USA Today: Strom Thurmond's biracial daughter sheds life of secrecy

[truthpusher]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-01-26-thurmond-cover_x.htm?csp=34

Posted 1/26/2005 11:17 PM Updated 1/26/2005 11:18 PM



Strom Thurmond's biracial daughter sheds life of secrecy
By Wendy Koch, USA TODAY

The daughter grew up in a house without indoor plumbing, rode the back of the bus and attended a college for blacks only.

The father was raised in a stately home with black servants — one of them her mother — and later became South Carolina's governor and ran for president, espousing racial segregation.

One family, two Americas.

The story of Essie Mae Washington-Williams, the biracial daughter of the late Sen. Strom Thurmond, reveals how two people, bound by blood and duty, lived separate, unequal lives. They developed a limited relationship that, despite the anguish it caused her, she kept secret his entire life.

"I did love my father. He was very good to us," Washington-Williams, 79, says in an interview to promote today's release of her autobiography, Dear Senator: A Memoir by the Daughter of Strom Thurmond.

more:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-01-26-thurmond-cover_x.htm?csp=34

[aquart]

1. Nightline right now is doing the story.

I wondered why. It's old news.

[truthpusher]

4. She released her autobiography today. n/t

[PartyPooper]

2. I give this lady a lot of credit. She was able to survive a life of hell.

But, her father was a lying, cheating, and bigoted hypocrite.

[mitchum]

6. I give her NO credit at all...

she kept her damned mouth shut while her father was leading the fight against civil rights. I guess she enjoyed the money that he sent her. Antebellum slaves had a two word phrase for her type.

[ultraist]

12. I'm sure you would have risked getting lynched too, right?

You would have would have been the first to speak out about this in South Carolina to take down Strom, right?

We KNOW what happened to many people who did speak out, don't we? They were MURDERED. Perhaps she considered the safety and well being of her family.

She obviously didn't get much money. She is NOT in the will and his estate is only worth 1.5 million.

SHEESH...THINK about the implications before you BLAME THE VICTIM and DEMONIZE this sweet, accomplished, elderly dignified woman.

[mitchum]

16. Give me a fucking break...

she wasn't living in the deep south (or Indiana) during the 1960s Civil Rights era, so there was little danger of her being "lynched"
She received hushmoney from her monster father THROUGHOUT her life.

YOU can sentimentalize this lifelong opportunist if you like. I won't.

[Voltaire99]

27. I am with Mitchum on this one.

Her silence facilitated the masquerade. Whatever her misguided reasons for shielding Thurmond, she abetted a 20th century monster.

Few may be able to say they would have done better. Even so, we need not say she did enough.

[MnFats]

30. we don't know what she endured. nor what threats, enticements etc.

were used to keep her quiet.
lynchings were still happening in the 1960s in the south, witness the arrest of "Preacher" Killen for the murders of Schwerner, Goodman and Cheney.
While the FBI was looking for those three, they dragged several rivers and came up with three other bodies. One they identified. Two they never even found out who they were. But they were young black men and they got killed.
We don't know, we werent' there.

Maybe we should read the book. I hope it makes enough to keep her comfortable in her twilight years.

[mitchum]

39. Thank you for choosing reality over sentimentality

You are correct. She abetted a 20th century monster

[Tomee450]

32. Why are you so enraged?

Did her silence affect you in any way? I respect her decision to keep quiet. She had her reasons and I don't think the money she received was a payoff. Everyone in America knew Strom for what he was. The knowledge that he had an out of wedlock daughter would have changed nothing as it was widely known in South Carolina that this daughter existed. Despite that knowledge, that state continued to re-elect him. All of this outrage against an old lady is so unseemly, so unnecessary. I am going to buy her book and hope it's a best seller.

[okieinpain]

45. it damn sure did. his ass was living a double life. no different then

someone running around saying that gays, are bad. yet living a gay life undercover. she can keep her freakin book and shove it.

