As mentioned in my first post, I agree that our language should be moderate and respectful. But, there are often more than two sides of a story, and, to borrow a phrase from Ayers, history doesn't fit on a bumper sticker.

Robert Penn Warren coined the expression I meant to use, the "treasury of virtue". It's often expressed, even in today's news, as an assumption of owning the high ground on moral issues. The Northern treasury of virtue was opened by John Brown, validated by Abraham Lincoln in the Gettysburg Address and funded by hundreds of thousands who fought to defeat the Confederacy. It's a bank account of righteousness that can never be overdrawn.

It has a reverse application to Southerners. This came to mind while listening to editorial comment during the recent Supreme Court confirmation hearings. Asked about remarks made by Sen. Sessions of Alabama, one reporter reminded his audience that we must consider them in light of the "racial politics" of his home state. In other words, whatever that man Sessions had to say must be discounted or disregarded because he's a white male from Alabama. Let's move on to a senator from some other state who can be treated seriously.