Politically Incorrect in Small Town America
I Participated in a Chinese Auction and Don't Feel Guilty

Joe Kerry is an attorney practicing in Pennsylvania & New Jersey. He is a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, ATLA-NJ, and PaTLA. Prior to beginning his legal career he served as a Hinckley Institute of Politics Fellow in the Bush / Quayle Administration and received a one year fellowship to the Eagleton Institute of Politics. You can send Joe your comments on this issue by emailing him here. Previous Articles - July 4th: We Need To Do More Than Remember - Did I just witness a Miracle? - The New "24" - One Day with Glenn Beck - A Burger on Every Plate and a Television in Every Bedroom - From Obscure to Obscene   - Have a Very Merry (Politically Correct & Blue State) Christmas   - Whatever Happened to These Headlines     - Tinkering with the Electoral College    - Stuck in Reverse: Why Can’t Al Gore Get Over the 2000 Election    - The 2000 Election: Where's the Disenfranchisement?    - Personal Liberties and the War on Terror: Where Does Kerry Stand?

This Labor Day weekend while vacationing with my family in a rural part of Pennsylvania I came across a large sign in front of a local firehouse that read: "Chinese Auction Begins Today at 11:00".

I readily admit that the sign caught my attention. Being half Korean I was especially intrigued by the idea of seeing my oriental brothers and sisters auctioned off to the highest bidder or perhaps having an entire auction conducted in Chinese.

Most of my interest, however, was in learning who was brave enough, in an increasingly politically correct America, to describe any auction as 'Chinese. Didn't this group of firefighters get the memo from our social and cultural elite that this type of language is now verboten? Didn't they read in their local paper that football teams are now under assault for using Indian names. I wanted to learn more about the group of people who hadn't yet been told that using ethnic origins to describe an un-ethnic activity was socially taboo, ethnically insensitive and overall a reflection of poor upbringing and bad taste.

The firehouse hall where the auction took place was very simple. It wasn't air-conditioned and you had to strain to hear the caller because he didn't have a microphone. The stuff being auctioned off was all donated by local businesses or individuals. No fancy corporate gifts or items signed by sports stars here. I learned that the men and women of this fire company were trying to raise funds for a firefighting colleague who was seriously injured on his first house call. To me, this crowd certainly didn't look or act like hate-mongers.

The auction had a few different rules than a traditional auction and I concluded that these slight variations was why an otherwise typical auction was described as being 'Chinese.

As I spent the afternoon watching these good hard-working people interact and socialize, I realized that sooner, rather than later, 'enlightened society' would catch-up with them and they will be told that the name of their auction is offensive, demeaning and degrading. At best they will be labeled as 'insensitive and at worst 'racist'.

After their good names and community have been dragged through the mud by the ACLU and their like-minded liberal lackeys they will be bullied to change the name of the their humble auction or threatened with lawsuits if they refuse to do so.

When this happens, this small community will be amazed at all the attention but never fully understand all the fuss.

So as I sat there in the unair-conditioned firehouse watching the Chinese auction (okay, I'll admit, I also participated) I could not help but think that when this occurs these good folks will never be the same and America will have lost some of its real diversity and a piece of its conscious that has always made us strong and resilient.