Proponents of lynching: The Senate last night passed a historic resolution apologizing to African Americans that it never passed anti-lynching laws. Some 200 laws were introduced, but thanks in part to filibustering Southern conservatives none were ever approved by the Senate. The vote was held late in the evening, far from TV cameras. Cheers to Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and George Allen (R-VA), who spearheaded the effort. Jeers to the 16 (predominantly white, predominantly Southern, all Republican) senators who voted against the measure:

Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
Robert Bennett (R-UT)
Thad Cochran (R-MS)
John Cornyn (R-TX)
Michael Crapo (R-ID)
Michael Enzi (R-WY)
Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
Judd Gregg (R-NH)
Orrin Hatch (R-UT)
Trent Lott (R-MS)
Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
Richard Shelby (R-AL)
John Sununu (R-NH)
Craig Thomas (R-WY)
George Voinovich (R-OH)

Is your senator on the list? Call 'em.

Strange fruit... In commemoration of the vote, Democracy Now looks into the protest song "Strange Fruit," most famously sung by Billie Holiday but written by Bronx-based teacher and union activist Abel Meeropol:

Southern trees bear strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant south,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter cry.