'Exalted Cyclops' (where do they get these names?)

"Grand Poobah" was already taken, I guess.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to you country.

My mother was born in Mississippi in the 1920s. When I was a kid in the fifties and early sixties we'd all pile into our Studebaker and drive down there from New Jersey for summer vacations. I was pretty young, it was in the early sixties. I remember when we crossed the state line into Mississippi there was what they called a "welcome wagon." It was essentially a road block by the state police. They pulled over people with northern license plates. I wasn't aware of the whole freedom rider thing that was going on then, I was just a kid sitting in the back of a Studebaker.

They let us go through, er, welcomed us.

During the visit there was a big family picnic and my job was to take empty cups and refill them with beer from keg. If I filled up the cups too fast they would foam up and I'd sip the foam before it spilled over, and being a little kid just sipping the foam got me a little drunk. Over on the side there were some second cousins chatting up and one was bragging that the FBI had come to investigate him because he'd bought dynamite to blow up tree stumps and they were investigating the blowing up of a black church. Not that he blew up the church but it was a kind of sick badge of honor that the FBI had questioned him. I didn't know the specifics of the case, but I knew blowing up churches wasn't good.

If I'm estimating correctly, that was probably 1963 and I would have been 12 that summer. I had no real understanding about racism or all this stuff happening around me.

On that trip we went to the zoo in Jackson. I remember everyone sitting at a picnic table. I was thirsty and there was a long line at the water fountain, so I went over to the one where there wasn't a line. When I got back to the picnic table my grandmother started scolding me for using the "colored" water fountain. I asked her, "The water comes from the same place, right?" She didn't have any answer. If only all racism could be answered as easily.

Mississippi, and a lot of America was like Byrd was back then. Since then a lot of people have died and a lot of people have changed. It's never perfect, but it's better than it was. And it can get better.

I'm not wearing rose-colored glasses here, just saying that progress was made. Not enough, but some. And that someone like Byrd was can endorse Obama means another step in the right direction.

Take this for what it is worth, but considering his illness and his short longevity on this earth, I think it is what he has to do to make it right with his God.  I have met the man and I think he is truly sorry for his actions of the past and has seen the light and has to make amend  to what he has done in the past for the future of our country.  I am not one who loves racism, but he has truly atoned today and I feel proud for him in making this move...I am sure it was the best way for him and we have to respect that.  I think it will either make a difference or it won't.  We will see soon enough.

I agree with Booman on the script written here.  NO matter what side one is on, one has to let bygones be bygones in order to move onward and forward to the better of things.  My honest prayer is that we all think of this and let our hearts of hearts become peaceful and reverse the hurtful ways of thinking and acting...

NO matter who one is they do bleed and they have faults and do not always do the right thing in life...I can personally attest to that one.  I just hope and pray I am not held accountable for the entire of my life even after a firm and sincere apology.

You see this is what Sen. Obama is saying to each of us.  
Can you not see this in his rhetoric??!!  Of this I do respect him for that, even if I didn't like him as my candidate or not.  We all have to get beyond this feeling bitter and hateful...Leave that to the republicans to deal with in their lives...The bush crowd has an awful lot to atone for in their lives before they pass on to where-ever one is to go, ow however they should believe for eternal rest.  I doubt bush will for he is that spiteful and will remain so for the rest of his life. ;o(  So very sad.  He is after all human like the rest of us.  I hope he never gets a good nights sleep ever again after all he has done to our country and the world.  He is truly the most evil man ever to live on the earth that share the heads of the table with all evil ppl.  Not only the deaths of our service ppl but the civilians of our country as well as all over the world with his bad politics and his maneuvers of spite and hate.

Geez, I ahve been wanting to say that for the most long time..now I feel some better....thanks for letting me spout off....hugs to all.

I understand your feelings, and to some extent agree that his past actions are unforgiveable. And his "change" would be a lot more valid if it hadn't come after losing on the issue, and didn't involve a great deal of perks, like continuing to get elected to a very esteemed and powerful position.

Was/Is his tranformaton sincere and would it have been made if he didn't have a lot to gain? Who knows?

Nonetheless, it was public, involved a good bit on contrition and serves as a very significant model for others. IIRC, others like Thurmond did not "change" nearly as much.

So I'm willing to give Byrd the benefit of the doubt. He's done a lot of good since.

Finally, if we don't recognize and reward change, even when its clearly self-serving, how can we serve to foster it?

I say give the guy his due and, in doing so, make sure everyone knows the whole history his life story contains.

I have no problem with Senator Byrd, and haven't had a problem with him for at least a decade. To me, he makes up for his past with his voting record - a pretty good NAACP score for most of the last decade or so.

The Underground Railroad

recc'd for great writing, not for total agreement.

boo, that's some great history-blogging...

thanks for the other soulful posts as well.

best thread i ever read here...

"Terrorism is the war of the poor, and war is the terrorism of the rich." Peter Ustinov