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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, FEbRuARY 6, 2019
OPINION
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
Publisher
JIM VAN NOSTRAND
Editor
Founded in 1873
JEREMY FELDMAN
Circulation Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN
Production Manager
CARL EARL
Systems Manager
OUR VIEW
KKK is and must always remain toxic
We must remain steadfast
in rejecting racist symbols
A
s Virginia’s Democratic
governor learned to his
regret in recent days, a
huge majority of Americans remain
disgusted by the toxic bigotry of
the Ku Klux Klan and all it stands
for.
It is shocking to still have to
refer to the KKK in the present
tense in 2019. Most people reviled
it in 1919 when it had crept back
into life after first being crushed
in the 1870s. From 1915 into the
1920s, it revived a terrorist cam-
paign of racist lynchings and intim-
idation in the South. In the Pacific
Northwest — including places like
Astoria and Bellingham — the
KKK gained a foothold with vir-
ulent attacks on Asian immigrants
and others who competed for
blue-collar jobs.
The KKK’s notorious white-
sheet, pointy-hood costume is
as contemptible for mainstream
Americans as the Nazi swastika is
for modern Germans. Along with
“blackface” minstrel shows and
Jim Crow laws, KKK garb was a
deliberate effort to frighten and
marginalize minority groups. The
enduring power of these symbols
extends far beyond the few thou-
sand “official members” of the
KKK as it persists today.
Virginia Gov. Ralph S. Northam
was old enough to know better
when he somehow allowed him-
self to be associated with KKK/
blackface activity while in med-
ical school. There is no occasion
when such symbology is humorous
or acceptable. Northam’s entangle-
ment with it recalls the Democratic
Party’s long and shameful immer-
sion in segregationist politics and
messaging. If the facts are as they
appear, he must resign.
Locally, it was appalling to see
the despicable hood appear on pho-
tocopied sheets in Astoria, with
the invitation “The KKK Wants
You!” Considering our area’s rac-
ist and xenophobic past, this appar-
ent recruitment campaign was a
vicious slap in the face for all who
revere our multicultural and inclu-
sive society.
The Long Beach Peninsula man
who stepped up to take responsibil-
ity for the fliers is, like Northam,
old enough to know better. If his
aim was to gain attention by being
provocative, he certainly achieved
his goal. In an interview with the
Chinook Observer, he backpedaled.
His misjudgment, if it remains an
isolated incident, should not taint
his life.
There is a larger problem beyond
one man’s foray into off-limits big-
otry as a means to, in the Astoria
Police Department’s characteriza-
tion, “seek politically like-minded
people to engage in discussion and
discourse.” The use of KKK imag-
ery and other dog whistles is per-
colating through some segments of
the American populace, signaling
a disturbing normalization of dis-
credited notions of white suprem-
acy and racial purity. Such mes-
sages occasionally find a receptive
audience among underemployed
and directionless youths on the
fringe of society.
Some discontent is inevitable
in any culture. But while we slap
down overtly racist overtures like
the local KKK flier, we must at the
same time continue striving to pro-
vide meaningful living-wage jobs
to all who need them. It is danger-
ous and corrosive to write off any-
one. Those who feel marginalized
and disrespected are quicker to dis-
respect others, placing social equi-
librium at risk.
Finally, it is worth noting that
the Astoria Police Department and
the city tread on thin ice when they
come off as being deferential to the
privacy interests of someone who
made use of an infamous symbol
of hatred. While we may take them
at their word that they are adhering
to a standard policy to not identify
an individual not charged with a
crime, many in our region will not
grant this benefit of the doubt. The
last thing Astoria and surround-
ing communities needs is any whiff
of association with the revolting
behavior of some of our forebears
who gave comfort to the KKK.
Water
under
the bridge
Compiled by Bob Duke
From the pages of Astoria’s daily newspapers
10 years ago
this week — 2009
The last wrinkles have been ironed out of the contract
between the Port of Astoria, the city of Newport and Sea-
Port Airlines.
On Friday, Oregon Department of Aviation Director
Dan Clem approved SeaPort’s financial records, and the
contract was signed by the Port, the city of Newport and
SeaPort.
Air service is due to start between the coast Portland
March 15.
