Baxter Wynn, Atticus Finch and the Tea Party
I have made previous posts about Atticus Finch and I think, Baxter Wynn. Wynn is counseling minister for FBC Greenville, S.C., a nephew of Georgia Governor Lester Maddox about whom Randy Newman wrote a song, and a trustee of Furman University; the alma mater of Marshall Frady, his classmate and my HS Tennis coach Roger Smoak, and myself.
Baxter is the brother of former chair of the S.C. GOP, Barry Wynn who this year had endorsed Santorum before Romney steamrolled into S.C.; whereupon best I remember Barry changed horses and went with Romney who Billy Graham's pastor at FBC Spartanburg had endorsed early in 2008 before he had a conference with his deacons. Nixon's Southern Strategist Harry Dent's daughter Ginny Brant was influential of FBC Sburg before she moved to the Clemson area.
Baxter gave the Inaugural Convocation address this year at Furman. It is online at Furman's website. He did a good job.
But the question is, how explicit can Baxter and progressive Baptist Republican Baptists in the South be in the face of the Tea Party. Furman's campus is about three miles, if that, from the PCA church where Jim Demint is influential member. And 30 miles west is Seneca S.C. home of Martin England and US Senator Lindsay Graham.
If you don't know who Martin England is, then you ain't much of a Baptist. I don't know how else to say it.
This blog is a first draft. Here are some key points for Baxter and Furman to think about, on the cusp of celebrating the 50th anniversary of several Civil Rights events.
Where are Atticus Finch and Lincoln Republican Judge Frank Johnson today. What would they have to say to the tea Party in light of EJ Dionne's chapter in his new book on Tea Party History. In that chapter he references an easily googled Sean Wilentz New Yorker piece on the roots of core ideology of the Tea Party in John Birch Society's Cleon Skoussen.
Who in the Furman community now has read Jeff Faux's The Servant Community. And in the Spirit of L.D. Johnson, Herbert Gezork, Marshall Frady and T.C. Smith what are they saying to Trey Gowdy and Demint.
Google Paul Harvey's piece on Demint and Eisenhower Republicans at Religion Dispatches.
Here is another item to consider. It is possible for Baxter to have an email exchange with Condi Rice and Alabama SBC Deacon Gov Bentley on this one. I think Furman grads Tomiko Brown Nagin and Karen Guth may be able to help set up that email exchange or conservation. In light of Baxter's noble leadership in the Greenville Community a few years ago to bring Greenville County Council around to overdue recognition of Martin Luther King's Holiday, Condi, given her prophetic witness to S.C. Gov Haley, and Bama Deacon Gov Bentley in her remarks in Tampa on Immigration; the likes of Condi Rice may see such a conversation as worthwhile.
Another aside. Be aware of the implications of Greenville Native and Duke Chaplain Will Willimon's endorsement of the progressive Baptist ethicsdaily.com immigration documentary to be shown at 2pm today at the St. Peter's Catholic Church in Charlotte.
And for Furman and folks of Wynn's stature and influence to consider as they ask themselves what would Marshall Frady be covering at this moment, a poignant comment of last Thursday's NPR drshow.org should be explored. In that hour long conversation on the current status of Race and Southern Politics,
Tracy Thompson wrote:
Historian Darren Dochuk has a book From Bible Belt to Sun Belt, in which he proposes that it was the migration of Fundamentalist Southerners from the western South to the West Coast, and their subsequent transformation from yellow-dog Democrats to California Republicans, that began the rightward tilting of the national Republican Party back in the 1970s. This is a piece of the picture that often gets left out in the usual conversations about "Southern racists." Would your guests please comment?
Baxter is the brother of former chair of the S.C. GOP, Barry Wynn who this year had endorsed Santorum before Romney steamrolled into S.C.; whereupon best I remember Barry changed horses and went with Romney who Billy Graham's pastor at FBC Spartanburg had endorsed early in 2008 before he had a conference with his deacons. Nixon's Southern Strategist Harry Dent's daughter Ginny Brant was influential of FBC Sburg before she moved to the Clemson area.
Baxter gave the Inaugural Convocation address this year at Furman. It is online at Furman's website. He did a good job.
