Stop It!

So you all know about the Gov. Blagojevich scandal -- the Illinois Governor who wanted people to pay him in exchange for him appointing them to the vacant senate seat left by President-Elect Obama. And, of course, you know that he appointed Roland Burris to that seat. Though no one seems to be implying that this appointment was illegally done, politicians are saying that ANY appointee by Blagojevich would be considered tainted in light of what the Governor has done. I feel sorry for Burris. He's just caught up in the middle of this. Now Burris has gone to the swearing in of the Senate, and they would not let him in. Andrea Mitchell from CNN was saying this doesn't look very good - that a Black Senator - the only Black Senator (Wow! Really?! That's sad. I didn't realize that.) is being shut out, especially since he seems to be above board in his dealings. Now, in all fairness, the Senste is not letting him in because the Illinois Secretary of State would not sign his paperwork. My real issue is with the State of Illinois -- if they weren't going to recognize anyone appointed by Blagojevich, then they should have gone on ahead and impeached him long ago, when this first came to light, so that Illinois could have a junior senator appointed. Now they're just clogging up the works.

However, Bobby Rush, a Congressman from Illinois, said that not letting Burris in would be akin to a lynching. NO.

I'm getting really tired of hearing the term lynching used to describe something that is unfair at least, discriminatory at worst. If Burris's treatment by the Senate and Illinois Secretary of State should be compared to anything racially motivated (and I'm not saying it is, just that it looks awful bad) it's Jim Crow, not lynching. Shutting this Black politician out while the rest of the Senate is all White faces is NOT equal to the horror of being chased down, beat down, and strung up while people taunt you, laugh, and sometimes take pictures of the whole sorry event. That's horrific, and the term shouldn't be used lightly.