American Hero? Worker Ordered to Honor Jesse Helms Quits Job Instead
If you were sickened in the past week by much of the media coverage of the passing of "conservative icon" Jesse Helms, you ought to take heart from the following. A state worker in Helms' native North Carolina named L.F. Eason III quit the only job he'd ever had rather than lower the flag to honor longtime racist Helms.
This is how the Raleigh News & Observer put it today: "Eason, a 29-year veteran of the state Department of Agriculture, instructed his staff at a small Raleigh lab not to fly the U.S. or North Carolina flags at half-staff Monday, as called for in a directive to all state agencies by Gov. Mike Easley.
"When a superior ordered the lab to follow the directive, Eason decided to retire rather than pay tribute to Helms. After several hours' delay, one of Eason's employees hung the flags at half-staff."
It all began last Sunday, when Eason emailed his staffers that he did not think it was apt to honor Helms because of his "doctrine of negativity, hate, and prejudice," his opposition to civil rights bills and the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
The News & Observer continues:
When the lab opened Monday morning, the flags were not out at all. An employee called Eason's boss, Stephen Benjamin, who worked in another building in Raleigh. About 10:45 a.m., Benjamin told one of Eason's co-workers to put the flags at half-staff. Another of Eason's superiors later drove by the lab to make sure the flags were up properly.No one in the Governor's Office was aware of any time in recent memory when a state employee refused to lower a flag. Brian Long, a spokesman for the Agriculture Department, said Eason's refusal was unexpected. "We've never had any conversations like that," he said.
In a string of e-mail messages with his superiors, Eason was told he could either lower the flags or retire effective immediately.
Though he's only 51, Eason chose to retire, although he pleaded several times to be allowed to stay at the lab. Eason, who had worked for the Agriculture Department since graduating from college, was paid $65,235 a year as the laboratory manager.
Several people, including his wife, argued to Eason that the flags belonged to the state, as did the lab. But Eason said he felt a strong sense of ownership.
He later sent an email to the governor explaining his decision, saying of Helms: "Even to his death bed, he refused to apologize for the damage he caused. Now, I stand by this decision. It is a personal decision, but obviously affects my job at the lab....I also understand that my decision is not acceptable. You cannot ignore that fact. There is the law, but there is also a higher law I must follow as a matter of conscience."
Eason said he had considered not lowering the flag when former President Nixon died -- but was saved then by the rain.
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Greg Mitchell's new book is So Wrong for So Long: How the Press, the Pundits -- and the President -- Failed on Iraq.
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As a progressive minded person and one who had military experience, I write this recognition in respect of a worthy adversary who stood for everything I fought to change in America.
Senator Jesse Alexander Helms, Jr. was an ardent conservative politician. He struggled ruthlessly against social change. He stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the likes of George Wallace in supporting the precept of racial segregation yesterday, segregation today and segregation tomorrow. The senator from North Carolina did a remarkable job, along with his compatriots, in their attempt to thwart social change in this country that would bring equality to all Americans.
Senator Helms saw this country through 18th century spectacles where white women knew their subservient place in society and people of color were no more than chattel to the white-male ruling class. It is people like the senator that makes me very proud of the hard-fought social war that we waged for the freedoms that we, now, enjoy.
Fortunately, today, warriors like Helms are only a handful, but their legacy continues. The possibility of conservative revitalization of the likes of a hundred years ago is highly unlikely. However, it is imperative that progressive thinkers continue to struggle for the inclusion of all in this great social experiment called democracy. We must keep America strong through its diverse skills-set, diverse perspectives and talents.
A true patriot and a man of scruples. Good going Eason.
Please do not let this story die. Post a place where we can contriute and let the world know that this was an honorable thing to do. So many politicans today have no honor and it's just a job to them.
Helms has now met his maker and one can only hope that now Mr. Helms begs for the mercy he denied so many over the years.
I don't think that they should have even offered him retirement. As his wife pointed out, the flags AND the lab both belonged to the state, and the leader of the state gave a perfectly valid order to fly STATE flags at half staff.
Now then, I agree with the sentiment, and I also agree that Eason should have said no if the governor ordered ALL flags at half staff......
A better question is why did the governor order the flag to fly at half staff. When america honors people like this it makes us look so stupid. This guy was a unabashed racist to his dying day. What a choice. Honor a racist or retire. You call that a valid order? Stuff like this is why i believe race still matters to people.
I live in North Carolina. I can assure you, many people here do not like and did not vote for Jesse Helms. This state has also changed a great deal since he fell from power. Elizabeth Dole's days are numbered, too. The Helms' gravesite is last thing to pass in city's historical cemetary on the way out, a large white stone with the two Helms' names on it. I close my eyes everytime I pass it, lest I be cursed with the same malady.
This man's honor won't retire. He ought to run for office now!
The current Senate has dozens of Republican members who may be younger, prettier, and more tactful than Jesse Helms, but quack like the same kind of political duck. Think of today's economy as representing the glorious fruition of their policies. They aspire to have absolute control over the GOP, which in turn aspires to have absolute power in the United States, which in turn aspires to have absolute power over the world. But all power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely; thank you Lord Acton. Is it any wonder that discontent with the status quo grows more and more massive?
I would hope that someone starts a fund to help Mr. Eason until he finds employment. He exemplified a courage that was so prevalent during the 60s. I would also ask Huffington Post and other Progressive blogs provide the appropriate links so that we can help Mr. Eason and his family.
I know that with gas and milk at $4 it isn't easy to send money to every worthwhile cause, however when someone in America shows the courage of Rosa Parks, we as Americans have an obligation to see that their actions were not in vain.
I cant say i would give up my job specially in this econ.
But He brought u this far.
Be incouraged.
I will make a contribution to help ease whatever economic pains might come to Mr. Eason and his family till he can stabilize himself if I know where to send the contribution.
I love this worker. He deserves the Congressional Medal of Honor.
This gentleman is a patriot. He has more personal courage and more integrity than 99 percent of the people in Washington today.
I was soooooo ashamed of NPR's morining show coverage of Helms's passing. They did their story without the least hint at this awful awful man's beliefs were repugnant to the vast majority of Americans. NPR has recently bent over backwards in an attempt to disprove their old 'liberal bias' label, to the detriment of their objectivity. For the Helms story they changed position even further and lubed themselves up for whatever the Hard Right wanted to do with them.
I didn't hear the NPR broadcast, but I've come to believe that not long before Nixon died, a Memo was circulated to EVERY corporate media outlet specifying that from that day forward, the death of ANY politician or teevee bloviator required a tsunami, an avalanche, a volcano of hysterical posthumous praise, in which every aspect of the deceased's life would be spun and gilded into something glorious and wonderful.
Saturation coverage, circumstances permitted. And an essential component of this bloated farce is to hype the myth that every decent, good-hearted Amerikan is both steeped in profound grief at the passing, and suitably dewy-eyed at the biography, of the deceased.
Heaven forfend that anyone have the bad taste to comment on the extravagant absurdity of it all.
I am with you there, like the man was something to be proud of or praised instead of vilified like the hateful bigot he was.
He made his decision, stuck with his convictions and is willing to pay the price by retiring. I hope this gets others to at least think instaed of being mindless zombies!
A man of principle - so rare. Thank you Mr. Eason. Reading this on the heels of today's FISA vote, it was refreshing to see some people do have the courage to stick to their principles.
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