Martin Luther King Jr. Was A Republican?
By Logan Murphy Saturday Jul 05, 2008 4:00pm
TALLAHASSEE - A black Republican group has put up billboards in Florida and South Carolina saying the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was a Republican, a claim that black leaders say is ridiculous.
The National Black Republican Association has paid for billboards showing an image of the civil rights leader and the words "Martin Luther King Jr. was REPUBLICAN." Told about the billboards, the Rev. Joseph Lowery let out a soft chuckle that grew stronger as he began to think more about the idea. "These guys never give up, do they?" said Lowery, who co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with King. "Lord have mercy."
"That was not the Martin I know and I don't think they can substantiate that by any shape, form or fashion. It's purely propaganda and poppycock," Lowery said. "Even if he was, he would have nothing to do with what the Republican Party stands for today. Do they think Martin would support George W. Bush and the war in Iraq?" Read on...
For anyone who thought the Republicans wouldn't use race as an issue in the '08 election, think again. The lowest common denominator is always in play for the party thats hemorrhaging members and on its way out. As I read this 2006 article by Dave Johnson at The Huffington Post I found that the NBRA and other associated groups have quite a history of hackery and controversy. Their chairwoman is a plagiarist, the group lost 7 of its 10 board members after members gave glowing reviews to President Bush for his handling of Hurricane Katrina, and many of their offices are nothing more than P.O. boxes and motel rooms set up for ready made, hit-and-run hideouts. Here's all you need to know about these GOP front groups:
Here's how the cynical process works. Your opponent is strong and you are weak in a certain area - in this case it is about strong African-American support for Democrats and a Republican race problem making its way into the news. To fight this you set up a front group that is designed to drive a wedge into the core of their support while providing "cover" to deflect attention from you. And to get this done you say anything - whatever is necessary to trick the voters into thinking their interests are served by your cause. So in this case the front-group Black Republican Freedom Fund is set up to run ads in urban areas that say, "Democrats started the Ku Klux Klan," "Democrats released those vicious dogs and fire hoses on blacks" and "Democrats blocked the minimum wage passed by Republicans." Read on...
it gets better and better
Of course he was. Don't you remember his "I have a dream for lower taxes on the rich" speach?
I never knew that Reverend King had sex with male prostitutes. This is a new one to me.
i've heard rumors that the national black republican association is going to caucus in a phone booth at the minneapolis convention. that is if both of its members can agree on a time to meet.
The funny thing about this is that with such billboards, they aren't going to fool black Democratic voters, but with luck maybe they'll alienate their base of racist whites.
After all, the raving Southern right wingers don't much like the notion of associating Martin Luther King Jr. with the Republican Party -- their departed hero Jesse Helms was one of those pushing the Republican line that MLK Jr was a Communist and terrorist and "outside agitator".
The game is afoot, Watson. They are frightened and very dangerous!
CoIntelPro for Pronktastic Democratic Party Victory Over SCLM and DIEBOLD! @ 1:
They left out the part where the Dixie Democrats switched parties to the GOP during the 1980s.
That has to be the most pathetic thing I've ever seen.
I can't say anything further. It's just sad.
The most popular graduation gift for young Republicans this year...a copy of Dr. Seuss' "Oh, the Bullshit You'll Spew!"...
Good luck out there kids...
Every Bircher knows MLK was a commie.
And MLK and Jesse Helms were bff's....
Where's that billboard?
mellowjohn @ 4:
They will just tap their feet under a bathroom stall to confirm where the meeting place and time will be. Then they will meet their RNC contact, Sen. Craig to discuss which stall to have the meeting.
Just because Reverend King was arrested every other week does not mean that he was a Republican.
Martin Luther King Jr. was A Republican, and I'm a warlock.
Man, the lack of historical context.
Black voters in the south did, historically, support Republicans, but that started to change in about 1932. By the time King was old enough to vote- which, I think, was 1952- it's arguable the southern black vote was split between Eisenhower and Stevenson, and in 1960 Kennedy got the black vote. But '64 was when there was no doubt that black people had left the Republicans, while that party began to win more and more white voters in the south. And since '72, well, we know how that's worked out.
