Brushfire of Freedom
Ram Rants
On December 5th, 2002, then Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, the Republican from Mississippi, attended the 100th birthday party for former colleague Strom Thurmond. Lott commented on Thurmond’s 1948 presidential campaign saying, “...we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either." This could have been seen as an attempt to complement a friend on the 100th anniversary of his birth. But, because Thurmond was a staunch segregationist (and a Democrat) at the time, Lott’s comments were taken as racist.
Al Gore called the remark, “fundamentally racist.” The apology tour began, with Lott appearing on BET and other networks to try to clarify his comments. He apologized to anyone who felt offended, explained his intentions, and continued to apologize.
On December 20th, 2002, Lott was forced to resign his leadership post because of his “racial” remark.
As a young journalism student, I had the pleasure of interviewing Trent Lott. I found him to be gracious, open, and honest. I have often reviewed my notes from that interview (being something of a pack rat) and can still see the ideas he expressed then in the agenda he has today. He is one of the better of the politicians I have met. Whether you believe his comments were racist, or purposely misinterpreted by his political opponents, you can not question his enduring service to his home state, or to America.
You may remember the former Republican Senator from Virginia, George Allen. George was in a heated campaign, when he identified one of his opponent’s campaign supporters in his campaign audience crowd. George said, “This fellow over here with the yellow shirt -- Macaca or whatever his name is -- he's with my opponent. He's following us around everywhere." By now, you may have heard that “macaca” is a racial slur of some type. To be specific, macaca is a pejorative epithet used by French colonialists in Africa. It was a reference to the native population. So, if you were a French colonialist in Africa, you might have immediately understood the meaning of this word. If not, you’d have to spend some time looking it up, then research further to find that Allen had some French blood in his heritage, indicating he of course knew exactly what he was saying and clearly intended a racial insult.
But, ignorance of the language is no excuse. The term can easily be considered racial and Allen paid the price, losing his seat. It didn’t help him that the Washington Post refused to let the matter drop, no matter how many times Allen apologized. Apparently, like Lott, being Republican means constantly saying you’re sorry, and never being forgiven.
In March of 2001, Democrat Senator Robert Byrd, a former member of the KKK and leader of opposition to the 1964 Civil Rights Act, answered a question from Tony Snow on racism by saying, "There are white niggers. I've seen a lot of white niggers in my time. I'm going to use that word." Keep in mind that Byrd not only joined the strongly racist KKK, but was a recruiter for that hated organization. He can also take credit for leading the filibuster of the Civil Rights Bill, which was designed to improve equality for all races in America. For his part, Byrd actually spoke 14 hours straight to maintain the filibuster. Then as recently as 2001 he uses obvious and admitted racial slurs on national television, Yet Byrd continues to serve his state and his Democrat party in the Senate to this day. In fact, he is the longest serving Senator in history.
So what is the difference between Senator Byrd and Senator Allen? Why does Byrd continue to get a pass and Allen continues to be a political poison pill?
I think we can look at the recent events surrounding current Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, to get some greater understanding.
A recently released book on the 2008 campaign quotes Harry Reid as saying Barack Obama was, “light skinned" and "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one." There’s not much question here that Harry’s comments were not only racist, but called in to question the honesty and integrity, as well as the heritage, of the then-candidate Barack H. Obama. Since these comments have now become public, Harry has apologized. Please note that he did not apologize when the comments were first made, like Allen and Lott. He has only admitted his error once he was caught.
Obama immediately forgave him. This is the same Obama who, when Lott’s comments were publicized and he apologized, said of Trent, “The Republican Party itself has to drive out Trent Lott. If they have to stand for something, they have to stand up and say this is not the person we want representing our party." So are we then to assume that Barry is satisfied with the representation of his party that Harry provides?
Barry’s not the only one to come forward to immediately absolve Harry of all racist sins. The Reverend Al Sharpton has said, “While there is no question that Senator Reid did not select the best word choice in this instance, these comments should not distract America from its continued focus on securing healthcare or creating jobs for its people. Nor should they detract from the unquestionable leadership role Senator Reid has played on these issues or in the area of civil rights. Senator Reid’s door has always been open on hearing from the civil rights community on these issues and I look forward to continue to work with Senator Reid wherever possible...”
These absolutions from Al and Barry took less than a day. I don’t believe Al has ever forgiven Trent or George.
When you contrast these events, there is one factor that is consistent. Democrats are forgiven. Republicans, not so much. If you are a Republican, particularly a Republican in power, your errors will never be forgiven. If you are a Democrat, just make sure your apology gets to the right ears quickly, and all is forgotten. Apparently the “D” means “Disregard”.
This seems odd, considering the racist history of Democrats (Wallace, Byrd, Conner). You would think that a party with such a checkered past would have to do a bit more to clear their name when they make comments like Byrd’s and Reid’s. Democrats seem to have a “Get Out of Jail Free” card when it comes to the race game. Even Bill Clinton, America’s “first black president” who made racially divisive comments regarding Obama during the 2008 campaign, had those comments swept away almost as quickly as they were made.
If you’re a Republican, even one not in office, you can be held perpetually accountable for racial slurs, even those you’ve never made. Rush Limbaugh was forced out of a group that planned to buy an NFL team because of racial comments he never made, but that were improperly attributed to him. Actually, they were just plane fabricated. Thus Rush was held accountable for things he’d never said. Meanwhile, Democrat Harry Reid is not held accountable for something he not only said, but that was documented and he has admitted he said. When it comes to racism, Democrats are apparently infallible. Republicans remain unforgiven.
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