AlterNet: Does Trent Lott Speak for the South?
Trent Lott’s continued appalling statements make me embarrassed to have been raised in the State of Mississippi. The reputation of Mississippi is already sadly too low in the eyes of most US citizens, but Lott seems compelled to drag it deeper into the white trash.
In case you missed it, here’s what Lott had to say at Strom Thurmond’s 100th birthday party:
“I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president we voted for him. We’re proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn’t have had all these problems over all these years.”
Strom Thurmond ran that year as a segregationist. Thurmond’s platform was “We stand for the segregation of the races and the racial integrity of each race.” Slate provided the following additional quote from Lott’s idol during a campaign speech for the 1948 Presidential campaign, “I want to tell you, ladies and gentleman, that there’s not enough troops in the army to force the southern people to break down segregation and admit the Nigra race into our theaters, into our swimming pools, into our homes, and into our churches.”