Representative James Clyburn (D-SC) said on Countdown last night that his offices had been getting many faxes from anti-HIR people, with racial epithets and drawings of nooses in them. What should the Congressman do with them?
Last night on the MSNBC show Countdown, Representative James Clyburn (D-SC) said that his offices had been getting many faxes from opponents of the Health Insurance Reform Bill that contained racial epithets and drawings of nooses.
If you look at some of the faxes that I got today, racial slurs, nooses on gallows, and I'm telling you, some very vicious language. This stuff is not all that isolated. It's pretty widespread. I hope it's not too deep.
The question arises: What should the Congressman do with them?
I propose that the Congressman have his staff convert the faxes to PDF files and to make them available to the world at large via download from his web site.
Expose the ugliness to the disinfecting qualities of sunlight.
I would at least partially redact personal information like names, addresses, and fax numbers. I say this because there may be Privacy Act concerns. (I have not researched that issue, so I can't say one way or the other.) Separate and apart from any Privacy-Act concerns, there is the issue of spoofing... people using other people's names and addresses and (if they are technically proficient enough) fax numbers because they don't have the guts to use their own. Some totally innocent people's names might get put out there. There is also the possibility of rogue racist employees using their employers' fax machines without the employers' knowledge. Without at least partial redaction, some totally innocent people's and companies' names might get put out there and cast in an inaccurate light.
The Congressman should also send copies to Teh Man of Steele and Agent Orange, along with a cover letter demanding specific condemnation and calls, in the name of the GOP, for:
-- such ugliness to stop immediately; and
-- for those who have engaged in such despicable behavior to follow up with written apologies; and
-- for them to atone for their transgressions by making donations to a worthy charity like the United Negro College Fund, or a nonprofit hospital that serves a largely minority population (minimum donation... $50? $100? $250? $500?).
The Congressman should also introduce the racist and threatening faxes with a cover Resolution of the House that condemns not only the behavior, but also the attitudes that give rise to such actions. Make the Republicans vote on the Resolution, and put both the text of the Resolution and the tally of the votes in the Congressional Record.