I won't fathom a guess as to whom King suported in '52, '56 or even '60, but I've got no doubt that he didn't vote for Goldwater in '64.
Actually .. that one is true ..
But that was before the Southern Democrats all became Republicans, with a little help from Ronald Reagan & Jesse Helms.
Up until the "Southern Strategy" devised by Nixon and later employed by Reagan, no self-respecting Southerner would ever have voted Republican, after the devastation the Republicans wrought upon the South from 1860 to 1878.
And don't forget that McCain also voted against MLK day back in 1983.
But he later apologized for it so that makes it all better.
Just Hussein Of It @ 12:
I heard that the GOP has been hiring out of work black actors to play the part of black republicans. You know the economy has really gone to shit when people are that desperate for a job.
I don't know about Martin Luther King, but I'm absolutely sure that Ted Bundy was a Republican.
Logan -
I missed the part where you denied that MLK Jr was a registered Republican. In fact, your non-denial was almost Rovian.
You know, we're going to have to have another civil war with these bastards. Or at least finish the first one. They are not going away to let this country heal.
The culture of Lying Bastards wont stop at anything it seems.
Lying is the natural state for this NeoCon GOP.
I would challenge any R to tell us one thing they have done or said that wasn't somehow woven with lies.
Phillybits @ 11:
[Deleted. Please don't advocate that sort of thing here, jokingly or not. Thank you. Site Monitor]
Phillybits @ 11:
Helms, like most white southerners of his day, was a Democrat before he was a Republican. Strom Thurmond was a Democrat before he was a Republican, as was George Wallace.
MountainMan23 @ 16:
Correct. The political platforms of both parties have changed radically over the years. For example, if Lincoln was alive to day, he would be coined a liberal Democrat.
Eddie Dane- "Up is down, black is white."
yakfitguy @ 25:
Just like Jesus would be.
Heck, by today's standards, Nixon would be a Democrat. He wanted national health.
MountainMan23 @ 16:
Reagan just sewed it up the south for the GOP in '80. Credit Nixon with most of the inroads the GOP made in Dixie. Nixon saw that Wallace was successful in that region in '68, so the GOP began to employ its "Southern Strategy" in '72.
Rethuglicans just make stuff up and repeat it on FAUXNOIZ! The morons in the 28% base will buy it because it is already their opinion, usually.
So how well hung is poppycock?
"S'cuse me while I whip this out."
yakfitguy @ 25:
Democrat? Maybe. "Liberal" Democrat? Between his time in the Congress and his election in 1860, Lincoln made his money lawyering for the railroads. Honest Abe might very well be a member of the DLC today.
I'm sure Strom Thurmond had Martin over to the veranda all the time when he threw afternoon soirees
To serve the mint julips.
In 1960, in high school, at age 15, I was taken aback that the Soviet Union manipulated history.
Guess what. The USSR was comprised of a bunch of amateurs.
Was MLK a Republican? Of course. All of his life. Because in his day, the South was ruled by Democrats. Very evil Democrats. Democrats that today would make Jesse Helms look as if he was slighly to the left of Ted Kennedy.
Few here wonder why we got here.
Suggestion: Start with JFK you tube. Do some digging.
3 I Like Pie Says: I never knew that Reverend King had sex with male prostitutes. This is a new one to me.
Or alter boys.
You like hair pie?
Andy K Jong Il @ 32:
I said coined a liberal Democrat. Remember who he would be running against and the rhetoric they use.
Andy K Jong Il @ 15:
Blacks voted in the South in the 30's, 40's & 50's?
Not in the South where I grew up.
There wasn't exactly a law against blacks voting, but the practice was STRONGLY discouraged.
VietVet8666 @ 34:
I've got a feeling MLK split his ticket: Dems up top and GOP down-ticket. Remember, the first presidential election in which he was eligible to vote was '52.
MountainMan23 @ 37:
Pardon me- where they were allowed to vote. Because some black people could vote in the pre-Voting Rights Act days, though not too many.
Reconstruction and the sixties were pivotal points in party history.
The Republicans basically abandoned the freed slaves under Grant to pursue wealth. If i remember correctly the teapot scandal had something to do with oil.
