I am a native of Washington State, and something is happening today that disgusts me.
The newly commissioned Washington State Legacy Project publishes oral histories and biographies of instrumental people who’ve shaped our history. Recently retired Aberdeen World Editor, now director of The Legacy Project, John Hughes is going to release 3 oral histories today; Krist Novoselic, who was in a band and has written a book, the Honorable Charles Z. Smith, our state's first African American Judge, and Adele Ferguson, "one of this region's most notable story tellers".
Since I posted this, I've become a bit obsessed. Follow me through the mud puddle for the finest of muck raking...
My co-workers and I were appalled to see this article(pdf) in a local small town paper 3 years ago. One of our customers brought us a copy she had picked up on the ferry to work that morning. I had assumed Adele Ferguson would tone it down a bit after that smack-down.
The pony hidden in slavery is the fact that it was the ticket to America for black people. I have long urged blacks to consider their presence here as the work of God, who wanted to bring them to this raw, new country and used slavery to achieve it. A harsh life, to be sure, but many immigrants suffered hardships and indignations as indentured servants. Their descendants rose above it. You don’t hear them bemoaning their forebears’ life the way some blacks can’t rise above the fact theirs were slaves.
Darryl, Goldyand The General all covered this hack.
Her current column conflates getting a Somali coin in her change at a local grocery with Somali pirates riding the Puget Sound ferries with AK47s.
So I poked the googles a bit more. Back in 1992, she didn't know nuthin 'bout Rock-n-Roll. When state Sen. Brad Owen, D-Shelton , hosted a concert to help with drug addiction, she dismissed his efforts, and dissed the preformers:
Attractions will include the Ridler Brothers, the Marvelles, Merilee Rush, Junior Cadillac, Seattle Women in Rhythmn and Blues, Strategic Command, Beatles' impersonators "Rain" and Jimi Hendrix impersonator Randy Hansen, whoever they are.
In '94, she began her column with a kindergarten teacher's Santy Claus revelation and manages to segue over to teh Gay Life style, I'm not quite sure how, I got lost in the fold there a bit.
Then there's this week's column for the Spokane Miner. OMG! Bush was treated unfairly by the press.
Oh, and then there's that time she said:
The Washington Legislature also used Al Gore's error-filled fiction on global warming as its Bible in targeting greenhouse emissions. They should have turned instead to the works of their former governor and scientist, Dixy Lee Ray, who called Gore, "an environmental extremist ignoring the truth because it counters his political aspirations."
Adele lost a good friend when Dixy died. Let's have a moment of silence and then break into several choruses of "Ding! Dong! The Wicked Witch is dead!" just like we did back in 1994.
And what did dear Adele have to say about Gary Locke, now nominated to Secretary of Commerce? His not running for re-election had nothing to do with the death threats his family endured after rebutting Bush's '03 speech, nothin! I tell ya nothin!
Emperor Norton captured her open letter to Bill Gates". Luckily, a child came by, and explained the vast universe of teh intertubes, and so we are able to enjoy Adele's columns to this day.
I am appalled and aghast that this specious "journalist" is being feted in any sense, and that her evilness will dwell in the archives of my state shames me. I'm so pissed I'm writing my first diary here. Thanks to Brillig & CS for the encouragement.