Questions about ’92 racial incident still unanswered

By TOM RUE

Thirteen years is a long time in some senses. In other ways it’s like yesterday.

For me, the 1992 locker-room incident in Monticello falls in the latter category. My wife and I attended public mediation sessions at the Monticello Neighborhood Facility and the former Jewish Community Center, and watched as protesters picketed Monticello Village Hall demanding the firing of police officers who kept racist materials on their government-owned lockers.

A cartoon of a Black man being lynched and various other hate symbols mounted on wall lockers evoked outrage in the ethnically diverse community that our family calls home.

I’m grateful to The River Reporter for allowing this response to its October 13 commentary about Carmen Rue’s letter “Does no one remember?” that ran the week before.

“Racial incident” memo on Armstrong’s website

This week, Sullivan County Sheriff candidate Frank Armstrong posted on his campaign website a memo to him by former village manager James Malloy. The June 22, 1994 memo does not exonerate Armstrong. Rather, Malloy expressed regret for demanding the resignation of the officers involved in helping stir a racial divide two years earlier. Malloy denied releasing their names to the Times Herald-Record, noting that the reporter told him the names were revealed by a member of the Village Board.

Malloy’s memo does not deny that racist décor was present in the locker room in the fall of ‘92 – or that Armstrong was involved.

Why would Armstrong wait more than a decade to speak out about his role?

Consider one example where The River Reporter named the officers involved. A June 15, 1995 report that I wrote as a then contributing editor, entitled "Human Rights Commission marks two years" has been on the web since it appeared in print (most of those years on riverreporter.com). Armstrong has never disputed its fairness or accuracy, or asked for a correction. Perhaps he will do so now, but after 10 years, while running for political office, protest would be a little ingenuous.

In contrast, if it were falsely asserted that anyone of us had displayed racist material at our workplaces, requiring the U.S. Department of Justice to intervene, and then the creation of a government commission to oppose racism, who of us would wait 13 years to set the story right?

Armstrong claimed recently that a “gag order” has prevented him from speaking on the incident. What gag order? This is a smokescreen.

Only a judge has the Constitutional authority to issue a gag order, and most of those are viewed skeptically by civil libertarians. That did not occur. Perhaps Armstrong is gagged by shame or by political expediency. It might be uncomfortable for him to talk about the incident, but now that he seeks county-wide office, it’s time.

Unfair?

In response to ‘92 and ‘93 news accounts archived on my website (tomrue.net), I’ve gotten a couple of e-mails telling me that Armstrong is a good man and it’s unfair to bring up a long-ago incident. I respectfully disagree, at least on the second point. Armstrong may be a good man, and I do not call him a racist since as products of a racist culture every one of us is racist to some degree.

If we can agree on that, at least defined in those broad terms, perhaps we can also all agree that the most thing is not whether someone is a racist or not, since everyone is. What's important is whether we acknowledge the historical fact of our racist heritage. But ultimately more important is what we do with our hearts and our lives after taking the first step by admitting past mistakes.

I continue to hope that this Sheriff candidate will describe what hung on his locker in 1992 and what was in his mind when he allowed it to remain; even defending his right to display it.

As the October 13th River Reporter editor’s note conceded, "There was no formal conclusion to the incident at the time." Armstrong can bring conclusion now by talk openly about the ’92 incident, without obfuscation or excuse, and by apologizing for his role. It’s been a long time, but it’s not too late.