I'd rather that my city serve as a snapshot of the zeitgeist for something (anything) positive and enriching, but sometimes we must play the hand we're dealt, and so it goes that for a brief moment, New Albany has the national distinction of being home to a racist antique dealer.
New Albany's famous! We're a disaster area! Instead of Joe the Plumber, we have David the Racist!
Readers are forgiven for imagining that our designation as a disaster area owed to Hurricane Ike, not cultural proclivities.
As time permits today, I'll post links to responses, or in this first instance, the full text. It is from Randy Smith, as posted at Open Salon, where comments for national consumption can be left.
Anyone for a community-wide petition of business owners opposing this human stain?
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Dear America, New Albany rejects racism
Bear with me, America. I am from New Albany, Indiana. So you can find this post, I'll be using search terms within the body of this post. Here goes: racist, new albany, indiana, 9th district, david ward, racists, intolerance, obama, mccain, democrat, democrats, republican, republicans, election, chicago tribune, tribune, brenda ward, main street antiques, dan coffey, 202 east main street, 202 e. main st., antique, antiques, black.
Late, late, late on Saturday night, after returning from seeing Oliver Stone's film "W.," my wife and I sat down to watch Saturday Night Live (SNL). That's the one with Sarah Palin, Tina Fey, Mark Wahlberg, Oliver Stone, Josh Brolin, and Adele. Amy Poehler was one beautiful mommy, wasn't she.
Seconds before the show ended, I turned to my wife and said, "OK. I'm going to check to see if the world has ended." Sure enough, for those of us in New Albany (we call ourselves New Albanians), it came pretty close.
I booted up, on battery, thinking I'd make short work of checking e-mail and news. Boy, was I wrong.
Having only one trivial e-mail in the previous six hours, I checked in to our city's pre-eminent blog, NA Confidential, whose editors, Roger Baylor and Jeff Gillenwater, can be relied on to articulate the progressive view in New Albany, Indiana.
Jeff, then Roger, made sure their readers would know about the abomination that befouled our city on Saturday when the Chicago Tribune reported first-person electoral opinions from the 9th District of Indiana as part of an analysis of the surprising development that INDIANA, of all places, is a toss-up state for the 2008 presidential race.
Dewey DID narrowly defeat Truman for our electoral votes in 1948, but since then, Indiana's electoral treasure has never been in doubt. LBJ took them in '64, but the GOP has owned them.
Perhaps no longer. A certain gentleman, to wit, David Ward, an "antiques" dealer in New Albany, became this weekend's "Joe the Plumber," but perhaps to the deep consternation of Republicans, including incumbent Gov. Mitch Daniels, congressional candidate Mike Sodrel, and GOP standard-bearers John McCain and Sarah Heath Palin.
Indiana? Source of the "October surprise?"
It just may be.
As background, let me relate to you that the weekend conversation here has been whether Democrats here do in fact support the presidential candidate, Barack Obama. I, myself a Hillary Clinton supporter, wagered on Roger and Jeff's blog that even our city council, consisting of 8 Democrats and 1 Republican, might not be able to muster a majority of votes for Obama-Biden.
The local Democratic Party chairman chided "us" as dilettantes sitting on our asses and blogging instead of pounding the pavement and making cold calls on behalf of our preferred candidate, and only obliquely addressed our dissatisfaction with the official Democratic Party establishment's suspect and unenthusiastic support for Obama's campaign for change.
D'oh! Who knew the Chicago Tribune was working the case?
Deep in this story, two New Albany dopes were captured for posterity. Slack-jawed mouthbreather Kenneth Hodge (me likee me guns) gets a pass. But thousands of us in New Albany will rise to reject the beliefs of a certain David Ward, identified as someone "who runs an antique shop with his wife in New Albany."
The business address and phone number of Mr. Ward's business is included here. May I suggest you consult 411.com and enter "David Ward" and "47150" should you wish to contact the man.
The business in question was spotlighted in our local newspaper a year ago after Mr. Ward and his wife, Brenda, took over management from New Albany's senior Democratic city council member, Daniel J. (Dan) Coffey. Here's the story from October of 2007, titled Q&A: Brenda Ward has a love for antiques.
