WASHINGTON, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- Thanks to some poorly chosen words from Mississippi Republican Sen. Trent Lott, America has spent the last several weeks confronting its segregationist past.
Few things in American history are as abhorrent as segregation, the government-sanctioned separation of individuals by race in matters of public accommodation, and a clear violation of the principle that, in the eyes of the Creator and the law, all men are equal.
Though his remarks were intended as a tribute to retiring Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., on the occasion of his centenary, they were interpreted in some circles as an endorsement of a political and social principle as unpopular and as unacceptable today as it was popular and acceptable in the American South in 1948.
Lott tore the scab off a cultural gash not yet healed and was forced to surrender his Senate leadership post. His resignation as Senate Republican leader establishes a new standard for judging politicians on the question of race in America.
In the spirit of this new standard, it may be time to re-evaluate the public honors awarded to those who, like Sen. Thurmond, stood up in support of this odious practice so many years ago.
Sen. Richard B. Russell, D-Ga., was a leader of the pro-segregation bloc in the United States Senate for several decades. Esteemed as a legislator by his colleagues, Russell's name was affixed to one of the three buildings in which members of the senate currently keep offices.
Yet Russell was one of 19 senators who affixed their name to the March 12, 1956 declaration attacking a series of U.S. Supreme Court decisions striking down separate but equal public accommodations, the very underpinning of de jure segregation.
"This unwarranted exercise of power by the Court, contrary to the Constitution, is creating chaos and confusion in the States principally affected. It is destroying the amicable relations between the white and Negro races that have been created through 90 years of patient effort by the good people of both races," the declaration reads in part.
Whatever significance he had as a senator is diminished by his signature on a manifesto commending "the motives of those States which have declared the intention to resist forced integration by any lawful means."
What Sen. Lott was forced to endure suggests it may be time to reconsider the honor bestowed upon Russell, who in 1956 pledged "to use all lawful means to bring about a reversal of this decision, which is contrary to the Constitution, and to prevent the use of force in its implementation."
Russell is not the only segregationist whom the nation's continues to honor with public facilities, awards and programs bearing their names.
Sen. J. William Fulbright, D-Ark., signed the 1956 manifesto yet his country has repeatedly honored him.
On the occasion of his 88th birthday, Fulbright received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Bill Clinton, who called the former senator "a visionary humanitarian, a steadfast supporter of the values of education."
Clinton also called Fulbright "my mentor" and spoke admiringly of the way the American political system "produced this remarkable man" -- an odd way for a man once described as "America's first black president" to talk about a segregationist.
Can the wounds of segregation ever be truly healed if Fulbright's name remains attached to one of the country's most prestigious academic honors?
The United States Navy is rich in proud traditions yet it too is tainted with the stain of segregation. Two Nimitz-class carriers, the most powerful ships in the fleet, are named for signers of the March 12 manifesto.
The U.S.S. John Stennis, recently returned from a tour protecting the peace in the Persian Gulf, is named for the former chairman of two powerful Senate committees and who served as Senate president pro tempore, making him third in the line of presidential succession. The U.S.S. Carl Vinson honors a segregationist Georgia congressman who headed the House Committee on Naval Affairs and the House Armed Services Committee.
Should these ships of the line continue to bear names honoring men who helped foster the idea that segregation was acceptable and positive? As President George W. Bush said while rebuking Lott, "Every day our nation was segregated was a day that America was unfaithful to our founding ideals."
The names of Russell, Fulbright, Stennis and Vinson are affixed to political, military and cultural institutions that matter the world over. It is time to reconsider the message these honors send. There are still too many visible symbols honoring segregationist leaders. They must be dealt with if the wounds are to be closed for good.
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(The Peter Principles is a regular column on politics, culture and the media by Peter Roff, UPI political analyst and 20-year veteran of the Washington scene).
