Sen. Strom Thurmond

[RedefinedDiva]

Originally posted by PM_Mama00
Yay! ANOTHER THREAD turned into a race issue.

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!

[Honeykiss1974]

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 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 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.

[ZTAMiami]

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.

[AlphaGamDiva]

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.....

[Rudey]

Originally posted by Bamboozled
And who deleted my "bad rubbish" comment? Oh, I see.... people can profess their love for this blatant racist, but I can't voice my views. What kind of isht is that? But, I am LMAO that the "nigger" comment stayed. Y'all are too much for 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.

[MSKKG]

Originally posted by sugar and spice
Agreed. If she had said something similar three days ago, nobody would have batted an eyelash. I honestly don't think Strom Thurmond cares anymore that he's dead than he would have when he was living, so why should it suddenly matter now that he's dead?

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.

[Peaches-n-Cream]

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.

[gamma_girl52]

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 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 . 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.

[Bamboozled]

Originally posted by Cream
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.

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.

[CountryGurl]

Originally posted by swissmiss04
May it be said again: Do not speak ill of the dead. I'm sure none of us are without flaws and personally I wouldn't want mine dredged back up after my death when I can't defend myself. Show some respect or keep quiet.

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!

[Peaches-n-Cream]

Originally posted by Bamboozled
Okay, I'm really confused by everyone saying that Strom made ammends. Ammends 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.

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.

[tunatartare]

Originally posted by ZTAMiami
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 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.

[Rudey]

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

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

-Rudey
--Almost time for a history lesson.

[Bamboozled]

Originally posted by Rudey
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.

[steelepike]

Originally posted by sugar and spice
Oh come on now. Like I said, if she had posted something bad about Strom three days ago nobody would have cared. And it has nothing to do with him "not being able to defend himself now" because it's not like he sat around reading the GC message boards before he died.

The guy did some terrible isht which, in my opinion, can't be "erased" by the fact that he later tried to make up for it. That doesn't excuse the fact that it happened in the first place. Do I think that he's a horrible person? No. But do I think that the fact that he died means that we should all bow down and praise him? Again, no.

I would have cared.