Belated Regrets Dept.
The U.S. Senate has apologized for not passing anti-lynching legislation when it was really needed -- say, 70, 80, 90 years ago, when some of the 4700 lives that were taken in lynchings across the country might have been saved. For decades, Southern senators filibustered or otherwise blocked attempts to stop these mob killings, mostly of African Americans. Even now, there are reportedly 12 senators refusing to support the apology. According to John Aravosis, the resolution was passed via voice vote so the dissenters could avoid putting actual votes on the record.
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and George Allen (R-VA) sponsored the apology, and 59 cosponsors signed up, meaning that a (filibuster-proof!) majority supported it. But some Southern senators still have a soft spot for the good old days. Only 11 of 26 Southern senators (42 percent) sponsored or cosponsored, compared to 50 of 74 non-Southern senators (68 percent).
Here are Senate Resolution 39's Southern sponsors and cosponsors:
George Allen (R-VA) - sponsor
Richard Burr (R-NC)
Robert Byrd (D-WV)
Jim DeMint (R-SC)
Bill Frist (R-TN)
Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
Mary Landrieu (D-LA) - sponsor
Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)
Bill Nelson (D-FL)
Mark Pryor (D-AR)
David Vitter (R-LA)
Here are the 15 Southern senators who did NOT sign on to cosponsor:
Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
Jim Bunning (R-KY)
Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)
Thad Cochran (R-MS)
John Cornyn (R-TX)
Elizabeth Dole (R-NC)
Kay Hutchinson (R-TX)
Johnny Isakson (R-GA)
Trent Lott (R-MS)
Mel Martinez (R-FL)
Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
Jay Rockefeller (D-WV)
Jeff Sessions (R-AL)
Richard Shelby (R-AL)
John Warner (R-VA)
Especially noteworthy is the fact that not a single senator from four of the top five lynching states -- in order, Mississippi (with 581 recorded lynchings from 1882 to 1968), Georgia (531), Texas (493), and Alabama (347) -- signed on. (Louisiana had 391 lynchings.)
Meanwhile, the family of Anthony Crawford, a successful black farmer who was lynched in South Carolina in 1916, is seeking an apology from the state and the town of Abbeville, S.C., as well. Crawford was beaten, mutilated, hanged, and shot by a mob because he rejected a white man's offer to buy his cotton crop.
UPDATE 11 AM: Just before the resolution passed on Monday, 18 more senators signed on, bringing to 79 the total of sponsors and cosponsors (THOMAS lists Allen as a cosponsor, though some sources name him a sponsor along with Landrieu). Nine of these procrastinators were from Southern states:
Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)
Johnny Isakson (R-GA)
Mel Martinez (R-FL)
Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
Jeff Sessions (R-AL)
John Warner (R-VA)
Jim Bunning (R-KY)
Elizabeth Dole (R-NC)
Jay Rockefeller (D-WV)
Leaving six Southerners who still did not put their names on the resolution:
Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
Thad Cochran (R-MS)
John Cornyn (R-TX)
Kay Hutchinson (R-TX)
Trent Lott (R-MS)
Richard Shelby (R-AL)
Five of these hail from three of the five states responsible for the most lynchings. By the way, my original count did not include Oklahoma, as, rightly or wrongly, the Institute has not usually considered Oklahoma a Southern state. But if you're interested, Tom Coburn (R-OK) became a cosponsor in the past week, and James Inhofe (R-OK) signed on at the last minute on Monday.