From the ArcaMax Publishing, Kathleen Parker Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/kathleenparker/s-568237-384624
WASHINGTON -- Rusty DePass, the South Carolina Republican activist who
infamously "joked" that an escaped zoo gorilla was probably an
ancestor of Michelle Obama's, has learned the meaning of "hell to
pay."
His teaching moment has provided multiple curricula on a range of
subjects, including what appears to be racism fatigue in the Deep
South.
DePass, a former chairman of the state Elections Commission, has all
but performed the Stations of the Cross in apologizing for his remark
the past several days. Originally made on his Facebook page in what he
thought was a private exchange with a friend, the comment was picked
up by a local political blogger, Will Folks (former communications
director for Gov. Mark Sanford), who posted it on his Web site,
FITSNews.com.
Quicker'n you can say "cheese grits," the comment went viral. And
DePass -- who is neither a public official nor, officially, a
spokesman for the GOP -- has lost his commercial real estate job and
been roundly chastised in a series of public condemnations.
Thus far, he has apologized twice, including Wednesday at a news
conference called by the state NAACP. Democratic members of the South
Carolina House of Representatives twice tried to pass a resolution
expressing regret to the first lady, but were defeated by the
Republican majority. More than 400 people have joined a Facebook Group
called "Rusty DePass is an insufferable piece of garbage."
Has DePass been sufficiently punished yet? Even Folks, who broke the
story, says reaction has been excessive:
"What he said was over the line, but the response to it has also been
over the line. There's no way someone in the private sector should get
bullied out of their job for a comment like that. We have to balance
respect for all races and cultures, which is an essential ingredient
to the kind of society we want to be, but there has to be some
semblance of proportion."
To be clear, DePass' remark was racist and there's no way to
spin it otherwise, as he first tried to. Racist jokes have become
commonplace since Barack Obama's election, and, sadly, they keep
popping up in Republican quarters.
Last spring Folks wrote about a Republican state representative who
had a flier on his desk showing blacks fleeing Obama, who was
promising jobs to all African-Americans. In another recent incident, a
staffer for Tennessee state Sen. Diane Black e-mailed a composite
picture of all the U.S. presidents. The Obama square was solid black
with two big eyes.
These fliers, jokes and antics are not isolated incidents, but are
part of an ugly subterranean culture of entrenched racism. Living in
South Carolina the past 20 years, I've noticed that people who say
racist things never think of themselves as racist. What that means, of
course, is that they'd never act on their attitudes. They might even
find the N-word offensive.
But they'll make racist cracks as DePass did -- or circulate fliers
that portray the Obamas in demeaning ways. Seen the photo of the
watermelon patch in front of the White House? Or the book on monkeys
that was slipped into a display of Obama books at Barnes & Noble
in Coral Gables, Fla.?
DePass is hardly alone. But he has been thrown to the lions in a sort
of spontaneous cleansing ritual. After decades of shame from the
state's original sin -- not to mention providing a butt for the
nation's jokes -- South Carolinians are tired of being embarrassed.
Bud Ferillo, a public relations executive who has been spearheading an
educational reform movement in South Carolina through his "Corridor of
Shame" documentary, agrees that embarrassment is key to the passionate
reaction to the DePass debacle. He is also hopeful that some good will
come of it.
"What we're missing in our state is honest conversation between the
races that ultimately leads to forgiveness. We keep putting off
reconciliation from one generation to the next because our shameful
history of slavery and segregation is so painful to both sides. At the
same time, I think most South Carolinians are through with race-based
politics."
DePass' comment to a friend, appalling as it was, clearly wasn't
intended to do harm and his punishment may have exceeded the crime. At
the same time, this pernicious form of passive racism has been exposed
for the poison it is.
If Republicans ever want to see the Oval Office again, they'll have to
purge their tent of this foul air.
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Kathleen Parker's e-mail address is kparker@kparker.com