[Tomee450]

54. Just how did

her silence effect your life? Many people already knew about this yet voted for him anyway. The people who didn't know would have just said she was trying to destroy him and would have rejected her claim and also voted for him. You think Strom was an aberration? He was not. This kind of situation was not uncommon and no white man ever suffered from from having a sexual relationship with a black woman. People in South Carolina would have made mother and daughter, not Strom, the villain.

[mitchum]

60. Thank you for choosing reality over sentimentality

[ultraist]

47. I'm going to buy her book too!!! I hope it is a best seller

How convienient to lay blame and say, 'she should have spoken out and risked her safety' and accuse her of being 'just as bad as the white murderous terrorists.' This seems to be a harsh, punitive, and uninformed perspective which lacks sensitivity to the horrors of racism.

I don't buy it for a minute that she chose not to out Strom due to the little bit of cash her FATHER gave her mother. Under the table child support payments are not hush money. Strom obviously didn't give her mother or her that much, she grew up very modestly.

He also did not include her in his will. Her father SHOULD have paid some child support, as he apparently did and allowing your parent to pay for SOME of your food and education is NOT HUSH MONEY.

Racism continues to tarnish our honor. We should be ashamed as a country that we have not yet alleviated this social ill.

[Tomee450]

55. I agree completely.

It's so shocking to see just how misinformed some people are about the relationships between southern blacks and whites in this country. They don't seem to know that powerful whites could do anything they wished to blacks and get away with it. In most southern communities, a white man never had to fear being punished for harming a black. This was true in other parts of the country also. I can remember how fearful my grandparents were. You would never have been able to get them to publicly accuse a white person. They knew the consequences they would face.

[IrishBloodEngHeart]

24. She's lived in Los Angeles forever

She could have spoken up decades ago without retribution.

[mitchum]

38. Thank you for choosing reality over sentimentality

[okieinpain]

44. thank you.

[AllyCat]

3. Let me get this straight...Strom Thurmond runs a segregationist

platform for POTUS while having a relationship and a child with a black woman who he possibly forced into sex (at least initially)?

Good heavens, I suppose if he were alive that would be considered part of the new moral values.

[Cronus Protagonist]

17. Wanna hear old Strom during an election campaign?

http://stromwatch.com

Enjoy :)

http://brainbuttons.com/home.asp?stashid=13
Buttons for brainy people - educate your local freepers today!

[MnFats]

31. it was rape EVERY time even if she managed to become ..

accustomed to it.
..she was too young, for starters, and he was ALWAYS in a position of authority over her -- he employed her mother and jobs were hard to come by.

he could be charged with criminal sexual conduct if were happening now.

But old strom, we can hope, is now burning in the lake of fire, to use his cronies' phrase...

[AllyCat]

42. I was weighing the opinion of the author too heavily

She feels it was a consenual relationship, but it sounds like she has a different view of the proceedings than others.

So, yeah, he did hold a position of authority throughout the relationship, so I would agree that is rape every time.

[nankerphelge]

5. I'm still mad at her...

that idiot should have been forced to answer some questions before he died... She deprived us of it.

[ultraist]

8. She deprived us of it?

No, Strom Thurmond deprived us of it. I think she handled herself in a very dignified way considering the pressures she was under. Having grown up in the hostile environment she did, it's no wonder she is a bit reserved about this issue. Her mother likely feared for her life, LITERALLY, if they had spoken out. Those types of "rules" don't leave people easily.

Blacks were careful about what they said for GOOD REASON.

[mitchum]

11. She took regular $$$$ payoffs from Thurmond in order to keep..

her goddamn mouth shut. Nothing dignified about that.
She disgusts me.

