Council Of Conservative Citizens

I read with interest Michael Ramirez's account of his speaking engagement before the Council of Conservative Citizens (" 'I Am Not a White Supremacist,' " Commentary, Jan. 31) and found his account at best disingenuous. If he was not aware of their extremist views, he has his head more deeply buried in the sand than I believed. Ramirez must realize that, like Trent Lott's, his association with this racist group validated them and enhanced their reputation. To relate that he preached the gospel of equality is no excuse.

Re "Lott Tries to Quell Furor Over Remark," Dec. 10: By now Sen. Trent Lott's (R-Miss.) remarks, captured by CSPAN, are part of the public record: "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, either." Anyone who knows the platform that Thurmond ran on in 1948 -- racial segregation at any cost -- knows what Lott meant by "these problems."

Re "Lott Campaigns to Segregate Himself From Extremist Group," Jan. 26: The far right might spend less time worrying over what to tell children about people who lie and consider instead how to explain to those politically interested toddlers about people who support segregationist and neo-Nazi groups--like Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.). According to The Times, it seems that "when he wasn't hunting turtles," young Lott was listening to front-porch talk about race from his Uncle Arnie Watson, the state senator who chaired Mississippi's Carroll County Citizens Council, a forerunner of today's segregationist Council of Conservative Citizens.

I read with interest Michael Ramirez's account of his speaking engagement before the Council of Conservative Citizens (" 'I Am Not a White Supremacist,' " Commentary, Jan. 31) and found his account at best disingenuous. If he was not aware of their extremist views, he has his head more deeply buried in the sand than I believed. Ramirez must realize that, like Trent Lott's, his association with this racist group validated them and enhanced their reputation. To relate that he preached the gospel of equality is no excuse.

Re "Lott Tries to Quell Furor Over Remark," Dec. 10: By now Sen. Trent Lott's (R-Miss.) remarks, captured by CSPAN, are part of the public record: "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, either." Anyone who knows the platform that Thurmond ran on in 1948 -- racial segregation at any cost -- knows what Lott meant by "these problems."

Re "A Legacy That King Would Not Have Wanted," Commentary, Jan. 13: Finally someone got it right. This impeachment isn't about lying, perjury, sex or abuse of power. It is about racism, sexism and homophobia. White Southern congressmen and religious leaders have hated Bill Clinton for years because he is, in their estimation, a traitor to his class. Sens. Trent Lott, Jesse Helms, and Strom Thurmond are all former Democrats who jumped the civil rights ship. Lott and Rep. Bob Barr are still playing footsie with the Council of Conservative Citizens, just a little bit more respectable than the Klan, but still an anti-black and anti-Semitic organization.

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) distanced himself from an ultraconservative group that has been accused of supporting white supremacy. His uncle, a member of the Mississippi chapter of the Council of Conservative Citizens, had said Lott is an honorary member. "I have made my condemnation of the white supremacist and racist views espoused by this or any other group clear," Lott said in a statement.

Hundreds of Confederate battle flags snapped in the breeze of this coastal resort Sunday, a fierce answer to an NAACP demand that the rebel banner be removed from the state Capitol. The flags of all sizes adorned cars and were waved by children and adults at a rally that drew about 400 people. "We've given them everything they wanted. Now they want our flag," William G. Carter, president of the state chapter of the Council of Conservative Citizens, told the cheering, all-white crowd.

House Democrats on Tuesday rebuffed a GOP-backed resolution condemning bigotry because it did not name the white supremacist Council of Conservative Citizens. Republican leaders had hoped to use the resolution to quell controversy over the council, which has hosted several Republican leaders at its meetings and has posted anti-black and anti-Semitic views on its Internet Web site.

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) spoke about a decade ago at an event he did not know was sponsored by a white supremacist group, his spokesman said Saturday, but the senator has never belonged to the organization. The senator's name surfaced last week amid reports that Rep. Bob Barr (R-Ga.), one of the leading advocates on the House Judiciary Committee of impeaching President Clinton, was keynote speaker at the national conference of the Council of Conservative Citizens in June.

Re "Lott Campaigns to Segregate Himself From Extremist Group," Jan. 26: The far right might spend less time worrying over what to tell children about people who lie and consider instead how to explain to those politically interested toddlers about people who support segregationist and neo-Nazi groups--like Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.). According to The Times, it seems that "when he wasn't hunting turtles," young Lott was listening to front-porch talk about race from his Uncle Arnie Watson, the state senator who chaired Mississippi's Carroll County Citizens Council, a forerunner of today's segregationist Council of Conservative Citizens.

Re "A Legacy That King Would Not Have Wanted," Commentary, Jan. 13: Finally someone got it right. This impeachment isn't about lying, perjury, sex or abuse of power. It is about racism, sexism and homophobia. White Southern congressmen and religious leaders have hated Bill Clinton for years because he is, in their estimation, a traitor to his class. Sens. Trent Lott, Jesse Helms, and Strom Thurmond are all former Democrats who jumped the civil rights ship. Lott and Rep. Bob Barr are still playing footsie with the Council of Conservative Citizens, just a little bit more respectable than the Klan, but still an anti-black and anti-Semitic organization.

A spokesman for Rep. Bob Barr (R-Ga.) acknowledged Thursday that Barr was a keynote speaker earlier this year at a meeting of the Council of Conservative Citizens, an organization promoting views that interracial marriage amounts to white genocide and that Abraham Lincoln was elected by socialists and communists. Barr spoke at the organization's semiannual convention on June 6 in Charleston, S.C. His presence was cited by Harvard law professor Alan M.

In a Jan. 19 column, Robert Scheer suggests I am closely associated with a group known as the Council of Conservative Citizens. As a former U.S. attorney who has prosecuted white supremacists and racially motivated police violence, I find this charge so offensive and inaccurate that I cannot ignore it. I find the racial views of this group repugnant and would never have spoken there if I had known of their views beforehand. In fact, I have told the group in writing that I disagree with its ridiculous opinions on race and have urged others to disassociate themselves from the CCC. It is absurd and irresponsible for anyone to suggest that one speech--during which I discussed only the impeachment process, as I was asked to do--implies that I in any way share or support this group's views.