Editorials

It’s been years since this page called for a public spanking, but after about two seconds of consideration, the conclusion has been reached that Congressman Lynn Westmoreland, a Republican from Georgia, needs one real bad.

Here’s why. The other day, Westmoreland was yammering away to a reporter from the Washington-based newspaper, The Hill, when he referred to Barack and Michelle Obama as “uppity.”

So as not to be accused of taking it out of context, the conversation went like this:

The reporter asked Westmoreland to compare Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin to Michelle Obama.

“Just from what little I’ve seen of her and Mr. Obama, Sen. Obama, they’re a member of an elitist class [of] individual that thinks that they’re uppity,” Westmoreland said.

When asked to clarify “uppity,” Westmoreland replied, “uppity, yeah.”

OK, so this is one of those weird situations where if Westmoreland was, say, a Yankee, or maybe French, or perhaps from Mars, he might be excused for being unaware of the not-so-subtle history of that word in the Deep South.

But, alas, Westmoreland is a Southerner, born and reared in Georgia.

Here, then, is why he needs that spanking. On Thursday, he released a statement that read in part, “I’ve never heard that term used in a racially derogatory sense.”

That’s most likely because Westmoreland wasn’t on the receiving end of one of Sheriff Jim Clark’s cattle prods, or wasn’t getting fire-hosed by Bull Connor’s men, or wasn’t threatened by the Klan. It’s also likely that he hadn’t had a shopkeeper say something to him like “if you try to use the white’s-only bathroom, I’m gonna go upside your head, so stop being so uppity.”

Apology, Rep. Westmoreland? And perhaps an appeal to anyone who will listen for people to avoid this kind of garbage? That way, no one else will have to be hauled off to the woodshed.