Democratic senator under fire for 'lynching' comment
Miller stands by remark
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia came under fire Friday from civil rights activists who demanded an apology from the conservative Democrat after he equated his party's opposition to the nomination of a conservative African-American judge to a lynching.
Miller -- who has already rankled Democrats by endorsing President Bush for re-election -- refused to apologize.
"Either Senator Miller has conveniently forgotten a frightening period of American history, or he is willfully demeaning all those African-Americans who were hung from trees throughout the period of racial segregation in the South," said Wade Henderson, the director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.
[snip]
"The Democrats in this chamber refuse to stand and let her do it. They're standing in the doorway, and they've got a sign: Conservative African-American women need not apply. And if you have the temerity to do so your reputation will be shattered and your dignity will be shredded. Gal, you will be lynched," Miller said.
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http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/11/14/miller.lynching/index.html