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OPINION 4A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JUNE 23, 2015 Slavery’s long shadow Founded in 1873 preme Court gave indi- duced to vote against their vidual states the option, if own interests by the right’s STEPHEN A. FORRESTER, Editor & Publisher they so chose, of blocking exploitation of cultural is- the Affordable Care Act’s sues. But Bartels showed merica is a much less racist LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor expansion of Medicaid, a that the working-class turn nation than it used to be, BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager key part of the plan to pro- against Democrats wasn’t and I’m not just talking about a national phenomenon — vide health insurance to CARL EARL, Systems Manager the still remarkable fact that an it was entirely restricted to lower-income Americans. JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager But why would any state African-American occupies the WKH 6RXWK ZKHUH ZKLWHV DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager choose to exercise that turned overwhelmingly :KLWH+RXVH option? After all, states Republican after the pas- HEATHER RAMSDELL, Circulation Manager Paul The raw institutional racism that sage of the Civil Rights were being offered a fed- Krugman prevailed before the civil rights Act and Richard Nixon’s erally-funded program movement ended Jim Crow is gone, DGRSWLRQ RI WKH VRFDOOHG 6RXWKHUQ WKDWZRXOGSURYLGHPDMRUEHQH¿WVWR millions of their citizens, pour bil- although subtler discrimination strategy. lions into their economies, and help And this party-switching, in persists. Individual attitudes have turn, was what drove the rightward support their health-care providers. changed, too, dramatically in some swing of American politics after Who would turn down such an offer? cases. For example, as recently as 1980. Race made Reaganism possi- The answer is: 22 states at this the 1980s half of Americans opposed EOH$QGWRWKLVGD\6RXWKHUQZKLWHV point, although some may eventual- interracial marriage, a position now overwhelmingly vote Republican, to ly change their minds. And what do the tune of 85 or even 90 percent in these states have in common? Main- ow do we mark time? In many ways. If we are in the held by only a tiny minority. ly, a history of slaveholding: Only WKHGHHS6RXWK Yet racial hatred is still a potent one former member of the Confed- The second paper, by economists midst of war, the names and dates of various battles force in our society, as we’ve just Alberto Alesina, Edward Glaeser and eracy has expanded Medicaid, and mask the passage of time? If we are parents, the dates of our been reminded to our horror. And I’m %UXFH 6DFHUGRWH ZDV WLWOHG ³:K\ while a few Northern states are also sorry to say this, but the racial divide 'RHVQ¶W WKH 8QLWHG 6WDWHV +DYH D part of the movement, more than 80 children’s births become milestones. LVVWLOODGH¿QLQJIHDWXUHRIRXUSR (XURSHDQVW\OH :HOIDUH 6WDWH"´ ,WV percent of the population in Medic- It was striking last week to time for a serious discussion of litical economy, the reason America authors — who are not, by the way, aid-refusing America lives in states hear President Obama say that gun violence. is unique among advanced nations in especially liberal — explored a num- that practiced slavery before the Civ- ber of hypotheses, but il War. There is serious literature on its harsh treatment of the Charleston shootings which And it’s not just health reform: A the less fortunate and eventually concluded claimed the life of nine black the topic, full of ideas that are its willingness to toler- Is America that race is central, history of slavery is a strong predic- congregants at a Bible study not apocalyptic. A good ref- ate unnecessary suffer- because in America tor of everything from gun control doomed meeting was the 14th mass kill- HUHQFH LV 'DYLG +HPHQZD\¶V ing