He's got to go. I agree with the arguments for him resigning his post in this press release from Project 21 (Republican African American group)
Conservative African-American Group Project 21 Addresses Lott-Thurmond
Controversy
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 11, 2002
CONTACT: David Almasi (202) 371-1400 x106 or e-mail
project21@nationalcenter.org
Members of the conservative African-American leadership network Project 21
are dismayed by recent remarks by incoming Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott
(R-MS).
At a December 5 100th birthday celebration for retiring Senator Strom
Thurmond (R-SC), Lott 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, either." Thurmond's 1948 presidential
candidacy was based on a pro-segregation platform.
Lott since has apologized, saying his comments were "a poor choice of words"
and that his praise for Thurmond referred to Thurmond's stance on issues
other than segregation.
Project 21 members hold differing views on whether Lott should resign as
Majority Leader. Although no Project 21 member says Lott actually supports
segregationist policies, many believe he should resign the post.
Project 21 member and syndicated columnist Deroy Murdock says: "The only
people who benefited from Lott's comments are Democrats who now have an
all-purpose bogeyman. Next year will see President Bush's tax cuts morph
into the 'Trent Lott Tax Act,' designed to siphon money from poor blacks and
hand it to rich white people in the suburbs. President Bush's goal of
individual Social Security accounts will be dubbed the 'Trent Lott Pension
Scheme' to rob black widows and hand their pensions to wealthy whites on
Wall Street. And good luck to GOP candidates who pose for pictures with
Lott. They can look forward to seeing their faces beside Lott's in campaign
attack ads. What a splendid way to anger black Democrats and drive them to
the polls. Lott should do the right thing and take a seat in the back of
the Senate bus."
Project 21 member Ak'bar Shabazz, a Republican Party activist, supplied his
own view: "If Republicans are serious about not conceding the black vote to
the Democrats, then Senator Lott must be removed from his leadership
position. His presence will allow Democrats to continue to portray
Republicans as insensitive to the concerns of the black community. As we
continue to inform and relay the true nature of the conservatism, his words
will be used as ammunition against us for as long as he's present. We have
to remove that round from the chamber."
Not all Project 21 members believe Lott should step down as Majority Leader.
Reverend Jesse Peterson, president and CEO of the Brotherhood Organization
of a New Destiny, speaking for his group, said: "We have accepted Lott's
apology and need no further explanation. He's proven himself over the years
to be a good man. Al Sharpton is thinking of running for President. I
wonder if he'll apologize for the Tawana Brawley incident and past comments
he made about Jews. We are asking Trent Lott not to resign, and trust him
any day over any member of the Congressional Black Caucus or Sharpton."
Very many Project 21 members compared the criticism of Lott to that received
by liberal politicians displaying racial insensitivities, citing an apparent
double standard. Comments by Project 21 member Michael King reflected the
thoughts of many: "Bill Clinton's political mentors — former Arkansas
Senator J. William Fulbright (D) and former Arkansas Governor Orville Faubus
(D) — were both rabid segregationists, yet Clinton gave Fulbright a medal
and praises him to this day. West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) is
not only a former member of the Ku Klux Klan, but he has never gone on
record as renouncing or apologizing for his involvement in that
organization. Yet we are supposed to tar and feather Trent Lott?"
Project 21 has been a leading voice in the African-American community since
1992. For more information, contact David Almasi at (202) 371-1400 x106 or
Project21@nationalcenter.org, or visit Project 21's web site at
http://www.project21.org/P21Index.html.