[ultraist]

14. Your rage is misdirected

BLAMING THE VICTIM is backwards. This woman grew up IN THE SOUTH as a BLACK WOMAN PRE-CIVIL RIGHTS! READ YOUR HISTORY BOOKS ABOUT WHAT BLACKS ENDURED, ESPECIALLY IN THE SOUTH IN THAT ERA before you make such HARSH JUDGEMENTS.

Ever heard of the KKK?

[mitchum]

18. I grew up in SC and knew about Essie Mae long before you did, friend

I have read my history books. And many other books. I can recommend some if you would like to one day move beyond the shrill, reflexive rhetoric of "blaming the victim".

Ypu can sentimentalize this lifelong opportunist if you like. I won't.

[Tomee450]

33. You knew about it

and many others also knew. Why then, was it so important for her to speak out against her father. People who knew about this situation voted for Strom anyway. Southern white men have fathered a lot of children by black women. That knowledge never destroyed their reputations in the community. If she loved him as she claims, I can see why she would not do something SHE thought would hurt him.

[Politicub]

57. Your logic is broken

There is no blaming of the victim going on here. Once his daughter accepted hush money and chose to be quiet, she is complicit in Strom's evil.

Of course you'll probably continue wringing your hands and crying about the victim, but there is no victim in this story. His daughter profited from her silence her entire life, and now she's selling her story (not that there's anything wrong with that).

But to call her a victim is wrong. A lot of good could have come from her standing up. She lived in Los Angeles for most of her life -- not some backwater southern state.

[mitchum]

59. Thank you for choosing reality over sentimentality

[Wrinkle_In_Time]

9. I can't be mad at her...

... since I didn't live her life.

I am digusted by her asshole hypocrite of a father, people like him and those in denial who still believe what he claimed versus what he did.

It's not her fault.

[mitchum]

10. And you should be mad at her...

she was as venal as her goddman father

[MADem]

7. Rumor has it

...that there is a biracial sibling or two in the ole Strom woodpile as well.

Essie Mae is a class act, a lovely, strong woman. Lord love her. She had to make some tough decisions, and she put her family ahead of all else. I know she is so happy today to be able to get it ALL out front. People need to know. She had to endure a lot of pain in the interim, but her story is all the more powerful because she has kept it to herself for so damn long.

Bless Essie Mae!

[mitchum]

13. But don't forget the hush $$$$$$$$$$$$ she received

and I guess my cursing her cancels out your blessing her.
As venial as her goddamn father.

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[ultraist]

19. Brutality and Terrorism of the black race

1930


1960
"As I neared them, the eldest, a ruddy-cheeked girl of nine or ten, asked if I was going to the place where "the niggers" had been killed. I told her that I might stop and see the spot. Animatedly, almost as joyously as though the memory were of Christmas morning or the circus, she told me, her slightly younger companions interjecting a word here and there or nodding vigorous assent, of "the fun we had burning the niggers (White, 1969, p. 3)"

1963

Four girls perished in the September 5 bombing of Youth Day classes: Addie Mae Collins, age fourteen; Carol Robertson, fourteen; Cynthia Wesley, fourteen; and Denise McNair, eleven.

[mitchum]

20. Those who also take payoffs in lieu of exposing those who are...

oppressing their race are also venial.
I assume that you also sentimentalize Clarence Thomas, Armstrong Williams, etc...

[ultraist]

22. Attended college in SOUTH CAROLINA--your HOME STATE

*Grew up in a very oppressive country where VIOLENCE AND MURDER was used to terrorize blacks

Growing up black and proud

"Hers is an age-old story of the South," says Dan Carter, a historian at the University of South Carolina, referring to the biracial children rejected by white parents, typically fathers. He says such tales are among the most painful legacies of segregation

[mitchum]

40. I'm certainly not proud of being a native of that cretinous...

hellhole. Unlike YOU I didn't choose to be there.

[ultraist]

43. I don't live in SC

I live in NC! LOL! NOT QUITE as bad as SC. There are serious problems in this state, no doubt, but I do love many things about the South.

