John Wayne’s 1971 racist interview with Playboy recently resurfaced and has sparked a campaign to rename the Orange County Airport.
“I believe in white supremacy until the blacks are educated to a point of responsibility.” - John Wayne
Later on in the interview, Wayne responded to a reporter’s comment about American Indians playing an important, if not subordinate role in his films. When asked if he felt any empathy toward Native Americans, Wayne responded that Native Americans “were selfishly trying to keep” the U.S. “for themselves.”
Kind of a big “meh” for me. Folks knew who John Wayne was when they named the airport after him. But, if that’s what the locals want to do.
I’ve flown in and out of that airport probably 75 times and almost always paused for a moment to look at the statue of Wayne on the first floor of the terminal on my way out.
I agree with the family on this one. It’s hard to go back fifty years and take a small discussion placing it into modern context. The guy’s not here to defend himself either.
I get that times change, but that also doesn’t mean the people of today need to lionize folks from the past who had opinions and lived lives that many today would find deeply questionable. It’s the same debate we had, and continue to have in many cases, with Confederate monuments.
Put yourself in the shoes of a black person and ask yourself how you would feel about walking into an airport named to honor a man who made it pretty clear he was a white supremacist.
Even from the liberal side, this is a pointless exercise. You don’t have to go back to even 1971 to find racist statements from Republicans AND Democrats. What’s next, renaming the Washington Memorial?
Apropos of nothing: as a PO 2nd Class in the USCG in 1978, I led a safety boarding party onto the Wild Goose off Catalina Island. Wayne was on board with his grandkids and their friends. Couldn’t have been nicer.
