Recently, Trent Lott of Mississippi proved just what kind of racist and bigot he really is. He made the statement that our country would have been better off if we had elected a racist and segregationist like Strom Thurmond as president in 1948.
In Thurmond’s 48-year career in Washington, he was strictly opposed to civil rights. He appealed to the racist members of his electorate in South Carolina. Racism that isn’t supposed to exist anymore. But it does.
The only positive thing to come out of the mid-term elections this year was that racist members of Congress like Thurmond, Phil Gramm and Jesse Helms won’t be there anymore. What remains are closet racists like Trent Lott, Jeff Sessions and Saxby Chambliss.
Alabama and Mississippi have the worst records for electing the worst kinds of racists to public office. This is a trend that goes back before most of us were born. These people cloak themselves in conservative Christian values and espouse the beliefs that religious extremists like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson support.
We need to rise above religious extremism and bigotry and elect leaders that care about serving all of the people, Whites and minorities alike.
Freddie L. Hinton Oxford
Lott’s mouth
In response to a recent letter in “Speak Out.” I am a reasonable person and I believe that Trent Lott is, and has been, a racist. His votes and causes he has supported point this out very clearly. It is well that his mouth caused his ouster from a leadership role. In fact, it is to be hoped that his state will find a more suitable person to represent them in the next election in which Mr. Lott must run.
