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.
That's not the point. Everybody knows Byrd won't get booted. The purpose here is to undermine the Dems' stolen credibility on matters of race. If this is repeated often enough, black voters will begin to realize that the party they are ostensibly beholden to is harboring a Klansman. They may not vote Republican, but some of them will get disgusted enough to stop supporting the Dems. This is a winning issue.
Thank you for your succinct reply. I had not looked at it from that perspective. You are correct and I stand corrected. :)
Those questions were exactly the questions 60 Minutes would have asked had this been a Republican who was the only member in Congress with a KKK heritage.
Those questions were exactly the questions that should be asked regardless of party if you were the only member in Congress with a KKK heritage.
To join the KKK, Byrd sword an oath before God to uphold the KKK Constitution. Among other things that Constitution says that each member swears:
"To maintain forever white supremacy."
"To maintain forever the God-given supremacy of the white race."And...
Every Klansman has unqualifiedly affirmed that he will "faithfully strive for the eternal maintenance of white supremacy."
In my brief research on this topic, and having viewed various versions of past KKK Constitutions, I see no provision for leaving the Klan once sworn unless expelled. Until Byrd can demonstrate otherwise, he is still a member of the West Virgina KKK and is still under oath of allegiance to the Klan.
...Like that will matter at all to the Rats.
The consitution of the UNited States of America grants freedom of the press to allow Democrats to forget politically damaging facts.
1. Mr Byrd, if it is true that you were a recruiter for the KKK, would you please tell us how many people you recruited, and their names?
2. Did you ever provide law enforcement authorities with these names?
3. Did you ever participate in the burning of crosses as a member of the KKK? If so, could name the places, dates and times?
4. If you ever did participate in the burning of crosses, did you at some point advice law enforcement of the events and who else was present?
5. As a member of the KKK, did you ever participate in the lynchings of any blacks?
6. If you did participate in the lynchings of any blacks, have you by now advised the proper law enforcement authorities?
7. During the time you were a member of the KKK, did you ever hear of other lynchings by KKK members? If so, do you have the names of those involved, the dates, times, and places of said lynchings? And one further question if I may, if you have heard of other members of the KKK who participated in lynchings, did you ever advise the proper law enforcement authorities of said lynchings?
8. Sorry Mr Byrd, one more question: To how many politicians, present and past, have you been a mentor? And would please provide their names?
Found the pictures from "Without Sanctuary" right here.
Lots of lynchings there. Looking through them, so far I have yet to see a single white hood or sheet.
1. Mr Byrd, if it is true that you were a recruiter for the KKK, would you please tell us how many people you recruited, and their names?
2. Did you ever provide law enforcement authorities with these names?
3. Did you ever participate in the burning of crosses as a member of the KKK? If so, could name the places, dates and times?
4. If you ever did participate in the burning of crosses, did you at some point advice law enforcement of the events and who else was present?
5. As a member of the KKK, did you ever participate in the lynchings of any blacks?
6. If you did participate in the lynchings of any blacks, have you by now advised the proper law enforcement authorities?
7. During the time you were a member of the KKK, did you ever hear of other lynchings by KKK members? If so, do you have the names of those involved, the dates, times, and places of said lynchings? And one further question if I may, if you have heard of other members of the KKK who participated in lynchings, did you ever advise the proper law enforcement authorities of said lynchings?
8. Sorry Mr Byrd, one more question: To how many politicians, present and past, have you been a mentor? And would please provide their names?
I have a feeling an Authority infinitely more powerful than Dan, Peter, Tom and their colleagues combined may lay these questions upon the ByrdMan. If so, Bobby'll have no place to hide.
foreverfree
I'll bet you a stale donut that Britt Hume has something about this on this PM's "Grapevine" segment. Brit is pretty darn perceptive..........and I think he's a lurker....maybe even a poster!!
Not sure how quick Fox jumped on this...the article and thread are a couple years old.
I wonder if Kristinn of FreeRepublic.com has a video camera. He's such a talented reporter, (and bold activist), I would like to see him armed with the tools of the trade.
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