# Is Jeff Sessions a racist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 5, 2016, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948 "2016-12-05T17:58:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948/21 "2016-12-05T19:26:34Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > OK, fair point. > > Then let me ask you this: from what you know of my views, is your best guess that I would regard these policies as racist, or not? I don’t know. Do you think businesses like restaurants and hotels should be able to turn away people based on race/religion/etc.? I think such a position is racist (or supports and eases racism), since it means that sundown towns can freely and legally proliferate once again (rather than hide in the shadows, as they do now with places like Vidor, TX). We’ve discussed voter ID many times, and I don’t think your position on the issue is racist, but I think supporting plans like the one in NC that evidence showed was specifically designed to disproportionately harm black voters is supporting/easing racism, and I think Sessions would likely support such plans. Sessions has opposed various efforts to advocate removal the Confederate flag from state houses. I think the Confederate flag is reasonably seen by most black Americans (and many white Americans) as a symbol of white supremacism, and opposing its removal from government buildings shows, at best, a highly troubling (to me) indifference towards opposing symbols of racism. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948/22 "2016-12-05T19:27:37Z")
> [@tim-n-va](#): > > The counter that I’ve heard - just from FB discussions - is that he prosecuted a KKK member for murder and oversaw his execution as AG. He also was involved in implementing some desegregation actions. > > You can argue that those are actions that he had to take to avoid blatant disregard for the law. You can argue that two cases in a 40 year career aren’t persuasive. And they are likely to not be the case too: > **[Supporters are selling lies about Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III](https://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/11/23/1603421/-Supporters-are-selling-lies-about-Jefferson-Beauregard-Sessions-III)** > > Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III was nominated as a federal judge by Ronald Reagan in 1986, but was sent back to Alabama by a Republican-controlled Senate committee when witnesses testified that Jefferson Beauregard had been disrespectful... > [@](#): > > Author Keven Kruse took the Sessions hagiography apart in a series of Tweets. > > What the Weekly Standard claimed: > > > [@](#): > > > > ``` > > As a U.S. Attorney he filed several cases to desegregate schools in Alabama. And he also prosecuted Klansman Henry Francis Hays, son of Alabama Klan leader Bennie Hays, for abducting and killing Michael Donald, a black teenager selected at random. Sessions insisted on the death penalty for Hays. When he was later elected the state Attorney General, Sessions followed through and made sure Hays was executed. The successful prosecution of Hays also led to a $7 million civil judgment against the Klan, effectively breaking the back of the KKK in Alabama. > > > > ``` > > What Kruse found … > > > [@](#): > > > > I can’t find any evidence Sessions “filed several cases" to desegregate schools. > > And when it comes to the death penalty case against the Klan leader, there’s no sign that Sessions was involved in any way. Not in trying the case, not in pushing for the death penalty. AFAIK the WS did admit that Sessions exaggerated, it can indeed be said that as the one overseeing the department those are actions that he had to take. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948/23 "2016-12-05T19:29:05Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Agreed. I will stand with you against all the liberals (any liberals?) who call anyone a racist only for opposing illegal immigration and not for specific policies or statements that they regard as racist. If Sessions (or Trump, or anyone) is a racist, it has nothing to do with opposing illegal immigration. Everybody opposes illegal immigration. The disagreement is in _how_ to address the issue, with opinions ranging from Reagan style amnesty to spending billions of dollars to track down and deport illegal immigrants. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948/24 "2016-12-05T19:30:08Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > … called a white civil rights lawyer “a disgrace to his race” for defending the Voting Rights Act. To understand the context of this a bit, I’d recommend reading [this HuffPo article](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-attorney-general-jeff-sessions-racist-remarks_us_582cd73ae4b099512f80c0c2): > [@](#): > > “The best I could recall was that I said, well, he is not that popular around town; I have heard him referred to as a disgrace to his race,” Sessions said. He said he did not personally believe that the white civil rights attorney was a race traitor, and that he had respect for him. I think the “I have heard him referred to as” fundamentally alters the quote, and has quite a bit of a different meaning than he ‘called a white civil rights lawyer “a disgrace to his race” for defending the Voting Rights Act’. For example, I could say “I have heard Jeff Sessions referred to as a racist”, but that’s not at all the same thing as me _calling_ Jeff Sessions a racist. > [@Kimstu](#): > > :dubious: Joke, right? Yes, it was a joke, intended to get the thread started off in a more cordial direction than most debates about race seem to go. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948/25 "2016-12-05T19:33:23Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Ah, so he’s a 1980’s style “Racist.” Which I have found to be the very worst racists. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948/26 "2016-12-05T19:57:24Z")
