A WHOLE LOTT OF SYMBOLISM
BY
JULIANNE MALVEAUX
Why did Mississippi Senator Trent Lott have such a prominent role at the inaugural? Lott fell from power when, two yeas ago, he opined that our country would be a better place had Strom Thurmond won his presidential bid on the Dixiecrat ticket in 1948. The nation cringed, but memories were apparently short enough for Lott to have been elected Chairman of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies. It is ironic that Lott presided over the inauguration of a president who says he wants to bring our nation together, since Lott’s visible presence on that inaugural podium was a slap in the face to African Americans.
It’s tempting to interpret this story as Mr. Bush’s mixed message to African Americans. The inauguration ceremony began with Lott’s comments and ended with a benediction by Kirbyjon Caldwell, the African American pastor from Houston who also spoke at the 2000 Republican convention. In between, the President made remarks about freedom and unity, barely mentioning either Iraq or domestic public policy. But there was an incongruity between talk of freedom and thevery visible role Lott played. I’ve not seen as much of him since he voiced his nostalgia about segregation. Then, in the midst of mea culpas, he promised to work on racial harmony. Instead, without missing a beat, he was handed a plum role.
Tempting as it is to blame Bush for Lott’s prominent presence at the inaugural ceremonies, he wasn’t the culprit here. Lott’s congressional colleagues handed him the leadership position. Here’s how it works – three Senators and three members of the House of Representatives serve on the Joint Congressional Committee for Inaugural Ceremonies. Vice President Dick Cheney appointed the Senators –- Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN), and Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT), and Trent Lott. Lott and Dodd are, respectively, Chair and Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration. House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) appoints members of Congress to the committee, and as is customary, selected himself, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). The group elected Lott to chair the committee at their organizing meeting in April.
With a war on our hands, an election imminent and the economy oscillating, the selection of a party planner probably wasn’t high on the Joint Committee’s list of priorities back in April. Still, the fact that the committee was willing to provide Lott with such amazing visibility suggests that they have their heads in the sand, at least where race matters are concerned. Every time Lott opened his mouth, I thought of the time he put his foot in it, and I wondered if his Senate and Congressional colleagues now think those remarks are acceptable. Lott’s leadership allowed him to feature the state of Mississippi during the inaugural, with marching bands from the state prominently featured, with the gift from the Joint Congressional luncheon provided by Mississippi artisans, and with Mississippians given plum tickets to the inaugural parade, since Lott controlled those tickets. With an election campaign slated for 2006, Lott was placed in a position to stroke some of the folk he’ll need for that campaign.
Watching Trent Lott was a galling reminder of our nation’s racial history and the massive injustices that African Americans have experienced in slavery and its aftermath. Lott is a reminder that many Americans still hold segregationist views, fly the Confederate flag, and are indifferent to the rights of fellow citizens. Many southerners would prefer to forget our shameful history, just as they would prefer that we forget Trent Lott’s 2002 comments. But there will be no forgetting until there is an accounting.
Some will say that Lott played an inoffensive, administrative role in the inauguration, that his chairmanship was customary, and that African American progress can by measured by things like the historic nomination of Condoleeza Rice as Secretary of State. I say that custom is part of the problem, and that notwithstanding the Rice nomination, Lott’s visibility reminds us why some customs need to be changed.
“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.” Those telling words made an indelible impression and reflect a reprehensible set of views. If there is a commitment to national unity, then Lott had no business chairing the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies.