As if the insurance industry’s hijacking of health care reform wasn’t enough to make you sick, there was last week’s spectacle in which Congress honored Sen. 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 twoyear period between 1989 and 1991, Byrd used his chairmanship of a powerful committee to earmark over $1 billion 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 24. Not only that, he was a recruiter (“Kleagle” is the Klan term) who received $10 a head for every new member he found. 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 Sen. 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 1964 Civil Rights Act.
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, “[T]he 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.
Jim Longworth is the host of “Triad Today,” airing on Fridays at 6:30 a.m.
