JWeinCom said:
First of all, you are making an allegation that I resent. I don't know everything about Biden, and I asked you to present evidence. To say I am willfully ignoring something is an accusation of dishonesty, and frankly I would appreciate an apology. I did not know anything about it, so I looked into it. Here's what I found. By the time of this eulogy, Byrd's involvement in the KKK was 60-70 years in the past. He had publicly denounced them. Byrd claims to have been involved in the KKK leadership from 1942-1943 and was a dues paying member for much of the 40s. Joe Biden was born in 1943. Presumably Joe Biden met him at the earliest in 1973 when he was elected to the Senate, about 30 years after his membership in the clan, and after he had supported key civil rights acts. “The greatest mistake I ever made was joining the Ku Klux Klan,” Byrd said in a 1993 interview with CNN’s Bernard Shaw, according to Slate. “And I’ve said that many times. But one cannot erase what he has done. He can only change his ways and his thoughts. That was an albatross around my neck that I will always wear. You will read it in my obituary that I was a member of the Ku Klux Klan.” The NAACP has forgiven him for his role in the KKK. "Senator Byrd reflects the transformative power of this nation," then-NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous said in a press release after Byrd died. "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.” President Obama also spoke at his funeral. That being said, the NAACP also objected to Roberts' use of the N-word in 2005. “I think we try to have good will. My old mom told me, ‘Robert, you can’t go to heaven if you hate anybody.’ We practice that. There are white niggers. I’ve seen a lot of white niggers in my time; I’m going to use that word. “We just need to work together to make our country a better country, and I’d just as soon quit talking about it so much.”
I just learned about this, so I'll withhold judgment for now. To be transparent my gut reaction is that I don't particularly case, but your gut reaction will typically reconfirm your beliefs. As someone who has asked me to give them the benefit of the doubt in judging their views on race, I pose this question to you to help me think this over. Do you think it's fair to say that Byrd was a racist at the time that Joe Biden knew him? Would Joe Biden have been justified in believing he was a racist? For his abominable decision to join and promote the KKK, should Byrd have been ostracized from society? Should he have been cancelled? Should we consider anyone praising him or calling him a mentor in 2010 as endorsing his views from the 1940s? Is anyone who called him praised him at any point in the 70 years or so since he first joined the clan a racist by default? I'm withholding judgment for now. What's your take on those questions? |
Yeah, the way I wrote that was dumb. So I do apologize. Didnt mean to accuse you of anything.
I dont know if he was a racist or not during the time Biden knew him. Im absolutely sure Biden knew he was a former KKK member though. I mean its a pretty hard secret to keep from someone. Especially public figures.
Ostracized from society? No, I wouldnt go that far. I would just never call him a mentor and a guide, no matter what good things he did later in his life.
No, I dont think everyone who praised him should be called a racist. I would just rather they didnt become leader of the free world though.
Also you say that Trump says something racist, then comes out days later in a controlled environment and says the opposite. Yet a guy who started out as a recruiter for the KKK, meaning more members thanks to him, then was overwhelmingly voted the leader of his local clan, comes out 50 years later and says "Oops, my bad. Dont join the KKK" Thats ok? I would give you some of his quotes as well, but they are so disgusting and vile that I would rather not.