I mean really, he’s a coal baron for crying out loud
this post was submitted on 10 Nov 2023
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Robert Byrd was the longest serving senator. He was a leader of his local chapter of the KKK in his 20s, but left it when he got into politics.
He voted against the civil rights bill of 1965, but started supporting civil rights in the 70s and 80s.
When he died, the NAACP said:
Byrd certainly wasn't perfect, but he wasn't Strom Thurmond, George Wallace or David Duke.
I really doubt he just did a 180 on being a klan leader turned anti-civil rights politician. He was an opportunist who saw a chance to gain more support by supporting more progressive policies. It's good that he started supporting civil rights, but he and politicians like him will turn their backs on progressivism the moment it benefits them, which scares the shit out of me in times like this where conservatives are getting more radical and violent all the time.
Idk what the context for biden being with them is, but politicians take photos with all kinds of people though, even politicians on the other side of the aisle. It's part of the political game, and based on the picture alone I wouldn't judge him too hard just for having a picture with them
"I see your evidence but I am going to ignore it because it does not support my internal narrative"
Is basically what you just said.
Byrd was a Democrat.
The Democratic party has always been an ideologically diverse big tent coalition. Before the civil rights bills, part of that coalition were the Dixiecrats - the traditional southern pro-segregation, pro-Jim Crow part of the Democrats.
Strom Thurmond, George Wallace and Byrd were originally all Dixiecrats.
Following the civil rights bill, the Dixiecrats stopped being a part of the Democratic coalition. When people talk about the party switch, that's what they're talking about. Strom Thurmond joined the Republican Party, George Wallace joined the newly formed American Independant party, and Byrd publically renounced the Dixiecrat platform and became a mainstream Democrat.
Byrd died in office, back in 2010, at the age of 92. We can't really say how much was an honest reconsideration of racism, and how much was just reading the political tea leaves and oppourtunism. But you can rest easy that the only kind of turning he can do anymore is metaphorically turning in his grave.
"Oops, I was accidentally a racist for most of my life, but I'm cool now!" --Robert Byrd.
I mean, he died over a decade ago, so at this point the question is really just academic.
It certainly sounds like he was a true believer in the KKK in his youth.
He publically rejected them in his middle age. I'm not going to pretend that I know if it was cynically reading the political tea leaves or him honestly growing as a person.
I would just say that it's interesting to contrast what the NAACP said about Byrd when he died to what their chairman said about Strom Thurmond when he retired: