It's the Racism, Stupid!

By: W. David Jenkins III

Okay, so Trent Lott isn't really a racist because he said he was sorry for making racist remarks, right? Actually, he didn't really say he was "sorry" - he just said he felt bad for anyone who took his racist remarks "out of context".

Oh, give me a break.

Trent, you're a racist. Go ahead. Just admit it. It's okay, the world needs ugly people too. You've spent your life idolizing Jefferson Davis and Strom Thurmond. They are racists. So are you. It's okay. We understand. You don't have to do that despicable balancing act that the Republicans have been doing for decades. We all know when you say state's rights you really mean segregation. It's really not a big secret out here so you can stop making excuses - most of us know better.

This is just another example of what I mean concerning the difference between conservatives and the right wing.

True conservatives are horrified by Lott's comments while the right wing has been trying to distance themselves from the roots from which they emerged. Many of us are aware of the race-based dirty tricks played against the Afro-American populace. Just this last mid-term election produced reports of intimidation - telling people they had to pay their back rent before they could vote or telling them to make sure they voted... after the election. These despicable actions were aimed at the black voters in Maryland, Tennessee, and Florida, just to name a few.

Then there are the predominantly black, democratic voters in Florida who have yet to see their names returned to the eligible voter lists after being illegally removed by a firm in Texas hired by Jeb Bush back before the election of 2000. Even after the Florida government quietly settled a lawsuit brought by the CRCC charging Florida officials with voter fraud, those thousands upon thousands of names have yet to be cleared, let alone reinstated. This is just the way the right wing wants it. The fewer southern Afro-Americans voting, the better chance they have to hold onto power. And to add salt to their wound, Florida officials used taxpayer money to settle the case.

In other words, Florida's black voters had their tax money used to hush up a case that would show the world that they had been denied their legal right to vote.

The right wing is racist. I don't mean the Sherwood Boehlerts or the Lincoln Chaffees or the John McCains. I'm talking about the Tom DeLays, the Saxby Chamblisses, the Jesse Helms, the George Bushes, and of course the Trent Lotts. The people who control the right wing. The ones whose policy and ideology threaten America's future. The people whose actions and history betray their words when they denounce racism.

These are the people who keep pressing the contradictory phrase that they are the "Party of Lincoln - the Party of Reagan." It makes me want to vomit every time I hear them use that little gem. To use those two Presidents in such a phrase is as ridiculous as trying to fit "compassionate" and "conservatism" in the same sentence. But they keep on trying and, son of a gun, there are those dumb enough believe it. The right wing has mastered the art of making contradiction believable to just enough people - with a lot of help from the "liberal" media - to keep them calling the shots.

So why the big panic by the right wing?

Heck, the local yokels in my conservative little pothole I call home just love what Lott said. The local website here in town is a haven for racist and hateful remarks by people who revel in their ignorance. They're behind Lott 100% and they're just as proud of it as the people of Mississippi who voted for Thurmond back in 1948 are. So why is the Bush Machine in overdrive over this? What are they so afraid of?

Maybe because people are paying attention this time.

More air time has been given this little slip-up than, say, when Dubya had the audacity to question the patriotism of the Democrats in the Senate back in September. Democrats who had served their country - unlike the little monkey who questioned them. But will the little monkey ask Trent to step down as Majority Leader? Well, not in public, that's for sure. Besides, Lott has hinted he would rather surrender his Senate seat than step down - which would allow the Democratic Governor of Mississippi to appoint his replacement.

Personally, I think Lott should stay put. Let him continue to lead the Republicans in the Senate. Let him remain as the racist target in a hair hat. Let Trent Lott try to support another Pickering nomination. The action will take on a brand-new slant. Any allusion to anything remotely described as racist as it pertains to the extremist garbage Bush wants to appoint to a federal bench will go down in flames - with Trent's support.

Damn, this bird just might have wings! Think of the possibilities.

Look, kids, all Trent did was exercise his freedom of speech. So he's a racist and a career racist at that. He spoke his mind. That's his right - something the rest of us have been trying to preserve ever since Bush and Ashcroft started trying to take that right, amongst others, away from us. All Trent Lott did was stand up and say that he's an ignorant racist who has refused to learn a damn thing while the rest of America - well, at least, most of America - moved ahead. I say, let him continue to speak for the Republicans. Think about it.

I don't see any problem with it.

Do you?