Posted on 01/21/2003 11:00:42 PM PST by kattracks
Civil Rights Leader to Picket 'KKK' Byrd Tribute
A Washington, D.C.-based civil rights leader said Tuesday that he would "chain [himself] to the construction site" of a ceremonial office being built as a tribute to Ku Klux Klansman-turned-senator, Robert Byrd, D-W.V.
"I will not stand idly by and allow the building of a fantasy office for 'a minister of hate' such as Robert Byrd," said Kevin Martin, political affairs director of the African-American Republican Leadership Council. "I am willing to chain myself to the construction site, run the risk of arrest and know I stood on principle rather than remain silent."
Yesterday reports surfaced of a secret budget appropriation to build a replica in the Capitol Building of the ornate office Byrd used to occupy as Senate Pro Tempore, even though he lost the pro tem post when the Democrats lost their plurality.
The exact cost has not been made public and it is unmentioned in any appropriations document or even internal Senate correspondence. But some estimated the Byrd tribute would come with a six-figure price tag, according to the Knight-Ridder news service.
Former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., said Byrd's colleagues feared retribution from the ex-Klansman unless they found a new way to honor him, explaining, "Frankly, it's not worth the trouble he can create if you don't give him deference."
But on Tuesday Martin decried the Byrd shakedown as an outrage. "I say shame on both Senate Democrats and Republicans for saddling the American public with the bill of building a monument to an evil one-time recruiter of persons who wanted to conduct terrorist acts against fellow Americans."
Last week Byrd said through a spokesman that he had never participated in lynchings or cross burnings while he was in the Klan briefly during World War II. But questions continue to swirl about the West Virginia Democrat's claim, offered through his spokesman Tom Gavin, that he wasn't a racist while he was a member of the virulently anti-black terror group.
"Democrats can play the race-baiting games all they want, but Senator Robert Byrd is a continued reminder of their racist past of jackboots, billyclubs, water hoses, dogs and nightriders," Martin said. "I refuse to accept Senator Byrd's excuse of why he was a member of the KKK."
Coming Wednesday: Evidence surfaces indicating that Byrd may have been a Ku Klux Klan member well past 1943, the year he maintains he resigned from the notorious hate group.
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
DNC
Senator Lott is an expert at creating trouble. And he's not "worth it."
"There will never be a Negro on the US Supreme Court, I can guarantee you that. Mr. [Thurgood] Marshall holds views which our dangerous to this nation and our posterity. I know a group of Senators, who, like myself...will hold up his confirmation vote for months if we have to." --Senator Robert C. Byrd, June 1967
I am so sick and damned tired of folks on the right trying to pigeonhole us as "Civil Rights activists" simply because we are outspoken and black. I expect that kind of excrement from the left, but not from our own (assuredly more learned) scribes!
If you want on (or off) of my black conservative ping list, please let me know via FREEPmail. (And no, you don't have to be black to be on the list!)
Extra warning: this is a high-volume ping list.
An excellent illustration of why it was critical to get rid of Lott as Majority Leader. His willingness to bend over for anyone for any reason gutted the Republican's ability to move their agenda through the Senate.
A friend of mine has a saying "No one is worthless. They can always serve as a good, bad example." In Lott's case, I think my friend is wrong.
Admit it, you liked Romo up until last year.
I don't know. I'm still trying to visualize whirled peas. ;^)
Senator Lott is an expert at creating trouble. And he's not "worth it."
Lott more than had his weak moments, however under the circumstances Frist is doing quite well.
Btw, and now completely off the topic of this thread, have the Broncos changed their home uniforms back to orange again? I watched a game played in Denver late in the year, and they wore orange jerseys with their new(ish) helmets. They looked great.....like they took the best of both the old and new. Was that change just for one game?
Eventually? Hell, I'll agree right now. Romo's completely nuts (like most Raider fans), but I'd go to war with him any day.
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