Yes, it's been a while since the death of this prominent bigot, but since I'm on the subject of racism, Brad Shaeffer's July 12 post at Big Journalism seems apropos:
When in 2003, Sen. Strom Thurmond passed away, the New York Times’ obituary headline read:
Strom Thurmond, Foe of Integration, Dies at 100
The paper then went on to justify this summation of a 100-year life and 56 years in politics as ‘foe of integration’ by citing his past sins as a racist and his history of opposition to civil rights. Here are some of the bullet points:
- He was an active member of the Ku Klux Klan in the early 1940s, recruiting 150 members and rising to the rank of “Exalted Cyclops” which he was elected to by unanimity.
- In 1944 he wrote: “I shall never fight in the armed forces with a Negro by my side … Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds.”
- In 1946 he penned: “The Klan is needed today as never before, and I am anxious to see its rebirth here … and in every state in the nation.”
- He filibustered the Civil Rights Act of 1964, personally speaking against it for fourteen hours.
- The only senator to have voted against the nominations of both Thurgood Marshall and Clarence Thomas to the SCOTUS – the only two Black justices to be nominated on the Court. He even enlisted the help of the FBI to find communist ties to Marshall to thwart the nomination. He also opposed nominations of Blacks Janice Rogers Brown for US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit and Condoleezza Rice for Secretary of State.
- On March 4, 2001 he announced that the problems of race relations are largely behind us, citing that ‘I’ve seen a lot of ‘white n****rs in my time’
So one can see why the Times would characterize him in a rather racist light no? It’s not a pretty picture. Oh gosh, wait a minute. My notes got all mixed up on my desk! These bullet points are about recently passed on Democratic Senator Robert Byrd! (more…)
You know the punch line, right? America's unprincipled leftist ideologues and the mainstream media (but I repeat myself), including the Times, were hagiographic in their commentary on the death of Byrd. They excused and whitewashed his lifetime of bigotry, calling his leadership role in the KKK a "youthful indiscretion" or claiming it was something he was forced to do in order to get elected.
The left will gladly overlook racism and bigotry by someone they can count on to help promote their agenda. For another recent example, consider the case of Kenneth Gladney, beaten and called a n****r by SEIU goons at a Tea Party rally. The Missouri NAACP held a press conference the other day to explain why Gladney deserved the beating and to call on the prosecutor to drop charges against his attackers.
