<HEAD>
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1491" name=GENERATOR></HEAD>
<BODY>
<DIV>Nick writes, in part:</DIV>
<DIV><BR>"I accept Wilson's repeated disavowals of racism, but he cannot deny his associations with the neo-Confederate movement."</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I'm sorry to differ with Nick on this point, but I don't accept Doug Wilson's repeated disavowals of racism. Why? Because I've heard them all before -- from George Wallace to Jesse Helms, from Strom Thurmond to Trent Lott, very few of us white Southerners will admit to being racist. Instead, we trot out the world's oldest excuses. Doug has a multi-racial congregation. So what? We can class that with the old "some of my best friends are black" trope. When I have suggested that what Wilson writes and says, not to mention the company he keeps, strongly suggest that his disavowals are just so much hot air, I am often advised to note the presence of a single black student at Greyfriars. One black student. Indeed. Are we expected to hip-hip hooray? </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>My cousin, Tammy, attended a school in North Carolina called Southern Christian Academy. They had one (count him, one) black student, too. And yet that school and many, many other Southern Christian academies were created back in the sixties to avoid full-fledged integration. Segregationist whites could live with one black student in a school of 700, but not with the 40% black student population of the public schools. The fact that Doug and his followers (and his family and friends) are so quick to point to their one black student should be enough to make anyone suspicious. It reeks of desperation.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Do I have other reasons for not accepting Doug's disavowals of racism? How about my familiarity with Doug's writings on a wide and varied array of subjects? When Doug writes about the South and the Civil War, he is decidedly racist, but his book, "A Serrated Edge," has its racist moments as well. Doug's interpretation of Matthew 15:21 and following has Jesus making an ethnic slur; it has Jesus using the word "nigger." That is far from the standard interpretation of that text, as Keely and others can (and, I hope, will) tell you what Jesus meant in making an analogy between the Phoenician woman and a dog. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I have read many of Doug's columns in Credenda Agenda (<A href="http://www.credenda.org">www.credenda.org</A>), and he has on more than one occasion lapsed into Uncle Remus-speak in attempt to be funny. Well, it ain't funny. Doug is many things, but he's no Groucho Marx. (Would that he were Harpo Marx, who just played his instrument and kept his mouth shut.)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>We are all racist, brothers and sisters. Racism is a toxin we imbibe every day in this culture, whether we like it or not. Without making a conscious effort, we cannot simply breathe it out. There's no escape; there's only awareness. At the two showings of the movie of "My Town" at the Kenworthy, people of color have stood up and told all of us that they do not feel comfortable in Moscow; that they do not feel safe. They point the finger at Doug and at our -- meaning white, liberal, progressive Moscow's -- anemic response to him.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>It's time to stop pussy-footing around. Doug is willing to call a shovel a spade, and I am willing to call Doug a racist. How can he fix that? He can quit pointing to his congregation and his one African-American student. He can stop and think before he writes. He can make new friends who aren't members of the League of the South (<A href="http://www.dixienet.org">www.dixienet.org</A>). Most important of all, he can admit his error and apologize. The penitent man is humble before God. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>(Don't be impressed. I learned that line from the third Indiana Jones movie.) </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Joan Opyr/Auntie Establishment</DIV>
<DIV><A href="http://www.auntie-establishment.com">www.auntie-establishment.com</A></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV></BODY>