Posted on 12/22/2002, 9:31:43 PM by dogbyte12
HICKORY - U.S. Rep. Cass Ballenger, anticipating fallout from a newspaper interview in which he said he had “segregationist feelings” after conflicts with a black colleague, decided to have his yard's black lawn jockey painted white Friday.
“It was painted with the knowledge that he was attacked in the past for it, and it was likely to come up again,” said Dan Gurley, Ballenger's chief of staff.
The 3 1/2-foot tall cast iron statue has been in Ballenger's family since the 1920s. It has stood on the Northwest Hickory property since the 1950s when Ballenger built a house there.
The lawn jockey issue comes up every election, Gurley said.
Some leaders in Catawba County's black community have complained for years that the statue reminds them of an offensive history.
Ballenger was out of the office Friday and unavailable for comment, Gurley said.
Gurley provided a 1994 letter in which a longtime Ballenger friend explained that the stable jockey has sentimental meaning because it was one of the few items the family salvaged after the early death of Ballenger's father and the sale of the family home.
It was placed beside the driveway as a reminder of the happier days of Ballenger's youth, his friend said.
The congressman calls the statue “Rochester,” after the black valet in the old Jack Benny show.
It has been painted various colors over the years.
Gurley said he didn't know if the lawn jockey had ever been painted white before.
No message is intended by the lawn jockey, he said, and it's simply an antique.
“Perhaps for those that can't get past that, it would be less offensive by painting it white,” Gurley said.
Did you see what he said? It was harmless, and actually very funny. He said that Cynthia McKinney had made him have segregationist feelings because "she's such a *itch." It was very clear from his statements that he has no problem with the fact that she's black. He just can't stand her for being, well, Cynthia McKinney.
Ballenger, of Hickory, said he felt similar sentiments dealing with Rep. Cynthia McKinney, a Georgia Democrat known for her liberal politics and combative personality.
"If I had to listen to her, I probably would have developed a little bit of a segregationist feeling," he said. "But I think everybody can look at my life and what I've done and say that's not true. ... I mean, she was such a bitch."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/809801/posts
This is during an interview in which he called for Trent to step down as majority leader.
I agree with that. I held Lott's feet to the fire. But what this guy said was obviously tongue in cheek, and certainly not on par with publicly pining for the good old days of segregation.
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