Satan is NOT Dead: Some Evil Thoughts on Jesse Helms

Note: This was a totally accidental placement of an ad for a baseball's team 4th of July picnic on top of Helms' obituary. I think they've apologized by now. Then again, maybe not.

Dying on The Fourth of July puts Senator Jesse Helms in quite elite company: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe (see previous post). Whether or not he deserves to be in such august company is another matter altogether. Through the wishful thinking of the American public, many people thought he was dead long ago.

Of course, I will always remember him as the bulwark of prejudice against people with AIDS. He hated homosexuals with a venom that made some Republicans wince. He opposed all funding for AIDS agencies or research.

He was known as "Senator NO!" And it seemed that everything he attempted or touched had a negative quality to it. His first Senate campaign was based on ethnic bias ("Vote for Helms - He's One of Us") against Congressman Nick Galifianakis of Durham, NC.

Here are some telltale quotes from "Senator NO":

"The Negro cannot count forever on the kind of restraint that's thus far left him free to clog the streets, disrupt traffic, and interfere with other men's rights."

"Crime rates and irresponsibility among Negroes are a fact of life which must be faced."

"All Latins are volatile people. Hence, I was not surprised at the volatile reaction."

"Homosexuals are weak, morally sick wretches."

"Your tax dollars are being used to pay for grade-school classes that teach our children that cannibalism, wife-swapping and murder of infants and the elderly are acceptable behavior."

"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."

Satan? To some, perhaps. But I tend to think of him as a precursor to Satan: someday the supreme Christofascist might take hold of the country - HE will be Satan.