12/18/2002 11:55:00 PM BRIAN PERRY/ Lott’s grand opportunity
By BRIAN PERRY
Reasonably Right
Trent Lott has an amazing opportunity if he has the courage to seize it and his colleagues have the wisdom to follow him. For those elected officials, Lott in particular, that truly want to help the people of Mississippi, the South and America, this is their opportunity.
For those in the Republican Party that want to create a true governing majority, this is their chance, too.
With the nation’s racial conscience speaking to Lott, Republicans must decide either to retreat in defense, or to take the offense and use Lott as a catalyst to change America’s heart. Like Saul on the Road to Damascus, the light following Strom Thurmond’s birthday party is chasing away the shadows of racism from the soul of Trent Lott. He can become a great advocate for racial reconciliation.
I know Lott has grown weary of the ceaseless assault on his character, but he realizes it is not unfairly received even if it is insincerely delivered. Lott’s past, like the past of Mississippi, is soiled with the sin of segregation. If sincere and willing, Lott may be able to do what no other Republican can do: Win massive black converts to the Republican Party.
There is no denying that blacks and whites have certain issues we must overcome together about one another. Because of the pain and shame of the past, and often times the present, it is difficult to discuss race. Lott has been through the pain of fire on this issue.
To continue the discussion in Mississippi and nationwide is to approach healing and redemption for himself, the people he leads, and the party he promotes. To do this, Lott and the Republicans do not need to ignore the nation’s “black leadership,” but they must not be confined by them. Much of the “black leadership” considers civil rights synonymous with liberal policies.
When you look at the issues that the “black leadership” uses to gauge a legislator’s support of the black community, you look at votes concerning economic development, education, fair voting, welfare reform, equal opportunities and affirmative action, abortion, transportation and housing.
But these are not black issues anymore than they are white issues; they are just issues on which people of all sides can disagree. Lott must not bend to the liberal ideology of “black leaders” in order to reach their constituents. Blacks will not join the Republican Party just because you raise their taxes.
Republicans and Democrats have different ways to approach issues. Republicans do not have to become Democrats to earn “the black vote.” If Republican ideals are true, if they work, if they are real, then they will prevail. But before whites like Trent Lott can meet traditionally-Democratic black voters, they must get past the color barrier both races have erected.
This wall of distrust, built on ignorance, has bricks from both sides. We must both begin to tear down our own sides of the wall. If only one group takes action, it will seem like an invasion, but if both sides work together, then the free commerce of ideas can be founded on trust and mutual want.
Lott needs to admit that he alone cannot overcome the remnants of social and institutional racism he maintains in his soul — no one can. For one, racism is a sin that needs divine guidance to overcome. Second, racial reconciliation needs both races, or we become blind to the needs of the other people group.
Lott should call Dolphus Weary from Mission Mississippi and John Perkins from Reconcilers Fellowship; both heads of Mississippi-based racial reconciliation organizations. He could meet with them in a private, honest, open manner and have frank discussions on race. Their guidance would be valuable.
When Lott meets his Republican colleagues in January to maintain his leadership position, he needs to not present a strategy of damage control. He needs to present a vision for national racial reconciliation. That has the potential of doing more good for our country than all the bills passed by Congress in 2003; and it has the ability to achieve more for the Republican Party than twenty additional GOP seats in the Senate.
Lott has the opportunity to transform America, the South, Mississippi and the Republican Party. He can realize Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s dream for all of us. He can put the mantle of civil rights in his own conservative party and make real reparations to the American people, black and white, that all have suffered the pain and shame of racism. In this he may not find power and glory, but he will be a servant leader for all Mississippians.
From his discussion on Black Entertainment Television Monday night, it sounds like Lott wants to pursue, in some manner, this course of action. It won’t be easy. Lott must want to do this and Republicans must let him. If the Republican Party abandons Lott, they abandon this opportunity.
The GOP can embrace the transformed Lott and can return to its roots as the Party of Lincoln, or it can drop Lott, shove the race issue back in the closet, ignore it and act like this never happened. Republicans must choose their legacy and the moral future of their party.
Brian Perry is Deputy Editorial Page Editor for the Madison County Journal and Editor of MagnoliaReport.com.
Reader Comments
Posted: Thursday, December 19, 2002
Article comment by:
Matt Eichelberger
Amazing. Best thoughts yet on this issue. Way to go, Brian. You just said what many of us have been dying to say for days now. I can only hope that Trent, the President and the GOP Senate Caucus read this and take your words to heart.
