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For this edition of Snowstorm I'm not going to editorialize.
I don't think it's needed.The backlash has reached a
point that while here in Philly this week President
Bush himself dissed Lott. I'm going to let the comments
and the facts speak for themselves:
Speaking Thursday at a 100th birthday party and retirement
celebration for Sen. Thurmond (R-S.C.) in the Dirksen
Senate Office Building, Lott said, "I want to
say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for
president, 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."
"Any suggestion that the segregated past is
acceptable or positive is offensive and it is wrong."
President Bush in Philadelphia- December 12th, 2002
"It is not a small thing for one of the half-dozen
most prominent political leaders in America to say that
our problems are caused by integration and that we should
have had a segregationist candidate. That is divisive
and it is divisive along racial lines. That's the definition
of a racist comment."
Al Gore
"Shame on the Republican Party if it does not
demote him for promoting this mean-spirited and immoral
propaganda.The civil rights movement was one of America's
finest hours. Strom Thurmond's massive resistance to
that movement, and his support in states like Mississippi,
was one of history's low points. Trent Lott must not
be allowed to tarnish that truth."
Rev. Jesse Jackson
Thurmond, then governor of South Carolina, was the
presidential nominee of the breakaway Dixiecrat Party
in 1948. He carried Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana
and his home state. He declared during his campaign
against Democrat Harry S. Truman, who supported civil
rights legislation, and Republican Thomas Dewey: "All
the laws of Washington and all the bayonets of the Army
cannot force the Negro into our homes, our schools,
our churches."
The negro is a native of tropical climate where fruits
and nuts are plentiful and where clothing is not required
for protection against the weather ... The essentials
of society in the jungle are few and do not include
the production, transportation and marketing of goods.
[Thus] his racial constitution has been fashioned to
exclude any idea of voluntary cooperation on his part.
1948 Dixiecrat Platform position statment
The
Council of Conservative Citizens (originally the
White Citizens Council) is a racist group with strong
ties to Trent Lott:
In 1997 Lott met held a private meeting with CCC leaders
in his Washington, D.C. office, a photo and account
of the meeting appeared in the CCC's publication, Citizens
Informer, later that year.
In 1997 the CCC used an endorsement quote from Lott
for direct mail.
In 1995 Lott addressed a Mississippi-based CCC function.
In 1992 Lott was the featured speaker and issued strong
praise of the CCC at its national conference.
In 1991, according to Gordon Lee Baum, Lott addressed
another Mississippi gathering of the CCC.
The Spring 1989 edition of Citizens Informer, the CCC's
newsletter, features a photo of Lott with his uncle,
who is identified as an executive of CCC, and his cousin,
who's identified as a CCC member.
Lott's column has been a regular feature of Citizens
Informer for years.
The
Council of Conservative Citizens
Trent
Lott's Website
Southern
Poverty Law Center
Discuss
Trent Lott's remarks right here
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