(Chicago Sun Times) — There will be no blacks in the U.S. Senate when he leaves office at the end of the month, a fact outgoing Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.) called “unacceptable” and “troubling” in his farewell speech Thursday. Burris, the only African American in the Senate, will be replaced on Nov. 29 by Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), who won election earlier this month to a six-year term starting next year and also for the several weeks remaining of Barack Obama¹s original Senate term. In Burris’ remarks, delivered at noon to a nearly empty Senate chamber–at the most there were four senators plus Burris and Senate staffers, including an old friend from Illinois, Terrance Gainer, the former director of the Illinois State Police, who is the Senate Sergeant at Arms.
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