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Trueblackman to picket "KKK Byrd" tribute!!
Newsmax ^ | 1-22-03 | Carl Limbacher

Posted on 01/22/2003 3:23:12 AM PST by ovrtaxt

Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2003 12:01 a.m. EST 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


TOPICS: Activism/Chapters; Announcements; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; US: District of Columbia; US: West Virginia
KEYWORDS: aarlc; byrd; dcchapter; kkk; trueblackman
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To: sport
I've met Mr. Martin and can honestly say he's a Regular JOE...MUD
21 posted on 01/22/2003 3:59:03 AM PST by Mudboy Slim (Bill Clinton is a RAPIST of America...LET'S ROLL Towards Justice and Liberty Fer ALL!!!)
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To: johnny7
Yeah, Ive thought the same thing. Al is pretty sharp, though, (sorry) and Im sure that strategy has crossed his mind. The Dem establishment doesn't like him, and guys like Kevin are dredging up plenty of hypocrisy for an alternative candidate to use against the party.

I say go for it, Al. dividing the black liberal vote or discouraging them from voting altogether is good for America and good for the black family.
22 posted on 01/22/2003 4:03:44 AM PST by ovrtaxt
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To: Trueblackman
You rock brother!
23 posted on 01/22/2003 4:05:19 AM PST by Aeronaut (Your message imprinted here)
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To: blondee123
What the heck is this country coming to when they want to build something for a former KKK member??????

But … but … but … they aren’t building it because of Byrd’s KKK affiliation – they’re building it because he’s a Democrat!

24 posted on 01/22/2003 4:05:25 AM PST by bimbo
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To: ovrtaxt
I like how Kevin constructed his statement to paint Byrd as a domestic terrorist and hatemonger. Very apt use of political language, crafted to be quotable and digestable in sound bytes.

Very sharp tactics and a perfect way to highlight the real racists of the Democrat party.

Hopefully, we'll see footage on Fox soon.
25 posted on 01/22/2003 4:57:09 AM PST by George W. Bush
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To: Trueblackman
^5's Kevin. Hey are you going to attend the CPAC conference in Arlington next week????
26 posted on 01/22/2003 5:00:33 AM PST by mware
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To: Support Free Republic
Very Interesting
27 posted on 01/22/2003 5:04:26 AM PST by Ace the Biker
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To: mware
Kevin my local talk radio host Mike Fleming in Memphis would like to talk with you about kkk byrd.

His telephone number is 901-578-1160, ext. 212; e-mail is mikefleming@600wrec.com

28 posted on 01/22/2003 5:06:50 AM PST by GailA (Throw Away the Keys, Tennessee Tea Party, Start a tax revolt in your state)
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To: ovrtaxt
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.

Byrd's past is morally shameful, but this office business is fiscally shameful. During the nation's economic crisis, when we are on the verge of a costly war, this creep should not be wasting money on redecorating.

These Senators and Congresscritters re-decorate their offices every term, each of them operating on budgets that could provide housing for a whole family in their home districts. There are warehouses of discarded custom made furniture in Washington left over from these decorating binges and it's outrageous. We have to pay for storing what the Congresscritter doesn't want to take home with him at the end of his term. Former Speaker Foley filled a warehouse in Washington State with his stuff and then took another Government job (a no-no).

Give Byrd a suite of rooms, a paint brush, and let him pick his furniture from the leftovers the goverment already owns. He's back in the minority, and he should feel like it.

29 posted on 01/22/2003 5:27:57 AM PST by afraidfortherepublic
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To: ovrtaxt; Trueblackman
Greetings ovrtaxt, Trueblackman, FReepers, et al:
Go Kevin, uncloaking the veil of Washington political hypocrisy. Kevin, you're beginning to make Washington autocrats uncomfortable. Keep them uncomfortable.
30 posted on 01/22/2003 5:27:58 AM PST by OneLoyalAmerican (For the moment, I'm at a loss for witty tag line words.)
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To: ovrtaxt
TrueBlackMan BUMP
31 posted on 01/22/2003 5:35:51 AM PST by Search4Truth (The truth will set you free.)
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To: sport
"during WWII , ex Klansman Robert Byrd, now U.S. Senator Robert Byrd vowed never to 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 ouurs become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds"

Not only did Byrd say that (in a letter he wrote in 1946, I believe,) but he in fact did not serve in the armed forces in World War Two. When Strom Thurmond (in his 40's) landed in Normandy as a paratrooper on D-Day, Byrd (in his 20's) was working comfortably at a defense plant in West Virginia.

32 posted on 01/22/2003 5:38:10 AM PST by aristeides
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To: aristeides
Byrd is an embarrassment on so many levels.
33 posted on 01/22/2003 6:18:25 AM PST by mountaineer
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To: ovrtaxt
Why are we, the taxpayers, paying for an exact office for this man. He is no longer in the position for the office. He is no better than anyone else. He should be in a regular office. How very prideful. Who authorized this? I am sending an email to my congressman now.
34 posted on 01/22/2003 7:11:16 AM PST by surelyclintonsbaddream
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To: Trueblackman
My salute to you!
35 posted on 01/22/2003 7:20:12 AM PST by Petronski (I'm not always cranky.)
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To: ovrtaxt
For added effect Kevin should bring a cross and light it on fire when the TV crews show up. Zap !
36 posted on 01/22/2003 7:31:13 AM PST by John Lenin
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To: Trueblackman
GO!

When are you doing this? I want to join you!
37 posted on 01/22/2003 7:34:23 AM PST by Hobsonphile (Human nature can't be wished away by utopian dreams.)
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To: mhking
DIXIE PING!

trueblackman is a GREAT GUY!

FRee dixie,sw

38 posted on 01/22/2003 9:15:13 AM PST by stand watie (Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God. : Thomas Jefferson 1774)
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To: ovrtaxt; All
FYI, recent thread: New Evidence-Sen. Robert Byrd [D-WVA] May Have Been Klan Member 'Well Past' 1943
39 posted on 01/22/2003 11:19:48 AM PST by Xthe17th (FREE THE STATES. Repudiate the 17th amendment!)
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To: Trueblackman
You Go, Kmart!
40 posted on 01/22/2003 1:02:28 PM PST by sauropod (Mike Farrell has donated his brain to science. Too bad he is still here....)
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