Republicans Decline Supporting Anti-Lynching Legislation

[Ant]

On Monday the Senate held a 'voice vote' on an anti-lynching resolution.  While the vote recieved unanimous support, those who refused to support the measure by declining to vote were allowed to hide from the public eye since a voice vote does not require the 'yea' or 'nay' of each senator to go on record.  As it turns out 20 racist and/or cowardly senators declined to support the legislation and a with a little research a list of their names was developed.  To be fair, Senators often miss votes for personal reasons, so I'm sure all senators on the list are not racists, or cowards that declined to vote out for fear of losign their racist supporters, but unsurprisingly we find the list is predominantly republican:

Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
Robert Bennett (R-UT)
Christopher Bond (R-MO)
Jim Bunning (R-KY)
Conrad Burns (R-MT)
Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)
Thad Cochran (R-MS)
Kent Conrad (D-ND)
John Cornyn (R-TX)
Michael Crapo (R-ID)
Michael Enzi (R-WY)
Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
Judd Gregg (R-NH)
Orrin Hatch (R-UT)
Trent Lott (R-MS)
Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
Richard Shelby (R-AL)
John Sununu (R-NH)
Craig Thomas (R-WY)
George Voinovich (R-OH)

In total, 19 republicans declined to vote, while only one democrat did.  To put this in perspective, 27% of the republican party declined to support an anti-lynching resolution.  Woodrow's argument that if racism exists on both sides, then both sides are equally racist should by now be wrong beyond a doubt.  Not only was this assertion an obvious logical fallacy, but if you need additional evidence that the GOP recieves the majority of the racist vote in America one need only view this list.  So anyways... if it wasn't enough to know that:

a) a GOP support group, that Bill Frist, Delay, and Hastert affiliate with purchased a KKK mailing list for 80k.
b) Trent Lott is a republican who in 2002 said the country would be better off if Strom Thurmond was elected president.
c) Strom Thurmond is a republican who left the democratic party to run for president as a third party candidate on a openly racist platform supporting segregation.
d) The GOP rise to power initiated when the Dems introduced civil rights legislation causing the Democrat party to split, and the so-called dixiecrats to eventually leave the Dems to join the GOP, bringing with them four previously democratic states.

then you can add this latest development to the list and paint a pretty obvious picture. 
___


The Senate on Monday formally apologized for having rejected decades of pleas to make lynching a federal crime as scores victims' descendants watched from the chamber's gallery.

On a voice vote and without opposition, the Senate passed a resolution expressing its regrets to the relatives as well as to the nearly 5,000 Americans -- mostly black males -- who were documented as having been lynched from 1880 to 1960 [...]

Dan Duster, a descendant of Ida B. Wells, a former slave who became an anti-lynching crusader, praised senators who publicly backed the resolution of apology and scorned those who did not.

No lawmaker opposed the measure, but 20 of the 100 senators had not signed a statement of support of it shortly before a vote was taken on a nearly empty Senate floor.

"I think it's politics. They're afraid of losing votes from people of prejudice," Duster said of those who did not sign the statement of support.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&e=2&u=/nm/20050614/ts_nm/congress_lynching_dc

[Twentytwofifty]

Well the is just further proof that the Republican party is racist and very likely all sons of Satan.

[Ant]

An updated list:

Lamar Alexander (R-TN) - (202) 224-4944
Robert Bennett (R-UT) - (202) 224-5444
Thad Cochran (R-MS) - (202) 224-5054
John Cornyn (R-TX) - (202) 224-2934
Michael Crapo (R-ID) - (202) 224-6142
Michael Enzi (R-WY) - (202) 224-3424
Chuck Grassley (R-IA) - (202) 224-3744
Judd Gregg (R-NH) - (202) 224-3324
Orrin Hatch (R-UT) - (202) 224-5251
Kay Hutchison (R-TX) - (202) 224-5922
Jon Kyl (R-AZ) - (202) 224-4521
Trent Lott (R-MS) - (202) 224-6253
Richard Shelby (R-AL) - (202) 224-5744
John Sununu (R-NH) - (202) 224-2841
Craig Thomas (R-WY) - (202) 224-6441

Every democrat ended up supporting the resolution.  Unfortunately, all GOP senators weren't able to do the same - apparently not upsetting the KKK voters was more important than doing what's right. More disturbingly, if the GOP can't bring itself to acknowledge fault for blocking approximately 200 anti-lynching bills can we really expect much introspection from the party?  Ok silly question, the answer to that is already more than obvious.  The GOP is about as likely to apologize for its racist past as is it to suddenly wake up tomorrow and begin competently guiding the country.

The bigots have a lot to be proud about.

[boycriedwolf619]

Well the is just further proof that the Republican party is racist and very likely all sons of Satan.

i agree

[dexter]

that's crazy

[Kal EL]

Ant GOD bless you for this man, for real. This is real news that we need to know about.

[J Bananas]

I didnt know lynching was a problem we had to worry about these days.

[Ant]

I didnt know lynching was a problem we had to worry about these days.

It's not, but when it was a problem members of the Senate tried on approx. 200 occasions to introduce anti-lynching legislation.  None of those 200 attempts passed.  This current piece of legislation is a resolution apologizing for failure to act. 

