[News-releases] NOW President Says Trent Lott is Unfit to Lead Senate

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NOW President Says Trent Lott is Unfit to Lead Senate

December 12, 2002

"Sen. Trent Lott's racist and sexist comments are outrageous and his 
apology is insufficient," said NOW President Kim Gandy. "The latest 
revelations offer ample evidence that Lott is unfit to assume a leadership 
role in the Senate. He should step down as a candidate for Senate majority 
leader or the Republicans must select someone who appreciates the progress 
made in this country over the last 50 years."

At Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday celebration, Lott expressed support for 
the Senator's 1948 presidential campaign, run on the Dixiecrat platform 
which stood for "the segregation of the races and the racial integrity of 
each race." Lott suggested that if Thurmond had been elected president, the 
U.S. "wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years."

Reports now reveal that Lott made an almost identical remark about Thurmond 
at a rally for Ronald Reagan in 1980. "Feminists who are familiar with 
Lott's history and his record in the Senate are not surprised by his 
sentiments. What he sees as a lack of judgment, we see as a lack of 
character," Gandy said.

Gandy also noted that Lott had a long-time affiliation with the Council of 
Conservative Citizens, a group known for its extremist racial views.

"Lott not only insulted millions of African Americans last week, but he 
also offended women," said Gandy. Former presidential candidate Bob Dole 
offered to introduce Thurmond to singer Britney Spears, with whom he 
appeared in a commercial for Pepsi, to which Lott added, "Instead of 
saying, 'Down boy,' you just say, 'Down Strom.' "

"The Thurmond birthday celebration sounds like a toast to the 'good old 
white boys,'" Gandy said. "Lott clearly yearns for a time before women and 
people of color crashed the party."

"The people of the U.S. deserve far better than Trent Lott," Gandy 
concluded. "We call on President Bush to repudiate Lott's remarks insulting 
African Americans and women and to encourage the selection of a more 
fitting Senate majority leader."