November 27th / 29th, 2009
"Congress Honors Racist Byrd"
As if the insurance industry’s hijacking of healthcare reform wasn’t
enough to make you sick, there was last week’s spectacle in which Congress
honored Senator Robert Byrd for becoming the nation’s longest-serving
lawmaker. Noted politicos paid tribute to and had high praise for the 92-year-old
West Virginian, and even issued a special resolution to celebrate his 56
years in Washington.
First of all, I have a problem with anyone serving in Congress for 56
years, not because of age, but because of the abuses which can result. In one
two-year period from 1989 to 1991, Byrd used his chairmanship of a powerful
committee to earmark over a billion dollars in pet projects for his home
state. But my main objection to last week’s festivities is that our federal
government took time out from their duties to sing the praises of a racist.
Robert Byrd became a member of the Ku Klux Klan at age twenty-four. Not
only that, he was a recruiter (“Kleagle” is the Klan term) who received ten
dollars a head for every new member. According to Capitalist Magazine, Byrd
claimed he joined the Klan because it offered “excitement”. He also
praised the KKK as “an effective force” in promoting traditional American
values.
Kleagle Byrd claimed that he left the Klan in 1943, but a year later he
wrote a letter to Mississippi Senator Theodore Bilbo in which he made his
views known on the subject of integrating the military. Said Byrd, “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”. That was followed two
years later by a letter he wrote to the Imperial Wizard saying, “The Klan
is needed as never before, and I am anxious to see the re-birth here in West
Virginia, and in every state in the union”.
But Byrd’s Klan leanings didn’t end there. He went on to oppose Thurgood
Marshall’s nomination to the Supreme Court, and he filibustered against the
Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Over the years, the question of Byrd’s KKK involvement resurfaced
periodically, but the mainstream media never seemed to show much interest in
bringing him down. Then in 2001, the Senator appeared on Fox News Sunday, and
told Tony Snow, “the problems of race are behind us. We talk so much about
(racism) that we create an illusion… there are plenty of white niggers…”.
Despite those patronizing remarks, no one seemed to call for his head on a
platter.
It seems that Washington is full of people who love to turn the other
cheek when it comes to a Democrat Klansman, especially when his vote is needed
to pass important legislation.
What we need to remember, however, is that Robert Byrd’s participation in
the KKK can’t be written off as a mere youthful indiscretion. He was a
grown man when he joined the Klan, and worked tirelessly on its behalf,
eventually rising to the position of “Exalted Cyclops”. His role in the Klan was
not passive, rather he recruited members to help carry out a mission of
hatred and violence against minorities. No one knows how many black men
were beaten, tortured or lynched by Byrd’s friends and disciples, but,
amazingly, no one seems to care. That’s because little Bobby Byrd has made a point
of repeatedly apologizing for his Klan ties.
According to Byrd, he had a racial awakening in 1982 when his grandson was
killed in a car accident. Byrd said the tragedy made him realize that
black people love their children as much as he does. Well Boo friggin’ Hoo
Senator, and thanks for the lesson in sociology. No matter how he said it, his
apologies and revisionist explanations of history never quite rang true,
and always came off as contradictory and hollow. But perhaps his most
ingenuine mea culpa came in 2005 when Byrd said of his KKK involvements, “I can’
t erase what happened”.
I beg to differ. Byrd could have stepped down from the Senate as soon as
his past affiliations were made public. Spilled milk. Years later he could
have resigned following one of his many apologies. The fact that he didn’t
is indicative of his hypocrisy and cowardice. Of course once you wear a
hood, you become expert at masking the truth.
And that brings me back to last week’s disgusting display by Byrd’s
colleagues on his behalf. Instead of celebrating him, they should have been
censuring him. Instead of a resolution about his longevity, they should have
resolved to make reparations for hate crimes against minorities who never
enjoyed longevity thanks to Byrd’s Klan. But that’s Washington politics for
you. Only Congress would honor a man with no honor.
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