Politically Correct Thugs will muzzle you, too.

3/03/08 Free Speech means U.S. Citizens have a right to speak their mind.

Some of my closest friends are ladies who have passed 70. Heck, a couple of friends are in their 80's. The one thing most of them have in common is they are plain spoken women who say what they mean and mean what they say, whether you like it or not!

That used to be something you expected from people, particularly Texans.

Today, we are supposed to make nice. Ironically, those who are quick to demand that everyone else speak PC English think they can say anything they want, regardless of whether it offends someone else. You see, the PC thugs are smarter than the rest of us and much more sensitive. If they say something offensive, it is the truth and must be spoken. If a lesser being (like you or me) says something bold or counter to their truth, we are being rude and divisive.

This past week, 83 year old Dallas attorney and Hispanic community leader, Adelfa Callejo spoke her mind about Black/Hispanic relations in Dallas. Her comments did not sit well with several people, including Hillary Clinton, who Adelfa is supporting. See Clinton Reacts To Supporter's Remarks About Obama (By Jack Fink, CBS-11, 2/27/8) and Hillary “Denounces and Rejects” Adelfa Callejo’s Support (By Tom Pauken, DallasBlog.com, 2/27/8). I came to Adelfa's defense with the following:

Adelfa Callejo is in her 80's. Yet, she's vibrant and involved. How many women do your know her age who can hold a candle to her?

I have differed with Adelfa on many issues over the years, but I respect her and what she has done in and for this city. Not as anyone's little woman, but as a woman in her own right.

Yes, there are many new voices today for the Hispanic community, but Adelfa was out there demanding her community be taken seriously when these new voices were still in diapers.

Adelfa has never worried about being politically correct, nor has she demanded it from others. She's a plain spoken woman, and you may not like what she has to say. Just remember, when you start muzzling people, your message may be the next victim.

If you disagree with Adelfa, you can at least give her some space for her age. A dollar to a donut, her detractors will not be kicking butt at 83.

I am neither Black nor Hispanic, so I've got no dog in this hunt, except for a true fear of politically correct thought control and the thugs who try to enforce it. Americans have always cherished our right to speak our mind -- at least until the past several years. Now, there are those who are always ready to play word games, control games.

One time I was being interviewed by a Black female talk show host. I can't remember the station or the host's name. I said the sports teams were trying to "black mail" Dallas voters into giving them a new sports arena or they were going to take their teams elsewhere. That host jumped all over me for saying "black mail" rather than "extort". Black mail means what it does. It has nothing to do with race, but that woman spent the rest of the interview twisting what I had said.

We are who we are from our life experiences. We know what we know from our life experiences. Some of who we are and what we know is unpleasant. Many things in life are unpleasant and harsh. We deal with it and move on.

I'm not going to say whether I agree or disagree with anything Adelfa Callejo said regarding Black/Hispanic relations in Dallas. She wasn't speaking for me. She was speaking her own mind from her own experiences. The woman has served on the DART Board and the DFW Board -- two of the most important and powerful boards to which a non-elected citizen can be appointed.

When Adelfa Callejo was on the DART Board, she was prepared to put light rail on the MKT (Katy Trail now) because that's what staff was recommending and what some on the city council wanted at the time. As President of the Oak Lawn Committee, I and others strongly spoke against using that route and supported having light rail go under Central Expressway in a tunnel. After hearing our side (after she had already voted against us), Adelfa changed her position. Time has proved our side was right and she made the right decision, but it caused her some serious grief with the ODB then.

My father and Adelfa's husband, Bill Callejo, were good friends, so I've always felt like Bill and Adelfa were relatives. I've have and had aunts on both sides of my family who were just as plain spoken as Adelfa. They weren't trying to hurt my feelings, but they felt free to say what needed to be said, at least what they thought needed to be said. They were my elders. They were owed my respect whether I agreed with them or not.

Adelfa Callejo deserves our respect and gratitude whether we agree with her or not. When the only women of any ethnic group who were allowed positions of power in this city were some rich guy's wife or daughter, Adelfa Callejo was a power in her own right. She became a very successful lawyer with her own firm in partnership with her husband. She took time away from her business to serve on various civic boards -- not as resume builders for her to run for office, but because she had a sense of obligation to Dallas and to the Hispanic community and to other working women.

When she was on the DFW Board, she got crosswise with Mayor Ron Kirk/Con Jerk. He moved heaven and earth to get her off the DFW Board. Do you know how she paid him back? She found a natural gas pocket under some of her property and got richer.

As I said in my DallasBlog response, I have differed with Adelfa on many matters over the years and been in opposite campaigns. She's a life long Democrat, and I'm a life long Republican. She might try to change my mind, but she would accept my right to disagree with her.

What I admire most about her is the same thing I admire about Pat Cotton, Donna Blumer, Ebby Halliday, Willetta Stellmacher. She is who she is. She is still involved and relevant, when others her age are just existing or planning their next doctor's visit.

Muzzling people does not make the truth as they know it go away. Allowing people to speak bluntly and plainly and discuss issues is much more conducive to finding solutions than pretending all is well and letting problems grow beyond repair.

Things are not perfect in this town. There is resentment between Blacks and Browns, between Whites and Blacks and Whites and Brown. Not talking honestly about those differences is why the problems have not been resolved over the years.

So, lighten up and listen to senior citizens like Adelfa Callejo. You may not like what she says, and she may not even be correct. Still, she has a right to be wrong and she has a right to speak her mind.

Adelfa Callejo is a Democrat, but she is an American first, and I will fight to the death for her freedom of speech. If you let others muzzle her under the guise of "political correctness", you can't expect anyone else to stand up for you when you challenge the status quo.

sb