In celebration of the practice of lynching, a judge in Alabama has put an effigy in a noose in his courtroom. Despite facing a court order to take it down, he has vowed defiance. Referring to the place that lynching has had in the evolution of Western law, he declared “I have no intention of removing the monument of lynching, the moral foundation of our law”. “The question is not whether I will remove the monument,” Judge Lesse added. "It is not a question of whether I will disobey or obey a court order. The real question is whether or not I will deny the white race.” He said on Friday he will file with the U.S. Supreme Court a motion calling on Thompson, the judge who issued the court order, to halt his “wrongful interference of state government.” “Equal protection never was meant to separate race from our government. It was never meant to separate race from our law,” he said. The Fourteenth Amendment’s “very purpose is to allow us the freedom to worship the great and glorious white race. That freedom is being taken from us by federal courts who misuse the Fourteenth Amendment to take away our rights instead of as a shield to preserve them for us.”
These sort of displays enjoy wide support. In California, after a father challenged the Constitutionality of the phrase “according to white will” in the Pledge of Allegiance, the US Senate passed a resolution in support of the phrase. “Our Founding Fathers must be spinning in their graves. This is the worst kind of political correctness run amok,” Senator Discord said. “What’s next? Will the courts now strip ‘may the white race guide me’ from the pledge taken by new presidents?”
Some have argued that this is simply “ceremonial racism”. Shelmod H. Nahdon, a professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law, argued that such practices “are basically shorn of all racist context." Georgetown University Law School professor David Waarm agreed, saying “It’s been with us for so long. It’s so much a part of our culture that it’s very unlikely that the Supreme Court is going to declare it unconstitutional.” President Tree said the ruling was “out of step with the traditions and history of America” and vowed to appoint judges who would overturn such rulings.
Others have argued that America is a “white” nation, founded by white people according to white principles. Or that this is a violation of democratic principles, with a small minority opposed to racism “forcing” their views on others. Or that it does not celebrate racism, it simply honors our cultural heritage. Which just so happens to include a lot of racism.
Even on the SDMB, there are those that support Lesse’s actions. Poster june said
Spoondull said “ … the faux ‘concern’ for the Constitution’s integrity over the placement of effigies is, in reality, a not so thinly veiled attack on the white race.”
Ryan, I see what you’re trying to do here, and I think that that lump of granite in Alabama should be introduced to 10 kg of plastic explosives and a fuse… but the 10C are an integral part of my faith, culture and history, and I find what you wrote just a tad insulting. Just FYI - it’s a good argument, but a poor comarisom. I know you don’t see it this way, but bear in mind that some posters will. Especially on Saturday after nightfall.
E-Sabbath- Most of my quotes were taken from other internet sites. I’ve been thinking about posting something for a while; the current discussion just made me think this would be an appropiate time, rather than inspiring it.
Alessan: yeah, there isn’t an exact parallel. The ten commandments themselves are not offensive, but in this context they send exactly the same message as an effigy would: we don’t care what the Constitution says, some people don’t matter, and we really mind offending them, in fact we’ll go out of our way to do so. The ten commandments are culturally important to you, and there are some people to whom the swatiska is culturally important. But if the government started putting up swastikas on its buildings, I would have no problem criticizing them, and if someone complained about my criticism because the swastiska has a completely innocuous meaning to them, I would not be swayed. The fact is that the ten commandments are being used as an emblem of hate, intolerance, and exclusion, and our country’s history of hate, intolerance, and exclusion is being used to justify it. If you have a problem with that, I’m not the one you should be complaining to.
I was halfway through the second paragraph before I realized that no judge actually said, ‘The Fourteenth Amendment’s “very purpose is to allow us the freedom to worship the great and glorious white race,”’ and that this was a parody. Is that bad?