S.RES.39
Title: A resolution apologizing to the victims of lynching and the descendants of those victims for the failure of the Senate to enact anti-lynching legislation.
Sponsor: Sen Landrieu, Mary L. [LA] (introduced 2/7/2005) 

This is another "bury your head in the sand" issue for GOP supporters on this forum. 

[Twentytwofifty]

This legislation is a waste of time, I wouldn't waste my time voting either, it's already illegal.

[J Bananas]

An apology for failure to act? I didn't know white liberal guilt was a valid factor in making legislations. Why don't we go ahead and change black peoples official title one more time, or dedicate another shitty ass street to Martin Luther King, or declare some other trivial victory which only brings up raw emotions in people and doesn't really mean anything? What are they trying to accomplish?

[Kal EL]

Actually lynching does in fact still occur. In texas about 3 years ago a blackman was beaten and drug behind a truck as his body was dismembered. it was in Jasper Texas i believe.

[dexter]

^ Exactly^
your racists!

[J Bananas]

^^^^^^^^^^
Haha you make me laugh with your timid white guilt. you guys noted like one example from three years ago, where he wasnt even hung. the bleeding hearts perpetuating this shit are the "racists", it's you who dont let things go and beat issues to death until so many people are arguing about it we lose focus. here's a tip: people accept you you even though you are a gray face, stop trying to prove to the world how sympathetic you are by trying to stress the most trivial points just because they cater to the race who makes the rap music you love. you are not fighting the good fight, you are making the apearance of a closet "racist" who is trying to overcompensate by being a jackass to his own people, like Michael moore. Just stop. stop.

[Ant]

^^^^^^^^^^
Haha you make me laugh with your timid white guilt. you guys noted like one example from three years ago, where he wasnt even hung. the bleeding hearts perpetuating this shit are the "racists", it's you who dont let things go and beat issues to death until so many people are arguing about it we lose focus. here's a tip: people accept you you even though you are a gray face, stop trying to prove to the world how sympathetic you are by trying to stress the most trivial points just because they cater to the race who makes the rap music you love. you are not fighting the good fight, you are making the apearance of a closet "racist" who is trying to overcompensate by being a jackass to his own people, like Michael moore. Just stop. stop.

You're argument isn't anything new, its a bit of rhetoric that has been used many times over.  It only took a phone call to support this resolution and republicans chose not to do it.  One of those republicans, Trent Lott, lost his position as Senate Majority leader when he gave a speech saying he felt the country would be better off if we remained segregated and didn't enact civil rights legislation.  That wasn't 30 years ago, it was only 3 years ago. And it was just a few years ago when republicans chose James Hart, who wrote a book entitled "Favored Races", as a Congressional candidate.  I'll quote you part of his ideology:

"The statement that "all men are created equal" is enshrined in our heart next to E equals MC2 when it should be catalogued next to 'break a mirror and get 7 years bad luck'. Equality is man's most dangerous myth. All men do not have an equal right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. " - James Hart, Favored Races

Try arguing facts instead of spouting rhetoric.  Do you even know the difference? Calling out real racism has nothing to do with "white guilt."  It may be convenient for you to explain criticism away by calling it such, but in the end you're only arguing rhetoric, when the facts I present speak for themselves.  How you want to interpret them is up to you.

[Thirteen]

^^^^^^^^^^
Haha you make me laugh with your timid white guilt. you guys noted like one example from three years ago, where he wasnt even hung. the bleeding hearts perpetuating this shit are the "racists", it's you who dont let things go and beat issues to death until so many people are arguing about it we lose focus. here's a tip: people accept you you even though you are a gray face, stop trying to prove to the world how sympathetic you are by trying to stress the most trivial points just because they cater to the race who makes the rap music you love. you are not fighting the good fight, you are making the apearance of a closet "racist" who is trying to overcompensate by being a jackass to his own people, like Michael moore. Just stop. stop.

You're argument isn't anything new, its a bit of rhetoric that has been used many times over.  It only took a phone call to support this resolution and republicans chose not to do it.  One of those republicans, Trent Lott, lost his position as Senate Majority leader when he gave a speech saying he felt the country would be better off if we remained segregated and didn't enact civil rights legislation.  That wasn't 30 years ago, it was only 3 years ago. And it was just a few years ago when republicans chose James Hart, who wrote a book entitled "Favored Races", as a Congressional candidate.  I'll quote you part of his ideology:

"The statement that "all men are created equal" is enshrined in our heart next to E equals MC2 when it should be catalogued next to 'break a mirror and get 7 years bad luck'. Equality is man's most dangerous myth. All men do not have an equal right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. " - James Hart, Favored Races

Try arguing facts instead of spouting rhetoric.  Do you even know the difference? Calling out real racism has nothing to do with "white guilt."  It may be convenient for you to explain criticism away by calling it such, but in the end you're only arguing rhetoric, when the facts I present speak for themselves.  How you want to interpret them is up to you.

all men aren't created equal....hey Ant why aren't you making millions of dollars playing in the NBA or NFL if we are all equal