Reality and Fantasy in the Albany (Ga.) Herald

It is so hard to know where to start: recently, the Albany Herald published a guest editorial which extolled the virtues of the Confederacy without once mentioning the words “slave” or “slavery” or that the result of the Confederacy’s defeat was the enactments of Constitutional Amendments guaranteeing the end of slavery (the 13th), equal protection under the law and due process of law for all (the 14th), and the unfettered right to vote (15th). Coincidentally, the writer praised a black man who fought for the Confederacy- I say “coincidentally,” because the Herald ran its own editorial in defense of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, whose scheduled address at the University of Georgia’s commencement has spawned protests. Now there is a man whose character makes it clear that he assuredly would have fought on the side which intended to keep his brethren in shackles forever.

In other words, the Herald honors with its editorial space a self styled American patriot who praises a group which fired upon the flag of the United States (apparently, killing American soldiers carrying the Stars and Stripes is OK so long as it happened 147 years ago) and a self hating black man whose every position in life was provided by his white sponsors, regardless of his lack of ability (does anyone really believe he was qualified to head the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission when he had never spent one moment representing victims of discrimination- or that he was the most qualified person in the country to be appointed to the Supreme Court when he had never appeared in a courtroom as a lawyer or represented an actual human being in his life?)

One has to wonder: at one point does fantasy end and reality begin?