Jesse Helms has died. As a native and current resident of North Carolina, even today many people I run into outside of this state who know little about it—recognize the name Jesse Helms. He leaves a long, dark trail of professional racial bigotry (he opposed the MLK national holiday, and civil rights legislation) and homophobia (that list is so long, you don’t know where to begin).
Former U.S. Sen. Jesse A. Helms, the son of a Monroe police chief who rose to national prominence as one of the leading lions of the American right, died early this morning. He was 86.
During a political career that began with his election to the Raleigh City Council in the late 1950s and included 30 years in the U.S. Senate, Jesse Alexander Helms endeared himself to conservatives throughout the country.
Helms became known as “Senator No” for his constant battles against everything from increased government spending to civil rights legislation to communism to the National Endowment for the Arts.
I viewed the late Senator many a time when he was a commentator on WRAL. For me, as a young child of color, his blunt, unforgiving, unacceptable views were distressing and surreal to watch.
Here are some quaint quotes from the former U.S. Senator, collected by the Raleigh N&O, which also has a timeline of his career:
“Unless our Negro citizens submit more easily than we predict they will, North Carolina does not have the simple choice between segregated schools and integrated schools. Our only choice is between integrated public schools and free-choice private schools. … The decision will have been made by a very small minority of people who are hell-bent on forced integration.”“
“To rob the Negro of his reputation of thinking through a problem in his own fashion is about the same as trying to pretend that he doesn’t have a natural instinct for rhythm and for singing and dancing.” - Helms responding in 1956 to criticism that a fictional black character in his newspaper column was offensive.
“I shall always remember the shady streets, the quiet Sundays, the cotton wagons, the Fourth of July parades, the New Year’s Eve firecrackers. I shall never forget the stream of school kids marching uptown to place flowers on the Courthouse Square monument on Confederate Memorial Day.” - Helms writing in 1956 on life in his hometown of Monroe, N.C.
His infamous “Hands” ad, which he ran during his re-election bid in 1990 against Charlotte mayor Harvey Gantt, (who is black); Gantt led in the polls until this aired:
Not a chance, MikeEss. There’s a habit during these times to write hagiographies, to not “offend,” to leave the “nasty” stuff to historians. Helms was nothing but nasty stuff. The damage that evil man was responsible for, his horrible activities, the suffering caused by this hateful man’s actions must be detailed. It may not be the case that his death is worth celebrating—I think it is—but his life certainly isn’t.
I think he and we would all agree: took long enough.
Let’s hope this song lasts longer than the rest of Helm’s legacy.
And that “don’t speak ill of the dead” crap? I concluded as a child that that meme grew out of the South because pretty much all of their leaders were such completely vile people that, without that rule, you couldn’t write a good obit. I can tell you that a black person can’t even mention most dead Southern legislators with that rule in place.
Comment #5: No One of Consequence on
07/04 at
03:28 PM
Jeff, you are absolutely correct. I just got slapped down and commenting was cutoff when Russert died.
His life speaks for itself. There are some who think it speaks positively. There are many of us who disagree with that assessment.
Russert did nowhere near the evil Helms did. I could see critical assessments, particularly of the hagiography around Russert, but the two weren’t really comparable at all. Helms was pure evil.
Getting a cheap thrill from dancing on his grave for me isn’t exactly what I personally need out of this event, though I understand why the sentiment is out there.
It would be nice to see a real analysis of the senator’s statements and record. A useful exercise would be to confront the conservatives talking heads who are currently lionizing him. If the senator was a great elected official, what can they point to as a justification for his long history of anti-minority and anti-gay views through the lens of modern politics? Is that something to be lauded for?
Helms’s death provides an opportunity, if the MSM chose to do so, to show how far this country (and of course NC) has come since his reign of legislative terror when it comes to race relations and gay rights.
Do today’s conservatives disagree with Helms’s views today? If so, what has changed culturally to put those views in the dustbin of history? If they do still cleave to those views, they should be prepared to own those views and defend them if asked for a statement about how great Helms was.
We’ve discussed all through the primary season how our country continues to have difficulty confronting race matters—Helms represented the worst aspects of white privilege, heterosupremacy, and is that in fact what the makes him a conservative icon to his fans?
My question—is that something the GOP and all the conservative talking heads are willing to openly embrace when reminiscing about Helms? To avoid that discussion and dialogue would be a purposeful and egregious omission, a skirting of that opportunity to hold the current iteration of the GOP accountable for the evolution of its cultural conservatism.
The fact is that there have been so many missed opportunities to assess where we have been as a society and where we want to go—the passing of Helms can be seen as the end of a sick, sad era only if people are willing to confront what motivated the man, his supporters and his detractors in that time. Without doing so we cannot learn anything about ourselves and our future.
I wish I had it handy, but Letterman’s top ten list of things that Jesse Helms was going to do when he retired included (and done from memory):
“Wonda what happened to that colored girl he kissed when he was fo-wah.”
and
“Catch up on that big pile o’ books he’d been meanin’ to burn”.
If Helms was often able to single-handedly block actions of President Clinton by using Senatorial tricks / procedures, whatevah, why haven’t Dem senators done the same?
I understand what you’re saying, Pam. But after the 1980s and 1990s AIDS fights with Helms, I’M CELEBRATING! I’m honestly a little surprised how happy I am, but also not. The ways he fostered death? The world is better without this old fuck in it.
I’m celebrating.
I wish I were close enough to a grave to piss on it. There is little that would make me happier today.
As a native southerner who was raised to not speak ill of the dead as well, I’ll just quote Christy Hardin Smith’s response this AM when she was informed of Jesse’s death
It would be nice to see a real analysis of the senator’s statements and record.
