Eugene Robinson: Robert Byrd’s Redemption [View All]

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http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/robert_byrds_redemption_20100629/

Robert Byrd’s Redemption
Posted on Jun 29, 2010


AP / Lauren Victoria Burke, File

By Eugene Robinson


“End of an era” is an overused trope, but in this case it’s appropriate: The last of the old Southern Democrats is gone.

Sen. Robert Byrd had long since repented, of course. The West Virginian, who died Monday at 92, deeply regretted his segregationist past, which included a year as a member of the Ku Klux Klan and at least several more years as a Klan sympathizer. He eventually became a passionate advocate for civil rights, and he was one of the most vocal supporters of legislation making the birthday of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. a national holiday.

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Byrd’s trajectory—from bitter segregationist to beloved dean of the Senate—is actually a hopeful, quintessentially American story. He was a man of his age, and his views on race closely tracked the views of the constituents he so loyally represented. There was a time when separate-but-unequal was a mainstream position among whites in the South, and the fact that Byrd’s early words and deeds are so shocking today is a testament to how far the nation has come.

Byrd’s career is also a reminder that no political party has a monopoly on wisdom or virtue. It was Southern Democrats who tried desperately to deny equal rights to African-Americans, and it was the votes of Northern Republicans that helped pass the landmark legislation. Southern whites switched parties and made the South a GOP bastion. This has been the situation for decades now—but it won’t last forever.

Last week, in my home state of South Carolina, an African-American named Tim Scott defeated Strom Thurmond’s son in the Republican primary for a seat in the House. The GOP nomination for governor was won by Nikki Haley, who is of Indian descent and was called a “raghead” by one of her good ol’ boy critics. In Alabama, Rep. Artur Davis failed to become the first African-American to win the Democratic nomination for governor—largely because he took the African-American vote for granted.

Robert Byrd’s amazing career reminds us that times really do change. And so do people.