http://www.townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2002/01/24/diversity_ii

Last week's column focused upon diversity-multiculturalism madness on college campuses. Now there's the diversity flap in New York City. Several columnists, most notably David Limbaugh and Kathleen Parker, commented on some of its lunacy. Shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attack, photographer Tom Franklin of The Record newspaper in Bergen County, N.J., captured the images of New York City firefighters Dan McWilliams, George Johnson and Billy Eisengrein planting the American flag in the rubble of what was once the World Trade Center. The scene, captured by Franklin's camera, was to be reproduced as a 19-foot statue to be erected at the Fire Department's Brooklyn headquarters to memorialize the 343 fire fighters who died in the attack. You say, "Williams, what's wrong with that?" It turns out that Dan McWilliams, George Johnson and Billy Eisengrein are white guys. "So what, Williams?" you shout. "Facts are facts, history is history, and a photograph is a photograph." That's where you're wrong. Sometimes facts, history and photographs are not politically correct and must be changed. The New York Fire Department, the studio making the statue and the company that owns the department's headquarters decided to alter the statue, making it politically correct. The statue would portray one white, one black and one Hispanic fireman raising the flag. That, race experts say, better reflects the ethnicity of New York's 11,500 person fire department, of which 2.7 percent are black, 3.2 percent Hispanic and the other 90-some percent white. Fire Department spokesman Frank Gribbon explains, "Given that those who died were of all races and all ethnicities, and that the statue was to be symbolic of those sacrifices, ultimately a decision was made to honor no one in particular, but everyone who made the supreme sacrifice." Kevin James, a black firefighter, said: "The symbolism is far more important than representing the actual people. I think the artistic expression of diversity would supersede any concern over factual correctness." Suppose it were three black firefighters raising the flag at Ground Zero. Dropping off two in the name of diversity would have brought in the frothing of the likes of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. Facts and history are nowhere nearly as important to diversity-multiculturalists as symbolism, but if it's symbolism that New Yorkers want, why not go all the way? Here's my suggestion for "the artistic expression of diversity." Having one black, one white and one Hispanic man is a good start, but not enough. I know FDNY obeys the Americans With Disabilities Act, so the statue should include persons in wheelchairs from each ethnic group. I would imagine that FDNY also obeys equal opportunity laws. There can't be sex discrimination. That means firewomen must become part of the "artistic expression of diversity" -- and it can't just be some white woman, it must include one black and one Hispanic woman. A true and complete commitment to the "artistic expression of diversity" requires that the statue include homosexual and lesbian firefighters. The nation's diversity-multiculturalists have other statue correction work to do, so as to promote the "artistic expression of diversity." Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Joe Rosenthal captured the image of five Marines and a Navy corpsman raising our flag on Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima, during World War II. The statue created from his photo consists of five white men but only one diversity guy -- Ira Hayes, a Pima Indian. Since diversity trumps historical accuracy and facts, diversity-multiculturalists ought to demand that the Arlington, Va., memorial statue be reconfigured to include all races that fought in World War II. There's no end to the work for diversity-multiculturalists, so long as the rest of us remain timid idiots unwilling to stand up to their vicious nonsense. As this column goes to print, FDNY says it's considering other options.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/648450/posts

Bush Hand-Picked Controversial 9/11 Stamp
NewsMax.com ^ | 3/17/02 | Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff

Posted on Monday, March 18, 2002 4:28:50 AM by kattracks

President Bush personally selected a controversial photo of three white firefighters raising the American flag at Ground Zero for a U.S. postage stamp commemorating the 9/11 attacks, according to the congressman who introduced legislation proposing a stamp to memorialize the attacks last fall.

"The interesting thing here is [the Postal Service] sent about four or five designs over to the White House," revealed Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y., during an interview Sunday with WABC Radio's Steve Malzberg.

"And the president, I think, picked this one. He picked the actual photograph - which is unusual, because we don't put live people on stamps," Ackerman said.

The much-celebrated photograph of firemen George Johnson, Dan McWilliams and Billy Eisengrein raising Old Glory amidst the rubble just hours after the attacks became embroiled in controversy in January after NewsMax.com revealed rampant discontent within the New York City Fire Department over an earlier plan to portray the event with a racially altered statue of the three men.

The ensuing firestorm of public protest forced cancellation of the planned statue, with the Postal Service's selection two months later of the actual flag-raising photo widely viewed as a victory for historical accuracy over political correctness.

But it was not known until Sunday that Bush himself, and not the Postal Service, made the final decision on the stamp. Its unveiling took place Monday at the White House, with the president posing for pictures next to Eisengrein, McWilliams and Johnson inside the Oval Office.

The photographer who snapped the now world-famous shot, Thomas Franklin of The Record of North Jersey newspaper, was also on hand for the unveiling.

Playing off the brouhaha surrounding the canceled statue, Ackerman joked, "[The ceremony] was wonderful. Nobody showed up in blackface or turned into somebody else. They were who they started out that morning [as]."

The price of the 9/11 stamp will be 45 cents - 11 extra cents over normal cost - with most of the additional cost going directly to help the widows and children of the first firefighters lost in the 9/11 attacks, Ackerman said.

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