fuck jesse helms. admittedly, the reference to jesse helms may seem obscure. but as a fellow raleighite who knows his history all too well, my sentiment remains unchanged. for you who don’t know, check it: http://www.nytimes.com/1989/07/28/opinion/in-the-nation-art-and-indecency.html
6 responses to “national endowment for the arts”
hey lisa – yeah i was born in a segregated hospital in raleigh in 1957. i remember hearing jesse helm’s commentary on our black and white television on wral, channel 5 tv as a kid. his commentary used to drive my parents nuts.
i don’t know where you’re based now but i’ll be speaking on the art project i’m doing in northern arizona on the navajo nation at east carolina university january 17th. drop in to say hey if you’re around.
And as a native of Wide-Awake Wilson, I get it, too. Just discovered your work via a Flipbook post this morning. Mesmerized. Thank you.
hey lisa. thanks so much for your feedback and for the support of my work. i hope you have an incredible 2015!
i just read the link you shared. yeah, i hear you. my dad was from wilmington. i remember as a kid riding from raleigh to wilmington to visit my grandmother and passing through smithfield where there was a billboard proclaiming “welcome to smithfield home of the ku klux klan.”
I think we are roughly contemporaries. (I was born in a segregated hospital in Wilson in ’64.) I don’t remember that sign, but I’ve certainly heard tell of it. I love eastern North Carolina — especially now that I don’t live there — but it has a dark history.
P.S. I stayed registered in NC for a dozen years after I lived there just so I could vote for whomever was running against Jesse Helms.