In the sixties, the Democrats were furthering the reach of federal power that started under FDR, at the expense of state's rights as the opposition charged.
So of course there would be a movement of state's rights politicians to the Republicans. Those opposed to civil-rights could couch it in terms of state's rights.
The working-class southern populace didn't want to compete with the good paying jobs. When blacks moved North they found similar opposition, even though there was no official Jim Crow laws,and the worst slums were in Northern states like Philadelphia.
Then again there were the Southern Politicians who always called them nigras, making one wonder what they really wanted to say.
The funny thing is although the KKK started as a drunken college frat joke, they eventually bacame such a power that politicians of all labels had to be seen as friendly toward them. One of the most liberal justices in the Supreme Court, Hugo Black, was a member of the Klan at one time. There was no other way he could practice law. But the interesting thing is he took lots of black clients, and white juries took him seriously, and often cleared his clients, because he was "one of them."
In other words, belonging to the Klan, during the 20's was like belonging to the local church, and was a prerequisite for success no matter what political label you carried. Unless you were born to old money in the North. In which case you didn't want to cheat just blacks, but everybody for your own advantage.
ysbaddaden @ 40:
In the 1960s began acceptance of blacks by whites.
It began through music. Then through movies.
In the 1970s blacks became totally accepted through music. False. This happened in the 1960s.
Drugs became a problem by the early 1980s. Racial association with drugs became popular.
So blacks once again became unpopular, because they were associated with crack.
Race and drugs are a popular political theme.
Today, the evil fucks don't have a theme. Immigrants don't work. Gays don't work.
The divisions are all along religious lines.
How could humans emerge from slime?
anybody up for some cheney style
ballsack target practice? you don't shoot
divets just balls, all sorts.
Why do black Republicans hate Obama or anyone of color who makes it, but who still wants to give back to the community?
Yes. Of course he was. And the black people enslaved the white race for 100s of years.
yakfitguy @ 25:
I used to work with a guy who told me that Lincoln was a conservative. So I asked him, "And that would make Jefferson Davis a liberal?" He didn't have an answer for that.
The Republicans sure do love their party's liberal and moderate traditions, especially now that they've purged all the actual liberals and moderates from their party.
It's called "Waiving The Bloody Shirt"
This is what the GOP did to defeat Democrats during Reconstruction. The "Bloody Shirt" refers to the stained shirt of a killed Union Soldier.
"I am opposed to the Democratic party, and I will tell you why. Every State that seceded from the United States was a Democratic State. Every ordinance of secession that was drawn was drawn by a Democrat. Every man that endeavored to tear the old flag from the heaven that it enriches was a Democrat. Every man that tried to destroy this nation was a Democrat. Every enemy this great republic has had for twenty years has been a Democrat. Every man that shot Union soldiers was a Democrat. Every man that denied to the Union prisoners even the worm-eaten crust of famine, and when some poor, emaciated Union patriot, driven to insanity by famine, saw in an insane dream the face of his mother, and she beckoned him and he followed, hoping to press her lips once again against his fevered face, and when he stepped one step beyond the dead line the wretch that put the bullet through his loving throbbing heart was and is a Democrat.
"Every man that loved slavery better than liberty was a Democrat. The man that assassinated Abraham Lincoln was a Democrat. Every man that sympathized with the assassin -- every man glad that the noblest President ever elected was assassinated, was a Democrat. Every man that wanted the privilege of whipping another man to make him work for him for nothing and pay him with lashes on his naked back, was a Democrat. Every man that raised bloodhounds to pursue human beings was a Democrat. Every man that clutched from shrieking, shuddering, crouching mothers, babes from their breasts, and sold them into slavery, was a Democrat.
