"S.Res. 39, Official Title: A resolution apologizing to the victims of lynching and the descendants of those victims for the failure of the Senate to enact anti-lynching legislation."I'd certainly like to point at a large number of Americans and call them all sorts of awful things because of the awful crimes committed against so many people in this nation. Slaughtering American Indians comes to mind as well as numerous other atrocities. Obviously American and Americans are not unique to that. It is a human condition I suppose - making human beings very intelligent yet very violent and hateful.
Still, it persists in a large number of Americans. For a country that claims itself the moral leader of the world, we certainly do not show that very well. Most Americans worship death, destruction, hate, and wealth. Give us war, anti-gay slurs, the death penalty, and corporate greed please.
Still, the fact is, the Senate passed the anti-lynching resolution on a voice vote rather than put a bunch of Republican Senators to a recorded vote. The reason is obvious. Those Republican's are supported by the red neck hate mongers.
How many Billy Bob's with gun racks and Confederate battle flag stickers on their trucks vote Democrat? Not many I'd hazard. They generally gravitate to which ever party is trying to attack people not like them the most.
While it is true that Southern Democrats don't have a sparkling history, we live in the here and now. Since a recorded vote was not taken, we can look at the list of people who have NOT signed on to the resolution as a co-sponsor to get an idea of the Senators that need to pander to the pond scum in their states.
Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
Robert Bennett (R-UT)
Thad Cochran (R-MS)
Kent Conrad (D-ND)
John Cornyn (R-TX)
Michael Crapo (R-ID)
Michael Enzi (R-WY)
Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
Judd Gregg (R-NH)
Orrin Hatch (R-UT)
Trent Lott (R-MS)
Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
Richard Shelby (R-AL)
John Sununu (R-NH)
Craig Thomas (R-WY)
George Voinovich (R-OH)
The problem with hatred is empathy, or the complete lack of it. Those that hate have serious character flaws. Take Trent Lott for instance. He's said some really stupid things in the past. He won't sign on as a cosponsor for the resolution. Yet, if Lott was born black and saw his son dragged out of his house and hung from a tree for no reason, I'd wager that he'd have a very different point of view. It is only because he was born a privileged southern white guy that he believes the way he does.
That type of thinking is what separates progressives from conservatives. Just look at the freepers. They hate everything Muslim right now (it's en vogue you know), but they simply are not Muslim or Arab themselves. Those types of people have a neural defect I expect, which causes them to be unable to muster empathy for things dissimilar to themselves.
Hating gays is in vogue now as well - from heterosexuals. Imagine that. It's the same exact thing as racism.
I sometimes wish I had been born later.
via Americablog - which is fast becoming my favorite blog. They do terrific work.
No comments:
Post a Comment