Famous Racist Democrat - Senator Ernest Hollings
Patriot Games
South Carolina who is also notorious for his use of racial slurs. He rose
out of the Democrat Party's segregationist wing in the 1960's as governor of
South Carolina. While in office as governor, Hollings personally led the
opposition to lunch counter integration in his state. The New York Times
reported on March 17, 1960 that then-governor Hollings "warned today that
South Carolina would not permit 'explosive' manifestations in connection
with Negro demands for lunch-counter services." According to the article,
Hollings gave a speech in which he "challenged President Eisenhower's
contention that minorities had the right to engage in certain types of
demonstrations" against segregation. In the speech Hollings described the
Republican president as "confused" and asserted that Eisenhower had done
"great damage to peace and good order" by supporting the rights of
minorities to protest segregation at the lunch counters.
Governor Hollings' support for segregation continued throughout his term and
included his attendance at a July 23, 1961 meeting of segregationist
Democrats to organize their opposition to the civil rights movement.
Hollings was one of four governors in attendence, all of them Democrats. The
others included rabid segregationists Orval Faubus of Arkansas and Ross
Barnett of Mississippi. The New York Times reported on the meeting, noting
that among the strategies discussed were using the segregationist White
Citizens Council organization to mobilize political opposition to
desegregation.
In more recent years Hollings, a senior Democrat senator, has made
disparaging racial remarks and slurs against minorities. Senator Hollings,
who was a contender for his party's presidential nomination in 1984, blamed
his defeat in the primaries by using a racial slur against Hispanics. After
losing the Iowa Straw Poll, Hollings stated "You had wetbacks from
California that came in here for Cranston," referring to one of his
opponents, Alan Cranston. A few years later Hollings reportedly used the
slur "darkies" to derogatorily refer to blacks. He also once disparagingly
referred to the Rainbow PUSH Coalition as the "Blackbow Coalition," and
called former Senator Howard Metzenbaum, who is Jewish, "the Senator from
B'nai B'rith." Hollings gained international criticism for his remarks about
the African Delegation to the 1993 Geneva GATT conference, where he crudely
remarked "you'd find these potentates from down in Africa, you know, rather
than eating each other, they'd just come up and get a good square meal in
Geneva." Hollings was also the Governor of South Carolina who raised the
confederate flag over the state capitol in the early 1960's in what was
considered at the time to be an act of defiance to civil rights. The press
ignored Hollings and his role in the flag issue at the same time the
political correctness police were smearing George W. Bush during his
campaign after Bush correctly remarked that the flag was a state issue to be
decided upon by South Carolina and not the national government.