It is a beautiful state with more registered Democrats than Republicans, a Democrat Governor, & Dem controlled State Congress.

I'm not so sure that racism is more extreme here in the South compared to the North anymore though. If you consider socio-economic indicators, such as educational attainment & income (things that are achieved through equal access to opportunity), the discrepanies are no different in the South.

For instance, the 7% gap in Bachelor's level edu is seen in Alabama and NY. The gap of income for those who earn over $100,000 is actually worse in NY than in Alabama. (I believe it's about 12%).

Police brutality against blacks is said to be the most severe in NYC and LA.

Life span of black males is shorter in Northern cities than in the South.

Is the South still more racist? I'm not so sure.

[MADem]

21. OK, I have no interest in getting into one of those "contests"

...but I will, with respect, disagree with you.

It was UGLY back then. UGLY. If you were an oddball who lived in between the black and white world down in the segregated south, you could not help but FEEL IT, know it, live with it, try to get around it. I know what she went through, I saw it, I tried to mitigate a lot of it, and I was probably not all that helpful, though I really did try. I never could really understand why I was not the target of a lot of hate, simply due to my complexion. I would have understood, seriously. Like Bill Clinton, I felt the pain.

It was horrible back then. Un-American, if you subscribe to the ideals of the Constitution.

Essie Mae was not a kid when MLK came on the scene. She was born in the 1920's, for heaven's sake. She was an older woman when civil rights came, and she was afraid, like so many were. She was the product of the unlawful rape of a child, her fifteen year old mother, and was raised by relatives (her mother's aunt and then her mother's sister), never knowing who her mother was until she was a teen. In fact, she was raised NORTH of the Mason-Dixon, in NY and PA.

I'm stunned that you regard this woman, a victim, really, as part of the problem. Would that every child born in such ugly, hateful, frightening circumstances pop out with a fully developed political conscience.

Essie did what she had to do. She isn't the problem. The society that produced Strom and his cohorts is. Essie is a woman who has lived her life as best she could, and I admire her for speaking out IN HER OWN TIME. She survived to tell us.

Bless Miss Essie!

[ultraist]

23. Well said MaDem!

It still is ugly. I have an adopted African American son and know first hand RACISM is alive and well in the US.

It just amazes me when people fail to see that it is not the blacks that are the cause of racism, but the WHITES. Very few blacks actively perpetuate racism and I would not consider this woman as one of the very few. The REAL OPPRESSORS are whites.

[MADem]

26. It's just such a waste

A waste of resources, a waste of abilities, a waste of energies, a waste of conscience. It's so foolish, and shameful.

I was raised by a couple of conservative-appearing (they could go anywhere, relate to anyone) closet-liberal geeks, one who served with truly astounding and laudable valor during WW2, Korea and Vietnam, before retiring--I carried on the family tradition (closet liberal in the military--no hero, me, I just survived--got sick in the first Gulf War, but survived). I was fortunate that due to parental work, I spent some of my formative years in Europe. Those years did shape my perspective, and I think for the better.

I wish we could get past this melanin nonsense. It has nothing to do with anything. It is a total waste of our time, our focus, our energies. For the life of me I cannot figure it out. It embarrasses me, because I feel in my heart that our country can be better than that sort of absurdity.

One day, one day, I suppose...!

[ultraist]

28. It is a sad waste

and it is heartbreaking to see my son treated "less than" because he is black. I live in NC so you can IMAGINE how the white fundies treat blacks in the South. We still have an active KKK chapter in our state! FOR REAL!

I had an employee I had to fire because of racial slurs (he was one of our laborers) who boasted about his KKK membership. His big claim to fame was that he purchased some properties from Jesse Helms. *wink*wink*nod*nod*

40 years after the Civil Rights movement and we are still having the same discussions. WTF is wrong with people?

[MADem]

29. What a terrible circumstance for you

If you have an opportunity, move north a bit, or somewhere that is a bit more open and real. I know, easy to say, hard to do, especially if you are the primary wage earner.

