NATION : Black Senators Walk Out on ‘Dixie’

ATLANTA — Three black legislators abruptly left the Georgia Senate chamber today when a beauty queen sang “Dixie.”

The senators quickly filed out a side door at the beginning of the performance by Lisa Ray, niece of a white senator and winner of the Miss Georgia Sweet Potato Queen contest. Another black senator, Eugene Walker, was not on the Senate floor when the performance began and said he chose not to come back until Ray finished singing. “I don’t have a problem with others listening to it,” Walker said. “I just don’t want to listen to it.”