I do not know Brenda, nor David. David's antiquated views are not ours. But I do know New Albany.
Mr. Roget doesn't have enough synonyms for "reject" to adequately express our disdain, disgust, repulsion, denial, or embarrassment at this portrayal of our city's mindset.
For the record, here's the offending (and offensive) passage from Saturday's Chicago Tribune:
For others, like David Ward, who runs an antique shop with his wife in New Albany, the issue is race. Ward, a registered Democrat, said he will vote for McCain "mainly because he's not black."
New Albanians, in shock right now, will be back on Sunday with more articulate thoughts. I'll link to local comment and respond as I can during the day.
In the interim, please know that New Albanians, and this practicioner of New Albanism (as for me and my house...) stand ready to persuade you that while the local embarrassment is undeniable, Mr. Ward DOES NOT represent New Albany.
I'll sign the petition. It seems to me that partisans and independents would be equally willing to repudiate this stain.
ReplyDeleteCrossposting from the Open Salon and The Newalbanistitem, I said:
ReplyDeleteIt occurs to me that some of my friends for whom gun rights are very important might misunderstand my dismissal of the "other" New Albanian mentioned in the Chicago Tribune article.
My snideness and meanness was unrelated to the merits of that issue. My first thought was that anybody who believes Barack Obama is going to take away his guns is not thinking straight. No president is going to do that, so saying you won't vote for Obama on that ground is ridiculous.
Perhaps this "dope" and "slack-jawed mouthbreather" is thinking more deeply about the issue than you're giving him credit for.
ReplyDeleteObama likely will not directly "take away his guns," but he'd be less likely than McCain to veto any draconian gun legislation, and be less likely to appoint pro-Second Amendment judges and justices.
Not to say that McCain is the best candidate for gun rights advocates, but he's certainly the lesser of the two evils.
I'm not a business owner but I'll gladly sign anything rejecting Mr. Ward's view and his rotten portrayal of New Albany.
ReplyDeletePerhaps we should consider a letter to the Chicago Tribune as well.
Gee..gun legislation..wow...heaven forbid! Why...it might lead to less crime...or a cut down in the daily shootings in Louisville, and in other places. Why..such a thing could lead to no kids getting shot or killed because they found their parents pistol left out for them to find and play with.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah..Roger...I will sign that petition too.
ReplyDelete.Gee..gun legislation..wow...heaven forbid! Why...it might lead to less crime...
ReplyDeleteBecause we all know that criminals will certainly obey any new gun laws, just like they obey the ones we already have. . . .
Didn't Jeff say less-than-one week ago that, on the contrary, such backward views ARE indicative of New Albany?
ReplyDeleteI sense double-standards cropping upon the playing field; we all gloat with our One Of Them People signs (yardsigns or the destruction thereof are not hate crimes, people) and yet when the distance is delineated between their beliefs and ours, we somehow manage the charade of being shocked.
"Amy Poehler was one beautiful mommy, wasn't she."
ReplyDeleteIsn't the baby her first? If so, since the baby is in her womb, isn't it a little early to call her a mommy? ;-)
I believe I used the words "significant portion", Jon, and within the context of changing both the perceptions they engender and the reality those perceptions propagate.
ReplyDeleteIt's difficult to attract talent (or even decency) with a spokesperson like Mr. Ward. If New Albanians don't speak out in opposition, only his voice is heard and becomes long distance truth by default.
To that end, I'd refer you to our site meter and, more specifically, the referral link it contains.
Because of quick (and sadly necessary) outreach, people from all over the country are checking out NAC for the first time today and getting a glimpse of the New Albany we're working for rather than the admittedly honest but incomplete one Mr. Ward portrays.
No one is shocked or even surprised that a local person would say such a thing but the larger than usual stage leaves us with a choice:
Sit silently while the likes of unwitting racists define us for the world or use the ignorance displayed in the Tribune article for community building and solidarity on a national level.
I'm choosing the latter. Which one do you want?
Racism is always wrong. Gun control laws don't remove guns from the streets. And Amy Poehler is not a "mommy" until her fetus makes it out of the hospital according to Peter Singer.
ReplyDelete