Wow, you take one day off from the news and when you resurface, you find that Bill James has been at it again. So, should James apologize for his sub-adolescent comment to fellow County Commissioner Vilma Leake about her late son being “a homo”? Of course he should, and if he won’t, then his fellow county commissioners should censure him. Any decent human being in this day and age would be mortified to be caught using such slurs. But that’s the problem – through the years, James has proved over and over and over that he’s not a decent human being, at least when it comes to having the slightest understanding or respect for anyone different from himself.
James says that when he asked Leake (who had just explained that her son had died of AIDS), “Your son was a homo, really?” he was merely using a slang word used when he was growing up. I imagine he thinks that’s supposed to make it OK. Well, Bill, next time you speak to Commissioner Leake (who, for readers who don’t know, is African-American), why don’t use another slang word from back when you were growing up — you know the one — and see how well that goes over.
James can’t even keep his story straight on this one. Here, for instance, is an excerpt from WBTV’s report: James went on WBT radio’s Keith Larson show this morning to defend his statement … At first, James told Larson that he was in the process of saying “homosexual,” but was cut off by Leake. He changed his story after Larson played a clip of the exchange that made clear that wasn’t the case … “Look, I don’t care if I said ‘homo.’ I don’t think it changes the reality of it. Whether I said, ‘is he a homo really or is he homosexual, really?’ — I’m OK with either one of those … ”
There’s a bright side to this mess: James and the neanderthalish mindset he represents are on the losing side of history, and Charlotte has moved on without him. There’s a reason he’s never had the courage to run at-large, since he wouldn’t stand a chance outside of his Mint Hillbilly district. The knuckledraggers can’t stand it that the world is changing, but that’s their tough luck. The battle is over, and the losers, it appears, are going down whining.
This article appears in Dec 15-21, 2009.
Memo to self:
“Homo” – derogatory term not to be used ever.
“neanderthal”, “hillbilly” and “knuckledragger” – words used by erudite, articulate and intelligent journalists.
Thanks for clearing that up, Grooms.
of course, Bill James should apologize for what he did and he said.
Well I’d like to think that Bill James was acting on principle in an overall attempt to reign in local gov’t spending. He hasnt really done much in that regard so these types of remarks make me scratch my head. He appears to like playing games up there while the local gov’t just keeps on spending.
And Bill James represents my district — I’m not too impressed.
First of all I have to say this political correctness is causing us problems as a country. It is just absurd to be putting this kind of thing on the news. Do we not have bigger issues that we should be focusing on. I think so. I personally don’t think he should apologize for nothing. If he wants to use the term “homo” then that is part of the first amendment. Sure maybe he shouldn’t have used it on camera, nonetheless, it is just an abbreviation to the word homosexual. Correct me if I am wrong but didn’t she call her own son a homosexual? Seems he said nothing different than she did. He just used a shorter form of the word. If we as Americans cant use words to describe people that are used by those people themselves then we have big problems. FOR THE RECORD MR JOHN GROOMS, COMMISSIONER LEAKE IS NOT AN AFRICAN AMERICAN…SHE IS AN AMERICAN. I AM SO SICK OF HEARING THIS TERM. IF YOU ARE A CITIZEN OF THIS COUNTRY THEN YOU ARE AN AMERICAN. PERIOD. IF YOU WERE BORN IN AFRICA THEN BECAME A CITIZEN OF THIS COUNTRY, THEN YOU ARE STILL AN AMERICAN. THIS TERM SHOULD SHOULD BE, IF YOU INSIST ON USING IT, AMERICAN OF AFRICAN DESCENT. PLEASE STOP KISSING BUTT AND USE THE PROPER TERMS.
Wow Leon. Bigot much?