Edgar Ray Killen not the only one showing no remorse...

The Edgar Ray Killen trial made headlines around the world. His conviction on manslaughter charges and subsequent sentencing to 60 years sent a clear message that Mississippi is trying to move beyond its racist/ white supremist past. Killen of course has remained defiant and unrepentant - much in the same way that Byron De La Beckwith and Sam Bowers did before him. It therefore seems inconceivable that in the present climate, the two U.S. Senators from Mississippi - Trent Lott and Thad Cochran should have missed the opportunity to go on the record by co-sponsoring a bill essentially apologizing for the failure of the U.S. senate to enact anti-lynching legislation back in the sixties. One would have thought it was a no-brainer, particularly for Lott who lost his leadership position because of his 'remarks' concerning Strom Thurmond; but even Thad Cochran - an avowed moderate republican couldn't bring himself to 'do the right thing'!
“I don’t feel I should apologize for the passage of or the failure to pass any legislation by the U.S. Senate. But I deplore and regret that lynchings occurred and that those committing them were not punished,” he said in a statement last week.In an interview with his state’s largest paper, the Clarion-Ledger of Jackson, he pointedly noted that the paper had not apologized for its 50 years of editorials in support of segregation. - CAPITOLBUZZ June 19th 2005
If a Neshoba County jury could do their civic duty by bringing justice, finally, to the families of Goodman, Schwerner and Chaney; The least that our Senators could have done was to represent the people of Mississippi before the eyes of a watching world and sent a message that the climate is changing here and that showing a modicum of remorse might have resulted in a multiplicity of rewards.