among its citizens. programs that help the (or rather its absence), to low mini- Of course, saying needy are all too often mum wages and hostility to unions, ing he has responded to during 2004 book Private Guns, Public to live this brings angry deni- seen as programs that to tax policy. his presidency. One of those Health +HPHQZD\ LV RQH RI D als from many conser- 6R ZLOO LW DOZD\V EH WKXV" ,V help Those People: forever ZDV WKH KRUUL¿F 6DQG\ +RRN group of public health physi- vatives, so let me try “Within the United America doomed to live forever po- 6WDWHVUDFHLVWKHVLQ litically in the shadow of slavery? (OHPHQWDU\ 6FKRRO PDVVDFUH cians and researchers who have to be cool and careful politically I’d like to think not. For one here, and cite some of gle most important that claimed 20 children and six approached gun violence (ho- in the the overwhelming evi- predictor of support thing, our country is growing more micides, accidental shootings, dence for the continu- adults. for welfare. Amer- ethnically diverse, and the old The president asked: When suicides) as a public health con- ing centrality of race in shadow of ica’s troubled race black-white polarity is slowly be- our national politics. relations are clearly a coming outdated. For another, as I slavery? will this nation face its epidemic cern. My own under- major reason for the said, we really have become much of gun violence. The gun lobby was so standing of the role absence of an Ameri- less racist, and in general a much When, indeed? alarmed by the statistics gath- RI UDFH LQ 86 H[FHSWLRQDOLVP ZDV can welfare state.” more tolerant society on many The most telling answer to ered by these physicians that its largely shaped by two academic pa- Now, that paper was published fronts. Over time, we should expect in 2001, and you might wonder if WR VHH WKH LQÀXHQFH RI GRJZKLVWOH the president’s question was congressional allies have pro- pers. 7KH ¿UVW E\ SROLWLFDO VFLHQWLVW things have changed since then. Un- politics decline. the silence among Republican hibited the Centers for Disease Larry Bartels, analyzed the move of fortunately, the answer is that they But that hasn’t happened yet. Ev- presidential candidates and Control and Prevention from the white working class away from haven’t, as you can see by looking at ery once in a while you hear a chorus members of Congress. The guns keeping track of deaths and ac- Democrats, a move made famous in how states are implementing — or re- of voices declaring that race is no issue is radioactive. It makes cidents caused by guns. No one Thomas Frank’s “What’s the Matter fusing to implement — Obamacare. longer a problem in America. That’s With Kansas?” Frank argued that For those who haven’t been fol- wishful thinking; we are still haunt- cowards of otherwise outspoken would suggest we remain simi- working-class whites were being in- ORZLQJ WKLV LVVXH LQ WKH 6X ed by our nation’s original sin. By PAUL KRUGMAN New York Times News Service A When? H For some, it’s never a good time for dialogue on guns men and women. +HUH LQ 2UHJRQ ZH KDYH been less touched by the large cataclysms. But one of the ways we could denote Oregon history is what Kip Kinkel did in 1998 DW7KXUVWRQ+LJK6FKRRO.LQNHO killed two and wounded 28. + RZZRXOGWKHJXQOREE\DQ swer President Obama’s ques- tion? It would say there is never larly ignorant about deaths from drowning or automobile acci- dents. +HUH LV VRPHWKLQJ ZH FDQ predict. If Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio or Rand Paul wins the presidency, they will be asked regularly — during their four to HLJKW\HDUVLQWKH:KLWH+RXVH — to comment on the latest hor- UL¿FJXQPDVVDFUH:HFDQPDUN our calendars. Tough love for debtor nation Greeks should sink or swim on their own G reece is behaving like a child who spends his allow- DQFHLQWKH¿UVWWZRGD\VRIWKH month then whines that he needs more money. It is well beyond time for some “tough love” with this er- rant child. 