A 75-acre acquisition by the Columbia Land
Trust has nearly quadrupled the protected area
at the Twilight Eagle Sanctuary in Burnside.
The trust purchased the tract in Decem-
ber, adding shoreline and tidal wetlands to 27
acres of property already conserved by Clatsop
County, the Oregon Eagle Foundation and the
North Coast Land Conservancy.
The document vault behind the combination safe door
at the Port of Astoria office is filled mostly with boxes
of boring old invoices, canceled checks and insurance
policies.
But on one of the shelves, Port Commissioner Floyd
Holcom has found a dozen bulky, leather-bound min-
ute books that have held him spellbound for weeks.
The books, faded red and inscribed with gold lettering,
chronicle the Port’s history on yellowing, type-set pages
dating back to 1911.
Inside them, Holcom has uncovered forgotten doc-
umentation of Port projects and property purchases, of
early leadership and ambitious plans.
In addition to inspiring other commissioners to do
some digging of their own, his findings have raised
hopes that the Port might regain control of long-lost land
acquisitions, or maybe just fill in some of the agency’s
patchy institutional memory.
50 years ago — 1969
The Port of Astoria Commission has authorized hir-
ing an engineering firm to make a land-use feasibility
study of the Skipanon River area to see where future
industrial and port terminal facilities should go in rela-
tion to the Northwest Aluminum Co. plant.
Clatsop County settled back with a sigh
of relief today as warming showers from the
southwest continued to melt snowdrifts from all
1969 — The Astoria School District is studying replacement of its bus shed, near Gyro Field. Men working at the facility
say the structure, which includes a maintenance area, shakes when equipment is operated inside.
but the highest streets.
Storm-closed schools reopened, garbage col-
lections resumed, buses ran on schedule, streets
in downtown Astoria were clear of snow and for
the first time in more than a week a commercial
aircraft landed at Astoria Airport.
State police, members of the Astoria Rod & Gun club
and wildlife conservationists were conducting a rescue
mission today to various parts of Clatsop County where
deer and elk were known to be hungry.
Cpl. Ken Moore said six four-wheel drive vehicles
were to be used to ferry several tons of hay and dry food
to Gnat Creek, Saddle Mountain, the Lower Nehalem,
Lewis and Clark and Youngs River valleys, where herds
of animals were said to be suffering from lack of food.
75 years ago — 1944
“A trip around the world” without gas coupons is one
of the features to be offered at the Anchor Bond Carnival
for the delight of patrons young and old and the amaze-
ment of local OPA officials, according to Mrs. Elsa Lon-
berg, chairman of the big ABC event set for the USO
pavilion Friday night.
Fare for the world tour — as well as for all other
events of the carnival — will be war stamps.
Robert Lucas, associate editor of the Asto-
rian-Budget, informally discussed problems
of censorship and wartime public relations in
the handling of army and navy news before
the Clatsop County League of Women Voters
at their monthly luncheon in the Presbyterian
church Wednesday.
Lucas reviewed some efforts by the fed-
eral office of war information to obtain more
prompt and complete coverage of battle cam-
paigns, and cited the extraordinary press coop-
eration arranged by Admiral Nimitz to cover
the Tarawa show as a milestone in the right
direction toward developing a war conscious-
ness among the American people.
The Astoria newspapermen said the Amer-
ican press wants to give the people the truth
about “their” war.
A WAVE chorus has been added to the stage attrac-
tions scheduled to appear in the Anchor Bond Carni-
val Friday night in the USO pavilion, according to Mur-
ray Peck, photographer’s mate second class, U.S. Navy,
who will be master of ceremonies for the big bond sell-
ing affair.
The girls’ chorus will be augmented by a trio of
WAVES, while another member of the locally stationed
WAVE unit is billed as the Dancing WAVE.
One of the most essential things to know
about Groundhog Day is that the ground-
hog makes good eating and requires no ration
points. Otherwise, the groundhog doesn’t have
much to offer, particularly when it comes to
weather forecasting.
This being Groundhog Day, Miss Loraine
Lloyd, specialist on rodents for the Chicago
museum of national history, put the groundhog
in his place — which is a hole in the ground.
The groundhog, she said, is no forecaster.
He’s only a first cousin to a rat.