Every man that impaired the credit of the United States, every man that swore we would never pay the bonds, every man that swore we would never redeem the greenbacks, every malinger of his country's credit, every calumniator of his country's honor, was a Democrat. Every man that resisted the draft, every man that hid in the bushes and shot at Union men simply because they were endeavoring to enforce the laws of their country, was a Democrat. Every man that wept over the corpse of slavery was a Democrat. Every man that cursed Abraham Lincoln because he issued the Proclamation of Emancipation -- the grandest paper since the Declaration of Independence -- every one of them was a Democrat. Every man that denounced the soldiers that bared their breasts to the storms of shot and shell for the honor of America and for the sacred rights of man, was a Democrat. Every man that wanted an uprising in the North, that wanted to release the rebel prisoners that they might burn down the homes
of Union soldiers above the heads of their wives and children, while the brave husbands, the heroic fathers, were front in the front fighting for the honor of the old flag, every one of them was a Democrat.
I am not yet through yet. Every man that believed this glorious nation of ours is a confederacy, every man that believed the old banner carried by our fathers over the fields of the Revolution; the old flag carried by our fathers over the fields of 1812; the glorious old banner carried by our brothers over the plains of Mexico; the sacred banner carried by our brothers over the cruel fields of the South, simply stood for a contract, simply stood for an agreement, was a Democrat. Every man who believed that any State could go out of the Union at its pleasure, every man that believed the grand fabric of the American Government could be made to crumble instantly into dust at the touch of treason, was a Democrat. Every man that helped to burn orphan asylums in New York, was a Democrat; every man that tried to fire the city of New York, although he knew that thousands would perish, and knew that the great serpent of flame leaping from buildings would clutch children from their mothers' arms -- every wretch that did it was a Democrat.
Recollect it! Every man that tried to spread smallpox and yellow fever in the North, as the instrumentalities of civilized war, was a Democrat. Soldiers, every scar you have on your heroic bodies was given you by a Democrat. Every scar, every arm that is lacking, every limb that is gone, is a souvenir of a Democrat. I want you to recollect it. Every man that was the enemy of human liberty in this country was a Democrat. Every man that wanted the fruit of all the heroism of all the ages to turn to ashes upon the lips -- every one was a Democrat."
Col. Robert Ingersoll - US Attorney General (1876)
BennyP @ 26:
"Millers Crossing" is the greatest movie ever!
Where can I get a "Jesus would be a Democrat" bumper sticker? I'd love to see the looks I'd get with that. And it would be true.
mbartesq @ 47:
Glad to see someone recognized that quote!
"Was MLK a Republican?" Sure. Just like all these revisionist Republicans who somehow totally supported what he stood for. THE REPUBLICAN PARTY REPRESENTS VIRTUALLY EVERYTHING MLK WAS AGAINST.
WTF???
I Like Pie @ 7:
kind of a significant point, eh? ROTFLMBBAO ;<[)
miss_kitty @ 44:
Technically, that would be 1864 - 1619 = 245 years, but whose really counting?
It's
Always
OK
If
You're
A
Republican
Even
Slavery
By comparison, what's a little lie like that?
*totally snarked out*
whatever those guys are smoking I want some!!
conrad @ 53:
They are just saying a bunch of dumb shit so that people will not talk about the war or the economy. It's the old bait and switch.
speaking of the truth:
I Like Pie @ 54:
and the media says: "LOOK! Shiney things! See?! ....wwwwwooooowwwww!"
Evidence of MLK's association with Republicans here.
I believe he is the one on the right.
mbartesq @ 47:
Nope. Jesus would have fled to Canada a long time ago.
BennyP @ 57:
now that's bad!
Stating that MLK was a Republican makes about as much sense as saying that if King were alive today he would be supporting Obama. He would not because King would be advocating an immediate as opposed to Obama's phased withdrawal of troops from that abattoir in Iraq. Martin Luther King would recognize how morally wrong Obama's proposal is to leave close to 100,000 American forces either in Iraq or the region even after his phased [not immediate] withdrawal of troops finally takes place, since he would understand that the United States has no moral right keeping their troops in a region where they could then enter Iraq at a moment's notice, thereby wreaking more death and destruction upon the Iraqi people. Martin Luther King Jr. would be against Obama's idea of sending 7,000 to 10,000 more American troops to Afghanistan, where they would in all probability kill more innocent Afghanis.
In short, Martin Luther King Jr. had the moral clarity and vision and leadership and wisdom that Barack Obama can only dream about.
