The latest kerfluffle in the race for mayor is over loyalty oaths, or rather the signing of one. It appears that in the packet of papers each candidate receives is a loyalty oath, which has been included since the "Red Scare" days of the 1950s.
Councilwoman Jane Adams says Mike Henry questioned if she had signed the loyalty oath (
he says he did not) and she expanded on the situation in an email sent out today:
Loyalty Oaths in 2015?
In 2015 it’s hard to imagine that whether or not someone
signs a Loyalty Oath is an issue in a city campaign. But just before the
League of Women Voters debate began, Mike Henry came up to me, leaned
very close to me, and in a low voice asked me if I had signed the
loyalty oath that is included in petitions for running for public
office. He had submitted a FOIA for my petitions, he said, and he didn’t
see it.
I was too dumbfounded by his question to make much of a
response. He turned and walked away. It was a momentary encounter. But
quite disturbing. Why in the world would a Mayoral candidate challenge
another Mayoral candidate about signing an obsolete and basically
meaningless document?
I posted the incident on my Facebook page, where it has
elicited a number of responses. Here is why I found the encounter
disturbing:
I am old enough to remember when I had to sign a loyalty
oath in order to work as a student worker in the cafeteria at SIU. I was
about to embark as a volunteer for Freedom Summer – a project that
aimed to gain voting rights and other basic civil rights for African
Americans in Mississippi. At the time, many state governments, including
Illinois, required all state employees to sign a loyalty oath.
In many places, organizations like the ones sponsoring
Freedom Summer (NAACP, SCLC, SNCC, CORE) were considered “subversive”;
in Mississippi the State Sovereignty Commission spent a lot of time and
energy monitoring our activities.
Nationally, the FBI kept files on tens of thousands of
citizens who protested against the status quo, including participation
in civil rights activities. Loyalty oaths could be, and were, used to
threaten people’s jobs. Many academics and others – including a number
who were refugees from Nazi Germany – were blacklisted. It was not a
happy time for defenders of our civil liberties.
Thankfully, those days are behind us. In 1964 the U.S.
Supreme Court found that Washington state’s loyalty oath was
unconstitutional; as the
Southern Illinoisan’s article states, Illinois’ loyalty oath was struck down by the State Supreme Court in 1969.
The Loyalty Oath that Mr. Henry questioned me about
sounds increasingly archaic as the Cold War fades into history. As the
Southern quotes Jackson County Clerk Larry Reinhardt, “It is a
completely irrelevant form.”
If, as Mr. Henry states, the issue of whether or not I
had signed the loyalty oath “had been brought to his attention by
voters,” and, ”if he “didn’t think much of it after reading it,” why did
he approach me in such menacing manner?
Whatever the case, this campaign is not about questioning
citizens’ loyalties; it is about the future of Carbondale. As I said
after the Southern Illinoisan debate (
video link here), voters have a
clear choice:
a “can do” attitude vs. “it can’t be done”; a primary concern for the
future of the City, its residents and businesses vs. concern for the
internal workings of City Hall; enlisting the energy and talents of our
community to grow our economy vs. shrinking back to the “core
obligations of our city government;” and developing strategic approaches
to fiscal constraints vs. continually raising taxes.
My record is clear: During my four years on City Council
I’ve written 166 posts (this is number 167) about issues facing the
city. If you elect me Mayor, you will know where I stand on issues. And
you will know that I will respond to your communications – and respond
with respect, whether or not I agree with your views.
As a young woman I risked my life in Mississippi to help make the American promise of “liberty and justice for
all” a living reality. There’s not a chance I’ll back down from that commitment now.
J