| Rising
above prejudice
By Sherry Parfait
1994 Scholar
Posted: May 13, 2003
"When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted
for him. We’re proud of it. And if the rest of the country
had followed our lead, we wouldn’t have had all these
problems over all these years, either."
-- Sen. Trent Lott (R., Miss.), Dec. 5, 2002,
at the 100th birthday celebration for Thurmond
Here’s what happened when I read Sen. Trent Lott’s
now well-known comment that the country would have been better
off had segregationist Strom Thurmond won the presidency in
1948:
First, I experienced disbelief. How could someone think --
let alone say -- something like that?
Then I felt like I had been slapped in the face. I felt insulted
because I am a Republican voter. And I was sobered by the
thought of such blatant racism in a public forum today, 55
years after Thurmond’s run for president. (Thurmond ran
on the segregationist Dixiecrat ticket in 1948.)
I always considered racism to be something that affected
people in faraway places. My parents attended "American
Indian only" schools in the 1940s and ‘50s. But
as a girl growing up on the bayous of southern Louisiana,
I never directly experienced racial prejudice. At least not
anything that was obvious.
I cannot say that Lott’s remarks indicate that he is
racist. Only he and God know that.
Yet given his statement and the fact that he was forced to
resign as Senate majority leader as a result, it is clear
that racial prejudice still is alive. The stir his remarks
caused -- the magazine covers, the talk shows, the reactions
of leaders of both political parties to distance themselves
from his comments -- confirms that the topic of race has yet
to be fully addressed in our nation.
During my Chips Quinn internship in 1994 when I sat in congressional
hearings on Capitol Hill, one phrase stood out above all others:
"We have a moral obligation ..."
My interpretation of their "moral obligation" was
that they recognized their responsibility to do what was in
the best interest of their constituents.
As journalists, we have a moral obligation to report news
that is in the best interest of our readers. And as ethnic
Americans, we have a moral obligation to do what is in our
nation’s best interest.
Lott’s remarks also remind journalists to consider the
consequences before writing a news story.
Let us respond to racial prejudice in a way that reflects
greater character than those who look down on us -- by loving
and forgiving our enemies and promoting a spirit of unity
in our communities.
May Trent Lott’s story help our nation be more united.
Sherry Parfait is completing a music-business degree at
Middle Tennessee State University and working as a publicist
and marketing consultant. She was a 1994 Scholar at Indian
Country Today. Reach her at sherryparfaitprm@msn.com.
Back to Top | 
