As news commentator Paul Harvey used to say, “This is a strange.” A brief news item appeared in the Orlando Sentinel on Sunday, February 24. An editor/publisher of an Alabama newspaper wrote an editorial that appeared on Valentine’s Day in his paper. Reportedly, he called for mass lynchings and advocated that the Ku Klux Klan needed to “clean out” Washington. What? Surely, the date of this story should be April 1st. No one in his right mind would print something so hideous, so preposterous, so anti-American, so unchristian, would he? It must be a joke in poor taste, right?
No state government would allow such a thing, let alone the federal government. And even if they would, citizens (of all colors) would be in the streets protesting like nothing this nation has seen in a long time. And how logical can it be to ask the KKK to clean up Washington? It’s not as though they hold any power or have any elected authority. Probably 99% of the population is opposed to the racism they represent. No one would take any of their efforts seriously or follow them in trying to take over the government. We change things by ballots—not bullets. One is tempted to ask the editor, “What have you been smoking? What drugs are you on?” And yet, according to the newspaper, when he was challenged, he said he was sticking to what he had written.
Who is this guy? Everyone might have formed an image by now. Those who are thinking it might be an older guy are right; he was born in 1939. He took over the newspaper from his father nearly 40 years ago. And he was once suggested as a candidate for the Pulitzer Prize. Why? In 1998, he had the courage to publish a series of articles that “exposed corruption in the Marengo County Sheriff’s Office,” according to Wikipedia. Probably none of us would have suspected that. At the time, he received various awards for his good work. It is doubtful that he will receive any for this Valentine’s Day editorial.
Was he trying to be funny? If so, no one laughed. The entire editorial is on line for anyone who wants to read it. It sounds somewhat incoherent. Well, the guy does turn 80 this year; perhaps his thinking is confused. Although he sounds racist to the core, he hired a young black woman to work at the paper at the beginning of this year. One can only imagine how she felt when she saw the editorial. She was planning on resigning when a strange thing occurred.About a week after the editorial was published, the owner resigned and turned the newspaper over to her, telling her “she could carry on the legacy of his family by taking the paper in a ‘new direction’” (A6). Does anyone understand this event? Truly, it is a strange.