I've been fairly well appalled at the hagiography of Jesse Helms in the wake of his death. The man was a racist and a homophobe.
They're saying he was a "gentleman" - which is utterly wrong. Would a gentleman have greeted Senator Carol Mosely-Braun (D-IL), the first black woman in the U.S. Senate, by entering the same elevator and literally whistling "Dixie" through the ride?
Which is why I'm so impressed with a man in North Carolina named L.F. Eason. From the Raleigh News-Observer:
L.F. Eason III gave up the only job he'd ever had rather than lower a flag to honor former U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms.
Eason, a 29-year veteran of the state Department of Agriculture, instructed his staff at a small Raleigh lab not to fly the U.S. or North Carolina flags at half-staff Monday, as called for in a directive to all state agencies by Gov. Mike Easley.
When a superior ordered the lab to follow the directive, Eason decided to retire rather than pay tribute to Helms. After several hours' delay, one of Eason's employees hung the flags at half-staff.
Here's what he told his staff:
"Regardless of any executive proclamation, I do not want the flags at the North Carolina Standards Laboratory flown at half staff to honor Jesse Helms any time this week," Eason wrote just after midnight, according to e-mail messages released in response to a public records request.
He told his staff that he did not think it was appropriate to honor Helms because of his "doctrine of negativity, hate, and prejudice" and his opposition to civil rights bills and the federal Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
And it's not like he's some anti-Republican radical. Just Jesse Helms:
A registered Democrat who frequently votes a split ticket, he said he had no problems lowering the flag for former Sen. Terry Sanford or President Reagan.
Damn. The only job he'd ever had - at a lab that he designed and built. And even despite pleadings from his staff and his wife.
That's integrity.