about every person down there is a homosexual or lesbian."

Hendrik Hertzberg of The New Yorker noted in his memoirs that Helms had "the 'humorous habit'" of calling all black people "Fred".


Shall we have a moment of silence for this kind Christian man?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I didn't say anything on the day he died because I couldn't find anything nice to say. How incredible is it that we might have a black president just decades after his statement...

White Rose said...

I hate to speak ill of the dead, but his eulogy just sickened me. Kind my ass, he was a nasty piece of work!

Pirate Princess said...

Eventually it will all be laid to rest, just like him. Until then, we push on. :)

Anonymous said...

How refreshing to see something that's against the mainstream tide of sick apology for a very bad man. Thanks

Michelle said...

As I read your comments it occurred to me... we have come so far from the bigotry and prejudices that were once 'acceptable' TO SOME, thankfully today we don't have to tolerate such caustic remarks by politicians. Unfortunately, we still have so much more to overcome.

Where is the love?

Anonymous said...

Michelle asks, "Where is the love?"

May I venture an answer that Love was left back there in the 60's when everywhere you looked someone was getting some love, some where, some how, from some body. Love was even free back then, hard to believe isn't it?

BTW, your comment was spot-on, Michele..:)