Every time a civil rights moment is commemorated, a Republican tries to take credit for it, as if somehow this will erase their utter contempt (evident in their policy and their rhetoric) for African Americans and minorities.
The 50th anniversary of the Dream is no different. Conservatives scampered to claim MLK, Jr. as a Republican. They claim black conservatives are giving rise to a “new civil rights movement” that oddly doesn’t include voting rights as an issue, but instead focuses conveniently on a “moral” message of independence and hard work. Somehow the voting rights will come to you if you just close your eyes and pray.
PolitiFact has to rate these Republican lies about Martin Luther King, Jr because they come around so often. They give it a big fat FALSE.
That didn’t stop black Republicans from trying to claim King again this year. It doesn’t seem to dawn on anyone in the party that the GOP doesn’t support anything that King stood for.
Republicans always seek to distract the public from reality and policy with hot rhetoric.
When Republican Representative Jim Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin vowed to fix the Voting Rights Act at an RNC event commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington, ostensibly celebrating MLK, Dana Milbank suggested, “the light applause suggested that most of those in attendance were not with him.”
Milbank went on to describe the best reaction, which went to conservative activist Bob Woodson for saying King would want them to condemn corrupt black politicians. He warned of white persecution, “We should not wait for evil to wear a white face before we get outraged.” Yes, King was no doubt big on white self-pity and delusions of persecution.
On August 25, 2008, the Democratic Strategist dealt with this annoying habit of Republicans, “They’re at it again. The National Black Republican Association is bragging that they have put up 50 billboards in Denver claiming that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Republican. ”
They then cite Chapter 23 of the Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr., which doesn’t speak too highly of the GOP and sadly applies as much today as it did at the time:
The Republican Party geared its appeal and program to racism, reaction, and extremism. All people of goodwill viewed with alarm and concern the frenzied wedding at the Cow Palace of the KKK with the radical right…
On social and economic issues, Mr. Goldwater represented an unrealistic conservatism that was totally out of touch with the realities of the twentieth century. The issue of poverty compelled the attention of all citizens of our country…
On the urgent issue of civil rights, Senator Goldwater represented a philosophy that was morally indefensible and socially suicidal. While not himself a racist, Mr. Goldwater articulated a philosophy which gave aid and comfort to the racist…
In the light of these facts and because of my love for America, I had no alternative but to urge every Negro and white person of goodwill to vote against Mr. Goldwater and to withdraw support from any Republican candidate that did not publicly disassociate himself from Senator Goldwater and his philosophy.
By all reasonable accounts, King was not a person who affiliated with any party. However, as Politifact points out, “We also know from his autobiography that he wrote to a supporter in 1956 that ‘in the past, I always voted the Democratic ticket.'”
He himself tells us that he was a Democratic voter, not a Republican. This does not make him a “Democrat”, but it certainly doesn’t make him a Republican. Not that it matters — what matters is where the parties stand today, and which party is advancing the issues of the poor, of social justice, of equality, of opportunity.
King ought to know how he voted, unless Republicans are questioning King’s authority on himself, which wouldn’t surprise me one bit at this point.
Even if Republicans were right, and they are not, it doesn’t matter how he voted then; he would not support the modern day Republican party. The press should ask Republicans when they run on this lie why they feel the need to so mislead the voters with a cowardly dodge to hide their racist policies under the banner of MLK Jr.
MLK Jr’s son Martin Luther King III told the AP in 2008, “It is disingenuous to imply that my father was a Republican. He never endorsed any presidential candidate, and there is certainly no evidence that he ever even voted for a Republican. It is even more outrageous to suggest he would support the Republican Party of today, which has spent so much time and effort trying to suppress African American votes in Florida and many other states.”
With Republicans, everything is only skin deep. It’s all about appearances. That’s why they ran Sarah Palin to get women votes, and keep desperately trying to claim MLK, Jr. as their own, as if this would suddenly erase 60 years of racist Southern Strategy, actual policies that harm the poor, and racist efforts to steal the vote from minorities.
Image: Dreamers
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