CoIntelPro for Pronktastic Democratic Party Victory Over SCLM and DIEBOLD! @ 59:
Agreed.
I'd expect the Glen Becks of the world to challenge you to prove that MLK isn't in that clown suit.
I know that we have one black republican here in Utah. But I think that's it.
Jesse Helms was a Democrat. Hey, that was easy.
George Bush is a Democrat.
Hey, it works so well.
Complete media takeover and disinformation. What step was that again in the handbook?
Who is behind these ads and put them up? Who cares anymore? It's so damn easy to cover up anyway. It ain't worth the time or effort anymore. Just label it, conspiracy "theory" no matter what!!!
You can't fight against the black "secret" budgets of black "secret" projects worth who knows how much, except with your common sense.
Left&Left @ 49:
It just goes to show you have to work from within. ;)
I know how to get the 30%ers to vote for Obama....
Obama is a Republican!!!!
Captain Obama’s Bitter Half Husein Kangaroo @ 66:
Captain Obama’s Bitter Half Husein Kangaroo @ 67:
Captain Obama’s Bitter Half Husein Kangaroo @ 68:
[Alright. We get it. :D Site Monitor]
BennyP @ 61:
First of all, that's Will Smith on the left and Martin Lawrence on the right. MLK is in the middle.
Conservatives like to believe MLK Jr. materialized out of thin air, gave his "I Have A Dream" speech, and then immediately buggered off to get shot by James Earl Ray for no apparent reason.
Apparently MLK Sr. endorsed Nixon in October 1960.
However, while I remain unclear at this point whether MLK Jr. was a Republican, I have to say I think he was way to smart to be a liberal. If anything, I think of him as a libertarian, or even a bit of a conservative than liberal. Even though he may have gotten a bit too close to the welfare state, King dreamed of a nation for his children where they would be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. He dreamed of a color-blind society, based on the equality of all Americans and their sharing of equal unalienable rights. So if we have a liberal agenda...that is an agenda that advocates quotas, counting by race and set-asides takes us away from King's vision. I wouldn't say it's a literal equality, but just the chance to be able to be better than others, equally...does that make sense? Probably not to most of you on here =] but that's my two cents.
This is from MLK's offical biography.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was born on January 15, 1929 at his family home in Atlanta, Georgia. King’s grandfather was a Baptist preacher, and his father was pastor of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church. King earned his own Bachelor of Divinity degree from Crozier Theological Seminary in 1951 and earned his Doctor of Philosophy from Boston University in 1955. As a Baptist Minister, he was an eloquent civil rights movement leader from the mid-1950’s until his death by assassination on April 3, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee where he was there to support striking sanitation workers. King registered as a Republican in 1956.
Why are bringing up now at this moment that Martin Luther King is a Republican. I feel the most important thing , he was a Christian. If the Black people end up voting forMcCain, it would be the abortion issue.They are saying Obama is for abortion. They are picking out a portion of his belief and going from ther. The God I serve commandments
includes "THOU SHALL NOT KILL/ THOU SHOULD NOT STEAL / THOU SHOULD NOT LIE. There is no where in the Bible that I read stating 1 is a sin and you can get with another. So if Obama believe in Abortion RIGHTS, and McCain gets in front of people a lie, please tell me the difference.
Both of them believe in the "stem cell research". Stem cell is killing a baby. Abortion and stem cell are "Killing a baby". If there is a Minister out there , I would like your opinion on this beacause as a Christian this is a something to think about.
Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. WAS a REPUBLICAN.
and if you bother to look in any highschool history textbook you will find that...
A.the person most often credited with freeing the slaves of the south was Abraham Lincoln who was not only a member of the republican party but ITS FOUNDER.
B.that The United States of America is a REPUBLIC and NOT a Democracy we are represented by officals in our government,which means we are a REPUBLIC.Though we do use the democratic process to choose those officials we are for all practical purposes a REPUBLIC.
Well let's not forget that even FDR had to make some concessions to the racist southern Democrats to be able to push some of his agenda.
So it may actually be technically true, but that does not mean MLK would have stayed a Republican. That's the context that is missing and that they obviously don't want to talk about.
