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The ADVANCE, June 9, 2021 /Page 5A
OPINIONS
“I honor the man who is willing to sink
Half his repute for the freedom to think,
And when he has thought, be his cause strong or weak,
Will risk t’other half for the freedom to speak.”
—James Russell Lowell
editorials
Box of Onions
I pulled my
vehicle behind a
big pickup truck
in downtown Cal
houn, then wrestled
the 40-pound box of
Vidalia onions from
the back of the car
and carried it to the back of the truck.
“Hey, Jesse!” I said, trying not to sound
too winded. “I know you are in a hurry to
day, but I wanted to go ahead and give you
these Vidalia onions — fresh from my cous
in’s farm in Southeast Georgia.”
I placed the box of sweet onions on the
tailgate and lifted the lid to allow him to see
the jumbo vegetables piled inside.
“That’s a lot of onions,” my lawyer friend
replied. “Thank you! A box of onions is a lot
better trade than a bag of hickory nuts.”
It took me a moment to digest what he
had said to me, but then it struck me, and
I smiled realizing that Jesse Vaughn and I
share a connection. We are both lovers of
Harper Lee’s masterpiece, “To Kill a Mock
ingbird.” Jesse’s “hickory nuts” comment
was a reference to the novel.
Let me explain.
Last year, someone close to me got in
a bit of trouble and called me for help. Not
knowing where to turn, I called my lawyer
friend, Jesse, on his cell phone. I explained
the situation, and in ten minutes, Jesse ren
dered some legal advice to pass along to my
loved one.
“Please send me a bill,” I said after
thanking him a dozen times for answering
my call.
“Don’t worry about it,” my friend said.
“I won’t be sending you a bill for a ten min
ute phone conversation. We’re friends. I’m
happy to help you.”
But I didn’t want to accept my friend’s
legal advice for free, so I have taken it upon
myself to “gift” him payment using Georgia-
grown delicacies such as Vidalia onions in
the spring; fuzzy, farm-fresh peaches in the
summertime; and shelled pecans in the au
tumn. Judging from Jesse’s size, it’s a safe bet
to assume he enjoys such treats.
In the first chapter of Lee’s book and in
the opening scene of the movie “To Kill a
Mockingbird,” client Walter Cunningham
brings a bag of hickory nuts to lawyer At-
ticus Finch as partial payment for the at
torney’s help with the client’s “entailment.”
I won’t go into detail about entailment —
just know that it is a form of legal trouble.
“Why does he pay you like that?” Scout
asks her father in the book.
“Because that’s the only way he can pay
me. He has no money,” Atticus returns.
Atticus explains that the Depression
hit country folks and farmers the hardest.
During the year, Mr. Cunningham pays At
ticus through a bartering arrangement us
ing a load of stove wood, a crate of smilax
and holly during the holidays, a croker sack
filled with turnip greens, and a bag of hicko
ry nuts. He paid the attorney’s fee with what
he could.
And so Jesse’s comment was a reference
to one of the greatest books of all time. Mr.
Cunningham paid for legal assistance with
hickory nuts. I made a partial payment for
legal advice with a box of Vidalia onions.
I feel immense gratitude that Jesse took
time out of his busy schedule to help me last
year when I didn’t know what to do or who
to call, and I’m happy after refusing pay
ment, he accepted my partial gift in the form
of onions. I like bartering arrangements —
it’s more personal than writing checks. But
most of all, I’m thankful that there’s at least
one other person in the world who shares
my love for “To Kill a Mockingbird” and
served up a reference from the book when
I least expected it. It made my payment all
the more meaningful.
From the Porch
By Amber Nagle
Destroying Black Babies and
Families With Federal Dollars
By Star Parker
If there is one
reason why problems
associated with race
in America persist, it
is because we pretend
to address problems
caused by one sin by
exchanging them
with other sins.
President Biden
has just issued a
proclamation recognizing 100 years since
the race massacre that occurred in the
Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma,
in 1921.
Greenwood was a wealthy Black
neighborhood, a center of Black business,
known as Black Wall Street, that was
ravaged in two days of rioting by white
racists. It resulted in the death of hundreds
and the loss of property of thousands.
It is indeed another tragic and painful
memory of race relations in our nation’s
history.
The proclamation issued by President
Biden states, “The Federal Government
must reckon with and acknowledge the
role that it has played in stripping wealth
and opportunity from black communities.”
I totally agree. What offends me is that
Biden’s administration enthusiastically
continues federal policies that damage
Black communities, while it pretends it is
addressing the problems.
As a starter, let us consider that at the
same time the president issued this
proclamation, he sent an unprecedented
$6 trillion federal budget to Congress that,
for the first time ever, omits the
longstanding Hyde Amendment.
The Hyde Amendment, passed in
1976 and named for its sponsor, Illinois
Rep. Henry Hyde, prohibits use of federal
funds to pay for abortion, except in cases
of rape or incest or when the mother’s life
is in danger.
Every federal budget since the Hyde
Amendment was passed has included a
rider with this provision — except this
year’s, thanks to President Biden and his
party.
So, while Biden issued one
proclamation recalling the tragedy of a
massacre of Black Americans, he now
wants new federal policy that would use
federal funds to subsidize another
massacre.
Abortion policy in our nation amounts
to nothing short of a massacre of and
tragedy for Black Americans, born and
unborn.
