1st Amendment, 1; Sanity, 0

How will they keep from putting each other in the bags?

(Potential) Injustice and the Rhetoric of Duty

I found the "Officer Down Memorial Page"--and specifically this entry on Pierce City, Missouri police officer R.J. Chappell--after doing some research to find out more about the Pierce City race-cleansing of 1901, in which a gun-toting, torch-wielding mob drove around 200 blacks out of town. In the process, the mob killed three black residents of Pierce City and attempted to kill many more, after the alleged murder of a white woman by a black man.

One of the people killed by the mob was Pete Hampton, who was suspected of having killed Chappell the year before. But, given Southwest Missouri's racial climate at the time, how, I wonder, can people today be so sure that Chappell was a faithful public servant? His memorial webpage reads: "You have served your country and community with devotion, courage and valor. You will not be forgotten. I know the Lord has said to thee, 'Enter faithful servant in whom I am well pleased.'"

Assuming that Pete Hampton was involved in Chappell's killing, is it really not possible to imagine a scenario in which Hampton acted in self-defense against someone he perceived, possibly even rightly, as a threat to his life? After all, since even in turn-of-the-20th-century SW Missouri, Hampton was only suspected and not tried or convicted, the details of the shooting must be unknown. Without having done a lot of archival footwork about Chappell himself, how is it possible to know that he was a fair man and not a petty thug? How is it possible to know that he wasn't trying to kill Chappell or to pin a crime on him that he didn't commit?

Such a seemingly innocuous tribute is to me a chilling illustration of how the rhetoric of duty, of "devotion, courage, and valor," can (even if only potentially), by virtue of its blanket applicability and immunity to context, allow specific acts of injustice to be exonerated by the broad blanket of honor wearing a uniform seems to provide.

The August 25, 1901 St. Louis Post-Dispatch ran a detailed story of the Pierce City race cleansing. The text is reproduced on the Chappell memorial page, but below is a (very big) jpeg image of the original article. Some time I'll write about the events themselves:

Praise the Lord and Pass the Brisket

Snapped a block from my mother's house on our way back to Ohio after Christmas in Springfield, Mo:


I only wish I had had my camera handy when we drove by the BBQ joint sign boasting "Loaded Taters" for $4.99.

My Sister--Fighting the Good Fight

Like many of my colleagues in Rhetoric, Composition, and Writing Studies, I come originally from a small city (or if you prefer, a large town) full of red-blooded Americans and even redder politics. Springfield, Mo. is the seat of the national headquarters of the Assemblies of God and is John Ashcroft's home town. It also produced the late Payne Stewart, who at the height of his career, and just before his death, could always be seen wearing his "WWJD" bracelet during golf tournaments (and presumably everywhere else). There was a triple lynching on the town square in 1906, its schools weren't desegregated until they were forced to by Brown v. Board of Education, and in the 1980's protestors apparently burned the residence of an MSU (then SMSU) student starring in a "controversial" play about AIDS. And while Springfield has its share of progressives (it's also home to Missouri State University), the town's conservative fundamentalist roots are strong and powerful.

This is the backdrop against which my sister, Kim Massey, wrote the editorial below (link) about World AIDS Day. She's a witty, smart, fabulous writer, and I'm very proud of her.

"Don't Be Complacent About HIV," by Kim Massey.

Mizzou-Rah Revisited

In lieu of a new post, I'll just link to an old one. The only differences this time: my mom's knee is better, and we'll be coming back to Ohio (via Chicago) with patio furniture.

Just to up the ante, here are a few more enticing Missouri-based I-44 links for you would-be travelers.