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-
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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