Column for Jan. 17, 2008

My analysis of the mayor's lynching comment

Last week, I attended the Selma Town Council meeting and public hearing along with almost 200 of my closest friends. OK, so they were not my close friends, but it was good to see people who were concerned and wanted to get involved in their community, even if many of them do not live in the Selma town limits or even extra-territorial jurisdiction.

I should probably start with my expert analysis of the latest embarrassment brought to Selma in the form of the opening remarks by Mayor Hester. I was there for those remarks, heard them, found them to be entirely inappropriate, and am quite frankly, tired of this same sort of thing month in and month out. For over two years now, I, along with other citizens, have been witness to some comments, attitudes, and political gamesmanship that I find repugnant. I have personally seen Mayor Hester purposely back his vehicle into another man's (more accurately, political opponent's) automobile, I have heard him say obnoxious comments, and witnesses near tantrums he has thrown. I find the latest comment about having a lynching just one more in a long string of embarrassments for the Town of Selma.

What amazed me is that Mr. Hester attempted to explain away the comment as "Just Hester being Hester". If that is the case, the comments and behavior need to go, and if said behavior defines Hester, then Hester needs to go. I was further amazed that Mr. Hester used the obvious "damage control" scenery of Selma Baptist Church as a back drop to have an interview with WRAL. During the interview it was explained that there are people who do not much care for him in this town, but that is just small town politics. The ironic thing is that Mr. Hester himself practically defines small town politics but decries it in others. I know that other reporters tried to get in touch with Mr. Hester, without success. I personally was contacted by one of them and spent time myself with that same reporter. The comments by the mayor were on the web sites of the three major television stations, various news services, local newspapers, national news aggregator services, and local and national bloggers.

Did Chucky apologize? Sure, I was there and heard it myself. I have blogged the video of the commentary, seen it numerous times on television and online, played the audio of it on a talk show, and read the transcript. Regardless of my opinion of Mr. Hester's sincerity, I do have to take him on face value and accept that he did apologize. As to the denial that the comment was aimed at any one particular individual, I find that an absurd attempt to help excuse the commentary.

As many of you know, I am a regular writer on the internet, a talk show host, and I keep in regular contact with several people in the media. I saw my web site traffic statistics rise this past week. I found many web searches performed for terms such as "Selma mayor lynching comment" and other similar terms. I also found many visits to my web page as a referral from other web sites that have national news and commentary. The comments by Mayor Hester have carried across the nation and are not just a local "black eye" for the town. We now have national implications, commentary, and scrutiny of our little town. The sad part is that none of it is positive.

I have no doubt that the comment about lynching was not meant to be racist in nature as some on the internet and even at the public hearing have alleged. The comment was directed at a Caucasian male by a Caucasian male. By its very nature, the comment is not racist. There are those who automatically assume that just because the word lynching is used that it is to be assumed as racist. That is an extreme and prejudicial view. First, it was a minority of lynchings in this nation that were racially motivated. Most were carried out upon guilty parties for their crimes. I am so tired of the hyper-vigilance against all things even remotely or potentially racist in The United States of the Offended.

I find just as offensive the self flagellation of the usually liberal, overly cautious White race members because of some undeserved guilty conscience towards race relations. That being said, I would almost love for Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton to show up in Selma over the comment by Mayor Hester. This would serve two purposes. First, to demonstrate how absurd the comment was in the first place and hopefully effect some degree of change. Second, to demonstrate how absurd those two individuals and their ilk can be.

Since I am out of room for this week's column, perhaps next week I will write my analysis of the meeting itself, the claims made by both the public and by the men from East Coast Ethanol. For those who missed either the mayor's comments or wish to hear the entire two and a half hour public hearing audio, you may do so at my talk show web site, which can be accessed through troylaplante.com. If you did not make it to the public meeting and want to hear for yourself what the big deal was about the public hearing, you can listen 24/7 via web streaming or simply download the entire show for your listening pleasure.