Welcome Back, Trent Lott! - La Shawn Barber

Last week, Republican senator Trent Lott was selected by his colleagues to serve as Senate Minority Whip in the next Congress.

All I can say is…Welcome back, Mr. Lott!

The GOP’s decision was met with derision. Four years ago, Lott was drummed out of his leadership post as Senate Majority Leader for making what some considered racially insensitive remarks.

On December 5, 2002, at a private birthday party for the 100-year-old senator Strom Thurmond, Lott said the following: “I want to say this about my state: When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We’re proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn’t have had all these problems over all these years.”

The late Strom Thurmond used to be a staunch segregationist and ran for president in 1948 as a member of the Dixicrat Party – an offshoot of the Democratic Party. Thurmond had long since renounced his segregationist ways, and Lott’s toast merely was a tribute to a man who’d lived a century and spent his life in public service.