Norman — Editor, The Transcript:
I’m having a hard time thinking how to start this letter and what all to cover. Leonard Pitts’ editorial (Feb. 28), essentially about racism he believes to be part and parcel of the Tea Party attendees, stirred up so many thoughts and emotions that I have to say something. In the interest of space, let me just comment on his closing about “the woman last year who cried, plaintively, that she wanted her country back.”
It is not racist to want one’s country back, and it is wrong for Mr. Pitts to imply that the Tea Party lady is racist for saying what she did. Even Michael Moore once said that he wanted his country back. Perhaps most of us (older adults, for sure) can remember a time that, looking back, seemed better than today. I state without reservation that the times in which I grew up did not just seem better, they were better. Not in every respect, of course, but in many, the loss of which I frequently rue.
In the ’50s weren’t there fewer abortions, fewer divorces, fewer school dropouts? Wasn’t there more respect for authority figures, less vulgarity, less pornography, less drug use? Was there ever anyone spitting on our soldiers as they returned from war? Weren’t there fewer people living together outside of marriage? Did my mom have to worry when I went out to play and went off to a friend’s house without telling her or even when I, at age 12 or 13, rode by bike a couple of miles away?
I got a good education at public schools, where the standards were higher than they are now. Prayer and God were welcome at school. We had a vibrant national pastor (Billy Graham) we could look up to, unlike more recent nationally known ministers. I’ll even mention the beginning of rock’n roll — delightful and innocent (check out “Wake Up, Little Susie”) contrasted with rap and other recent and contemporary music. In the ’50s, our politicians hadn’t voted us into near bankruptcy and socialism.
I suppose I could go on and on with the list — you can add items close to your heart. But that’s enough to make my point: I certainly do want my country back. Sadly, Mr. Pitts may be right in his final sentence: that country “is already, irrevocably, gone.” In that he is referring to racism when he says that, I say amen. In that he may be referring to some of the things I’ve mentioned, I pray we can find a way to put our country in reverse, and stop it from going to hell in a handbasket. Not being a Tea Party participant, I can only intuit that much of what they want back in their country is in my list.
CHARLIE TAYLOR
Norman
