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."

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