Senators Apologize for Lynchings

In 1930, Sen. J. Thomas “Cotton Tom” Heflin, a flamboyant self-described “racist” from Alabama, stood in the U.S. Senate chamber and uttered the following words: “Whenever a Negro crosses this dead line between the White and the Negro races and lays his Black hand on a White woman he deserves to die.” Roughly 2,500 Blacks were lynched in 10 southern states between 1882 and the year of Heflin’s infamous speech, virtually all of whom died at the hands of White lynch mobs. According to Jana Evans Braziel’s History of Lynching in the United States, “The scale of this carnage means that, on the average, a black man, woman, or child was murdered nearly once a week, every week, between 1882 and 1930 by a hate-driven white mob."  On Tuesday, the first day of Black History Month, Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) and Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) apologized to the Black community and all Americans for the words and actions of former U.S. senators, who blocked three congressional initiatives – in 1922, 1935 and 1938 – to pass anti-lynching laws. Blacks were killed as those anti-lynching bills were being considered before Congress, according to Landrieu, who said that a formal apology is necessary so that “wounds that are still open can begin to heal.”. By 1964, another 2,000 Blacks would be lynched, according to official counts, although Landrieu said he suspects the number is probably double that. [more]