Amen, Sister! Thank you for taking time to put into words what I know I never could have. I've said this before but for those that don't know, Maggie is the one that inspired me in high school to stand up for what I believed in - even though it went against everything that I was brought up to believe in the Southern Baptist Church I was raised.
The first campaign I ever worked on was Harvey Gantt's second run against Helms in 1996. I was 18 and a freshman in college. I still have the picture of me and Harvey from when he came to my college. It's hanging on my bulletin board in my office next to the one of us in 2004 when John Kerry came to Charlotte. (I was more excited to see Gantt than Kerry!) Even though my father and I have never agreed on politics, he saw how passionately I felt about Harvey Gantt; and equally passionately against Helms. The day before the 1996 election, I "canvassed" my own parents' house! I literally started to cry when my dad said he would probably vote for Helms - the shrug and the smile. My tears must have worked because my dad called me the next day and said he voted for Gantt.
That November night in 1996 was a sweeping victory for Democrats across NC - Governor, Secretary of State, US Representatives, Clinton won, too (although not in our state) but I couldn't get past my grieving for the campaign I had worked so hard for. Gantt lost - again. I was devastated. How could NC possibly vote in that bigot AGAIN?
It's been tough watching all the local coverage here in Raleigh surrounding Helms' death. To top it off, my ultra-conservative boss actually had me drop him off at the church in Raleigh for Helms' funeral. Part of me thinks he did it out of spite. I tried not to notice the line of people waiting outside the church to get a seat at this awful man's funeral. These people just don't get it either.
So I'm with Maggie - it's a new day and each time someone from this mindset passes away, it's a step closer to a unified country. (Notice I didn't say generation. My 80 year old grandmother can't wait for Obama to move into the White House!)
One last tidbit that stands in my mind about Jesse. There was a group called MAJIC - Mother's Against Jesse in Congress. Oh, to pass a car with that bumper sticker today would just warm my heart 
What a great reflection on this man. I totally agree with you that you can't ever just shrug off someone because they're a "product of their time." People don't calcify with age, or at least shouldn't. Life should be about experiential growth--which means a person should perhaps continually become wiser as they age. Jesse Helms, because of his age and era, lived through a moment of societal shifting toward if not justice, at least a heck of a lot more justice. And he had a lot of power during all those decades. There are plenty of people of his generation who came to new conclusions about race over the course of their lives. You know, its called "growth." Helms wasn't one of them--he was a racist through and through, and that has nothing to do with his generation.
Heather just alerted me to this news story out of NC that NPR reported this afternoon: NC State employee quits after refusing to lower flag for Helms.
"L.F. Eason III gave up the only job he'd ever had rather than lower a flag to honor former U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms. Eason, a 29-year veteran of the state Department of Agriculture, instructed his staff at a small Raleigh lab not to fly the U.S. or North Carolina flags at half-staff Monday, as called for in a directive to all state agencies by Gov. Mike Easley. When a superior ordered the lab to follow the directive, Eason decided to retire rather than pay tribute to Helms."
Commenting by HaloScan