As long as you provide an example to your son, he will be OK. I survived a few years in South Carolina, many, many, many, decades past, under very draconian circumstances (pre-civil rights), and my parents quite proactively kept my head on straight. It takes a bit of involvement, but I think it is well worth it.

Sometimes you have to live in Hell to understand what Heaven can be, I guess!

[ultraist]

48. Success is the best revenge!

That's essentially what we tell our kids. Being successful opens doors and does give one more freedoms. Both of our children are doing very well academically and both assume that they will go on to college and have choices in life.

Moving is not feasible for us right now, nor do we want to. My son has biological family here that he visits. We own real estate. It's not so easy to pull up stakes and move. The South is not ALL BAD. ;)

My son is doing very well in spite of the hostile environment and I'm not so sure racism is still worse in the South. Porportionately, the same percentage of blacks earn bachelor's degrees here as in the North and the same is true for black to white income over $100,000.

Yes, it manifests differently in the South and is more blatant, but as far as access to opportunity, I'm not so certain it's better in the North based on socio-economic indicators. It should also be taken into account, that the South has produced the most powerful civil rights leaders and has more historically black colleges than the North does. It's a mixed bag. I'd need to do more research on this though to draw any final conclusions.

We also like the diversity we have in our area and do not want to live in an all white area.

But, I do see your point! thanks

[MADem]

68. Oh, heck, if you are happy, stay where you are at!!

But DO visit Chocolate City (Washington, DC) on convenient vacations--ya know, the three day weekend, the kids' winter school break, and whatnot. Go to the Smithsonian, the Mall, the Vietnam Memorial, that eyesore on the mall they call the WW2 memorial (built by a former Nazi construction company, but, hey, whatever)...all the sights. You may as well do it now, who knows, it could be an armed camp before too long, with the way things are going...

Your child will be stunned by the power and diversity of DC. It is so MEZCLADO, it is fabulous. Everyone of every color everywhere. Rich. poor, black, white, green, yellow....it is such a diverse society, and it is strong for that, despite the awful yoke of the evil, uncaring clowns on the Hill.

I'm one of those that supports statehood for DC. They have more people than fucking Montana, and Montana gets two senators and a rep--what does DC get? A bunch of assholes telling them they can be taxed and not represented, and they get NO clout on the Hill. Eleanor Holmes Norton tries like the brave soul she is, but she gets nowhere. They DESERVE representation.

Anyway, if your kid is looking for same melanin role models, take him to DC...he'll get it, if he doesn't already (I'll bet you have taken care of those issues well ahead of my paltry advice....but it is a good holiday, nonetheless!).

Cheers to ya!

[demgurl]

63. ultraist....

I am very sorry for what your son goes through in our state. I had to break up with one of my boyfriends when the KKK got a hold of him. We had never really discussed racial issues before and he had not seemed racist. I knew him for about 3-4 years and then he comes home to supper one night stating how blacks were taking jobs away from whites. And going on and on about all the things the KKK says. UGH! I tried to counter program him but they had really gotten to him. Please know that some of the citizens of your state are not racist.

[Pastiche423]

25. Did you live in the South

during the 20's, 30's, 40's or even the 50's? Were you at black woman living in the South during that time?

If not, you do not know what the fuck you are talking about.

I admire Essie Mae Washington-Williams for the way she has lived her life, as strongly as I revile her father.

[mitchum]

37. And your beloved Essie Mae did not live in the south...

during the 60s civil rights era.
Apparently, I'm not the one who doesn't what the fuck they are talking about. No surprise there.

