There is something very wrong with the whole picture.

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS?

Now, I’m not afraid to go after the Queens Women’s Center. Just because someone says it’s a women’s issue, doesn’t make it right.

Political correctness has blurred our thinking.

I wasn’t afraid to defend Queen Catherine of Braganza and her ugly statue from those who wanted her head because of her family’s involvement in slave trade.

I’ll stand up and defend slave owning Thomas Jefferson and his right to hang in City Hall or that "old white man" as Brooklyn Beep Marty Markowitz called George Washington and his right to hang in Brooklyn Borough Hall. Gee, I even will defend an artist’s right to show his work when it is disrespectful to Jesus or Mary or even Rudy.

Political correctness is destroying our freedoms. Our creative freedoms, our expressive freedoms, our constitutional freedoms are limited daily by the thought police who want to dictate what is correct.

Bullshit! (or is Bull@$!* politically correct?)

I am a liberal — my old friend lefty Congressman Gary Ackerman just called me that this morning — I’m a liberal secure in my beliefs, feeling and commitment for the neediest of our society that I need not yield to those who try to dictate what I must say be in sync with "the movement." I am a liberal very secure in the belief that teaching our children how to think and not what to think is the role of education and society.

I am a liberal secure enough in his beliefs to use the word "liberal" and not hide behind a more currently "politically correct" term.

I am for equal rights — yeah, even for women (that’s humor for those that don’t know) — but I need not back any cause just because some loon labels it as a "women’s cause."

You won’t find me marching just because something is painted as pro black, Latino, Jewish, Muslim, youth, pet, education, American, apple pie or motherhood.

I am a writer secure with my words and thoughts that I can evaluate and choose.

I am an individual with the strongest belief that people of goodwill everywhere can evaluate a situation and make a good decision.

The government should not tell artists what Christ or Mary or Rudy look like. If people find art disrespectful, they need not go look.

I challenge those who would revise history because some of our founding fathers engaged in customs of their day that are inhumane, vile and repulsive to us today — it doesn’t make them unworthy of recognition of their historic contributions.

I received a letter chastising me for resurrecting the Catherine of Braganza controversy. I’m not really in favor of the statue. If you had shown me in the beginning, I would have voted no just on ugliness. However, I wasn’t asked.

Now, I’m accused of "a divisive and sinister idea." I am accused of being insensitive to "the deeply felt concerns of Black citizens."

Sorry, the issue is not black or white. For eight years, the borough went ahead committed to a project and the people of Portugal without any outcry from the black community. Then one day a couple of black activists found a convenient way to get attention and press. They were effective and stopped the statue. I really don’t care. Feel free to take any side of this debate you want, but you’re not making me budge by suggesting I’m insensitive to an entire race of people.

The writer of the letter, Betty Dopson has every right to disagree with me, but I don’t think she can claim to speak for every "Black citizen." Deep in my heart, I probably agree with her position, however her personal attacks scattered throughout her letter move the argument out of the intellectual realm and into the street. This is not a fight between Schenkler and Dopson. I’m not invested enough in it to do much more than write a column. I am invested in standing up to anyone who chooses to play the race card because you don’t march to the tune of their drummer or say the words they want to hear.

I’m not afraid to mock those that wanted to change white firefighters to black and Latino heroes. But that doesn’t make me any less a proponent of paying tribute to all the heroes of Sept. 11 . . . of all races.

I remember while interviewing candidates for City Council this summer, we had this lively group from the 31st district — the seat ultimately won by James "Slick" Sanders" — including James Blake. Blake was a bright, enchanting character who reinforced his name with a bit of poetry — Blake rhyming with Flake. He also seemed to be the most militant of the group of six assembled.

Well, during the discussion a reference was made to some individual who, to establish he was one of ours, I noted was a "Queens boy." I use that expression to describe one who grew up in Queens. I’m a Queens boy. I didn’t change my words because the person we were speaking of was black. Blake tried to correct me; he said something like, "you can’t call him a boy, it’s politically incorrect." In a sentence I dissed political correctness. I didn’t diss the person we spoke of — I really can’t remember who it was. And I didn’t diss Mr. Blake. As a matter of fact, we endorsed him.

We endorsed him because he came across as a most compassionate, involved community leader. He’s entitled to try to peddle his political correctness . . . he’d be better off encouraging open thought. The youngsters he touches should learn how to think, not what to think. But I enjoyed our exchange. Hope he writes or calls or emails.

I didn’t sit down at the computer to defend myself. Anyone who knows me knows I’m not politically correct — I challenge and play on the edge to encourage open and free thought with the belief that it will result in ethically and morally correct choices.

Each of us should hear the arguments and make our choices. And when there are those that disagree with us, ideas and not accusations should be exchanged.

Political correctness numbs free thought and compassion.

Not4Publication.com by Dom Nunziato

————————————————————

Michael Schenkler can be reached at: MSchenkler@queenspress.com