The Indy Star has an AP story entitled Senate sorry for inaction on lynching.
Senate by voice vote approved Senate Resolution 39, an apology for blocking anti-lynching legislation at a time when mob violence against blacks was commonplace. At least 80 senators signed on as co-sponsors.
The Reuters story is a bit more interesting. For starters, it mentions that our own Sen. Bayh had a role to play in making up, just a little bit, for past lynching injustices. According to the story
there was James Cameron, 91, believed to be the only known lynching survivor. Cameron was arrested in August 1930 in Marion, Indiana, and taken to jail along with two of his friends for the murder a white man and suspected rape of a white woman.
A mob broke into the jail and pulled the three out. Cameron’s two friends were hanged, and a noose was placed around the neck of Cameron, then a 16-year-old shoeshine boy.
But as the noose was tightened, a voice reportedly shouted out that Cameron was guilty of no crime. He was returned to his cell and later convicted of being an accessory to the white man’s death. He was pardoned in 1993, by then-Gov. Evan Bayh, now a Democratic U.S. senator from Indiana.
Also, it mentions an amazing thing. The anti-lynching resolution was not unanimous in our Senate.
No lawmaker opposed the measure, but 20 of the 100 senators had not signed a statement of support of it shortly before a vote was taken on a nearly empty Senate floor.
“I think it’s politics. They’re afraid of losing votes from people of prejudice,” Duster said of those who did not sign the statement of support.”
Reportedly there are about a dozen Senators who wouldn’t sign on to the legislation. The last published version had about 60 signatures, but another 20 or so had signed on after the last publication. Kos is reporting that the following 20 Senators: 1) would not co-sponsor the resolution; and 2) refused a roll-call vote. If all of that is accurate, 12 of the following Senators would not support the measure:
Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
Robert Bennett (R-UT)
Christopher Bond (R-MO)
Jim Bunning (R-KY)
Conrad Burns (R-MT)
Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)
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)
Personally, I’m most concerned about those Senators from states south of the Mason-Dixon line as that’s the part of the country which really hasn’t seemed to make up its mind about whether that kind of thing was wrong. And those Senators would be:
Jim Bunning (R-KY)
Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)
Thad Cochran (R-MS)
John Cornyn (R-TX)
Trent Lott (R-MS)
Richard Shelby (R-AL)
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