> [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#): > > I don’t have the slightest idea if Jeff Sessions is racist, but he’s said and done some things that are at best questionable. **DeNormalizing:** Any prior President who nominated a candidate for any cabinet or senior post, especially one dealing with the law or human services, who had so much as been found to participate in a blackface skit in the 1950s would not only be castigated for nominating such a terrible person, but lose a good bite of their honeymoon luster as well. **TrumpVision:** So he might of been kind of racist before. This is \*now \*and it’s just the AGUS, fer chrissakes. ---
**Author:** ![Truman\_Burbank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@Truman\_Burbank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truman_Burbank)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948/27 "2016-12-05T20:51:23Z")
If we can agree that using the “n” word makes one a racist, he almost certainly is according to several people who have worked with him: [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/11/18/10-things-to-know-about-sen-jeff-sessions-donald-trumps-pick-for-attorney-general/?utm\_term=.72d0c72e2f00](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/11/18/10-things-to-know-about-sen-jeff-sessions-donald-trumps-pick-for-attorney-general/?utm_term=.72d0c72e2f00) ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948/28 "2016-12-05T21:03:26Z")
> [@Truman\_Burbank](#): > > If we can agree that using the “n” word makes one a racist, he almost certainly is according to several people who have worked with him: [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/11/18/10-things-to-know-about-sen-jeff-sessions-donald-trumps-pick-for-attorney-general/?utm\_term=.72d0c72e2f00](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/11/18/10-things-to-know-about-sen-jeff-sessions-donald-trumps-pick-for-attorney-general/?utm_term=.72d0c72e2f00) The relevant paragraph of that story seems to be > [@](#): > > Actually, they almost derailed it. In 1986, a Senate committee denied Sessions, then a 39-year-old U.S. attorney in Alabama, a federal judgeship. His former colleagues testified Sessions used the n-word and joked about the Ku Klux Klan, saying he thought they were “okay, until he learned that they smoked marijuana.” Do you know which former colleague(s) said he used the n-word back in 1986? I don’t, but I’d like to know more. Up until now, I thought the worst he’d said was “boy” and “I have heard him referred to as a disgrace to his race”. I think the KKK-marijuana joke has been addressed already in detail. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948/29 "2016-12-05T21:06:18Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > Everybody opposes illegal immigration. The disagreement is in _how_ to address the issue, with opinions ranging from Reagan style amnesty to spending billions of dollars to track down and deport illegal immigrants. I don’t. At least, not with as hard as legal immigration is now. I think illegal immigration is a pretty big part of how our economy works. And I think that non-immigrants won’t accept the work. If someone comes here, and, despite being possibly deported, finds that living here is better than their own country, I can’t very well say they are being evil. And, if they aren’t being evil, then I oppose laws that punish them. If immigration were set up where you just come here however you can, apply for a green card, stay for a while, and eventually become a legal citizen, then I guess I would oppose illegal immigration. But not as it is now. Illegal immigration is a lot of poor people’s only real choice. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948/30 "2016-12-05T21:30:50Z")
Well there’s really only two solutions to the problem of illegal immigration, and we can’t talk about either one in this country. 1\> Criminalize hiring illegal aliens. If corporate managers and executives start getting prison sentences for hiring undocumented workers, it will stop in a hurry. Of course, this will also cause some rather large ripples through our economy. 2\> Lets face it. They’re coming here for the economic opportunities, because there aren’t any where they came from. As long as our southern neighbors are poor and less developed, there will be a steady flow of people coming here by whatever means they can, to find a better life. And NOTHING will change that, even #1 won’t make much of a dent, until they no longer feel the need to do so. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948/31 "2016-12-05T21:38:04Z")
Why do you think it would require prison sentences? If we just levied large fines against companies that hired illegals, they’d probably stop just as quickly as if the threat were to imprison their CEO. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948/32 "2016-12-05T21:39:47Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > Why do you think it would require prison sentences? If we just levied large fines against companies that hired illegals, they’d probably stop just as quickly as if the threat were to imprison their CEO. Large fines (paid by the company and not the individual) are not nearly as effective as a deterrent. _Your company_ having to pay a fine is not at the same level of \*you \*having to report to prison. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948/33 "2016-12-05T21:42:19Z")
