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For them, this minor gesture to the 25 percent of his constituents who are black apparently erased years and years of vitriol heaped upon civil rights forces, resistance to civil rights laws and hostility toward simple justice. Their eager embrace is sad acknowledgement of how easily the past is forgotten and forgiven -- even when intolerance persists to the present day.

That a senator serving today holds the record for the longest filibuster in history -- 24 hours and 18 minutes against a civil rights bill -- is a measure of how recently civil rights protections have been extended to all.

As Thurmond was piloted away from the Senate chamber for the last time, it had been only 38 years since civil rights protections were guaranteed to all, only 37 years since all Americans were guaranteed the right to vote, only 37 years since the protections of the Constitution were extended to all.

If Thurmond had had his way, even those short years would not have existed. The 1964 Civil Rights Act, the 1965 Voting Rights Act and the 1968 Fair Housing Act all became law over his objections.

When Thurmond was born, black South Carolinians could not vote, go to school with whites or work at jobs reserved for whites. Thurmond has spent his life trying to maintain the status quo of 100 years ago.

He is a relic of America's shameful past who had long overstayed his welcome. And shame to his colleagues who confuse simple longevity with an illustrious legacy.

Good riddance.

Julian Bond, a former member of the Georgia Senate, has been board chairman of the NAACP since 1998. He is a distinguished professor in residence at American Univeristy and a professor of history at the University of Virginia.