In my post on what Helms’s career might tell us about the modern GOP, I excerpted quotations from this compendium, including one saying,
“I’ve been portrayed as a caveman by some. That’s not true. I’m a conservative progressive, and that means I think all men are equal, be they slants, beaners or niggers.”
– February 6, 1985
Commenter Dr. J says this one’s too good to be true. Google around and you’ll see it all over the place, generally attributed to something called the North Carolina Progressive. What’s that? I don’t know.
So, is it real or not? Can anyone say more than what we know so far?
VERDICT: Not well sourced. Mea culpa, and I apologize. The catalogue of Helms’s adequately documented bigotries is long, but doesn’t include that.
(Of course, improbabilities being what they are, now the editor of the North Carolina Progressive will indignantly write, and I’ll have to apologize again….)
23 comments
July 7, 2008 at 3:42 pm
Josh
I think posts of this genre are generally prefaced “Dear Lazyweb…”
July 7, 2008 at 3:42 pm
Josh
Hallelujah! I’m free from the spamtrap! Free at last, free at last!
July 7, 2008 at 4:04 pm
eric
I think posts of this genre are generally prefaced “Dear Lazyweb…”
Josh, this is an area in which I assume people, like Dr. J, might be genuinely more expert than I.
And I can put you back in the spamtrap, you know.
July 7, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Waldo
I’ve seen the same quote all over the web and I suspect it is wishful thinking on the part of people who didn’t like Jesse Helms to begin with and so fell for it as proof.
I knew the old boy and while he was regrettable in so many ways, he was reasonably au courant with his cultural references. “Slants” and “Beaners” weren’t part of the political discussion in NC in 1985. Strikes 1 and 2. Strike 3: he never said “nigger.” He called them “Negroes” even after the term had lost its currency. Jesse tried to be a gentleman about the people he disliked.
July 7, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Josh
It’s certainly suspicious that that quote shows up so many places in exactly the same form, although I’ve found a few examples that indicate that they got it from something called “Yes, They Really Said It!” put out by the “Democratic Alliance”. A bit of searching fails to come up with either “Yes, They Really Said It!” or a website for the Democratic Alliance. I’ve also been completely unable to find any references on the web to a newspaper called the North Carolina Progressive.
July 7, 2008 at 4:34 pm
Dr J
Helms’s pronunciation of “Negro” could slip awfully close to the other word, depending on his audience. (But I still think this is a bogus quote.)
July 7, 2008 at 4:36 pm
w05
Sounds to me like a made-up quote that may originally have been published by someone — let’s say the North Carolina Progressive neighborhood newsletter — who assumed that it would be recognized as satire.
July 7, 2008 at 6:21 pm
eric
Hmm, Waldo, if you knew Helms and own a Log Cabin Republicans mug you must have some particular insight into the man….
July 7, 2008 at 6:25 pm
andrew
A quick search of the UNC and Duke library catalogs turns up only this publication for “North Carolina Progressive.”
July 7, 2008 at 6:25 pm
andrew
I think I just got filtered.
July 7, 2008 at 6:29 pm
eric
Thanks, Josh. I think that’s right; WorldCat doesn’t give me a North Carolina Progressive (though there is a Progressive Farmer, of NC, still publishing in 1985).
Which doesn’t mean it isn’t or wasn’t kind of a small alternative newspaper or something, as w05 suggests.
“Yes, They Really Said It!” seems to protest too much. It’s not on the web anymore but The Wayback Machine found it, here.
Further, if Helms did say it, he must have said it in what he understood as jest anyway. There’s no way that was an earnest sentiment.
But it is awfully juicy: it reminds me of this, from Dirty Harry:
July 7, 2008 at 6:32 pm
eric
Yeah, andrew, our spam filter is acting out for some reason.
July 7, 2008 at 6:33 pm
eric
(And by “awfully juicy,” I mean, sounds too good to be true.)
July 7, 2008 at 6:33 pm
urbino
Probably comes from a broken home.
July 7, 2008 at 6:34 pm
urbino
Your spam filter, I mean.
July 7, 2008 at 6:35 pm
eric
Well, Ari did leave us.
July 7, 2008 at 6:37 pm
urbino
There you have it. It misses its mother.
July 7, 2008 at 6:37 pm
hilzoy
I didn’t include it in my Great Big List because, after googling around for a bit, I couldn’t find a decent source.
July 7, 2008 at 6:41 pm
eric
Well done, hilzoy.
July 7, 2008 at 6:51 pm
“If you want to call me a bigot, fine.” « The Edge of the American West
[...] comments eric on Bogus bigotry?hilzoy on Bogus bigotry?urbino on Bogus bigotry?eric on Bogus bigotry?urbino on [...]
July 7, 2008 at 7:13 pm
Back to Evening Yoga « blueollie
[...] McCain is a Republican, right? (Republican, just as Jesse Helms was). Well Republicans just love Bush, so what is wrong with a McCain = Bush [...]
July 9, 2008 at 5:08 am
Tom Generous
For 28 years, my wife and I were faculty at Choate, the prep school in Connecticut. As retirement approached, she liked No. Carolina for its beauty and climite, which we saw on our annual trips to and from Florida. I said I was never going to live where they re-elected Jesse Helms all the time.
But a Carolina family lured us for a visit and I discovered two things: (1) Orange County (Chapel Hill) is as blue as Manhattan or San Francisco, and (2) there were squash courts at UNC but no program.
So we came in 1999, I created a squash program at UNC, and perhaps because he heard of our arrival, Helms retired. :)
But the Republicans hereabouts surely are descendants of all those “conservatives” who created and maintained slavery, the Civil War, Jim Crow, and Jesse Helms. Only rarely does one even try to hide his racism.
July 9, 2008 at 5:09 am
Tom Generous
sorry: climate.