Denny Hastert and the ‘Others’

After the terrible event in Charleston, there was a press conference where an African-American minister called for taking down the Confederate battle flag that flies on the state capitol grounds in Columbia, South Carolina. The minister was explaining his vehement opposition to this symbol and stated that the flag was directed at what he described as “others.” He then went on to say that he viewed himself as one of the “others.”

The choice of the word “others” brought back my one and only conversation with the now disgraced former Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert. As we all know, Hastert is under federal indictment and awaiting trial on a variety of felony charges. I am telling this story because I believe it clearly shows what kind of person Hastert is.

One very early morning, I was in the U.S. Capitol building. I looked up and saw Hastert walking down the corridors of power surrounded by aides and security personnel. It just so happens that I had, at that time, written a series of commentaries for WAMU advocating for a statue for D.C. to be placed in the U.S. Capitol. Every state has at least one statue of a prominent individual to represent that state.

D.C. had no such representation, just as it has no vote on the floor of House of Representatives. The District was further insulted by its exclusion from even having a block of granite signifying its existence. I approached Hastert and asked for his support. The then Speaker was visibly annoyed. He looked at me with disdain and then uttered, or I should say mumbled, his disapproval by saying with a dismissive and contemptuous tone, “Then, the others will want one.”

Hastert’s use of the word, “others,” referred to Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa and the Northern Marianas. I didn’t feel it was necessary to inform Hastert that all the “others” were American citizens. All of these places had residents who had served in our Armed Forces, and some had died in service to our country.

“Others” is a way to look down at, to imply they don’t belong, that they are inferior. Hastert was not being sloppy with his language. He was sending a clear message. He was voicing his core philosophy of exclusion.

D.C. does have a statue in the U.S. Capitol today. It is of Frederick Douglass. It stands proudly in the visitor’s center of the Capitol. The statue was beautifully created by sculptor Steven Weitzman, whom D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton neglected to mention during the opening ceremony. When you walk by it and admire it, just remember Dennis Hastert had nothing to do with it. To him, it and we were just one of the “others.”