As the Boondocks MLK said: Screw this, I'm moving to Canada.
I'm Black and have MUCH respect for MLK Jr but...
I could give a crap's ass which party he was affiliated with. The Republican Party OF THIS PRESENT DAY isn't worth my vote. Neither is McCain. So, unless someone puts a glock to my head in November, my vote will go for Obama.
The fact that they put this billboard up makes me upset. All it does is insult the intelligence of many Blacks in this country.
"OOOHH, MLK voted Republican. Most vote Republican too since I am too ignorant to make a decision on my own."
GTFO.
MLK was not simply a republican. He wasn't even a black man. He was, in fact, caucasian, and would have opposed the elitist, uppity candidacy of Barack Obama. Common sense tells you that.
Long Tooth @ 74:
Your assertion that MLK Jr. "would have opposed the elitist, uppity candidacy of Barack Obama", despite its attempt at being facetious, certainly can be argued as to its accuracy, since the top five contributors to Obama's campaign have been registered corporate lobbyists. As I also pointed out at comment #60, King would have looked askance at how so many Americans view Obama as a peace candidate, since a true antiwar candidate would never desire to leave close to 100,000 American troops in the region of Iraq, where they can be brought back into that country to slaughter more innocent Iraqis. Nor would King look too kindly on Obama's proposal to send 10,000 troops to Afghanistan, where they could cause more death and destruction upon the Afghan people.
NBRA.infro, huh? As in: No Basis in Reality at All.
And, yeah. As others have noted, the Democrats were once the southern, authoritarian, religious party. The 20th Century saw a dramatic realignment of the parties, and now the Republicans are the southern, authoritarian, religious party.
Ahh, the Republican coalition -- WASTE
Warmongering, Authoritarian, Spendthrift, Talibaptist Egotists.
Old news. Crooks and Liars was on the story last month via Mike's Blog Roundup on 6/7/2008, when Mike linked to my post on the National Black Republican Association. The NBRA is McCain's secret weapon: They're going to help him win 25% of the black vote against Obama. This is good evidence of serious drug abuse among Republicans.
meep188 @ 73:
Don't give them any ideas. ;)
meep188 @ 73:
Exactly. The idea of calling someone a Republican or a Democrat in a historical context is 8th grade semantics.
If you HAD to use a label than liberal or conservative is much more appropriate. You either want things to 'Conserve' the status quo or you are 'liberal': favorable to progress or reform
I think it's clear where MLK would stand.
Re: "It’s called “Waiving The Bloody Shirt”
One of the LYING TRICKS THE LYING BASTARDS DO OFTEN ENOUGH IS CHANGE NAMES.
They have changed from Republican to Democrat, from Torey to Republican, and all the while claimed to be purely Christ Like in manner.
These people are nothing but filthy lying murderous, thieving bastards, no matter what you call them.
And Martin Luther Kijng Jr. was NOT one of them.
Martin Luther King Jr. was J. Edgar Hoovers drinking buddy too, right?
[Neil, I see what you're doing. They aren't name-calling other commenters or the bloggers. If you'd like some clarification, please write us at sitemonitor1@gmail.com . Thank you. Site Monitor]
So? The Fascist Republicans have ruined everything good about America (and are trying to destroy the world) so I will never vote for one. Never! Not even if Jesus was a Republican.
Terrible @ 81:
No, Hoover was that evil Democrat who hired James Earl Ray -- you know, the black guy who committed the ultimate black-on-black crime when he shot MLK.
It's ok, though, since Our Great Leader convened with god and MLK's heavenly spirit, and both told him to invade Iraq. Once he did, all the world's problems were solved. Magically.
Okay...this is obviously stupid and evil and cynical and ahistorical, blah blah blah...
But..
How is it possible that no one has PROOF? Of ANYthing? EITHER way?
Am I to believe that there is no record of MLK's voter registration? Am I missing something? Shouldn't this be easy to verify?
Seriously...I've done some cursory internet research and have found nothing. Anyone? It would be nice
to have the facts. Anyone?
