How about this: a group of girls who wanted to eat in the cafeteria at Howard University were asked to leave because they were wearing pro-Trump clothing and "Make America Great Again" hats. They left, without raising a fuss. Can one imagine the reaction of someone wearing an Obama or a Hillary outfit who would have been asked to leave a college cafeteria? Just wondering…should they set up separate (but equal) water fountains and tables for Trump supporters?
Hillary Clinton was First Lady of Arkansas for 13 years, and in each one of those years (since 1905, to be exact) there was a massive "Confederate Soldiers Monument" on the lawn of the State Capitol. Mrs. Clinton is not on record as ever expressing opposition to that statue. Does that make her, or her husband, a vicious racist? Oh - those who might want that monument torn down may be unhappy to learn that the statue was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.
And then there is the logo for the Clinton-Gore campaign in 1992. You remember, the Arkansas Governor and the Tennessee Senator were nominated by the Democrats as President & Vice-President, For their campaign logo they used - get this - the Confederate Flag, emblazoned with their names. Yes, that's right, "Clinton-Gore" on the background of the Confederate Flag. Wonder if they would use that theme today? We are confused. Were they racists then?
And how about this sweet gem you probably have heard about: In 1948, the Mayor of Baltimore, MD dedicated statutes to Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee. In 2017, the Mayor of Baltimore removed those statues. The mayor in 1948 was Thomas D'allesandro. You may not have heard of him, but you have heard of his daughter, US Representative Nancy Pelosi. So,by our twisted 2017 standards, Donald Trump and the Republicans are responsible for the horrible impact of those statues to Confederate generals, but the people who put them up in the first place are not to be condemned. So, class, today's essay question: Why was it OK in 1948, and every year since then, to have these statues, but in 2017, not only is it an affront to freedom and liberty, but their very existence is the fault of the current occupant of the White House?
From the world of cinema: For the past 34 years the Orpheum Theatre in Memphis, Tennessee has run a summer film festival, and has shown Gone With The Wind each year. They have announced that they will not do so in 2018 because it would be "racially insensitive." A few people, were are told, made comments about this year's showing. GWTW is ranked 6th in the American Film Institute's list of top 100 movies; and the film also is on the Library of Congress's American Film Registry. Those placings, we suspect, are temporary.
Here's one everyone is talking about - ESPN reassigned its play-by-play announcer for the University of Virginia football game in Charlottesville. Not because of something that announcer said, or did. No it was because of his name: Robert Lee. Yes, that's the same name (minus the middle initial "E.") of the Confederate general, so ESPN just had no choice but to keep him off its Charlottesville broadcast. If this is not the depth of absurdity…wait, we are sure something else will come along.
We wonder what will happen to the hymn Amazing Grace when the irrational left learns that its author, John Newton, once was a slave trader. Or that John Pemberton, the pharmacist who developed Coca-Cola, served the Confederacy as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Third Cavalry of the Georgia State Guard. Or that Woodrow Wilson, who has been a Progressive hero for over 100 years, defended the rise of the Ku Klux Klan and was the President whose administration resegregated the federal agencies in Washington DC. Three men who served on the US Supreme Court also had served in the Confederate Army, so, despite the fact that all three were confirmed by acclamation by US Senators who had lived through the Civil War, we imagine that the reputations of Chief Justice Edward Douglass White, and Associate Justices Lucius Lamar and Horace Lurton will never recover.
In the bad, dark 1950s, the “blacklisting” of living Communist actors and professors was considered an affront to decency. In the enlightened 2010s, the same progressive voices who rallied around blacklisted celebrities are clamoring to expunge references to long-dead people - just about anyone who ever held slaves or fought for the Confederacy. That more closely matches the definition of “regressive” than “progressive.”