P E R SPE C T I VE
I katualatfejfe ■
4 AUGUST 26.2006‘Q-NOTES
Editor’s Note
by David Moore
What If?
A few weeks ago my partner and
I were doing a little bit of weekend antique
shopping in Charlotte when I came across an
old photograph in a store on Central Ave.
It was a scene of uptown (or downtown,
depending on your perspective — Charlotte’s
never quite gotten that down pat) at the cor
ner of Trade and Church, taken sometime in
1960.
I was immediately attracted to the image
just because of its antiquity, but also because
it gave you a glimpse into the visual details of
life in the city at a specific moment in time.
The focal point of the image is President
John F. Kennedy, seated on the backseat edge
of a 1960 Ford Galaxie convertible — I’m
guessing the other two men in the photograph
are then-Charlotte Mayor Stanford Brookshire
and possibly the state governor of the time,
Terry Sanford.
A close inspection of the photo revealed a
particularly fascinating image of a little black
girl frozen in time. She’s standing by herself to
the right of the president
on the sidewalk beside
the motorcade. Her hair
is in pigtails and she’s
wearing a skirt and
sweater with her hand
placed firmly on her hip
and her head slightly tilt
ed — as if she’s thinking
who does he think he isi
Housewives out shop
ping are waving gleefully
and shopkeepers and
businessmen have all
stepped out to see the
newly-elected boy won
der president.
Later that evening,
after attending a showing of “Bombay
Dreams” at the Blumenthal, we headed over to
a restaurant/bar called Arpa for drinks. As we
sat at the bar talking about the play we’d just
seen, I glanced out the window and realized
we were at the very corner President Kennedy
had been 46 years before.
That, of course, got us to thinking.
Especially considering the political atmos
phere of the day.
What would the world be like had
President Kennedy never been assassinat
ed?
Had he lived, he would today be 89.
Had he not been gunned downed — in all
likelihood — he would have been easily
re-elected in November 1964. His approval
rating just prior to his death was almost 60
percent (far higher than George W. Bush’s
now), the economy was thriving and Vietnam
caused only minor anxiety.
A frequently raised question is whether
Kennedy would have escalated the war in
Vietnam, as President Johnson did — but let’s
speculate that Kennedy would have pulled the
troops out.
An interesting blurb I came across in the
British newspaper The Independent offered
the following possible scenario:
A Democrat, rather than Richard Nixon,
would probably have won in 1968. Thus no
Watergate, and no President Jimmy Carter.
Ronald Reagan might have come to power, but
as Sean Wilentz argued in [the] New York
Times, there might have been no Republican
“Southern Strategy”along the lines conceived
by Nixon, which has produced the most impor
tant shift in the U.S. electoral map of the past
half-century.
As Ted Sorenson, Kennedy’s former close
aide and speechwriter, said in a 2003 press
conference: “In JFK’s day, people admired the
United States not because of him, but because
of the values of the U.S., not its military
might, not its wealth. But that’s not quite true
of America these days.
“This country’s role has suddenly changed
from being the leader of freedom to being the
country that often acts like a schoolyard bully,
insulting our old allies and turning our back
on the United Nations.” I
Letter to the Editor
Perhaps the upstate is by far the most het
erosexist community in South Carolina and
subsequently the internalized homophobia
in our community is so extreme, only years
of extensive therapy will help make the
changes needed for the community to stand
up for the rights guaranteed to them by the
constitution.
I feel the same frustration that South
Carolina Editor David Gillespie felt in his oped
“Fear and Loathing in the Upstate.”
I live in the upstate and have searched for
assistance in promoting equal rights. I attend
ed the bus tour rally downtown during the
morning and the evening. I have walked all
over town talking to people about equal
rights. I have registered voters in gay bars and
at public events. I have forced a technical col
lege to rethink its approach to diversity and
change policy. I have spoken at churches,
county and city council meetings and I
attended every discussion Bob Inglis held at
the local libraries. Each time I spoke out on
behalf of the LGBT community. I have written
letters to the editors of local newspapers (a
few of which made it to print).
see letter on 25