To the editor:

The Dec. 21 Saturday Column is right about one thing, it is about The Golden Rule. It is about the fact that Mr. Lott has not been willing to apply The Golden Rule to every member of our society, regardless of race, gender, national origin, disability, veteran’s status, religion, age, or socioeconomic status. His consistent opposition to Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action in Senate votes is enough to show that his remarks were not the simple slip of the tongue that the Saturday Column implies.

Mr. Lott used race to his political advantage throughout his career, and he used race in his controversial and widely quoted remarks, so why should we be surprised or upset that race is now the subject of the current debate? He framed the debate; he is not just an innocent victim of “partisanship.”

The fact that so many accomplished people have been barred from political office for generations because they just happen to be born black, female or disabled is what the debate is about, and Mr. Lott has been very active in making sure those barriers remained in place. The fact that Trent Lott “played the race card” is what brought about his downfall; just because he played it from the side of white, male, power and influence does not excuse him or make him innocent.

Cynthia Annett,

Oskaloosa