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'KKK' Byrd's Spokesman Draws Blank on Lynching Role
NewsMax.com ^ | Jan. 10, 2003 | Carl Limbacher

Posted on 01/10/2003 12:55:48 PM PST by Carl/NewsMax

A spokesman for Sen. Robert Byrd, D-WV, told protesters this week that he wasn't sure whether his boss had helped lynch any African-Americans when the top Senate Democrat was a member of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1940's.

Members of the African-American Republican Leadership Council and the Washington, D.C. Chapter of FreeRepublic.com staged the sit-in in Byrd's Hart Building Senate office on Tuesday, where Byrd's press secretary Tom Gavin fielded questions for about 20 minutes.

"We asked Gavin, does he know what Sen. Byrd did while he was in the Klan?" Kristinn Taylor, co-leader of the FreeRepublic group, told NewsMax.

"He didn't know," Taylor recalled. "He said he hadn't talked to Byrd about it."

"We asked Gavin if he knew what the Klan was doing in West Virginia in the 1940s when Sen. Byrd was a member," added Taylor.

Byrd's spokesman pleaded ignorance again.

"Were they lynching black people?" came the next question. "Again, Gavin didn't know," Taylor said.

Then the protesters wanted to know, did Byrd's Klan chapter burn crosses on black peoples' lawns and run them out of town?

"He didn't know. He had no idea," came the response from the Byrd press aide.

When pressed on why Gavin didn't try to find out more about Byrd's Klan past in the wake of last month's Trent Lott fiasco, the spokesman said only that he had failed to do so and didn't explain why, according to Taylor.

"The main thing that shocked us was when Gavin said Sen. Byrd told him that the reason he joined the Klan back then was because of its strong anti-communist stance," he explained.

"We laughed," Taylor said, recalling the protesters' reaction. "That's pretty much the same excuse Trent Lott offered," he added, referring to the brouhaha last month that forced Republican Senate Majority Leader to resign his post for praising Sen. Strom Thurmond's 1948 Dixiecrat presidential bid.


TOPICS: Front Page News
KEYWORDS: byrd; freepers; lynching
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To: Enterprise
Mr. Gavin, "I don't know, but I'll check and get back to you on that."

[ Next Day ] Mr. Gavin, "Well I checked and found out that he participated in 14 cross-burnings, 3 lynchings and one episode where the unfortunate fella was drug behind a pick-up truck. Any other questions?

21 posted on 01/10/2003 1:15:00 PM PST by plain talk
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To: All
I got the date wrong: WV's anti-lynching law was passed in 1921. However, there was a lynching of two men in WV in 1931.
22 posted on 01/10/2003 1:18:12 PM PST by aristeides
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To: Carl/NewsMax; kristinn
Great job!
23 posted on 01/10/2003 1:21:08 PM PST by Rodney King (No, we can't all just get along.)
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To: Carl/NewsMax
I'm SOOOOOOOOO glad to see some follow up on this! If I were a young reporter, I'd make a beeline for Grand Dragon Byrd's stompin' grounds and interview every black person over 70 I could find. THEY know who was lynched back then, THEY know where the crosses were burned and THEY know who was behind it. Their memories are long. It's a disgrace that this racist, and in all likelihood, this murdering, cracker has never been called out on this and continues to serve in a leadership role in the demoKKKrat party.
24 posted on 01/10/2003 1:22:49 PM PST by LibWhacker (99 percent of lawyers give the rest a bad name.)
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To: Carl/NewsMax
DemocRATS are held to a much lower standard than Republicans. The mainstream media insists upon it.
25 posted on 01/10/2003 1:22:49 PM PST by Bullish
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To: LibWhacker
In fairness to Sen. Byrd, noone has ever accused him of participating in a lynching and he has said that he never did. We wanted to know what he did in the Klan and what the Klan was doing in West Virginia during the 1940s when Byrd a member and writing fawning letters about the Klan a few years later.

