Haley Barbour, the governor of Mississippi, is increasingly mentioned as a potential Republican presidential candidate in 2012.
The Weekly Standard profiles him this week, and liberal bloggers are spotlighting one section where Barbour discusses segregation and racism in Mississippi in his childhood days. You can sense where this is going, right?
The segment that triggered the brouhaha:
Both Mr. Mott and Mr. Kelly had told me that Yazoo City was perhaps the only municipality in Mississippi that managed to integrate the schools without violence. I asked Haley Barbour why he thought that was so.
“Because the business community wouldn’t stand for it,” he said. “You heard of the Citizens Councils? Up north they think it was like the KKK. Where I come from it was an organization of town leaders. In Yazoo City they passed a resolution that said anybody who started a chapter of the Klan would get their ass run out of town. If you had a job, you’d lose it. If you had a store, they’d see nobody shopped there. We didn’t have a problem with the Klan in Yazoo City.”
In interviews Barbour doesn’t have much to say about growing up in the midst of the civil rights revolution. “I just don’t remember it as being that bad,” he said. “I remember Martin Luther King came to town, in ’62. He spoke out at the old fairground and it was full of people, black and white.”
Did you go? I asked.
“Sure, I was there with some of my friends.”
I asked him why he went out.
“We wanted to hear him speak.”
I asked what King had said that day.
“I don’t really remember. The truth is, we couldn’t hear very well. We were sort of out there on the periphery. We just sat on our cars, watching the girls, talking, doing what boys do. We paid more attention to the girls than to King.”
Over at Ace of Spades, Drew M. details how liberal bloggers are pointing out that the Citizens Councils weren’t as benign as Barbour remembers; the story angle and accusation is gradually migrating from the most highly-strung of liberal blogs to the most likely MSM outlets. “It’s as if JournoList is back in action,” he tweets.
Any white Republican who grew up in the South is going to be accused of racism. In fact, there’s quite a bit of evidence to suggest that any Republican running against Barack Obama will be accused of racism, period. Hell, any Republican, running for office, anywhere, at any time, will be accused of racism eventually.
A few factors are working in Barbour’s favor at this moment. First, this is Christmas week, and thus public attention to these sorts of mini-controversies is probably near its annual low. Second, it is easy to grasp the inanity of trying to somehow hold Barbour accountable for the actions of his hometown leaders while he was in his boyhood years. His sin is that, decades later, he remembers his hometown through rose-colored glasses? Don’t most people do that?
Working against Barbour is that he is a distinctly Southern in his drawl and mannerisms, and Southern politicians have a higher bar to clear when it comes to accusations of racism. Because of the experience of slavery and segregation, the South is associated with racism in the minds of a significant chunk of the electorate. The perception may be outdated, false, unfair, and hypocritical, but it is out there. Still, we’ve hit a new low when an interview in which the subject recalls attending a Martin Luther King Jr. speech is the trigger for the accusation of racial animosity.
I’m still not quite sure how the argument against Barbour gets summarized quickly; I think it will be something like, “he fondly remembers the racist Citizens Councils” or something. Of course, all Barbour said was that the Citizens Councils kept the Klan out of the town, and that the business community didn’t want to see violence in response to the integration of schools. Members of the Citizens Councils undoubtedly held reprehensible views, but is anything Barbour said untrue? Is Haley Barbour to be smeared as a racist, once the single most damaging accusation in our society, over this? This comment outweighs everything else he’s done with his life?
I'm pretty shocked that you're giving Barbour a pass on this.
Let me make this clear, since apparently you've never researched the man: this is not simply a question of history. Haley Barbour has worked with, and supports, the white-segregationist Citizen's Councils TODAY.
He's spoken at their meetings. He seeks their support.
External Link
The Citizen's Councils, even today, make "opposition to the mixing of the races" an EXPLICIT part of their program.
