------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Dec. 26, 2002 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------
LOTT OPENS A CURTAIN ON LOTS OF RACISM By Monica Moorehead The recent statement by U.S. Senate Minority Leader--slated to be Majority Leader--Trent Lott praising arch-segregationist South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond at his 100th birthday party may yet lead to Lott's ouster. It continues to make headlines as Lott made his fifth televised apology Dec. 16 in a Black Entertainment Television interview. Civil-rights advocates have expressed their outrage and demanded Lott's ouster. Even some of his right-wing peers are urging him to resign from his position as the most powerful figure in the U.S. Senate. These closet racists are afraid that his too-candid remarks might call attention to the Senate's own role as a segregationist club mainly made up of millionaire white men. This club has had only two African American members since the days of Reconstruction following the U.S. Civil War, and none since 1998. Others, including some Democrats and President George W. Bush, have demagogically referred to Lott's remarks as "unfortunate." So far, Bush has stopped short of openly calling for Lott's resignation, but all reports say that he wants Lott to pull back as the Mississippi senator has become a burden to the White House. For Bush, the Lott controversy is an unwelcome diversion from his administration's plans to attack Iraq. About 40 percent of the rank-and- file troops and 20 percent of officers and non-commissioned officers in the U.S. military are people of color, most of them African American. The last thing Bush wants is his record of coddling racists like Lott to stir up morale problems with these troops, many of whom joined the armed forces only for their economic survival. Right-wing journalists like William Kristol and Charles Krauthammer, worried that their association with Lott will expose and discredit their own racist opposition to affirmative action and other programs encouraging equality, have criticized the senator. They want someone in who can put a better face on a reactionary, racist program turning back civil-rights laws. On Dec. 5, Lott paid tribute to the long-time racist Thurmond by stating: "I want to say this about my state [Mississippi]: 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." WHAT THURMOND REPRESENTS Thurmond ran for president back in 1948 on the States Rights Democratic Party ticket. Also known as the Dixiecrats, the SRDP broke away from the Democratic Party to protest that party's platform, which included some pro-civil-rights points. President Harry Truman, who backed this platform in order to win over the Black vote, defeated Republican Thomas Dewey in 1948 in a close vote to recapture the presidency. The pro-slavery, pro-Confederate Dixiecrat Thurmond ran on the platform of "Segregation Forever." He won Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and South Carolina with 56 percent of the vote of Southern whites. Though Lott made these remarks on Dec. 5, much of the big-business media either ignored or downplayed his comments until Dec. 10. This includes the CBS, NBC and ABC evening news broadcasts, plus "Nightline" and "Meet the Press." CNN's "Inside Politics" host Jonathan Karl interviewed Lott on Dec. 6 and did not confront him even once about his remarks. But once Lott's comments gained national prominence, more and more people were justifiably shocked and outraged that such an avowed racist has had a significant voice in shaping U.S. policy. This includes millions of immigrants, a number of whom are just becoming aware of the U.S. segregationist past. Many people of Arab descent are now considering how the unequal application of repressive immigration laws especially since Sept. 11, 2001, fits into this history. LOTT'S RACIST RECORD Lott's praise for the notorious Thurmond was no mere slip of the tongue. Lott delivered a similar message over 22 years ago when as a member of the House of Representatives from Mississippi, he told a Republican crowd that if the country had elected Strom Thurmond "30 years ago, we wouldn't be in the mess we are today." That's according to the Nov. 3, 1980, edition of the Jackson Clarion-Ledger. In 1984, Lott was a keynote speaker at the Convention of the Sons of Confederate Veterans in Biloxi, Miss. One of his comments was that "the spirit of Jefferson Davis lives in the 1984 Republican Platform." Davis was a president of the pro-slavery Confederate States of America before the outbreak of and during the Civil War. During the 1970s, Lott spearheaded a campaign to have the citizenship of Jefferson Davis retroactively restored. Trent Lott was a close friend and ally of the Council of Conservative Citizens, an outgrowth of the ultra-racist, anti-Semitic White Citizens Council that worked hand and hand with the Ku Klux Klan. To this day, the CCC characterizes interracial marriage as "white genocide." According to the Institute of Southern Studies, Lott addressed the CCC in 1992, stating that the group stood for the "right principles and right philosophy." Although Lott said that he had no association with the CCC, one of the group's spokespeople said in 1998 that Lott was a dues-paying member. During Lott's 16 years in the House of Representatives and 14 years in the Senate, he has consistently opposed civil-rights legislation. He voted against extending the 1965 Voting Rights Act, desegregation in housing and schools, affirmative action in federal contracts, a federal holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and guaranteeing fees for lawyers whose clients win civil-rights lawsuits. Lott opposed Bush's nomination of Roger L. Gregory, a conservative judge, as the first Black person to serve on the United States Court of Appeals of the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, Va. Lott has voted for a design patent on behalf of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Not only is Lott a neo-fascist, he is rabidly biased against gays and lesbians. Lesbian/gay/bi-/trans organizations and AIDS activists have organized significant campaigns against Lott for many years because of his anti-gay comments along with promoting legislation against the funding of domestic partner benefits and AIDS prevention. CLOSE TIES TO BIG BUSINESS While Lott's racist past is all out in the open, very little is known about his close associations with big business. In order to bankroll the election campaigns of Republican candidates starting in 1993 during the Clinton administration, Lott was instrumental in raising millions of dollars for the New Republican Majority Fund. Those who contributed to this fund included the American Financial Services Association, BellSouth, the Edison Electric Institute, FedEx, Glaxo Wellcome, Massachusetts Mutual Life, Philip Morris, R. J. Reynolds, and U.S. Tobacco. Lott also has links to the CEOs of Verizon Communications, Inc., WorldCom, AT&T, Blue Cross & Blue Shield, National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors as well as the gambling industry. All these magnates of finance capital should be exposed for their complicit roles in supporting KKK politicians in three-piece suits like Lott, Thurmond and Jesse Helms from North Carolina. The Democrats are not immune from charges in these events either. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, who ran for vice president in 2000 and announced Dec. 16 that he is a contender for the 2004 nomination, said of Thurmond, "He's a man of iron with a heart of gold." - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe wwnews- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe [EMAIL PROTECTED] Support the voice of resistance http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. To subscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
