Trent Lott=Racist?
Date: Wednesday, December 11 @ 05:18:54 UTC
Topic: Politics


WASHINGTON (AP) — Black lawmakers said Tuesday that Senate Republican leader Trent Lott did not go far enough in apologizing for remarks he made praising the 1948 presidential run of then-segregationist Strom Thurmond.

Democrats should not be too quick to drop the matter either, one black House Democrat said.

Separately, the NAACP said Lott, who will be Senate majority leader in the next Congress, should resign from his leadership position. ``Hateful bigotry'' has no place in Congress, said NAACP President Kweisi Mfume, a former House member.

``It sends a chilling message to all people,'' said Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., of the remarks Lott made last Thursday at a birthday party for 100-year-old Thurmond, R-S.C., who is retiring after 48 years in the Senate.

``These are the kinds of words that tear this nation apart,'' said Cummings, who was elected chairman of the 39-member Congressional Black Caucus on Tuesday. ``We are going to do something about it.''

Lott said at the party that his state of Mississippi was proud to have voted for Thurmond in 1948, when Thurmond headed the states rights, anti-integration Dixiecrat ticket that captured 39 Southern electoral votes. ``And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years, either,'' Lott said.


He apologized late Monday, saying, ``A poor choice of words conveyed to some the impression that I embraced the discarded policies of the past. Nothing could be further from the truth, and I apologize to anyone who was offended by my statement.''

Asked about the situation Tuesday, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said of Lott, ``He has apologized for his statement and the president understands that that is the final word from Senator Lott.''

President Bush thinks Americans should take pride in the ``tremendous strides and changes and improvements'' that have been made in race relations since 1948, Fleischer said, adding, ``We were a nation that needed to change.''

Lott was also sharply criticized Tuesday by Ken Connor, president of the conservative Family Research Council. ``Senator Lott's ill-considered remarks will serve only to reinforce the false stereotype that white conservatives are racists at heart,'' Connor said. ``Republicans ought to ask themselves if they really want their party to continue to be represented by Trent Lott.''

Congress' only black Republican, retiring Rep. J.C. Watts of Oklahoma, came to Lott's defense, saying he did not consider the comments racially motivated. ``We should not trivialize the issue of race for political gain,'' he said.

Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, outgoing head of the Black Caucus, said she called Lott on Monday and he apologized to her, saying he was caught up in the moment and did not realize his remarks would be interpreted as they were. Asked if that was sufficient, Johnson said, ``We're not finished in this caucus.''

Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., also said Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle spoke too quickly when he said Monday he accepted Lott's explanation that he hadn't meant his words to be so interpreted.

``This is a Democratic Party issue,'' Waters said. ``It is not enough to simply defend or to explain these kinds of statements and then at election time talk about why black Americans should turn out in large numbers.''

Daschle, in a statement Tuesday afternoon, said that while he accepted Lott's insistence that he did not condone segregation, ``his words were offensive to those who believe in freedom and equality in America.''

Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, who will become House Democratic leader next month, said of Lott, ``He can apologize all he wants. It doesn't remove the sentiment that escaped his mouth that day.''

Mfume, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said Lott should resign from his leadership post ``to make way for another member of the Republican Party whose moral compass is pointed toward improving race relations and not dredging up this nation's poor, polarizing performance of the past.''

Lott's comments ``are dangerously divisive and certainly unbefitting a man who is to hold such a highly esteemed leadership role,'' Mfume said in a statement.

Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson called last weekend for Lott to quit the majority leader post.

Lott's spokesman Ron Bonjean, asked about the latest criticism, said Lott ``made a sincere apology and it speaks for itself.''

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On the Net:

Congressional Black Caucus: http://www.congressionalblackcaucus.com

NAACP: http://www.naacp.org






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