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.
[ 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?
As the article states, we got no answers except for the incredulous reason given for him joining the Klan.
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, my book, "to Restore Trust in America"
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.)
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! :-))
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