Pro-Lynching Update: My Call to Alexander's Office
[UPDATED: New posts on the lynching resolution here and Alexander's Senate speech on the matter here].

I just got off the phone with a lovely staffer for Senator Alexander I called to register my displeasure with him for his refusal to co-sponsor the anti-lynching resolution last night. I told her I would like to have Tennessee's 2 Senators demonstrate a more high-minded, united attitude about such things than their counterparts in Mississippi, who seem content with furthering the racist South image that is their heritage.

She was very polite and read a prepared statement. It started off with a little misdirection: assuring me that he did not oppose the legislation, and that it passed unanimously, and that he didn't co-sponsor "because" he had already co-sponsored legislation celebrating black history month, and that he intended to bring that one up again.

I reminded her that Senators are not forbidden from supporting black people more than once a Senate session, that I wish he would consider doing so more often on legislation that really matters, and that there was no reason for him not to have co-sponsored this legislation, or at least--now that it's passed as a voice vote--to go back and co-sponsor it now, so that his support is registered.

If your Senator is on the list, give his office a call.