As the article states, we got no answers except for the incredulous reason given for him joining the Klan.

26 posted on 01/10/2003 1:28:24 PM PST by kristinn
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To: plain talk
Just one more question. Was it a Ford or a Chevy Pickup Truck? Me and the boys got a jug 'o moonshine bet on it.
27 posted on 01/10/2003 1:28:27 PM PST by Enterprise
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To: aristeides
According to the Senate website, Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) is Pro Tempore now. Senator Lieberman should take comfort that a racist is no longer third in line for the presidency.
28 posted on 01/10/2003 1:31:49 PM PST by kristinn
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To: ServesURight
Any links to online verification that he was high-ranking?
29 posted on 01/10/2003 1:31:54 PM PST by EaglesUpForever
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To: Carl/NewsMax; kristinn; Trueblackman
My deepest admiration.
30 posted on 01/10/2003 1:34:52 PM PST by Bahbah
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To: RJCogburn; Trueblackman
Thanks, but TBM deserves the major credit for this one. I just asked a few questions.
31 posted on 01/10/2003 1:36:25 PM PST by kristinn
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To: Carl/NewsMax
Add my compliments, also, kristinn. You ARE making a difference, by politely but effectively pushing the issues. Way to go!!!

Congressman Billybob

Click for latest column on UPI, "Three Anti-Endorsements" (Now up on UPI wire, and FR.)

As the politician formerly known as Al Gore has said, Buy my book, "to Restore Trust in America"

32 posted on 01/10/2003 1:36:34 PM PST by Congressman Billybob
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To: Enterprise
Either way Byrd still doesn't look good in this. Gavin couldn't come right out and say "no" it didn't happen.
33 posted on 01/10/2003 1:37:41 PM PST by swheats
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To: Carl/NewsMax; kristinn
Oh Bravo!!
34 posted on 01/10/2003 1:39:27 PM PST by Jhoffa_
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To: swheats
A very profound observation on your part. Isn't it fascinating that the answer couldn't automatically and emphatically be no?
35 posted on 01/10/2003 1:40:35 PM PST by Enterprise
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To: kristinn
But can we be sure the Web site is already accurate, or has not acted in anticipation of an expected event that has not happened yet?

Speaking of racists in that position in the line of presidential succession, Byrd is not the only DemocRAT segregationist who has been president pro tem in recent years. John Stennis of Mississippi was president pro tem 1985-6, James Eastland of Mississippi 1972-8, Allen Ellender of Louisiana 1971-2, Richard Russell of Georgia 1969-71, Walter George of Georgia 1955-6, Kenneth McKellar of Tennessee 1945-6 and 1949-52, and Carter Glass of Virginia 1941-4. (In fairness, I should point out that Strom Thurmond occupied the position for long stretches in recent years as a Republican.)

36 posted on 01/10/2003 1:41:15 PM PST by aristeides
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To: kristinn
No my friend the freepers have it right you deserve the credit for asking the question, I just enjoyed seeing you put it to Tom Gavin.
37 posted on 01/10/2003 1:41:28 PM PST by Trueblackman
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To: Enterprise
I know it's too early to party but Byrd and Murray have a few millstones to deal with right now.
38 posted on 01/10/2003 1:44:05 PM PST by swheats
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To: kristinn
No my friend the freepers have it right you deserve the credit for asking the questions, I just enjoyed seeing you put it to Tom Gavin.
39 posted on 01/10/2003 1:44:29 PM PST by Trueblackman
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To: kristinn
. . . no one has ever accused him of participating in a lynching . . .

I wonder if anyone has ever investigated it? If Byrd were a Republican, what would Mike Wallace and 60 Minutes do? They'd take a camera crew to West Virginia, find some old timers with a good story to tell and win a prestigious award in journalistic reporting.

That's what I'd like to see done here.

(Don't take this as criticism; I LOVE what you guys are doing. Thank you so much! :-))

40 posted on 01/10/2003 1:45:19 PM PST by LibWhacker
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