[ultraist]

49. RACISM IS NOT CONFINED TO THE SOUTH, THEN OR NOW

CHECK THE STATISTICS AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC INDICATORS

[Tomee450]

56. The naivete here is simply stunning.

The word of a black woman against a white man has not carried much weight anywhere in this country for most of its history. Essie Mae would have probably been vilified and would have destroyed whatever relationship she had with her father. She would have gained nothing. You seem to forget, or perhaps are unaware, that the Klan operated all over this country. Just because Essie left the south does not mean that those angry at her exposing Strom could not have gotten to her. I think you are way over the top in blaming this woman. You are resorting to blaming the victim. Her actions can not be equated to that of her father's.

[mitchum]

58. Believe it or not, I agree with you...

however, you are the naive one. While your sentimental feelings toward this poor old woman are touching in a way, they are misdirected. I did not equate her with her father (well, perhaps in their venality), but her silence certainly enabled him.
Save your respect for King, Evers, and the many more who are far more deserving of it.

[Tomee450]

70. I do wish you would refrain from being

condescending. It's not about sentimentality but about being realistic. It's about being black, born in the south, and having many relatives still living there. I know all about the mind of some white southerners. Essie speaking out would have done nothing. She might not only have been vilified but may have been physically harmed as well. Strom Thurmond would still have been reelected as southern whites rarely accepted the word of a black against a white person. Black women have been raped by white men who weren't even charged. Many elderly black people can give accounts of the violence perpetrated against blacks who dared to speak against a white person, especially a white male. In the Emmitt Till case, an elderly man had the courage to testify against the killers but he had to leave town immediately.

You are very misinformed or quite naive about how little power and influence blacks have in this country. Before the Civil Rights era, they had even less respect. Essie did what she thought was best. The villain is not Essie, but Thurmond. I wish her well with her book.

[mitchum]

71. But you keep ignoring the fact that she was NOT living in the south...

during the civil rights era of the 50s and 60s. Therefore, she would have been in FAR less danger if she had spoken out against Thurmond.
Prediction: Here is the point at which YOU will say that "they" would have gotten to her in either her DC or Los Angeles home (even though you have been repeating that her silence was due to the climate of fear in the south)
I am sure that the knuckle-draggers of SC would have re-elected Thurmond, but her speaking out would have certainly reduced his power, support, and standing on a NATIONAL level. He was one of the prime architects of the modern GOP. YOU are very misinformed or quite naive if you do not understand how a national political party works.
Why did she wait until his death to write her book? Why not 30 years ago? 20? 10? 5? 2?

I dont't care if she remained silent out of fear, venality, or some type of twisted daddylove pathology; the result was complicity.
I never claimed that she, not Thurmond, was the villain. Yes, her mother was a victim, but that does not make Essie a hero.

[Tomee450]

73. You just don't get it, do you?

The south was the worst part of the country as far as race relations were concerned.However there were Klan sympathizers in many states. Essie might still have been in danger. Furthermore, all over this country as I reminded you before, the word of a black person meant northing if the person accused was white. The people of South Carolina loved Strom as shown by their voting for him continuously. They supported him because of his deep racism. Do you really think they would have cared that he fathered a black child? That was not unheard of in the south. Instead of hating Strom, they would have despised his black daughter. Strom did not hide his animus toward African Americans. The entire nation knew exactly what he was and his exposure as father of a black child would have changed nothing. He would still have remained a hero to many people in this country.

You continue to blame Essie, the victim in this case. I believe you are wrong to do so.
It seems it is useless for us to continue this discussion.

[mitchum]

74. If I got at least one person to view her as complicit...

(because that is true) my work is done.

Hey, I was on the money with that prediction wasn't I? Need any stock or track tips?

At last we truly agree: "It seems it is useless for us to continue this discussion"

[bunny planet]

41. try toning down your venial attitude. You seem to harbor lots of

hatred and judgement towards someone you don't even know, and whose life you couldn't possibly understand unless you'd lived it yourself.

[mitchum]

62. Try buying a dictionary...

I believe that you are confusing venal and venial. However, neither are applicable to my justifiable criticism of this woman.

