When Ted Kennedy met James Eastland

[question everything]

Kennedy had just been assigned to the Judiciary Committee, which was chaired by fellow Democrat and the senior senator from Mississippi. Eastland called the 30-year-old Kennedy to his office to discuss subcommittee assignments.

Kennedy told the story to his interviewer, calling himself “an amusement to Eastland.”

Eastland said, “I want you to come over, boy. We’ll talk about your subcommittees.” I said, “That’s fine. When do you want me to come?” “You come by tomorrow morning at ten, and we’ll talk about your subcommittees.” I said, “Okay, I’ll come over.” We had been working all day and night, what committees I want and what committees I don’t want and why. I had all my staff around, and I finally had my little list. “You sit down here, boy.” It’s 10:00. “What do you drink, bourbon or scotch?” I said, “Well, I—” “Bourbon or scotch!?” “Scotch,” I said finally.

(snip)

So he came over and put another towel down, puts some soda down. “Well,” he said,“ I think you have a lot of Italians up there in Massachusetts, don’t you?” I said yes. He said, “You have a lot of those groups come over there, a lot of immigrants come over there.” And I said, “That’s right.”

He said, “You drink that down, and you’re on the Immigration Committee.” I said, “Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.” So I drank that down, gurgle, gurgle, gurgle, gurgle. It’s now about 10:15. He said, “Kennedys always care about the Constitution. Your brother Jack’s always talking about the Constitution. Do you want to get on the Constitution subcommittee?”

I thought, How the hell did he know I wanted to get…? He said, “Drink that drink, and you’re on that Constitution Committee.” Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle, gurgle. He said, “You know, we have another subcommittee on civil rights. Kennedys are always worrying about civil rights, is that right?” I said yes. How the hell did he know those are the three subcommittees I want?

https://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/local/dailyledes/2015/09/30/ted-kennedy-big-jim-eastland-drinking-scotch/73114062/

Also

Mr. Eastland in the past decade or so has managed to win - yes - the affection and personal regard of many of those liberals and assorted integrationists who have served on or around the Judiciary Committee. He has, by their accounts, introduced and maintained a high degree of democracy into the committee's proceedings. He has been fair and understanding in his dealings with the members. "He plays hardball with you on the issues," is the way one puts it, "but not tricks." Another liberal admirer elaborates: "He is not like some of those 'high-minded' ones who beat you by calling a vote when you're in the men's room."

That may not sound like much to you, but in Senate terms it means plenty, and it leaves open the question of what will be different, or needs to be different, on the committee under the new leadership of Sen. Kennedy (himself, incidentally, another of Mr. Eastland's personal friends).

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1978/03/27/kennedy-for-eastland/3c6ce63b-e974-4005-b2cb-44a3cf78d17a/?utm_term=.ea698f1bef2b

[TwilightZone]

1. People are complicated.

When we reduce them to labels, we miss the big picture. That doesn't make Eastland any better a person or less of a racist. It just means that there's often more to people and more to Congressional relationships than meets the eye.

[SouthernProgressive]

2. Short and well stated. NT

[peggysue2]

3. Interesting

Things are rarely as simple as they first look. This is a tidy example. With Ted Kennedy, Lion of the Senate.

[Honeycombe8]

4. Good story. Sometimes the bad guy isn't who you think it is.

But of course, the elephant in the room is that he got those committee assignments because he was a Kennedy.

[Skya Rhen]

5. So he called Kennedy "boy" too. Biden was referring to what Eastman called other Senators. This was

a real hit job by the other candidates, blowing this out of proportion...

[emmaverybo]

6. I had wondered about that. NT

[Laurian]

7. I agree. I'd hoped we would avoid the circular firing squad

this time around. Guess not. 🙁

[oldsoftie]

10. I dont know how old Eastman was at the time, but older southern men did use it regularly back then.

And into the 70s, 80s, 90s with me! Even when i was in my 40s i was called "boy" by many of the customers i dealt with. "How's things up your way, boy?" "What chu doing to that machine there, boy?"

