Taking offense off the table

What started out as a protest against the display of a Confederate flag nearly two months ago has now snowballed into a controversy that got press attention in Spokane as well as North Idaho. It has resulted in personal attacks as well as a “go back where you came from” mentality. What I haven’t seen in all this dialogue is any attempt to look at the big picture.

Let me preface my remarks by stating that I view slavery as totally disgusting. Years ago I visited a facility known as the black holocaust museum, and an up-close observation of the implements of torture displayed should be enough to turn an individual’s stomach.

But we live in a mining region, and we should be reminded that much of the earliest underground mining in the ancient world was accomplished with slave labor. Furthermore, fire was used to fracture the rock by alternating heating and then cooling it with cold water. It was only when an unacceptable number of slaves lost their lives from smoke inhalation that multiple openings to the surface were pursued to improve ventilation.

Most of those slaves ended up that way by being on the losing end of armed conflict. The color of their skin had virtually nothing to do with it.

The real issue here, as I see it, is that people vary widely as to what should be considered offensive, and at the forefront of that issue is clearly evident intent. Does a kid playing with matches intend to burn down his lifelong home, or is he/she just trying to satisfy some level of curiosity?

Dozens of good examples bring this to light, and I believe we would be wise to look at a few. How about the sports teams from Orofino, Idaho, who go by the name Maniacs? Are they truly trying to ridicule the mentally disturbed individuals institutionalized there? When that possibility was discussed by the townspeople, the overwhelming consensus was that regardless of what some people read into the issue, the name remains. There was no “criminal intent.”

Other sports teams and landmarks have been equally evaluated, and by and large the names stuck. We still have the Cleveland Indians, Washington Redskins and locally Squaw Creek and Dago Peak. How about ”Big Dick?” Want to know how that name was chosen? An early pioneer in the St. Joe region, at six and a half feet tall, named Dick Talbot was very well liked, and a mountain peak was named after him. I see no reason to rename it “Talbot Peak.”

However, even when planned discrimination does rear its ugly head, there are more subtle, but I believe just as effective ways to deal with them than name-calling and character degradation.

Remember when the Aryan Nations followers wanted to participate in a big parade in Coeur d’Alene? Since they despised Jews as much as blacks, I would have been delighted to see a rival group create a huge flag with the face of Moses Alexander on it and a caption under it stating “Idaho had the first Jewish governor in the United States — and he was re-elected.”

I bet that such a group just ahead of Butler and his followers would have brought smiles to the faces of a number of onlookers!

John Amonson is a resident of Wallace.