Who's turning anything into a "race issue"? If you would have taken the time to read ANY article in ANY newpaper, book, or magazine on Thurmond, as well as most of the posts in this PRIOR to my post, you would know that Thurmond, in and of himself, is a "race issue". Get real!

a compromise
 

Why don't someone change the title of this thread to read something like this...

"Sen. Strom Thurmond-Pay Your Respects Here"

that way, those of you who want to praise :rolleyes: his works, life, and legacy can do so. And it will let those of us know the true purpose of this thread, since apparently it is not for the purpose of GC'ers to post their feelings :mad: about the passing of ol' Strom.

I was under the impression that people could post their feelings about his passing, but apparently not since post are being deleted.

If this was meant to be a Strom Thurmond sympathy thread then it should have been called that. It wasn't and people are entitled to their opinions right. How is stating an opinion on the man's life and death offensive to anyone? I really don't think its necessary for posts to be deleted on this thread.
And I think not speaking ill of the dead is bull. Should we not speak ill of Hitler for instance? And no, I am NOT comparing Strom to Hitler.

i took the purpose of this thread to just be an announcing of a famous man's passing....like other threads have been.....

to me, it is out of respect for his life and the good things he accomplished rather than focusing on his past wrongs for why ppl shouldn't come on here with all their "good ridance." i know you weren't directly comparing sen thurmond to hitler, but just as a sidenote on that.......thurmond did do some wonderful things for this country.....hitler, kinda, didn't do anything good for his country. yes, thurmond made his mistakes and no one on here is saying he was right in those words/actions.....all some ppl are asking, myself included, is to show a bit of respect for a life that is gone. a life that did do good deeds in this country, a life that changed for the better as far as racism is concerned, and a life that impacted and helped so many others.

i just don't see a thread announcing someone's DEATH as a place to bash and criticize. but that may be just me.....

Yeah these GC people are foolish. Are you a girl (If not, skip the next question)? Do you have controversial (naked) pictures to show us?

-Rudey
--Controversial pictures help people deal with these things better.

It's all about timing. Strom's comments were made when the attitudes about race relations were much different than now. He obviously changed. There's a difference in saying something about someone's actions/comments before that person dies or afterwards, especially with the obvious rancor in tone which totally disregards all the good Mr. Thurmond did.

It's funny to see who is forgiven for attitudes/comments/actions and who is not.

I think that the life of Strom Thurmon parallels the United States. He was a racist (clearly), saw the error of his ways, and tried to make ammends.

I said I wasn't going to comment, but...*sigh*

I think it's appalling that people's posts are being deleted because they are expressing an opinion. Last time I checked we had free speech. Everybody is entitled to it.

This thread exemplifies just how divided we are...most of you are praising Mr. Thurmond on his many good works/deeds/etc. and that is fine. However, in that far away place called the black community :p there's a different view of the same man. As a black person whose parents and grandparents unfortunately felt the brunt of this man's racist views, clearly I have a much different opinion. So when I see comments like RD and Bamboozled's being deleted I'm asking why that is. It's not like they're (or me for that matter) are trying to start a mini-race war. It's how we feel (and I do agree with their comments). And just as the many of you feel that he was a good man and all, we feel differently.

Now if Mr. Thurmond has changed his ways throughout the course of his life then I applaud that--because racists as well as racists attitudes suck :D. But let's not forget the man's past as it's a part of who he is overall.

That's all I had to say.

Okay, I'm really confused by everyone saying that Strom made amends. Amends with whom? Definitely not the very people he oppressed for so long. What did he ever do to help race relations in the country? Because he did "great" things to further his own cause, is of no consequence to me. And you can't really believe that all of this happened so long ago. Want some more Strom facts? Here ya go:

In 1941, Thurmond was a circuit court judge. He presided over the trial of a seventeen year old black farmer, Samuel Osborne, who shot and killed his white employer with a shotgun in self defense when the man attacked Samuel while the young black man was sleeping. He threatened Samuel with a .32-caliber pistol and a club with which he was known to beat his black employees. Despite the fact that the Supreme Court had already ruled that the exclusion of blacks from juries was unconstitutional, Thurmond allowed Osborne to be tried for murder by an all-white jury and later sentenced him to death.

As governor of South Carolina, he opposed the integration of black and white troops in the U.S. army.

When Strom Thurmond ran for president in 1948, he ran on the 'Sates Rights' campaign, which was a Cival War era term used as a euphemism of 'White Power.' His campaign slogan was 'Segregation Forever'.

When Harry Truman insisted that the Democratic Party abandon racism in all forms, Thurmond left the party, ran as independent and eventually became a Republican.

In 1957, he filibustered for over 24 hours, one of the longest filibusters in US history, against the passage of the Civil Rights act, which would give equal rights to Americans of all races.

He was an avid supporter of Richard Nixon and used his racist stance to rally support for Nixon in southern states.

Thurmond repeatedly voted against laws that would give rights to blacks, gays, or women.

And I'm supposed to give respect to this person??? WTF ever. He's your hero, not mine.

*Edited to add: The only part of this thread directed at Cream is the first couple of sentences.

Let me ask you this, what do you think of Malcolm X? Would you ever say good/positive things about him even though he's dead? Wait let me answer that for you HELL NO, you wouldn't!!! So why should anyone of the African-American race speak good things about Thurmond? I've never heard Thurmond apologize for his views towards African- Americans. Okay you're entiled to speak on all the good Thurmond did for Whites but as for me all I can speak on is the ILL way he treated my people. Don't get me wrong I feel sorry for his family because losing a family member is a hurtful thing but please don't expect me to mourn his death!

You don't have to respect him or anyone. I don't respect him either. He is NOT my hero.

Thanks for the info. I really don't know much about him except what I read in the link. I was under the impression that he had changed his racist views in the last few years of his life. Perhaps I am mistakened.

I'll delete my post if you want. I thought that he was a changed man.

I agree, right now people who don't want to speak ill of the dead are trying to glorify Strom Thurmond and to focus on all of his positive actions and forget the ones that aren't as pleasant for people to recall. While he may have done a lot for America, he was an actively racist man, there's no denying that, and if you want to remember him accurately and justly in the way that he lived his life, you ought to remember that too.

I thought you'd be happy about his supporting Nixon.

-Rudey
--Almost time for a history lesson.

Do you know me or something? Please don't make assumptions about my political beliefs.

--You have yet to make any valuable contributions to this thread.

I would have cared.