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May 25, 2011
^orilanb (Obaeruer
Page 19
When States Overlook a Great Injustice
The flying of a
symbol of
slavery
L ee A. D aniels
“ W h e n I w as
s c re e n e d fo r the
ju ry , it w elled up
inside m e and I e x ­
pressed my feelings.”
So said C arl Staples, a black
S hreveport, L ouisiana radio en g i­
by
neer and announcer, explaining why,
w hile being questioned as a p ro ­
spective ju ro r for a high-profile
m urder case in that city in 2009, he
criticized the flying o f the C onfeder­
ate flag on the grounds o f the co u rt­
h o u se.
D e n o u n c in g the C o n fe d e ra te
b a n n e r as “ a sy m b o l o f o n e o f the
m o s t ... h e in o u s c rim e s e v e r c o m ­
m itte d ,” w h ile b ein g q u e stio n e d ,
S ta p le s, a c c o rd in g to c o u rt tra n ­
sc rip ts o f the v o ir d ire , a d d ed ,
“ Y o u ’re h e re fo r ju s tic e an d th en
a g ain y o u o v e rlo o k th is g re a t in ­
ju s tic e by c o n tin u in g to fly th is
fla g .”
It w ill com e as no surprise that the
p ro secu tio n o b jected to S ta p le s’
being seated on the ju ry . Indeed,
the 12 people ultim ately chosen for
the ju ry in the case o f a black m an
a c c u se d o f m u rd e rin g a w h ite
firefig h ter during a burglary in­
clu d ed eleven w hites and one A f­
rican A m erican.
a rg u m e n ts in the c ase o n M o n ­
d ay . A ru lin g is e x p e c te d by Ju ly .
T he m u rd er o f the firefighter, Joe
Prock, 52, was horrific. He was beaten
w ith a pistol w hile trying to prevent
the robbery o f his m o th e r’s hom e
and his body w as set afire.
D o rsey ’s attorneys co n ten d that
he is innocent o f the crim e itself. But
they also m aintain that the conduct
Why is a symbol of a treasonous
undertaking, led by men who betrayed
their oaths as elected officials and military
officers of the United States, still honored
by those who claim to pledge allegiance to
the United States o f America?
B ut h is w o rd s and se n tim e n t
c o n tin u e to re so u n d in the case.
T h e y are p a rt o f the a p p ea l to the
L o u i s ia n a S u p r e m e C o u r t o f
F e lto n D o rsey , th e m an on trial
w h o w as c o n v ic te d o f m u rd e r and
se n te n c e d to d e ath , to o v e rtu rn
his c o n v ic tio n . T h e c o u rt h e ard
o f the trail w as distorted by the
dynam ics o f race, m anifested in part,
they say, by the fact o f the ju r y ’s
racial com position.
L eaving aside the particulars o f
the case against Felton D orsey or
even the conduct o f the trial, the
w ords C arl Staples spoke raise the
m ost fundam ental q uestions about
the pursuit o f ju stic e in the A m eri­
can South.
T hose q uestions co n tin u e to re­
verberate 150 years after the C ivil
W ar forced an end to the W hite
South’s addiction to the evil o f N egro
Slavery and 50years theC ivil Rights
M ovem ent forced an end to its su c­
ceeding addiction to the evil o f le­
galized racism .
W hy is a sy m b o l o f a tre a s o n ­
o u s u n d e rta k in g , led by m en w ho
b e tra y e d th e ir o a th s as e le c te d
o ffic ia ls an d m ilita ry o ffic e rs o f
th e U n ited S ta te s, still h o n o re d
by th o se w ho c la im to p le d g e a lle ­
g ia n c e to th e U n ite d S ta te s o f
A m erica?
W hat “honor” is to be found in
any sym bol o f a system based on the
m ost pernicious form o f slavery?
W hy w ould anyone believe that
individuals, or any political or ju d i­
cial entity, that honors any o f the
sym bols o f the C o n fed eracy can be
trusted to behave honorably tow ard
black A m ericans?
T he creation o f the various C o n ­
federate flags in the m id-nineteenth
c e n tu r y as e m b le m s o f th e
breakaw ay slave state is in disput­
able. Its use for nearly a century in
service to w hite so u th ern ers’ co n ­
tin u ed d e term in a tio n to o p p ress
black southerners by every vicious
m eans necessary is indisputable. It
is a flag irredeem ably drenched with
evil.
