FROM THE PUBLISHER’S DESK

JUST ANOTHER BUNCH OF NIGGERS?

When Sheila McElwaine found herself and the group she represented locked out of a meeting being held between the press and the Springfield Museum Association, the White activist said, “We’re just another bunch of niggers”. Sheila took a lot of heat for her comments and the demands for an apology were quick and unforgiving. She earned the heat and I do believe she should have apologized. (I do not believe her grudging half apology was in her own best interest.) I also believe that Sheila did Black Springfield a favor.

The first question that came to my mind, though, was, “Who is Sheila McElwaine, anyway?” I’ve heard different things about her. I’m told that she is your average, upright, middle class, White Irish housewife who has stepped up to help defend Springfield’s Libraries against efforts by the old Springfield Library and Museum Association from closing some library branches and radically reducing the open hours at others. I’m told that she had a hand in separating the libraries from the Museum Association and in the setting up of a new and independent Springfield Library Association. That division came after a long, tough fight but never, during the fight did we hear anyone say that her group was being treated like “just another bunch of niggers.”

I notice that The Republican referred to Sheila as a “community activist.” I wondered if she felt badly about not being called a “White activist.” After all, the terms “community activist” and “Black activist” are interchangeably used by the mainstream press to describe any African-American who has an opinion on anything from spit to the second creation. Had she been Black, she might have gotten away with comparing her group to “just another bunch of niggers.” Unfortunately for Sheila, she was White. I’ll bet, even while believing that her group was being treated like “just another bunch of niggers”, it’s one of the few times she wished she could have been Black.

Sheila was active in the library movement during negotiations to sell the Mason Square branch building to the Urban League. She and others in her group registered what could only generously be described as mild protests. And, even though the Mason Square branch was the only branch supported by a private endowment and, therefore, had a stronger financial foundation than most branches, you didn’t hear Sheila or anyone else in her group claiming to be treated like “just another bunch of niggers”, when they were excluded from negotiations. It was not until her group was barred from a meeting in which the press was being informed of plans to convert the main library branch building into a museum that Sheila expressed her feelings that her group was being treated like “just another bunch of niggers.”

Most people I spoke to—Black and White—were appalled and expressed anger at her comment. A White friend told me he was as angry that The Republican printed Sheila’s comments. He felt that, by printing her public insult, The Republican deliberately caused even more harm mainly because it wanted to manipulate Black opinion against the new Library Association in an attempt to help the Museum Association in its political battle to prevail on their unsettled issues.

Typically, my friend underestimated the sophistication of Black people. We understand that the Museum Association is seeking support wherever it can find it—even if it that support can be found only among those who some consider “just another bunch of niggers.” And, you can be certain Black folks will respond by doing whatever they perceive as being in their own best interest.

Actually, my friend sounded to me as though Sheila had revealed an uncomfortable family secret, one that the average White person probably would rather keep hidden from public view. This many years after the death of Martin Luther King, most know that there is still something distinctly different and unfair in the manner in which Black Americans are treated and there is no greater insult to a White person than to receive that same treatment from other white people. And it is this final point that needs to be out of the closet and scrutinized, not Sheila McElwaine. No Black person could have driven so important a point home with such clarity. For her part, this average, upright, middle class, White, Irish housewife should be thanked. n