July 29, 2000
Editor
Times-Argus
Barre, Vermont 05641
Dear Sir:
I was born and raised in the American South at the time of segregation and Jim Crow. I recall quite vividly the blatant racism of that time period and the resistance of ignorant, bigoted white people to the great changes brought about by the Civil Rights Movement. I remember well the newspapers full of angry letters trying to justify "the way things always were". I remember, too, the huge billboards throughout the South, put up by the die-hard segregationists, that read "Impeach Earl Warren" (a Republican, by the way), whose U.S. Supreme Court had ruled courageously on behalf of equal rights for blacks and whites.
What I see now in Vermont -- when I open the letter pages of the "Times Argus" or other newspapers and find the letters full of hatred and when I come across the "Remember in November" and "Take Back Vermont" signs -- reminds me of those bad old days. The only difference, as far as I can tell, is that the people being attacked are gay people rather than people of color. Otherwise, the mentality is essentially the same. The white racists in the South also liked to quote frequently from the Bible to defend their rotten ideas.
Of course, I did not think Vermont was somehow immune to ignorance and bigotry. I know that most Vermonters are people of good will and conscience. These other people are certainly a minority. But to see so much of this hateful stuff coming out from under a rock somewhere is very shocking. I hope that other people are just as shocked by it as I am.
Especially troubling and perplexing is to read the letters-to-the-editor in which the writers make utterly clear how prejudiced they are at heart against our gay brothers and sisters -- and how deeply scared they are of differences in sexual orientation. They then turn right around later in the very same letter and defend themselves all over the place from being called "bigots".
It's good that "bigot" has become a dirty word, as it should be. But, boy, there seems to be a lot of denial in this reactionary crowd. If you're going to act like a bigot, then don't be surprised if people are going to call you exactly what you are. If you don't want to be called "bigot", then, I would suggest, start looking into yourself, make whatever changes are needed, and cease being one. Ignorance and bigotry are like diseases. Many of us once had these same diseases. But these are diseases that, with help, can be cured.
I wish we could all be glad to be living in Vermont, to be in the forefront of progressive change for our generation, instead of living in a still benighted place like Virginia, where I come from, which is run by the zealots of the religious right. I say to all you people with these signs on your lawns and trucks, if that's what you really want, if you can't change to understand and respect your fellow human beings, why don't you go live there instead?
Thank goodness, people are beginning to organize in response to these manifestations of ignorance and bigotry. I rejoiced to hear that people were gathering the other night at the Rec Field in Plainfield to make some positive signs to counteract all these signs of dismal backwardness. Let's hope signs like that will proliferate everywhere. I was equally happy to learn that a spunky person in Orange County has acquired the Internet domain name, www.takebackvermont.com, and has begun to use it instead to organize against bigotry.
We can't wait too long to take action. The historical lesson of the struggles in the South is that people of good will and conscience, of all sorts, have to resist ignorance and bigotry at every step. Although there are certainly sociological explanations for why this is happening, we must not let it pass or make any excuses for it. Otherwise, it will continue to rear its ugly head. Only a long process of struggle will overcome it once and for all.
Yours sincerely,
Jay Moore
research@neravt.com