Attack a Lott

Attack a Lott

A speech by Terry Bohannon
Delivered to HBU Toastmasters, December 17, 2002

On December 5th of this year, Trent Lott, the republican Senate leader, made a careless mistake. I don't know if any of you are familiar with this, but he was at Sen. Strom Thurmond's (R.-S.C.) 100th birthday celebration, and 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."

Many think that this statement controversial enough to oust Lott from his leadership position as Republican Majority Leader. When Thurmond ran for president in 1949, he ran as a Dixiecrat -- the Dixiecrats branched off the Democrat Party in the support of state rights and segregation. However, I would like to argue that one, Trent Lott's words are being skewed, two, the democrats and the media are using this to slander the whole GOP and the south, and lastly, that democrats who say explicitly racist things are given a free pass.

Nearly everybody in the political sphere, Republicans and democrats, publicly denounce Lott's statements -- many of them even cry for his resignation. If anybody defends Lott or somehow goes against this wave of criticism against him, they are called a racist. However, I find it odd that such an outcry would come out of that quote I read to you earlier. In his speech, Lott didn't directly support segregation. He was supporting an old friend in a way that should be expected at a celebration supporting Thurmond's many years of service to this country.

A political commentator by the name of Paul Weyrich knows Lott personally and has disagreed with Lott's political weakness on many occasions. He said that the senate leader was not referring to segregation, but that he was referring to Thurmond's strong stance against the spread of communism and the Soviet Union itself. Likewise, Sean Hannity, on his radio talk show, had the same position after interviewing Lott on his program. Still, one must ask why there is such an outcry when his statement had no direct link to segregation.

It may be that my second point has some to do with this. The democrats and the media are using this case to attack not only Trent Lott, but also the GOP and the modern south. Lott is being painted as a dogged racist, and that racism is being linked with the modern south. Jesse Jackson Jr., a congressman in Illinois, attacked Trent Lott harshly in a column written for "The Black World Today", a newspaper that writes for the liberal black audience. Jesse Jackson Jr. said that "Trent Lott is the Republican Party's Monica Lewinsky -- except worse."

The attack on Lott from the left and right is very strong. NAACP chairmen Julian Bond said that "it's pretty easy to say Trent Lott is a racist." And, even the outspoken conservative columnist David Horowitz has said that "Trent Lott must step down as the Majority Leader of the Republican Senate." The democrats and the media want to oust Lott and make the GOP cower to political correctness. Doing so will give them both immediate and long-term power. Not only will they be able to defeat the potential threat of any power Trent Lott and any immediate replacements for Majority Leader may gain, they could get lasting and long-term power if they succeed in breaking the republican's back. If the GOP falls back here, if they oust Trent Lott, and trigger him a blatant racist, they are setting themselves up for future pain. All that will have to be threatened is being labeled as a "racist" and a republican will cower to the pressure from the left, and go against their principles.

Now, I will get to my last point, if a democrat happens to be explicitly racist, he gets a pass and is allowed to hold leadership positions in the Senate. Look at ex-Klansmen recruiter Robert Byrd, a senator from West Virginia. Almost two years ago, March 4, 2001 on Fox News Sunday with Tony Snow, Byrd said "My old mom told me, 'Robert, you can't go to heaven if you hate anybody.' We practice that. There are white niggers. I've seen a lot of white niggers in my time. We just need to work together to make our country a better country, and I'd just as soon quit talking about it so much." Now this is from the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, one of the most powerful committees in congress.

Before this statement, Byrd has been historically racist. In 1944, as a young Senator, Robert Byrd sent a letter to Mississippi's senator, Theodore Bilbo, and vowed that he would never fight "with a Negro by my side. Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds." If this is not enough to oust Robert Byrd from his leadership position, what is?

To conclude, I must say that with the controversy surrounding Trent Lott and comments he made, we should be careful, rational, and try our best to see the whole picture. We should not let ourselves becomes moved by skewered words when those who skew seek to gain influence and power thorough their race baiting. We should also keep in mind that the democrats are not consistent in considering what is due cause to oust someone from a leadership position. Therefore, read the newspapers carefully and don't let the popularity of a position influence you from the truth.