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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neocon who wrote (68378)	11/26/2002 12:13:45 PM
From: The Philosopher	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 82486

Sorry, but the hoses and dogs were turned on them not because what they were doing was illegal, even if it were, and that was endlessly debated (my recollection is that nobody was convicted of anything in that march, but I could be wrong), but because their message was so threatening. It's very hard for someone who was not present at the time to understand how terrifying the idea of integration was to many, many people in the South. If you had asked them whether the would rather have the Communists take over and keep segregation, or retain our democracy and move to integration, many would, quite frankly, have chosen Communism. So while the Jews in Skokie were living with the terrible memories of inhuman and devestating acts, those were in the past and there was not direct threat to their present or future way of life. The segregationists in the South were looking at a future which would destroy (and in fact has destroyed) the lifestyle they had grown up with and believed in and would bring what to them were unspeakable evils such as black elected officials governing white people, interracial marriage, and the like. So yes, the two were quite different things, a painful reminder of past horrors on the one hand and a fear of devestating destruction of lifestyle on the other. But the officials in Skokie didn't argue, as I recall, that they were incapable of maintaining order if the march went on. And it is the job of the government to do just that, to maintain order even in challenging circumstances.