Haley Barbour isn't being "smeared" as a racist. He's being accurately described. If you support white supremacist organizations, then yes, that makes you a racist!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseOh, and since this is important and I want there to be zero confusion on this topic, here's the CCC's web content regarding the Jews:
External Link
Here's the CCC's web content regarding blacks:
External Link
Here's their "Statement of Principles", where they say, and I am DIRECTLY QUOTING here, "We oppose all efforts to mix the races of mankind":
External Link
Here's a picture of Haley Barbour posing with CCC members at a CCC event he spoke at:
External Link
Jim, you need to do a major re-think on this.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI have to agree with Televangelist here. If (and I accept that it is still "IF") Barbour is at all associated with the Council of Conservative Citizens (or similar groups), the man should be drummed out of honorable public life.
A quick glance at their guiding principles shows what a reprehensible group this is. They condemn, in a variety of ways, any form of "race-mixing". This is straight-up racism. That is just the worst aspect of the neo-isolationist, protectionist, nanny-statist ideology of many of the other points.
While there are some admirable ideas in the principles- defense of private property, defense of the 2nd amendment, local control of education, etc- there is no getting around that this is a borderline theocratic organization with very open racist ideas. No self-respecting conservative should have anything to do with them.
Take a look yourselves and see if I am being unfair:
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseExternal Link
Well, maybe he got snookered, as the BBQ he attended was to raise money for school buses. Nevertheless, a candidate has to vet carefully the sponsors of events in which he participates.
I know this sounds whitey-guilty of me, but I think Gov. Barbour is insensitive to this issue. I recall when he said that criticism of the pro-Confederate Civil War resolution by Virgina Gov. McDonnell didn't amount to "diddly."
I have at least one ancestor who fought to preserve the Union. I wish Northern and Western Republican governors (e.g. Christie, Pawlenty) had wagged their fingers at Messrs. Barbour, McDonnell, & Purdie when that issue was live.
Nevertheless, the left will uncritically parrot unfounded criticism of Mr. Barbour. Amanda Terkel at HuffPo quotes a Mr. Johnson, President of Mississippi NAACP, accusing Mr. Barbour of lying about having attended a MLK Jr. rally, although he has zero evidence of Mr. Barbour lying.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse""Well, maybe he got snookered, as the BBQ he attended was to raise money for school buses. Nevertheless, a candidate has to vet carefully the sponsors of events in which he participates.""
When pressed, he refused to disavow them or to even ask to have his picture removed from their website.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHow long do we have to fight the Civil War? Egads do we have to "pay" for the sins of our forefathers forever?
Haley Barbour will not be the candidate nor will any other old white guy. The Republicans need to nominate a young articulate man who is articulate enough to speak without a teleprompter. And knows how many States we have.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"Any white Republican who grew up in the South is going to be accused of racism. In fact, there’s quite a bit of evidence to suggest that any Republican running against Barack Obama will be accused of racism, period. Hell, any Republican, running for office, anywhere, at any time, will be accused of racism eventually."
Maybe I'm missing something, but I haven't actually seen many people accusing Barbour of being a racist. I've seen them accuse him of praising racists, which seems to be a pretty accurate claim. If you want, we can have a nuanced discussion about how benign yout hink it was for him to recall things through rose-colored glasses, but this persecution complex that conservatives have about being accused of being racist is often as much fiction as fact.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseUm, I think Haley's going to have a little tougher time than you suggest when it comes to fending off the racist charge. Yes, of course it is used when it doesn't apply. It is also used when it does. As has been pointed out, his track record isn't stellar.
Well, unless you think using a watermelon joke to reprimand a staffer who used a racial slur doesn't count. (See Ben Smith's blog, or, you know, try the google).
If 1983 is too far back (do racist comments have a half life?) there's the already mentioned ties to CCC just this decade.
