The legendary liberal hypocrisy is running high in this thread.
There is nothing that will erase Byrd's racist past, but at least he made an effort to change.
source Wikipedia:
Late in his life, Byrd explicitly renounced his earlier views favoring racial segregation. Byrd said that he regretted filibustering and voting against the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and would change it if he had the opportunity. He said joining the KKK was "the greatest mistake I ever made." Byrd also said that his views changed dramatically after his teenage grandson was killed in a 1982 traffic accident, which put him in a deep emotional valley. "The death of my grandson caused me to stop and think," said Byrd, adding he came to realize that African-Americans love their children as much as he does his.
For the 2003–2004 session, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)rated Byrd's voting record as being 100 percent in line with the NAACP's position on the 33 Senate bills they evaluated. 16 other senators received that rating. In June 2005, Byrd proposed an additional $10 million in federal funding for the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial in Washington, D.C., remarking that, "With the passage of time, we have come to learn that his Dream was the American Dream, and few ever expressed it more eloquently."
(see, even you could change if you wanted to)