Edward Cone
News & Record
2-10-97

What does it mean to be called a racist by Skip Alston? Not as much as it should.

''I don't use the term loosely,'' insists the Guilford County Commissioner, a black Democrat. But he has used it lately to describe two white Republicans, fellow Commissioner Chuck Winfree and State Sen. John Blust, most recently during his weekly radio show on Greensboro's WKEW (1400 AM).

Blust and Winfree object to the racist label. Both men say they do not hold racist opinions about blacks.

''He calls me that because I've opposed many of his political views,'' says Winfree.

Exactly, says Alston. ''I can only evaluate what I know based on political positions. It's your track record. You earn the title.''

Blust says that's unfair. ''He may have a definition of the word 'racist', but when you say it publicly you are conveying to most people the general meaning of the word, which is personal racial prejudice.''

Defining the relationship between personal and political values, between racism in the heart and racism as electoral strategy, can be a subjective task. By expanding his definition of ''racist,'' Alston risks devaluing the word, making it a catch-all for those who disagree with him instead of the strong rebuke it should be.

Blust has clashed with Alston over issues such as minority hiring programs and diversity training. His positions on these racially charged issues may require ideological blinders, but they are defensible on grounds other than racist intent. The same goes for Blust's current strategizing with Winfree to reduce the number of Guilford County Commissioners.

Alston's label hits closer to the mark when he brings up last fall's advertisements for Stand Up For Guilford, a political group Winfree helped establish. Those ads, which targeted, among others, Blust's rival for the Senate seat, were meant to counter the Underground Railroad, a successful Democratic get-out-the-vote campaign. The ads had a snarling, sneering tone that troubled many people beyond Skip Alston.

Make of Winfree what you will. He is unapologetic about the ads he helped write, apparently at a moment when he was channeling Lee Atwater. ''Naming the group the Underground Railroad in the first place brought race into play,'' he says. ''A nicer ad would have been ignored. It wouldn't even register with most people.''

While Winfree is content that the end justifies the means, Blust publicly distanced himself from the ads before the election, and he remains more thoughtful about their content and agenda. ''Those ads were racially tinged, and I was worried about that from the time I heard them,'' he says.

Blust says he takes the racist tag personally. ''It is irresponsible of Skip to use that term, because there is no effective way of proving the negative,'' he says. ''You look foolish when you find yourself saying, 'Hey, I have black friends, or that you would take the Confederate flag off the South Carolina capitol.' ''

Alston says that he is unconcerned about diluting the meaning of ''racist,'' or about the increasing racial polarization that can come by speaking recklessly, or about alienating voters with his confrontational style. ''I'm sickened by black elected officials who try to get along,'' he says. ''I don't have to scratch and grin when I sit at the table. I don't have to laugh when it's not funny.''

Scratch and grin? Alston may be the most powerful politician in Guilford County. He is the acting chairman of the North Carolina NAACP, a man who can walk into an A-list corporate boardroom and emerge with a six-figure pledge for the International Civil Rights Center and Museum he cofounded with Greensboro City Council member Earl Jones. Locals can snicker about the name of the Alston-Jones International Civil Rights Award, but major-leaguers such as Rosa Parks and, later this month, Jesse Jackson, come to town to accept it.

Alston's rhetoric may sound outdated, but the 39-year-old insists that such talk might be necessary for another two generations to come. ''I demand respect,'' he says.

If that's the best he can do, Alston belongs in his own museum. There will always be racists, and politicians willing to use them, and Alston is right to shine a light on Winfree's involvement with the Stand Up For Guilford ads. Tarring Blust with the same brush, though, is counterproductive and wrong.

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