Yesterday, I wrote about a number of Senators who, when given the opportunity to support legislation making the seemingly obvious stand against lynching, decidedly declined.
Monday night, the U.S. Senate voted on S. Res. 39, a bill that simply apologizes “to the victims of lynching and the descendants of those victims for the failure of the Senate to enact anti-lynching legislation.” That’s pretty straightforward, no?
Nope. As of yesterday, there were 21 Senators who had refused to cosponsor S. Res 39. Thanks to loads of calls to Senators’ offices yesterday, four more signed on to the resolution after the fact. That leaves 17 Senators who, even after public pressure, still either don’t have a problem with lynching or are afraid of offending their supporters who think lynching was fine. The remaining 17 OK-with-lynching Senators are:
Senator Lamar Alexander, (R-TN)
Senator Robert Bennett, (R-UT)
Senator Thad Cochran, (R-MS)
Senator John Cornyn, (R-TX)
Senator Michael Crapo, (R-ID)
Senator Michael Enzi, (R-WY)
Senator Chuck Grassley, (R-IA)
Senator Judd Gregg, (R-NH)
Senator Orrin Hatch, (R-UT)
Senator Kay Hutchison, (R-TX)
Senator Jon Kyl, (R-AZ)
Senator Trent Lott, (R-MS)
Senator Lisa Murkowski, (R-AK)
Senator Richard Shelby, (R-AL)
Senator Gordon Smith, (R-OR)
Senator John Sununu, (R-NH)
Senator Craig Thomas, (R-WY)
Glory be! Why, they’re all Republicans, each and every one! What is it with being a Republican and soft on lynching? I guess it must be one of those “moral values” things that a satanic liberal like myself just wouldn’t understand.
Poor, poor J. Matthew. Do you not have ANY moral compass? And don’t you realize that the republican powers-that-be are too busy making CURRENT mistakes (ones that will not be apologized for later) to worry about PAST mistakes?! If you got yourself right with God and into prayer every day, like these Republicans, you’d know what God wants us all to do. Your head wouldn’t be clouded with difficult questions and concern and anxiety–you’d be calm and very self-assured. Like George Bush! He has God on his side, and he knows it! He’s not a bit troubled by any self doubt, or the fatigue of being a world leader and having to see a myriad of facets to every difficult situation…It’s just so easy when you’re right!
J. Matthew, if you were not a satanic liberal, as you say, this would all fall into place for you. You must be so tired from all of this thinking you do!! Time to get right with God!!
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Swordfish, probably 95% of all Americans are good, law-abiding, generous, kind people. Unfortunately the other 5% gives all the rest of us a bad name. We are just as diverse politically as we are ethnically…you are likely to see two people who are as different as night and day, socially, politically, racially ethnically, whatever, sitting together as the best of friends.
We definitely are a wierd lot, and a bit hard to understand, especially if you already have preconceived notions about us. But come on anyway…Hell, you might fall in love with it…you wouldn’t be the first.
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Oh I know that really. I love America and have spent much time there. I’m just so saddened to see what you have become as a nation. And I’m unsure how easy it is going to be for you to recover. I’m sure you remember the pre-2004 Bush election poll (I think it was given to about 30 odd countries) that put the USA at the top of the list of nations considered ‘dangerous to peace and to others’. This is not the USA of the pre-Bush era and the one that I loved to visit and spend time in. I worry for your future as I see your liberties pushed back, fanatics gaining control, disregard for your constitution and hard-fought for freedoms and the right-wing rape of your culture. My tongue was truly in my cheek when I wrote my piece. I care that so many dangerous and truly deranged people are holding all the cards and quite openly stacking the deck.
Yeah, well, Yellow Swordfish, some of us are kind of sorry, too. It isn’t as bad as it used to be, when I was “in (high) school” (an approximation, a good portion of the time the school granted me “furloughs”, shall we say) the Information, Please Almanac used to list the lynchings for the precious year. One year in the early sixties there were over 300 listed. Also, Virginia exiled an inter-racial couple.
Pot’s starting to boil again, though, and as my daughter-in-law, and grandsons are persons of color I confess myself to be somewhat concerned.