> [@Truman\_Burbank](#): > > If we can agree that using the “n” word makes one a racist, he almost certainly is according to several people who have worked with him: [https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/11/18/10-things-to-know-about-sen-jeff-sessions-donald-trumps-pick-for-attorney-general/?utm\_term=.72d0c72e2f00](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/11/18/10-things-to-know-about-sen-jeff-sessions-donald-trumps-pick-for-attorney-general/?utm_term=.72d0c72e2f00) It’s true that the Post column you linked appears to make this claim. But the [actual testimony](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/archive-video-jeff-sessions-1986-confirmation-hearing-43645772) does not contain any such claim. That’s weird, eh? That the Post would imply Sessions used the n-word when there was no evidence of that? ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948/34 "2016-12-05T21:43:56Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > That’s weird, eh? That the Post would imply Sessions used the n-word when there was no evidence of that? Shocking! It’s _almost_ as if they have an agenda they’re pushing rather than just objectively reporting the facts. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948/35 "2016-12-05T22:19:12Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > It’s true that the Post column you linked appears to make this claim. > > But the [actual testimony](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/archive-video-jeff-sessions-1986-confirmation-hearing-43645772) does not contain any such claim. > > That’s weird, eh? That the Post would imply Sessions used the n-word when there was no evidence of that? Your link appears to be a 1-minute video. Are we supposed to believe that that was the entirety of his confirmation hearing? ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948/36 "2016-12-05T22:43:55Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > If someone comes here, and, despite being possibly deported, finds that living here is better than their own country, I can’t very well say they are being evil. And, if they aren’t being evil, then I oppose laws that punish them. Then you must also oppose lots of other laws…seatbelt lays, helmet laws, zoning ordinances, etc. You can say that they take jobs that citizens could hold (and be off of assistance) and they depress wages. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948/37 "2016-12-05T23:22:04Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > Your link appears to be a 1-minute video. Are we supposed to believe that that was the entirety of his confirmation hearing? Huh. [This is the right link.](https://www.scribd.com/document/331564452/Sessions-Confirmation-Transcript) ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948/38 "2016-12-05T23:29:48Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > I think the “I have heard him referred to as” fundamentally alters the quote, and has quite a bit of a different meaning than he ‘called a white civil rights lawyer “a disgrace to his race” for defending the Voting Rights Act’. I can well believe that Sessions was careful to disclaim the “disgrace to his race” comment by attributing it to unspecified other persons. And he may be telling the truth about that. But given the number of people who testified that they had heard Sessions himself say racist things, I don’t find Sessions’ own disclaimer sufficient evidence to prove that his version is true. ---
**Author:** ![CatandMouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c89c15/32.png) [@CatandMouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CatandMouse)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948/39 "2016-12-05T23:34:37Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > I felt like this discussion was going to derail the Trump Cabinet thread, so I started a new topic on it. I hope that’s OK. > > The Left seems to believe that Trump is filling his Cabinet with racists. Most of the focus seems to be on Bannon (who was covered rather thoroughly in another thread) and Alabama Senator & Attorney General nominee Jeff Sessions. > > Personally, I am as yet unconvinced that Senator Sessions is deserving of the label “racist”, but in the interest of fighting ignorance, lay it on me Dopers. Give me the best evidence you have that I’m wrong and he’s a racist. Convince me. > > As a starting point for the discussion, I googled ‘racist’ (not very sophisticated, I know) and this is what popped up: > > If you’d like to offer an alternative definition, I’m open to hearing it and why we should use it. > > Just to throw out an initial defense, since I suspect that’s the first thing I’ll be asked, [Donald V. Watkins says](https://www.facebook.com/donald.v.watkins/posts/10211082546521722) > See, he has black friends. Not a racist, right? Well, he did only receive a 7% rating by the NAACP. > **[Jeff Sessions on the Issues](https://www.ontheissues.org/Senate/Jeff_Sessions.htm)** ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948/40 "2016-12-06T00:22:25Z")
> [@CatandMouse](#): > > Well, he did only receive a 7% rating by the NAACP. > > [Jeff Sessions on the Issues](http://www.ontheissues.org/Senate/Jeff_Sessions.htm) From your link: > [@](#): > > Rated 7% by the NAACP, indicating an anti-affirmative-action stance. Can you explain the relevance of his being anti-affirmative-action to this discussion, in your mind? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-jeff-sessions-a-racist/773948.md?page=3)