Senator Allen Turns Down Leadership Award

We all know of Senator Allen of Virginia - of his love for the Confederate battle flag and of his membership in the southern and racist Citizen's Council. That's why I can't understand how Allen was up for this award anyway. It seems that the Thurgood Marshall Minority Scholarship Fund wanted to give Senator Allen its Leadership Award. Why is a minority fund honoring a racist politician?

Allen got into trouble a couple of weeks ago, when he made fun of a young Virginian of Indian descent by calling him "macaca", and inferring that he wasn't American. Since this incident, many contributors to the Thurgood Marshall Minority Scholarship Fund have called the fund and threatened to stop donating to the fund if Allen received the award. Obviously, they realized that Thurgood Marshall would be turning over in his grave at the thought of a racist receiving an award named after him.

Allen spokesman, John Reid, said, "The foundation told the senator that they've been catching a lot of static from members and some of their donors, and before it spins into a week of controversy, we just decided to decline it." So they have declined the award to avoid bad publicity. They are probably right. If Allen had accepted the award, the media would have had a field day.

I just wish he'd been more honest in declining the award. He shouldn't decline the award to avoid bad publicity. He should decline it because he doesn't deserve it.