We can also extend the analysis out to his stance on Cuba, which helped warp American foreign policy for years. He didn’t only do his damage domestically—he was able to expand it out internationally.
Though this is about Thatcher, this goes out to MAJeff:
I saw a newspaper picture from the political campaign
A woman was kissing a child, who was obviously in pain
She spills with compassion, as that young childs’
Face in her hands she grips
Can you imagine all that greed and avarice
Coming down on that childs lips
Well I hope I don’t die too soon
I pray the lord my soul to save
Oh I’ll be a good boy, I’m trying so hard to behave
Because there’s one thing I know, I’d like to live
Long enough to savour
That’s when they finally put you in the ground
I’ll stand on your grave and tramp the dirt down
When England was the whore of the world
Margeret was her madam
And the future looked as bright and as clear as
The black tarmacadam
Well I hope that she sleeps well at night
Isn’t haunted by every tiny detail
Cos’ when she held that lovely face in her hands
All she thought of was betrayal
And now the cynical ones say that it all ends the same in the long run
Try telling that to the desperate father who just squeezed the life from his only son
And how it’s only voices in your head and dreams you never dreamt
Try telling him the subtle difference between justice and contempt
Try telling me she isn’t angry with this pitiful discontent
When they flaunt it in your face as you line up for punishment
And then expect you to say thank you straighten up, look proud and pleased
Because you’ve only got the symptoms, you haven’t got the whole disease
Just like a schoolboy, whose head’s like a tin-can
Filled up with dreams then poured down the drain
Try telling that to the boys on both sides, being blown to bits or beaten and maimed
Who takes all the glory and none of the shame
Well I hope you live long now, I pray the lord your soul to keep
I think I’ll be going before we fold our arms and start to weep
I never thought for a moment that human life could be so cheap
Cos when they finally put you in the ground
They’ll stand there laughing and tramp the dirt down
Though I’ve been lucky enough to never in my memory venture into the Bible Belt, I do remember Jesse Helms. It rather does make my head ache when I do, however.
Of course, in that little TV ad that Helms ran, everybody noticed that a man’s hands were used, the actor wore a flannel shirt, and prominently displayed a plain gold wedding band. The funny thing about it (other than sending a clear message about the kind of person the ad is targeting) is that the hands are manicured, soft, and possibly shaved/plucked of hair. These are certainly not the hands of a “workin’ man”. Helms: He won’t hire you to be in his ad which stereotypes you, even if you needed that job.
Back in 1990, when I lived in North Carolina and was a big Harvey Gantt supporter, I saw how gleefully racist and cruel Jesse Helms was during their senate race. Later, when I moved to Illinois and we elected the first female African American U.S. Senator, Carol Mosely Braun, I got to see him in action again, vowing to “sing ‘Dixie’ until she cries” every time his path crossed hers. (Her response: “Your singing is enough to make anyone cry.”)
I vowed then that on the day this evil excuse for a human being died I would wear a red dress. This morning I dug around in my closet and found one. Thankfully, it still fits.
“I vowed then that on the day this evil excuse for a human being died I would wear a red dress. This morning I dug around in my closet and found one. Thankfully, it still fits.”
I will take this opportunity, as I’ve simply let the Helms record speak for itself, to say a positive comment about the late Senator - he and his office excelled at constituent services, with prompt, specific responses to every query regardless if whether you had his support on a particular issue. He showed up frequently to meet with and take care of his constituents, and he was rewarded by winning re-election time and again. Those acts do matter; sadly, that personal touch and responsiveness enabled him to continue fomenting bigotry in the name of the state of North Carolina that did not—and certainly does not now—reflect the beliefs of most residents of this state.
Exactly. When people ask me why it is Strom Thurmond was continually re-elected despite his controversial past and why the people of South Carolina loved him so much, I say what you just said about Helms. Thurmond spoke at my middle school once, and I found him to be an engaging and funny man. Of course, that doesn’t mean I supported his politics nor would I have voted for him, but as a person, he could win you over like politicians are supposed to do. More than once I have heard from other residents of varying backgrounds that Senator Thurmond took care of his constituents, and I can understand why it was the same with Helms.
I’m not particularly sad he’s gone. I see it as an opportunity to move forward. I only hope that with Helms’s passing, many racist, classist, and homophobic beliefs die with him.
“Dr. King’s outfit…is heavily laden at the top with leaders of proven records of communism, socialism and sex perversion, as well as other curious behavior,”
Sign me up!
And Dakine01,
“Bless his heart…”
And the horse he rode in on.
And his legacy will be that no one will remember his name.
People people people, typing is cheap: the real mark of your regard is to travel to whatever benighted ceremony ol’ Jesse is pollutin’, and defecate on the bastard’s grave.
Comment #21: Eric, Rejector of Memes on
07/05 at
01:09 AM
DAMN: “cemetery” not “ceremony”.
Comment #22: Eric, Rejector of Memes on
07/05 at
01:10 AM
It had been my feeling that AIDS was a disease largely spread by reckless and voluntary sexual and drug-abusing behavior, and that it would probably be confined to those in high risk populations. I was wrong.
Please understand what this quote means. He apologized because AIDS spread to people he actually cared about, instead of merely resulting in the horrible, wasting, pointless deaths of the sorts of people he hated. He was sorry it spread to normal, moral people and would have done something about it had he only known that.
The man was vile, and if there be a God, Helms will rot in hell.
On the bright side, even if there be none, he will at least rot in the ground.
“I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure” - Clarence Darrow
What a wonderful way to celebrate the Fourth!!!!!!!!!
the world is a slightly better place today.