Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 21 July 2005 — Page 38

Page38 • The Muncie Times • June 2, 2005

NEWS BRIEFS

8 senators sign antilynching law after its approval Compiled By Andre’ Scott WASHINGTON, D.C.Although 13 U.S. senators are on record as opposing the recent resolution apologizing for not passing anti-lynching legislation, another eight signed up in days after the measure had been passed by the Senate, records show. Taken together, slightly more than a fifth of the Senate refused to support the measure before it was adopted. “This resolution has been circulated for months now. Everyone knew about it. So, to me, all of the persons who did not sign it show lack of concern for this important issue,” says U. S. Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. “I think everybody that didn't’t sign the bill has made a serious revelation about how they feel about race in America in the 21st century.” The 13 senators still refusing to co-spon-sor the resolution are: Lamar Alexander, (RTenn.); Robert Bennett, (R-Utah); Michael Enzi and Craig Thomas (RWyo.); Judd Gregg and John Sununu (R- N.H.); Richard Shelby, (R-Ala.); Jon Kyi (R-Ariz.); Gordon Smith, (R-Ore.); John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchinson (RTexas); and Thad Cochran and Trent Lott (R-Miss.). Eight more signed on as co-sponsors after the resolution had been adopted. Those who signed the resolution the next day were Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.); Jack Reed (D-R.L); Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.);

George V. Voinovich (ROhio); and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Chuck Grassley (Rlowa) signed the resolution 2 days later and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) 3 days later. The resolution passed the Senate by “unanimous consent,” meaning it did not require individual votes. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) rejected roll call votes that had been requested by the chief sponsors and Mark Planning, an adviser to the Committee for a Formal Apology. Supporters had requested a vote during normal business hours, but Frist arranged for the vote to take place in the evening, after the major network news programs had aired in the East and Midwest. Frist’s rejection of requests for a roll call vote protected opponents who did not want to be on record as opposing the resolution. Capitol Hill sources say four Senators: Lamar Alexander (RTenn.;, Jim Bunning (RKy.); Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) insisted that a recorded vote not be taken. "America is home of the brave, but I'm afraid there may be a few cowards who have to cover to their very nar-row-minded and backward, hateful constituency*" Janet Langhart Cohen, a former journalist, said in an interview with ABC News. "They're hiding out and it's reminiscent of a pattern of hiding out under a hood, in the night, riding past, scaring people." Cohen is the wife of William Cohen, a former Republican senator

from Maine and former Secretary of Defense under President Bill Clinton. She says her 17-year-old cousin, Jimmy Gillenwaters, was lynched by a mob in 1912 near Bowling Green, Ky. More than 4,700 lynchings took place between 1882 and 1968, most of them African American men. Many more are believed to have taken place, but those are the ones documented by Tuskegee University, a historically black institution in Alabama. According to those records, Mississippi led the nation with 581 documented lynchings during that period, followed by Georgia with 531; Texas and Louisiana, each with 391; and Alabama with 347. Even though Mississippi led the nation in lynchings anc^ is the state with the highest percentage of African Americans - 36 percent - neither of its two senators supported the anti-lynch-ing resolution. Former Senate Majority Leader Lott has not signed on after resigning from the leadership position 3 years ago after boasting about his support of the 1948 segregationist presidential platform of the late Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina. In an effort to shore up rapidly declining political standing, Lott agreed to be interviewed by Ed Gordon on Black Entertainment Television. He told Gordon at the time, “The important thing is to recognize the hurt that I caused and ask for forgiveness and find a way to turn this into a positive thing, and try to make amends for what I’ve said and for what others have said and done over the years. I’m looking forward to this to be

an opportunity for redemption, but to do something about it.” Apparently, that didn't’t include apologizing for the Senate’s failure to enact anti-lynching legislation. “He said he was going to make up with the black community. He said we’re going to be proud of him. And then, the one opportunity that could have made a very positive statement, he cuts and runs/’ says U. S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, a black Democrat from Mississippi. “This will continue to be a spot on the state of Mississippi.” Lott refused to return repeated telephone calls to his office for comment. Thad Cochran, the other Mississippi senator, was adamant. “I don’t feel I should apologize for the passage of or the failure to pass any legislation by the U. S. Senate. But I deplore and regret that lynching occurred and that those who committed them were not punished,” Cochran said through his spokeswoman, Jenny Manley. Senate Resolution 39 is mild by most standards. It does not apologize for the lynchings, only for the 200 times anti-lynching bills were proposed in the Senate during the first half of the 20th century - including three passed by the House - and never approved. Nor does it authorize payments to any of the victims. Critics: political pressure forced govt, to cave in to big tobacco WASHINGTON, D.C.Despite testimony from their own expert witness, the U.S. Department of Justice

decided to decrease the amount of money it requested from the tobacco industry for nationwide tobacco prevention programs from $130 billion to $10 billion—a move that sent shockwaves through the tobacco cessation community. “The smoking cessation remedy the U.S. Department of Justice described in its lawsuit against the tobacco companies is completely inadequate to help the nation’s 45 million smokers quit or to prevent the tobacco companies from continuing to deceive and addict new smokers in the future,” the American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, American Public Health Association and Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids said in a joint statement. “It is also inconsistent with the powerful case the government has made that the tobacco companies engaged in a decades-long scheme to defraud the American public and market their deadly products to our children. Due to apparent political interference in this case, the Justice Department is now seeking a remedy that protects tobacco profits rather than public health.” Michael Fiore, the government’s expert witness, recommended a 25year, $130 billion smoking cessation program during his testimony. Fiore, director of a tobacco research center, chaired the subcommittee on tobacco cessation in the Department of Health and Human Services’ Interagency Committee on Smoking and Health. In addition to Fiore’s testimony, lawyers working on the continued on page 39