[bunny planet]

64. I was typing quickly. I don't need a dictionary thank you very much.

You just seem to be a very unpleasant person. Sorry I bothered to respond to you in the first place.

[mitchum]

66. And now WHO'S displaying a pattern of judging?

sermonizing hypocrite

[bunny planet]

67. aww, now you're being too hard on yourself.

snooze!

[mitchum]

69. And yet you replied...

again

You seem to be a person who can't stick to their word

[Tomee450]

34. I echo those sentiments.

It's amazing how judgmental some can be when they have not walked in the shoes of another person.

[diamond14]

35. Essie Mae is an American HERO....she's 79 years old, and feels NOW

that she can tell her story....and I greatly admire her decision to tell her story before she dies, in a way that teaches others and helps to heal.....there is no better time than NOW...


Thank-you Elsie Mae....you bring healing to a nasty horror of America, that is badly needed....


Imagine Elsie Mae's disgust to see racist trent lott introducing the chimp at the coronation....my own disgust was unbearable....

[mitchum]

61. No, King, Evers, and countless others are American HEROES

[Sporadicus]

36. Rate This Story Up!

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usatoday/20050127/ts_usatoday/stromthurmondsbiracialdaughtershedslifeofsecrecy

It provides good counterpoint to recent repug attempts toward painting Democrats as racist, concerning dissent against Condoleeza Rice's and Alberto Gonzalez's confirmation as Secretary of State & Attorney General, respectively.

[Megahurtz]

46. Whatever, Strom Thurmond is just another pervert

And a hypocrite. Just using people to fullfill his own selfish sexual pleasures. The guy was just another scum of the earth.

[ultraist]

50. No one here has said that Strom was not a racist, his daughter was NOT

[Megahurtz]

52. True, and the guy just disgusts me

His daughter was probably just too afraid to speak up in an era when no one talked about anything. I don't think she kept quiet because of the money, she was probably threatened.
I'm glad he gave her money and I'm glad she took it from him, because he owes her more than that. But I don't blame her for not speaking up. Because WHO would protect her during that time if she did?

[tjdee]

51. Strom Thurmond was a piece of shit.

Who lets their daughter live in a house without indoor plumbing while he's being waited on and making all that dough?

I don't blame the daughter for keeping quiet, that's all she knew.

I do wish someone would have dropped a dime on her piece of shit father, but then he would have been washed up and wouldn't have been able to keep his daughter in the luxury she was accustomed to.

:eyes:

The hypocrisy is unbelievable.

[SemperEadem]

75. when should the dime have been dropped?

back when she was a child? Exactly who should have dropped the dime? Her mother? That would have exposed her to being lynched--they had no problem lynching black women in the first half of last century.

http://www.jimcrowhistory.org/scripts/jimcrow/map.cgi?city=valdosta&state=georgia

this story is a vivid example of why her mother didn't make waves.

[pacifictiger]

53. choosing to live her life out of the political area

in anonymity while she was younger is no crime. I'd be willing to bet that most here would have done the same in her shoes.
Probably hard enough coming to terms with the fact that she was illigitimate.
Had she been active in politics and THEN chosen to say nothing, that would be an entirely different story.
It amazes me how so many are so willing to instantly judge others harshly, and yet we proport to value compassion.

[LisaM]

65. Blame Strom, not her. I have a friend from the South

who doesn't even live there (she lives in Seattle) and when she and her husband were looking to adopt a child a few years ago, she didn't want to adopt a bi-racial child because her family still lived in the South (it wouldn't raise an eyebrow in Seattle.) Her family lives in Louisiana. This happened in 2001.

[Wrinkle_In_Time]

72. This is a dupe...

...from some time in the last few weeks. I'm not a donor, so I can't search for the earlier post. However, I do remember it, especially that picture of Essie-Mae and some very nasty posts about her.

My opinion: go piss on the hypocrite, rapist Thurmond's grave and leave her alone.