But the question is, how explicit can Baxter and progressive Baptist Republican Baptists in the South be in the face of the Tea Party. Furman's campus is about three miles, if that, from the PCA church where Jim Demint is influential member. And 30 miles west is Seneca S.C. home of Martin England and US Senator Lindsay Graham.
If you don't know who Martin England is, then you ain't much of a Baptist. I don't know how else to say it.
This blog is a first draft. Here are some key points for Baxter and Furman to think about, on the cusp of celebrating the 50th anniversary of several Civil Rights events.
Where are Atticus Finch and Lincoln Republican Judge Frank Johnson today. What would they have to say to the tea Party in light of EJ Dionne's chapter in his new book on Tea Party History. In that chapter he references an easily googled Sean Wilentz New Yorker piece on the roots of core ideology of the Tea Party in John Birch Society's Cleon Skoussen.
Who in the Furman community now has read Jeff Faux's The Servant Community. And in the Spirit of L.D. Johnson, Herbert Gezork, Marshall Frady and T.C. Smith what are they saying to Trey Gowdy and Demint.
Google Paul Harvey's piece on Demint and Eisenhower Republicans at Religion Dispatches.
Here is another item to consider. It is possible for Baxter to have an email exchange with Condi Rice and Alabama SBC Deacon Gov Bentley on this one. I think Furman grads Tomiko Brown Nagin and Karen Guth may be able to help set up that email exchange or conservation. In light of Baxter's noble leadership in the Greenville Community a few years ago to bring Greenville County Council around to overdue recognition of Martin Luther King's Holiday, Condi, given her prophetic witness to S.C. Gov Haley, and Bama Deacon Gov Bentley in her remarks in Tampa on Immigration; the likes of Condi Rice may see such a conversation as worthwhile.
Another aside. Be aware of the implications of Greenville Native and Duke Chaplain Will Willimon's endorsement of the progressive Baptist ethicsdaily.com immigration documentary to be shown at 2pm today at the St. Peter's Catholic Church in Charlotte.
And for Furman and folks of Wynn's stature and influence to consider as they ask themselves what would Marshall Frady be covering at this moment, a poignant comment of last Thursday's NPR drshow.org should be explored. In that hour long conversation on the current status of Race and Southern Politics,
Tracy Thompson wrote:
Historian Darren Dochuk has a book From Bible Belt to Sun Belt, in which he proposes that it was the migration of Fundamentalist Southerners from the western South to the West Coast, and their subsequent transformation from yellow-dog Democrats to California Republicans, that began the rightward tilting of the national Republican Party back in the 1970s. This is a piece of the picture that often gets left out in the usual conversations about "Southern racists." Would your guests please comment?
posted by foxofbama | 8:54 AM
1 Comments:
Here is a comment I just submitted to Ft. Payne Alabama Times Journal Opinion piece beatifying Coach Nick Saban:
couldn't find much to disagree with you in your article. Certainly Saban has mastered his profession. Then again Taylor Branch asked some questions in The Atlantic Magazine last fall that may raise further questions.
And here is an interesting matter for the time being I'll leave to the likes of Rick Bragg to examine. In some ways Wayne Flynt has done so several times.
In Jan 1984 Bama Native and Ubama grad Howell Raines had a piece in the The New Republic Titled Farewell to the Bear. It concluded for all his myth, Bear was mediocre in his relationship with George Wallace and coulda prodded Wallace, coulda challenged him to be amore noble fellow before he got shot. If so one could imagine Albert Brewer woulda been the Governor in 1970 instead of the demagogue Wallace still was at that time.
Saban acted nobly during the Tornado tragedy that struck Alabama in April 2011. The larger question remaining for him is given Bama's current greatness fields on average 17 of 22 young men of color any given Saturday, how does Saban engage the ongoing race tinged strategies of Karl Rove and now Auburn promoter Mike Hubbard. It is an interesting conversation for the likes of Hugo Black's grandson Stephen, Condi Rice and Charles Pickering to explore framed by the NPR drshow.org discussion of last Thursday of the ongoing saga of Race and Southern Politics.
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