The Senate passed a resolution last night apologizing for the lynchings of the past 8 decades. There has been no comment from our Senators. The Clarion Ledger ran this article today.
http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050614/NEWS010702/506140388My reply to the article in a ltte I sent this morning:
Ana Radelat, The Clarion Ledger's Washington Bureau reporter in her June 14th article titled "Senate approves lynching resolution" had this to say about the Senate vote to apologize for the Senate's inability to pass legislation to stop lynchings over the past 80 years-"About 80 of the 100 members of the Senate co-sponsored the resolution. But Republican Sens. Thad Cochran and Trent Lott were not among them, even though Mississippi led the nation in the numbers of lynchings."
We are trying to make progress in this state. We have opened both the Killen case and the Emitt Till case in order to bring the guilty to justice for crimes that have long haunted our state in the eyes of the nation.
The scheduling of the vote on the Senate floor on a Monday night when only 6 Senators were present and the fact that Sen. Bill Frist made it a voice vote which does not allow the citizens to know who voted" for" or "against" is very telling.
Sen . John Kerry had these thoughts on the vote-"It's a statement in itself that there aren't 100 co-sponsors," said. "It's a statement in itself that there's not an up-or-down vote."
So where were our two Republican Senators stand on this vote? I think the citizens of the state have the right to know. Are they "for" this resolution or are they afraid to alienate the bigot vote? You can reach Thad Cochran at his Senate Office number-(202)224-5054 and Trent Lott at-(202)224-6253. "No comment " won't cut it.Demand an answer!