On Robert Byrd
The late Robert Byrd, senator for West Virginia, is the Klansman the GOP loves to hate. As thus:
I love how @JoeBiden is suddenly discovering his outrage that there were members of the KKK in Congress. One was his good buddy Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV).
— Joel Pollak (@joelpollak) June 1, 2021
Yes, once upon a time, like many southern Democrats, the late senator was heavily into the Ku Klux Klan. And once upon a time, Republicans fought to eradicate slavery. But, to quote the poet, people change.
Robert Byrd quit the KKK, became liberal, fought for civil rights and was honored in death by the @NAACP.
— John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) June 1, 2021
Ever notice how the only racist GOP guys hate is the 1 who stopped being racist?
(Now back to defending white supremacist monuments/flags & playing dumb about birtherism) https://t.co/NvdOFIeX5f
The obsession with Byrd's former membership in the KKK—a membership he repudiated—is almost the only thing that Republicans, both white and Black, have to hang their hats on in regards to being Not Racist™. Well, that and "we freed the slaves". They want to castigate the late senator and hold his former membership in a hate group as a stain which should haunt him down the generation. They can't acknowledge his arc of redemption because that would call attention to the racial klaxons they sound off at every opportunity. Byrd changed, but they didn't. Indeed, they became even worse. They continue to trade in racial animus when the culture as a whole has turned against it. The lesson they take from Byrd is not one of the ability of a person to set aside hateful ideologies; instead, they beat up on a figure who no longer existed by the time he went to meet his Maker. The Byrd they cling to died long before the actual man gave up this mortal coil. It's their one way to bray "See? Democrats are the real racists!", when in fact his life puts the lie to their position. He must be kept as a figure of mockery because the truth lies in his later rebirth. They hate him not because he was a racist, but because he found his way clear of that thicket, while their horns are trapped in the briars, and they make no effort to extricate themselves.
When he died, this was the NAACP's reaction:
“Senator Byrd reflects the transformative power of this nation,” stated NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous. “Senator Byrd went from being an active member of the KKK to a being a stalwart supporter of the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act and many other pieces of seminal legislation that advanced the civil rights and liberties of our country.
“Senator Byrd came to consistently support the NAACP civil rights agenda, doing well on the NAACP Annual Civil Rights Report Card. He stood with us on many issues of crucial importance to our members from the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act, the historic health care legislation of 2010 and his support for the Hate Crimes Prevention legislation,” stated Hilary O. Shelton, Director of the NAACP Washington Bureau and Senior Vice President for Advocacy and Policy. “Senator Byrd was a master of the Senate Rules, and helped strategize passage of legislation that helped millions of Americans. He will be sorely missed.”
This is what's unforgivable. Instead of taking Strom Thurmond's path and remaining an unregenerate racist, he reformed himself. He betrayed white supremacy, and did so emphatically. Those who mock him don't feel shame that they haven't taken the road he did; they feel anger that he's an example of how to do what they themselves don't want to do.
Yes, Robert Byrd was in the Klan, and then he rejected it. He was dead, and came to life. He was lost, and found himself. I'll take his paradigm over that of fascists. It's the one of hope.