On Thursday, December 5, 2002, Republican Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott said: “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.”
In 1948, Strom Thurmond ran for president as the segregationist candidate. That is not to say that support for segregation was among Thurmond’s positions. Strom Thurmond’s candidacy had no other issues besides support for segregation and opposition to federal anti-lynching laws. Thurmond favored governments at all levels using force to violate the rights of black people, and opposed the Federal government protecting the rights of black people to not be killed by mobs while local authorities tacitly approved. By his statement, these are the positions that Trent Lott, apparently, is proud of.
Trent Lott says that if the rest of the country had voted for Strom Thurmond, “we wouldn’t have had all these problems.” The only possible interpretation is that Trent Lott regrets the defeat of the positions of Thurmond’s campaign. Trent Lott regards the end of segregation and the end of lynching as “problems” which we, as a nation, shouldn’t have had. At least Thurmond had the sense to change his position over the years. It would seem Lott has not.
Trent Lott, as Republican Senate Majority Leader, has never been a particular friend of individual rights. He has acted as a stereotypical politician, bending with every wind and shifting with every tide. Now, however, he has pledged allegiance to a doctrine which is anathema to individual rights, to the United States Constitution and to the vast majority of Americans. This cannot be explained by political expediency. It must be his genuine conviction.
The question for the Republican Party is whether a man who gets misty eyed over lynchings and colored water fountains represents the Republican Party and whether such a man is fit to lead the Senate Republican caucus. If such a man is fit to serve as a leader of the Republican Party, then the Republican Party is the party of racism. If the Republican Party aspires to be the party of individual rights, then such a man has no place in the party leadership.
Trent Lott should resign from his leadership position in the Republican Party. If Lott doesn’t have the grace to resign, his peers should remove him.
