THE SOUTH WILL RISE

In 1948, Strom Thurmond was Governor of South Carolina. President Truman had just ordered an end to segregated units in the armed services. Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota presented a civil rights plank to the Democratic Convention and when it was adopted Strom Thurmond led his South Carolina delegation in a walk out. The bolting southern delegates convened as the Dixiecrat party in Birmingham, Alabama where delegates from the 13 states of the Old Confederacy adopted a platform declaring, “We stand for the segregation of the races and the racial integrity of each race.” On June 17th they nominated Strom Thurmond as its first and only Presidential Candidate. His campaign stressed segregation as he traveled the south to say, “All the laws of Washington and all the bayonets of the Army cannot force the Negro into our homes, our schools, our churches.”

In 1992 Trent Lott was the featured speaker at the convention of the Council of Conservative Citizens. The CCC was formed from the members of the white Citizens Councils that supported segregation with its own reign of terror during the sixties. Lott said, “The people in this room stand for the right principles and the right philosophy. Let's take it in the right direction, and our children will be the beneficiaries.”

On Thursday, December 5, 2002 Senator Lott stood at the rostrum in the Everett Dirksen Senate Office Building as well wishers gathered to celebrate the 100th Birthday of the Dixiecrats’ standard bearer. Senator Thurmond’s long service had left most of his segregationist past behind. Lott decided to revive it. He said, “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, either.”

In a perfect world, the Republican Party would recall its roots in the abolitionist movement and its heritage as the Party of Lincoln and condemn these remarks. Instead the Bush led Republican Party will attempt to spin them away and re-anoint Lott as its Majority Leader. Lott became a Republican as part of the Nixonian Southern Strategy when the Republican Party embraced the segregationist South, washed its face and hid the hoods away. It embraced a policy of genteel bigotry disguised behind neatly knotted ties and carefully packaged assaults on the advances of the civil rights movements.

The Party of Lincoln has become the Party of Nixon. The Grand Old Party has devolved into wink and a nod and a “well, you know what I mean.” It will not condemn Lott, it will excuse him and reward him and continue with its heavy-handed election strategy of discouraging Black voters. Lott and the CCC won’t burn crosses – at least not without retrieving their hoods from the back of the closet, but they will try to turn the calendar back to 1948.