W hy does it continue to receive
state sanction in those very states
th e S la v o c ra c y o n c e ru le d an d
w hich w ere very late in treating their
black citizens as first-class A m eri­
cans?
In his fam ous “ L etter from B ir­
m ingham Jail,” M artin Luther K ing,
Jr. w rote, “ Injustice anyw here is a
threat to ju stice ev ery w h ere.”
C arl S ta p le s’ w ords underscore
that, albeit the great p rogress m ade
everyw here in A m erica in the last
half-century, som e w hites are still
infected by the need to “ov erlook
this great injustice.”
Lee A. Daniels is director o f com ­
munications fo r the NAACP Legal
Defense and Educational Fund,
Inc. a n d E d ito r -in -C h ie f o f
TheDefendersOnline.
5 Wars E
Tide turns again
as evangelicals
flex power
W illiams A. C ollins
America recorded 1.2 mil­
lion abortions in 2008. While
this sounds like a lot, the avail­
ability of birth control and
sex education has greatly re­
duced the U.S. abortion rate over
the years. So has the invention
of new post-sex "Plan B" drugs.
Europe boasts still fewer abor­
tions, but they are serious about
reducing the numbers. We only
play at it. For eight recent years
under Bush II, our government's
concept of sex education was
abstinence education. A m az­
ingly, some of those pointless
by
federally subsidized programs
still exist, but the Obama admin­
istration has mostly replaced
them with more useful ones.
Now though the
tide is turning once
again. Rep. Joe Pitts
(R -PA ), the new
ch a irm a n o f the
House Energy and
Commerce Health
Subcom m ittee, is
ideologically anti-abortion and
unlikely to shake loose any of
these more useful funds. He is
from the popular "no sex educa­
tion-no birth control" school of
prevention, long endorsed by
b ish o p s,
R e p u b lic a n s,
evangelicals, and crib manufac­
turers.
In any event, the largest part
of lawmaking about sex educa­
Cl!‘ P o r tla n d ODhserUtr
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47 47 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Portland, OR 97211
E d ito r -I n -C h ie f , P ublisher :
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C r e a tiv e D ir e c t o r : P aul N e u feld t
tion and abortion falls to the states,
whose policies are diverse al­
most beyond belief. This diver­
gence shows up in the data.
Take teen pregnancies. New
Hampshire recorded just 16 per
thousand in 2009, with most other
Northeastern states coming in
under 30. Down South and out
West it was different. M issis­
sippi, Texas, and Oklahoma each
reported over 60 per thousand.
Wags have suggested that sex
has yet to make significant in­
roads into New Hampshire, while
others credit differing dem ogra­
phy. Cooler heads, however,
have identified more assertive
attitudes toward birth control and
sex-ed as the main reason for
the difference.
Suffice it to say the reproduc­
tive rights wars rage on. Ne-
braska passed a law requiring
health screening before an abor­
tion. It was so constitutionally
suspect that the attorney gen­
eral j-efused to defend it. Okla­
homa passed an even worse bill,
so bad that the governor vetoed
it — only to have the legislature
override him. In Colorado the
anti-abortion forces have taken
to equating fetushood with sla­
very in an attempt to justify a
constitutional prohibition.
Then, as usual, there's Texas.
Not for nothing does Texas boast
the highest birth rate in the na­
tion. It also ranks third in teen
pregnancy and first in repeat
teen pregnancy. It turns down
federal funding for normal sex
education so that it can focus its
energies on the abstinence kind.
And just to consolidate its na­
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tional position, it makes contra­
ceptives very hard for young­
sters to come by.
This is particularly ironic be­
c a u se re c e n t re s e a rc h has
shown that kids are m ore re ­
sponsible about using condom s
than adults. That's a good trick
since many U.S. sex educa­
tion program s don't even teach
birth control. O ther countries
not only teach it but advertise
the products. Not surprisingly
these nations have low er teen
birth rates.
One thing is clear: all this po­
litical objection to sex education,
birth control, and abortion is faith-
based. But surprisingly, that base
is no longer sim ply Roman
Catholic. The Northeast, where
Catholics are strongest, is all for
sex ed, and Italy itself has the
lowest birth rate in Europe. No,
nowadays it's the evangelicals
who want to keep women in
their place, and they're doing a
heckuva job.
OtherWords columnist Will­
iam A. Collins is a former state
representative and a form er
mayor o f Norwalk, Conn.