Posted on Tue, Jan. 16, 2007

email this

print this

Whipping up the issue of race

By JAMES E. CLYBURN

Guest columnist

Jan. 4 was a momentous day for South Carolina and the nation.  On that day, the nation received its first female speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, and I became the first South Carolinian in history to serve as House majority whip, the No. 3 position in that august body.  I also became the first African-American from a Southern state to serve in this capacity.  So I knew that race would play a role in every media report about me that day. 

I was surprised, however, that James Rosen’s article in The State injected race in a way that it didn’t belong.  Mr. Rosen attended an event in the majority whip’s office in which I had invited my predecessor, Roy Blunt, to join me and the first African-American majority whip, Bill Gray.  It was an event intended to celebrate the historic nature of the day and to demonstrate a sincere collegiality between my good friend Roy Blunt and myself.  There were many reporters in attendance, some from South Carolina. 

This gave us an opportunity to talk about the history of the title “whip” and to provide a meaningful and bipartisan photo opportunity. 

At the time I first discussed this event with my staff, I anticipated having Roy Blunt symbolically hand me a whip that had been crafted for me by a constituent, Bill Stevenson of Hopkins.  I had had that whip framed to hang on my office wall and had planned my response in that light.  In the meantime, Bill Gray had purchased a whip made by the company that created the whips for movie legend Indiana Jones and brought it to present to me.  Since Bill wanted to present his gift, it seemed to me redundant for Roy Blunt to present the framed one, as I had intended — especially since his sole reason for being there was to underscore our personal relationship and pledge to work in a bipartisan fashion. 

However, The State’s reporting of the event included speculation from political scientists, whom I respect, that the change was made because it would have been inappropriate for a white man to hand a black man a whip, in light of its history as a weapon used during slavery. 

My friend Blease Graham from the University of South Carolina supposed in the article:  “It’s as if the various players are trapped in appearing politically correct but missing the reality of the ceremony. Here is a person (Clyburn) who within his lifetime would have struggled to even register to vote. The fact that he’s been able to achieve what he has is really one of the positive stories in American politics.”

The political correctness of the occasion was never a consideration.  If I, or Bill Gray, had any sensitivity regarding the whip as a symbol of slavery, neither one of us would have included it at the event.

I embrace Dr. Graham’s conclusion that mine is one of the really positive stories in American politics.  That was exactly the message we wanted to send at the event on Jan. 4, and it is one I hope all South Carolinians will remember and take pride in as well. 

Rep. Clyburn is the U.S. House majority whip.