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Torie, several of the senators on that list are allied with the neo-Confederate movement. It includes groups such as the Sons of the Confederate Veterans, the League of the South, the Conservative Citizens Council, the heritage associations and the Ku Klux Klan. Some of the organizations explicitly espouse white supremacy. (Along with secession in the case of the LOS, and increasingly, the SCV.) Based on their associations and their political history, I believe you can determine where the senators stand in regard to race relations. Trent Lott, who is featured on the recruitment video for the SCV, and, was on the front page of the LOS site at the time of his slip and fall, has long been a segregationist. However, I will grant that he is likely incapable of seeing for himself what is wrong with that. Having grown up in a segregationist family and spent his life among people who share his views, he just doesn't get it.

However, I would not just look at senators to determine whether segregationist or obstructionist behavior is playing a role in state and federal politics. I would look at the big picture, including support for egalitarian policies, such as improved education.

Tragically S-----, you seem to be a biased and bitter person. If I saw that slogan I would interpret it to mean that since knowledge was withheld from blacks, first through slavery, and then through unequal education, it is all the more to be valued by African-Americans. Very fitting for a historically black college. Your interpretation misses the point. BTW, who is it that the 'we' in your signature phrase would like to kill?

And one for the loser. He doesn't know it, but Jemima, is, of course, a very traditional Southern name of Hebrew origin. Southerners have a tradition of using Biblical names. Jemima means "dove."

And update on Edgar Killen: He has been released on bail. Though Killen told the judge he can't afford a lawyer, it appears that he may have considerable funds tucked away somewhere.

Tragically S-----, I missed reading your follow-up remarks because I was putting together a comment at the same time. I am wondering about a few things in your second comment.

1) Could you direct me to some objective sources that interpret Ronald Reagan's inauguration of his 1980 campaign in Philadelphia, Miss., (which played to a white Right Wing audience that included Trent Lott), as somehow memorializing the slain civil rights workers instead of celebrating racism? I've not seen thoughtful people claiming Reagan went there to support civil rights. Indeed, it would be an odd choice of both place and audience to do that. Do offer support for your position. (You are to be credited for acknowledging that the event took place. Some people on the thread are in denial about that even.)

2) You are side-stepping the Southern Strategy. Why? It is the best explanation of why Southern white voters made a tidal shift from Democrats to Republicans. Furthermore, 'communist' this and 'federal government' that have always been used as covers for opposing desegregation and equality under the law. It seems rather obvious that people who throw out code phrases like that are just masking opposition to a multiracial society. So, it is apparent that the main reason white Southern voters fled the Democratic Party is integration. Why obfuscate?

3) Neo-Confederates favor the 1956 Georgia flag because it is a symbol of opposition to desegregation. It was adopted to oppose Brown v. Board of Education (1954) and to support the Southern Manifesto (1956) and massive resistance to desegregation.* The flag controversies are excellent examples of the still strong influence of segregationists on politics in the South. They represent the Southern Strategy at work.

*Though neo-Confederates would have people believe otherwise, the symbols of the Confederacy fell into disuse from Reconstruction until the 1950s and 1960s. Then they were revived as symbols of opposition to racial equality.

Biased and bitter? Hardly - but thank you for a personal assessment based on two posts. I've been nothing but polite and courteous to you, and I'd appreciate the same in return.

Now, on to a couple of your points. I don't have time right this second to hit on them all (I'll get to it later this evening, I promise), but I can at least touch on one or two. How would you interpret a slogan that said "The whiter the college, the sweeter the knowledge" ? Racism is racism, regardless of the race of the person involved.

Oh, and the song is "The March of Cambreadth" from Heather Alexander, who does Celtic folk music. Although the foe is never named in the song, I'd imagine, given the style, that it's some other Celtic or Gaelic tribal group. If you'll stick around for a while, you'll find that my taglines are usually based on whatever happens to be in my CD player at the time.