Talking Points Memo Brings Us The Recent Best Of Trent Lott

Talking Points Memo:


Their caption:

Trent Lott may not have been good for America. But he was pretty good for TPM. So in honor of his announced resignation from Congress, in today's episode of TPMtv, we take a walk down memory lane to remember some of Trent's best moments (definitely don't miss the special Larry Craig/John Ashcroft duet moment) ...

This is a good compilation of video of "The Singing Senators", his comments that caused his toppling as Republican leader and his appearance on BET afterwards.

The comments that got him into trouble were as follows:

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 either.

Strom Thurmond, of course, ran on the Dixiecrat ticket whose main policy difference with the available parties was that they were dead against civil rights and supported the preservation of segregation.

The video is even worth watching for the singing alone.

Good News In The Struggle For Equality

Black College Enrollment Up 52% Over Last Decade

A combination of higher entrance into historically white public universities and an overall decrease in the proportion of the population that is black has led to record levels of black college enrollment.

From the AP article:

For the first time ever in the South, blacks are as well represented on college campuses as they are in the region's population as a whole — something not yet true of the country overall.
...
Still, the report reflects the reality that many more Southern blacks are enrolling in college. In those states, about 1.1 million black students were enrolled in college in the fall of 2005, 52 percent more than a decade earlier.
...
"We've removed a lot of the barriers and accepted that we will have to provide higher levels of learning support in the short-term," said Erroll Davis, who oversees the 33 institutions in the University System of Georgia, noting minority students arrive on campus with lower levels of college preparedness on average.

Overall, blacks represent 31.4 percent of all Georgia college students, about 1 percent higher than the proportion in the overall population. The proportion of blacks in the state university system is about 24 percent _ higher than a decade ago but still below the population as a whole.

We should celebrate good news when we get it and this is great. As we move forward it is necessary that we fully fund education and secure even better teachers so that all students will be prepared should they go on to college.
The AP Article

Republican Senator Coburn Blocks Bill That Would Bring Justice

Yesterday (the 21st of June) was the anniversary of two important events in Mississippi history.

The first was that of the kidnapping and murder of Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and Michael Schwerner in Philadelphia, Mississippi. They were killed while working for civil rights in 1964

The second (and one we Mississippians are a lot more proud of) is that of the conviction of Edgar Ray Killen for those crimes in 2005.

On that day (yesterday) the United State Senate was to have passed a bill providing funding for quickly revisiting many of the old civil rights murders. There is an urgency because many of the witnesses are now dying off and the work needs to be done now or never.

After passing in the House of Representatives 422-2 with the entire Mississippi delegation supporting, Senator Tom Coburn announced that he will place a hold on the bill citing his concern for the cost (Roughly $10 million).

Isn't it worth the cost to finally bring justice?

Isn't it worth the cost to demonstrate again and again how far we have come as a country where we refuse to tolerate that someone can get away with murder based on the skin color who they murdered?

You can call Senator Coburn and ask him to release his hold at (202) 224-5754.

If this bill is allowed to come to the Senate it will easily pass.