7KH¿QDQFLDOFULVLVLQ(XURSH may seem far away from the 8QLWHG 6WDWHV¶ ZRUULHV ZKHUH gun violence, income inequality and health care battle for center stage. But stable and solid trade part- ners are crucial elements for our nation’s economic well-being. For years, Greece has been failing to pay its debts; it is inch- es away from national bankrupt- cy. It has a shrinking economy, unemployment at 25 percent and austerity measures causing wide- spread unrest. With a deadline for Greece potentially defaulting on its debts only a week away, European leaders and central bankers have been crafting yet another rescue proposal, all the while Greek leaders have been bristling with anger over the fresh conditions attached. Observers worry that without another costly bail out, the Eurozone — a 19-country economic alliance with a com- mon currency — will collapse. The Greek government’s FRQVWDQW VWUXJJOH WR NHHS DÀRDW is distracting European leaders from implementing a big-picture strategy to work collectively to- ward positive economic growth. That, in turn, means individ- ual countries are less likely to promote incentives to encourage their private sectors to increase WUDGHZLWKWKH86LIWKHLUOHDG ers are worried about an errant nation bringing down their inter- OLQNHG¿QDQFLDOV\VWHPV Greece owes $1.8 billion to the European central banking or- ganizations. The greatest propor- tion of its national spending goes to pay back its debt — not to re- vitalize its sagging economy. The New York Times reported that the idea is increasingly tak- ing hold that the Eurozone might be better served by a Greek exit. The minority party in the Greek regime’s ruling coalition wants out. This latest bail out plan like- ly only extends the agony. To put the issue in perspec- tive, a Wall Street Journal anal- ysis demonstrated that Greece’s entire national economy is smaller than that of the Boston- Cambridge, Mass., metropolitan area. At some point soon, leaders of the controlling nations in Europe, like Germany and France, need WRUHDFKWKH¿UPUHVROXWLRQWKDW the tail is wagging the dog and act accordingly. In Charleston, a millennial race terrorist By CHARLES BLOW New York Times News Service ‘Y ou don’t have to do this,” 7\ZDQ]D6DQGHUVVDLGWR the young man who suddenly rose and drew a gun, and ac- cording to witnesses, said he was there “to shoot black peo- ple.” +HKDGEHHQVLWWLQJLQWKH%LEOH study session at Charleston’s his- toric Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church for an hour, next to the pastor, debating scripture. '\ODQQ 6WRUP 5RRI WKH XQDV suming, boyish-looking man with the bowl-cut hair, replied: “Yes. You are raping our women and taking over the country.” Then he “took aim at the oldest SHUVRQ SUHVHQW 6XVLH -DFNVRQ ´ 7KLV DFFRUGLQJ WR 6DQGHUV¶ FRXVLQ Kristen Washington, as reported in The New York Times. 5RRI RSHQHG ¿UH NLOOLQJ QLQH Jackson was the eldest slain, and her QHSKHZ6DQGHUVWKH\RXQJHVWDW Four of the dead were reverends — one of whom was the church’s pas- WRU D 6RXWK &DUROLQD VWDWH VHQDWRU Clementa Pinckney. This was a savage act of barba- rism by a young man baptized in a theology of race hate. There are so many threads to pull on this story that one hardly knows where to begin, but let’s begin here: 5RRIZDVRQO\\HDUVROG+HLVD millennial race terrorist. Roof was born in 1994, 30 years after Presi- dent Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law. +HKDGDZKLWHSRZHUÀDJIHWLVK +HZDVRQFHSLFWXUHGZHDULQJDMDFN et emblazoned with an apartheid-era 6RXWK$IULFDQ ÀDJ DQG DQRWKHU ÀDJ of “Rhodesia, as modern-day Zim- babwe was called during a period of white rule,” according to The Times. Apartheid ended the year Roof was born, and Rhodesia became Zimba- bwe long before that. Who radicalized Roof? Who passed along the poison? We must country.) And yet, this case never be lulled into a false may even reach that bar. belief that racism is dying Reuters reported Fri- off with