Believe that? Me neither.
Shay Totten has the story that the Second Vermont Republic has decided to make a clean break from the (openly) racist League of the South.
UPDATE–MAKE SURE TO READ THE COMMENTS AT SEVEN DAYS!!
The famous Thomas “Don't Call Me a Racist” Naylor has published a letter called (I'm not making this up)
Yes, you read that right: “With Love”. That's only the first reason to question the sincerity of this “break”, however. If you read the letter, you will see that, far from acknowledging the racism of the League of the South, Naylor treats it as no more than a PR problem.
Naylor thinks racism is no more than a problem of perception. Naylor covers some history, and then begins with the racist aroma surrounding secession movements: “Secession is often equated with Southern, redneck, Christian fundamentalist racism. Anyone who is a secessionist is considered a likely racist, but a Southern secessionist is a racist a priori. Since the LOS is a Southern secessionist group, it’s hardly surprising that there is a widespread perception that it is racist”. Get it? There's nothing racist about LOS, but for some bizarre reason, people think that southern secessionists have some racist ideas. According to Naylor, this idea is no more than a “knee-jerk reaction” on the part of most Americans. It's not that there actually is any racism involved in secessionists, it's just “equated with” southern racism. The problem isn't the racist ideas, it's that people can't stop thinking about them. There's nothing wrong with it except those unfortunate associations with “images of the Civil War, slavery, racism, violence, and preservation of the Southern way of life.”
This unfortunate perception even infects the cultural symbols of the South. For instance, here's Naylor on the Confederate flag: Whether justifiably or not, most Southern blacks view the Confederate flag as an overt racist symbol aimed at rubbing salt in their 400-year wounds.
“Whether justifiably or not?” He really thinks there is some question about this? Try this little thought experiment: “Whether justifably or not, most Jews view the Nazi flag as an overt anti-Semitic symbol aimed at rubbing salt in their wounds.” If you read this as a serious proposition, would you conclude that the author understands that the Nazi flag is actually a symbol of anti-Semitism, or would you think that the entire problem is in the eye of the beholder? Clearly, if Naylor thinks that the display of the Confederate flag (maybe it's just a coincidence that many southern states started flying it during the Civil Rights Movement) has nothing to do with racism, he lacks the ability to detect racism in himself and others, a basic tool for identifying and extirpating it.
Or, take this line: “And in a similar vein, nothing enrages Southern blacks more than the singing of “Dixie.” Oh yeah, like when Jesse Helms used to start singing Dixie whenever Carol Moseley Braun got on the Senate elevator, vowing that he would keep singing it until he made her cry. Yup, in Naylor's view, the only people who have any objection to these racist displays are “Southern blacks”. Funny how touchy a few centuries of slavery and oppression can make you, isn't it?
Naylor ignores the reality of modern racism. In the world according to Naylor, racism is all in the past, but since Bush 43 became president that's all gone away. Bush's appointment of Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice “sent a very clear signal to white racists everywhere that racism was no longer part of the national agenda.” Really? Well, here's what Bush's pal, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell just said about racist dog Jesse Helms: “He put duty above all else — duty to God, to country, to family … the simple duty of treating other people well.” And famous right wing preacher Billy Graham called Helms “a man of consistent conviction to conservative ideals and courage to faithfully serve God and country based on principle, not popularity or politics.”
And yet, to hear Naylor say it, racism is gone from the modern scene, except when practiced by Democrats like Bill Clinton, and even then it doesn't work. “White South Carolina Democrats got the message and voted for Obama. Guess what, Tom? That's because the white racists who used to make up the Democratic Party in the South became Republicans!
Naylor attacks anti-racist organizations. For instance, he refers to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which has spent decades investigating and suing the KKK and other racist organizations a “race-baiting” organization.
Naylor is blind to true racism. Up is down, black is white in Naylor's world. After reciting a long history of racism, the use of racist symbols, and calling on them to start letting black people to join, who does Naylor think is ideally suited to unite all southerners, black and white? You guessed it, the League of the South.
So there we have it. In the world according to Naylor, the Southerners who run the League of the South, fly Confederate flags, and sing “Dixie” aren't really racists, they just suffer from unfortunate associations. The real racists and race-baiters are people like the Southern Poverty Law Center and Bill Clinton, who have actually worked for the cause of racial justice. And the reason SVR can't continue to work hand0n-hand with the LOS is not because the LOS is an irredeemably racist organization, but because it makes SVR look bad. If they could just fix those pesky perceptions they can be friends again.
For us here at GMD, though, it's clear that Naylor hasn't changed, and we continue to believe that SVR has no place in the legitimate debates on Vermont's future.