Breaking Camp

Iris Lawrence made history Sunday (February 18, 2007) with her piece “For black Americans, moving on is not easy” becoming only the second person in the conflicted and contradictory history of the Amarillo Globe-News to devote an entire column to criticism of Virgil Van Camp, Amarillo’s devoted racist bigot.

Over the years Mr. Van Camp's bi-weekly rants have been taken to task for ignorance and prejudice by a only a few stray letters, carefully watered down to condemn bigotry but not its source. In contrast other columnists have been deluged with personal attacks out of all proportion to their singular contributions. One could make the alarming assumption that few disagree with Van Camp, but having seen rebukes actually quashed it may not be far-fetched to think there are many Van Camp critics who are never published because he enjoys the charm of immunity.

This is what makes Iris Lawrence’s column even more extraordinary. She has broken through that wall to declare that “the ‘mission is not accomplished.’" She is on point in rebutting each of Van Camp’s “random thoughts” about race. With thoughtfulness and grace she has made a shambles of his narrow and insensitive views.

The only regret is that the bigoted bastard will be back, held high on the shoulders of the AGN this Friday.

Kudos to Iris Lawrence!