Posted on 12/11/2002 10:24:21 PM PST by TLBSHOW
Kevin Martin: Black Caucus Fears Senate's Ex-Klansman
A Washington, D.C.-based civil rights leader said Wednesday that the Congressional Black Caucus fears the political clout of ex-Ku Klux Klansman, Sen. Robert Byrd, and that's why they haven't demanded his resignation for repeatedly using an ugly racial epithet last year.
"The Congressional Black Caucus lives in fear of Robert Byrd," said Kevin Martin, head of African-American Republican Leadership Council, on Wednesday. "They've never condemned him on anything," he told radio host Sean Hannity.
Martin contrasted the firestorm of protest that erupted this week over the comments of Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott with the tepid reaction by black elected officials to the West Virginia Democrat's remarks after he repeatedly referred to "white niggers" during a nationally televised broadcast in March 2004.
The AARLC leader said that because of Byrd's position as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, congressional blacks are loathe to put funding for important programs in jeopardy by speaking out against even the most outrageous racial epithets used by the former Klansman.
"Any appropriations that come out of the House have got to go to the Senate," Martin told Hannity, suggesting that Byrd would likely exact revenge for any attempt to hold him accountable by cutting off discretionary funds to their districts.
After Byrd's outburst last year, leading Congressional Black Caucus member Rep. Bennie Thompson, D- Miss., told Roll Call, "I think he has a lot of penance to give." But he declined to call on Byrd to step down from his post as president pro-tem of the Senate.
The position puts the ex-Klansman fourth in the line of succession to the U.S. presidency.
Instead, Thompson warned that the African-American community was going to closely watch Byrd's legislative activity "to make sure his future votes don't reflect that same level of insensitivity."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.