I would imagine any southern man of Barbour's age should have trouble seeing their hometown through "rose-colored glasses." I'm 31, and the virtually all-white private school I attended in an Alabama city that is 50% black will never let me forget how many of my fellow Caucasians talk in private company. And that was the 80's and 90's.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseOh come on! This is just nuts. I just get sick to death of the uber righteous of all stripes deciding who is and is not "racist". Here's a suggestion: if there is no evidence that a person has ever done anything in word or deed to harm others of a dfifferent race, if all you have to play with is his fond rememberances of what is undoubtedly a fine small town, then shut up! You have no business declaring as to his righteousness. In fact it is borderline character assassination to speculate on it. And the only cure is for those of all political stripes to refuse to buckle to this idiocy.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseFolks such as Barbour define the norm for racial tolerance a bit differently than do most people. In his world, if you don't subscribe to lynchings and lawn burnings, then you are a model citizen without a racist bone in your body ... even though you can't stomach the idea of full racial equality and a totally desegregated society.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI, too grew up in the deep South during the period that Barbour did. However, we need to get the facts straight. It was the Democrats, not the Republicans, who were the anti-integrationists. A little study of American history can work wonders...
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseNational Review doesn't have to worry about whether accusations of racism will hurt Haley Barbour's "campaign" for the Republican presidential nomination. That's because Barbour doesn't have any more chance to win the Republican nomination than Arianna Huffington. Haley Barbour may look back on his segregationist youth and political apprenticeship with rose-colored glasses, but contemporary conservatives are looking for someone more focused, sharper, media savvy, and meaner. That's ultimately why Barbour isn't competitive with Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, and a bunch of other Republican wannabees.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAbsolutely stellar job Republicans are doing to acknowledge it past use of the Southern Strategy and reach out to non-white voters.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI'm the same age as Governor Barbour and grew up in south Mississippi at the same time - there was NO violence when the schools were integrated right after I graduated from high school. Most white people didn't want integration - a few didn't mind - but nobody got physical about it.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe thing I best remember is my little brother being hauled around in a bus from one school to another, depending on the Feds ever changing idea of what school the students should attend. For example, they made all the sixth graders go to one school and all the seventh to another, so that every black child went to to school with every white child their age. I think this may be the reason my brother was the only child of us four who didn't do well in school - all that chaos couldn't have helped.
When I was growing up, I never heard of the KKK. Blacks did menial jobs, such as domestic work and such, but they were not mistreated, at least in front of me and others I knew.
I remember feeling very depressed seeing how poor blacks were, but I didn't blame it on whites, because there was no reason for me to do so.
If the nation/Republicans/whoever don't want Gov. Barbour to run for POTUS, that's fine, but he's NOT lying about life in Mississippi back then when we were children. On the other hand, I could write a novel about all the lies told about our state by outsiders - racism in Mississippi made (and still makes) a good story the liberals love to write and publish.
Charges of racism will move Barbour to the head of the GOP pack.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"I remember feeling very depressed seeing how poor blacks were, but I didn't blame it on whites, because there was no reason for me to do so."
*bangs head against keyboard*
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"Here's a suggestion: if there is no evidence that a person has ever done anything in word or deed to harm others of a dfifferent race, if all you have to play with is his fond rememberances of what is undoubtedly a fine small town, then shut up!"
Great idea! Now, about Barbours WORDS and DEEDS, where he openly supports and seeks the support of an openly racist organization...
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSo, I guess the No Labellers are sitting this one out?
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abusebill30bill
===
""I remember feeling very depressed seeing how poor blacks were, but I didn't blame it on whites, because there was no reason for me to do so."
*bangs head against keyboard*
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse==
What's Haiti's excuse then -- independent since 1801.
"Great idea! Now, about Barbours WORDS and DEEDS, where he openly supports and seeks the support of an openly racist organization..."
I agree! Let's apply the exact same treatment to every Democrat who supports the Congressional Black Caucus.
We all know you'll never live up to what you are preaching when it comes to YOUR side though, don't we?
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse