Reality seems to refute your propaganda.
As Robert Byrd passes, an era in race relations ends. Byrd started his political life as an Exalted Cyclops in the Ku Klux Klan. In 1944, Byrd wrote the following in a letter to Senat...
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“Byrd changed his mind later in life. In some respects, that change seems to have been politically motivated; maybe it was only politics at first.In 1997, he had this advice for up-and-coming politicians: "Be sure you avoid the Ku Klux Klan. Don't get that albatross around your neck. Once you've made that mistake, you inhibit your operations in the political arena." That sounds like a coldly calculated assessment of political risk. Byrd made no secret of the decision he made to downplay his segregationist views in order to advance in Washington and move toward the mainstream.”