If anything, he's an example of someone moving beyond hate. He came out of an environment where that kind of behavior was expected if not demanded, and he rejected the conduct and expressed remorse.
I mean, come on, everybody knows this--the only ones who ever tried to use that "Waah--Byrd-KKK" argument were right wingers on the ropes, when Byrd was waving the Constitution in their faces.
http://thegrio.com/2010/06/28/the-evolution-of-robert-byrds-racial-politics/
....And yet, Robert Byrd evolved—he changed for the good. He apologized for his intolerant past and declared that he had been wrong. Although he voted against Justice Marshall for the Supreme Court seat, years later he also voted with 45 other Democrats against the candidacy of conservative Clarence Thomas. Byrd did not like Thomas’s assertion that he was the victim of a “high-tech lynching of uppity blacks,” and found the introduction of race into the Senate proceedings offensive. Most of all, he believed Anita Hill’s allegations against Thomas. Hindsight is 20-20 for those who were misguided enough to support Clarence Thomas, but looking back nearly 20 years, the senator had a very good point.
Sen. Byrd displayed a mix of conservative and liberal points of view in his later years. Remarkably, though, his pyolitics resonated with the African-American community and came out on the right side of issues that are of concern to black voters. Byrd enjoyed a perfect 100 percent rating from the NAACP. He proposed $10 million to fund a Martin Luther King National Memorial in Washington, DC. The senator received a 67 percent rating from the American Civil Liberties Union, and a 65 percent rating from the League of Conservation Voters on environmental issues. He forcefully and eloquently voiced his opposition to the war in Iraq under President George W. Bush, and voted against the confirmation of Obama’s controversial treasury secretary Timothy Geithner.
We should condemn the man’s racist past, but honor his recent accomplishments. And we should respect his ability and willingness to transform his mind and move beyond his circumstances and upbringing. Robert Byrd did not die as a leader of the Klan, because he had buried that racist past a long time ago. However, he did leave us as a leader for all Americans. So, let us give him a proper goodbye.
I gotta say, I find it really troubling that you'd even make any attempt at equivalence with regard to Saunders and Byrd. The arc of their lives was very different indeed. One died a hating racist, and the other did not.
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