According to National Right to Life,
62.5 million unborn children have been
destroyed in the womb since Roe v. Wade
legalized abortion on demand in 1973.
Per the most recent data from the
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, about one-third of all
abortions are done on Black babies. Given
this, we can estimate that since 1973,
some 21 million Black babies have been
destroyed in the womb.
Despite the words in the president’s
new proclamation indicting the federal
government in causing damage in Black
communities, this is exactly what he wants
now: to bring the federal government in to
fund the abortion massacre.
But the damage done by abortion to
Black Americans goes beyond this
massacre of unborn Black children. It has
tangible, damaging effects on the well
being of the Black family.
Why, after all these years, do poverty
rates persist so much higher, on average, in
Black communities compared with
national averages?
Data shows a compelling correlation
between family structure and incidence of
poverty.
Per the Census Bureau’s “Income and
Poverty in the United States: 2019” report
and per Statista, the incidence of living
under poverty is more than four times
higher for Black families headed by a single
woman than for Black families headed by a
married couple. And 41% of Black families
are headed by a single woman.
Please see Parker page 9A
Stockholm Syndrome over Mask Wearing
By Brian C. Joondeph, MD
Stockholm Syndrome is a
psychological phenomenon where
“hostages or abuse victims bond with
their captors and abusers.” This
bonding can occur over days, weeks,
or months of captivity and abuse.
Rather than being terrorized by their
captors, hostages sympathize with
them, developing positive feelings,
sharing common goals and causes,
and essentially falling in love with
their captors.
The story behind the Stockholm
Syndrome is a 1973 six-day hostage
event in a Swedish bank. By the
second day, “the hostages were on a
first-name basis with their captors,
and they started to fear the police
more than their abductors.” By the
end of the hostage crisis, “the convicts
and hostages embraced, kissed and
shook hands.”
A modern-day version of the
Stockholm Syndrome is playing out
after over a year of COVID captivity.
Americans have been held hostage by
medical czars like Dr Anthony Fauci,
totalitarian governors named Cuomo,
Newsom, Whitmer, Murphy, and
Wolf, and big media, including cable
news giants CNN, MSNBC, and Fox
News.
Americans have been held
hostage in their homes for months,
told not to wear masks, then to wear
one, then two, now none. We were
assured that a BLM protest of
thousands is perfectly safe while a
family wedding, funeral, or a Trump
rally is a super spreader event. An
experimental, non-FDA-approved
vaccine is being mandated for
everyone, including children at
extremely low risk from getting sick
from COVID, yet at the government
agencies pushing vaccinations, they
don’t know how many of their own
employees have said no to the
vaccine, perhaps as many as half.
Speaking out against your
COVID captors leads to punishment
and abuse, from social media
deplatforming and public harassment,
to loss of job or even prison.
Americans have been beaten with a
stick for over a year, based more on
the whims of the ruling class than any
sound science that would explain the
above contradictory ruling diktats.
Many COVID hostages are
fighting back but others may have
succumbed to Stockholm Syndrome.
After the public has submitted to the
gods of lockdowns, distancing, and
masks for over a year, and those gods
now are showing kindness by
releasing their hostages, some
unconsciously view them as
benevolent gods and now worship
them and their ideals.
The media played a dual role,
both as captor and hostage, and
enjoying both roles. How else to
explain one of the main hostage-
takers, Dr. Fauci, gracing the covers of
numerous magazines? Or
being nominated as the sexiest man
alive? Or appearing constantly on
cable news shows?
Vapid celebrities trip over
themselves to endorse the vaccine.
CNN calls anyone who questions the
ruling class pronouncements, asking
for scientific explanation or rationale,
as “deniers.”
As new CDC guidance relaxes
mask mandates, some are still in
hostage mode, identifying with the
none, then one, then two, then one
mask captors, now proclaiming long
term submission to whatever big
brother or the state says.
Several weeks ago, the New York
Times wrote about those clinging to
their masks, even after the CDC says
they are no longer necessary. The
article, “They’re vaccinated and
keeping their masks on, maybe
forever” illustrates a Stockholm
Syndrome phenomenon after more
than a year of mask mandates. Here is
one example,
Whenever Joe Glickman heads
out for groceries, he places an N95
mask over his face and tugs a cloth
mask on top of it. He then pulls on a
pair of goggles.
He has used this safety protocol
for the past 14 months. It did not
change after he contracted the
coronavirus last November. It didn’t
budge when, earlier this month, he
became fully vaccinated. And even
though President Biden said on
Thursday that fully vaccinated people
do not have to wear a mask, Mr.
Glickman said he planned to stay the
course.
In fact, he said, he plans to do his
grocery run double-masked and
goggled for at least the next five years.
Was this Mr. Glickman’s approach
to every season flu season? Or
previous viral outbreaks like SARS,
MERS, or bird flu? Or is this a new
reaction to being held hostage for the
past 15 months?
Stockholm Syndrome may
represent a form of posttraumatic
stress disorder or PTSD.
A study published in JAMA
Psychiatry found that a third of those
recovered from severe COVID
suffering from PTSD.
But after over a year of captivity
under rapidly changing, often
arbitrary and capricious mandates
and restrictions, many individuals are
now identifying with their ruling
class captors.
How else to explain someone
Please see Joondeph page 8A
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