older people. As day that the case “is being I’ve written in this space investigated by the Justice EHIRUH 6SHQFHU 3LVWRQ Department as a possible an assistant professor of case of domestic terror- SROLWLFDO VFLHQFH DW 6\UD ism.” But whether it reach- cuse University, has found HV WKH OHJDO GH¿QLWLRQ RI that “younger (under-30) domestic terrorism (it has whites are just as likely as already passed the common older ones to view whites Charles VHQVH GH¿QLWLRQ VRPH as more intelligent and Blow conservatives have even harder-working than Afri- been reticent to call it a hate crime, can-Americans.” Racism is to social progress what which it surely is, rather preferring to cockroaches are to nuclear fallout — twist this massacre into their quixotic crusade to establish evidence of a war extraordinarily resilient. Furthermore, there is a widely on Christianity in this country. On Fox News’ “Fox and Friends,” published photo of Roof sitting on his car with an ornamental license one host called the killings “a horrify- SODWH ZLWK &RQIHGHUDWH EDWWOH ÀDJV ing attack on faith.” Another anchor on the show on it. That is the same Confederate ÀDJWKDWÀLHVRQWKHJURXQGVRIWKH chimed in, responding to the com- VWDWH &DSLWRO :KDW VLJQDO LV 6RXWK ments of a guest: “Extraordinarily, they called it a hate crime. Uh, and Carolina sending? some look at it as, ‘Well, it’s because it was a white guy, apparently, and a Racism is black church,’ but you made a great point just a moment ago about the hos- to social tility towards Christians. And it was a FKXUFK6RPD\EHWKDW¶VZKDWWKH\¶UH progress what talking about. They haven’t explained cockroaches it to us.” Oh Fox, there is so much that are to nuclear needs explaining to you. First, Roof was a member of a Lutheran church fallout — LQ &ROXPELD 6&$V WKH 5HY 7RQ\ extraordinarily 0HW]H RI 6W 3DXO¶V /XWKHUDQ &KXUFK FRQ¿UPHGWRWKH+XI¿QJWRQ3RVW³+H resilient. was on the roll of our congregation.” Lutheranism is one of the branches of There is the thread of couching his Protestant Christianity. Beyond that, according to CNN, “a cowardice as chivalry, framing his self- ish hatred as noble altruism in defense friend recalled a drunken Roof ranting of white femininity from the black RQH QLJKW DERXW KLV XQVSHFL¿HG VL[ EUXWH6RPXFKEODFNEORRGKDVEHHQ month plan ‘to do something crazy’ in spilled and black necks noosed in the order ‘to start a race war.’” CNN also reported that Roof con- name of protecting white femininity, and by extension, white purity. Roof is fessed his intention to cause a race war to investigators. This wasn’t a only this trope’s latest instrument. Then there is the question of war on Christianity, but a war on whether to call this terrorism. Terror- black people. Roof was a young man radical- LVP DV FRPPRQO\ GH¿QHG VXJJHVWV that the act must have some political ized to race hatred who reportedly PRWLYDWLRQ %\ GH¿QLQJ LW WKLV ZD\ wanted to start a race war and who we conveniently exclude that long killed nine innocent people as his legacy of racial terrorism as a political opening salvo. If that’s not terrorism, tool of intimidation and control in this ZHQHHGWRUHGH¿QHWKHWHUP Where to write • U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D): 5D\EXUQ+2%:DVKLQJWRQ'& 20515. Phone: 202- 225-0855. Fax 202- 'LVWULFW RI¿FH 6: 0LOOLNDQ:D\6XLWH%HDYHUWRQ25 3KRQH)D[ :HEERQDPLFLKRXVHJRY • U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D)+DUW 6HQDWH2IILFH%XLOGLQJ:DVKLQJWRQ'& 3KRQH:HEZZZ merkley.senate.gov • U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D): 221 Dirk- VHQ 6HQDWH 2IILFH %XLOGLQJ :DVKLQJWRQ D.C., 20510. Phone: 202-224-5244. Web: www.wyden.senate.gov • State Rep. Brad Witt (D)6WDWH&DS LWRO&RXUW6WUHHW1(+6DOHP 25 3KRQH :HE ZZZOHJVWDWHRUXVZLWW (PDLO UHSEUDG witt@state.or.us • State Rep. Deborah Boone (D): 900 &RXUW6W1(+6DOHP25 3KRQH(PDLOUHSGHERUDK boone@state.or.us District office: P.O. Box &DQQRQ %HDFK 25 3KRQH :HE ZZZOHJVWDWHRUXV ERRQH