[TwilightZone]

8. This won't get the attention that the other threads get.

Which is too bad because it provides some context and pokes a few holes in the current narrative.

[oldsoftie]

11. You are exactly right. No 300+ post OP here!!

[Cha]

12. What's that suppose to mean?

[Cha]

18. Oh, sorry!

I guess I'm a little sensitive!

[Cha]

21. No!

[Cha]

13. Thank you for this, question everything.

[LAS14]

14. Thanks! Now I understand the 'boy' reference is Biden's comments. But..

.... Biden ought to modify his own story a little to say explicitly that 'boy' is what he called all the other senators, including Ted Kennedy.

[Celerity]

15. Soul crushing white male privilege on parade,bourbon or scotch for Ted or Joe,for black folk like me

the Eastland family wasn't quite so nice over the past 150, 200 years

Woods Caperton Eastland was the good Senator's daddy

this occurred on the family plantation.................



Jim Crow “justice” was quick and certain for any black man who killed a white man. Fearing for their lives, Luther and Mary Holbert went on the run. Led by Eastland’s brother, Woods Caperton Eastland, the alleged crime ignited the white population and hundreds of white men who pursued the Holberts with bloodhounds guiding them. Despite Mary disguising herself as a man and taking to the swamps, the Holberts were captured three days later. What happened next is a horror of inhumanity.

The lynching didn’t happen immediately. It was planned for the next day, a Sunday afternoon after church so a large crowd could gather. The murderers strategically chose a location for maximum intimidation. It took place on the property of a black church in Doddsville, MS. The black church has historically been the locus of religious and communal life for black people. Performing a lynching on church grounds sent a message to all black people in the area that no place was safe from white supremacy.

More than a thousand people showed up to gawk at the lynching of Luther and Mary Holbert. The lynchers tied up the Holberts and commenced with “the most fiendish tortures.” First, the white murderers cut off each of the fingers and toes of their victims and gave them out as souvenirs.

Then they beat them so mercilessly that one of Luther Holbert’s eyes hung only by a shred from its socket. Then came the most fiendish abuse.

The Vicksburg Evening Post reported, “The most excruciating form of punishment consisted in the use of a large corkscrew in the hands of some of the mob. This instrument was bored into the flesh of the man and woman, in the arms, legs, and body, and then pulled out, the spirals tearing out big pieces of raw quivering flesh every time it was withdrawn.”

Finally, the Holberts, who were still alive, were taken to a pyre. The white men cruelly forced two black men under threat of death to drag the Holberts to the fires. They burned Mary first so Luther could see his beloved killed. Then they burned him.

The tragic and infuriating lynching of the Holberts is just one of literally thousands of similar examples. Although the details vary, the broad contours remain the same. Lynchings usually took place because of some perceived slight. Anti-lynching crusader, Ida B. Wells, found that lynchings were often over economic disputes. But imagined sexual predation on the part of black men was frequently an excuse.

Almost no white people who participated in the lynching of black citizens ever faced a legal consequence. Woods Eastland, who led the mob, actually faced charges in the murder. But his acquittal was a foregone conclusion. After the all-white jury found him innocent, Eastland hosted a party on his plantation to celebrate.

snip

probably served bourbon or scotch

[Indygram]

20. No amount of attempts to rationalize or excuse Biden's "boy" comment is going to fix it

In fact, it is only making it worse. After the speeches at the SC Convention Rev. Al Sharpton, who likes Biden very much, gave him multiple opportunities to fix it and make it right. It was almost painful to watch Biden dodge and weave instead of acknowledge he just should not have used the term "boy." After the interview Sharpton and all of the panelists were clearly disappointed and deflated that Biden just does not get it.

To make it easy...just replace "boy" with the n-word in what Biden said. The way in which segregationists used "boy" is interchangeable with the n word. It doesn't matter the context the word was used. It was hurtful. Those hurt and offended by the use of the word/term would have happily forgiven him and moved on if he had just admitted he should not have said it...even without apologizing. I really believe this is going to cost him.