Jesse Helms was a bad man who hurt a lot of people with his unrepentant racism and homophobia. He died decades too late. Though he should not have been honoured in any way, the state of North Carolina ordered the flags flown at half-mast.
But L.F. Eason III, a technician at the Agriculture Department, said no.
“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.
“This is in no way a political decision. I simply do not feel it is appropriate to honor a person whose epitaph of government service was to have voted against or blocked every civil rights issue that came before the US Congress. His doctrine of negativity, hate, and prejudice cost North Carolina and our Nation much that we may never regain.”
…
“I made a decision to refuse to lower our flags at the NC Standards Laboratory to half mast in honor of Jesse Helms as soon as I heard of his death. I cannot in good conscience honor such a man who fought so hard against Civil and Human Rights throughout his life. Even to his death bed, he refused to apologize for the damage he caused. Now, I stand by this decision.
He got fired, and the flags went up anyway. It may seem pointless, like he should have given in. But he didn’t, and for that, Mr Eason is my hero of the week.
10 July 2008 at 2:10 am
LF Eason has no charactor.
Jesse Helms was a man of principle, and public service.
Lf Eason you dishonor all who are North Carolinians. Weather you agree with his Ideaology or not Jesse Helms was a brave and principled man who grew up in a different time.
10 July 2008 at 2:36 am
Eason is an idiot. Just proves the hate that Eason has in his heart. NC State government will be a better place without this guy!
10 July 2008 at 2:52 am
Jesse Helms was a hateful bigot. He was not brave, he was not principled, and he used his power to trample on the livelihoods of decent human beings. I will not miss him any more than I would Adolf Hitler, and I’m from North Carolina.
My profound thanks to L.F. Eason III, for refusing to kowtow to feigned sorrow for a horrible man.
10 July 2008 at 2:55 am
@good guy: Please explain anything that Jesse Helms ever did that could be classified as brave.
11 July 2008 at 1:51 am
L F Eason III makes me proud to be an American. I have to wonder at “Good Guy’s” level of education considering the numerous errors in his brief piece; it makes me sad and explains why he would stick up for Helms
Well-read
11 July 2008 at 2:22 am
Just like Eason most of you don’t know anything except what sound bytes you caught. Helms did alot for the farmers and citizens of North Carolina. He hand wrote his responses to everyone who wrote him for help. And helped where alot of the other would not. You can hear story after story from black white and yellow. He opposed Martin Luther King as a National Holiday because it cost and didnt want to burden the American tax payer any more than we already were. Private companys for the most part didnt participate in this holiday. Martin Luther King was a great man and deserved a Holiday but you have to repect Helms satnd when it was unpopular.
He was Brave b/c he often said what other wouldn’t. He was raised in a rural North Carolina where almost everyone was a part of the argricultural community in one way or another. Belief in gay rights was not even up for discussion. Maybe he stayed to long but still he was a US senator from North Carolina he deserves respect from us all.
11 July 2008 at 2:36 am
“Good Guy” is a North Carolinian born and raised and as a matter of fact has enough education to realize that being nice and not saying hateful stuff about others is a smarter way to get my point across. And instead of putting other down put some actual facts in your blog to support point, I learned that in English 101 at UNCW. DC please put facts in your blog, how can you possibly compare Hitler to Helms. You been listening to network news to much.
12 July 2008 at 1:27 am
Oh ya, and the The Confederate Flag isn’t racist. Not only do some people have a hard time seeing beyond their own country, apparently some people can’t even see past The South.
13 July 2008 at 1:15 pm
Eason, instead of following the usual revisionist media hype, spoke the truth. Jesse Helms record was that of a man who helped only a “select few people”. Not all North Carolinians. With a history of open bigotry, it is a sad statement about his North Carolina constituents that supported him…
14 July 2008 at 9:37 pm
Again Plantman No facts just hear say, things you want to believe give me facts. You are the one who perceives Helms for what youve heard and not the truth so maybe your the racist or the hetrofob. The man gave his life to public service and maybe his conservative beliefs were alittle old fashioned, but he came from a different generation, who had different beliefs. The fact is most North Carolinans believed in Senator Helm b/c they kept electing him. He was no bigot, thats like saying because I dont believe in giving to the negro college fund that Im a racist and Im not. And as far as not seeing past the South, the south is a beautiful place and its changing, our way of life is changing. Being southern and proud of it is not a racist thing. The confederate flag is. I didn’t live 120 odd some years ago. I believe all men and women are created equal even if your gay.
19 July 2008 at 9:41 am
Well, anonymous, I’m not willing to dismiss Helms’ racism because of his generation, like he was my Aunt Irma or something. Last I checked, my Aunt Irma wasn’t head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
He came from another generation, but he lived in ours, and while he lived, he made everything crappier for the rest of us. He got elected and re-elected by appealing to the racism of, dare I say, a sizable number of the people of North Carolina.
P.S. I am not a heterophobe.