The Klan from what all I've read began in Indiana but I don't know it's party affiliation at the time. Where many in the Klan Democrats in the south after reconstruction and Jim Crow? Yes. Did the fortunes of Blacks begin to change when the Arm Forces were intergrated? Yes. Was the NAACP begun with both Blacks and Whites who were Republican at the time? Yes.....
Many Souther politicians either swtiched to the Republican party or kept their Demo party affiliation but their attitudes and behavior did not change. If it were Nixon who signed the Civil Rights act and the Voting Rights act, this group of Black Republicans would have a point......
I Like Pie @ 18:
I've been a member of both The Black Republican Association, and a Young Republican.... for about 4 weeks, before the disgust overcame me.
I've never met a groups like the Black Republicans before. Their self hatred, and willingness to sell themselves, and their race out was horrifying.
At first I couldn't believe my eyes, but I can honestly say, I have never seen a bigger group of 'Uncle Toms' in my life.
The way the white republicans treated and spoke to them was rather vile as well. They tended to talk to people of color as if they were stupid and inferior.
Even IF Martin Luther King was a republican, he would NOT EVER have supported the hatred, murder, and racism of today's Republican party.
Yeah, he was white too. Did you know he was a Grand Dragon?
Yep...
I pray Obama has lots of security.
Bartleby @ 85:
Do you seriously expect voter registration records from the 1950s and 1960s to be neatly preserved somewhere in a pristine warehouse?
Most likely they cleaned out old files and tossed them a long time ago to make room for more paper. Voting registration records would be the first to go. No need to keep records like that. Property records, Birth and Death Certificates would take top priority.
Rest assured Martin Luther King Jr. was never a Republican. I need no proof. Listen to his speeches.
In Negative universe, all of this is true. Republicans are the Democrats of this dimension, MLK Jr. (might as well throw in Ghandi and RFK too) were loyal Republicans, Republicans give a shit about the working class, They actually pass progressive legislation, and are far better on race, gender and sex issues, to the almost literal exclusion of the other party.
Well, in Negative Universe anyways. Unfortunately for the Republicans in this universe, the dimension they speak of is their own dementia.
81 Terrible Says: Martin Luther King Jr. was J. Edgar Hoovers drinking buddy too, right?
_____________________________________________________________________________
He was Hoover's dress-maker.
ysbaddaden @ 92:
Hiel Heeler!
Republican Billboard if it told the truth:
"SOME OF THE MOST IGNORANT PEOPLE ON EARTH ARE REPUBLICANS"
xoites defends Constitution @ 90:
Not to mention the 1950s, 60s voter registration records of a southern, black activist? We couldn't even keep the 1990s, 2000s records of African American voter registration in Florida.
Yep. And whatever's on a particular card somewhere in some record doesn't matter.
(a) It's not going to convince anyone who is eager to believe that King was Republican. They're not the kind of people for whom empirical evidence is necessary to form beliefs.
(b) Whatever might be on some record somewhere, the implication of the billboard is that Martin Luther King, Jr., were he still alive, would support the Republican Party in its current form. This is a facially absurd notion.
so rwongstory recycles a two year old story and you guys get your panties in a bunch ???
Yeah right, and Jesse Helms was a member of the NAACP. What's really hard to believe is that there are black republicans.
freepatriot @ 96:
Just checked. I am not wearing panties and my shorts are unbunched.
I do get annoyed when people attempt to smear one of my heroes. I also get annoyed when the grandchildren of slaves suck up to the grandchildren of slave owners.
xoites defends Constitution @ 88:
I thought that was
Grand Poobah
xoites defends Constitution @ 98:
Amen
This is a GREAT thread.
If I were a high school history teacher, I would copy the whole thread... and give my students a week to do research to separate the HISTORICAL FACT from the wacky bullshit.
A copy of an avi. file of King's "I HAVE A DREAM SPEECH..." free from NPR.
Copies of all ballots cast in national elections by Martin Luther King... free from the FBI.
This thread... PRICELESS.
m. And being a democrat is supposed to be so much better??? Like there is a huge difference in the parties??? I really can't tell based on our Congressional Record. Especially the voting records of those who own stocks in Exxon and other big oil companies, or those who own stock in telecommunications companies, or those who own stock in any other big corporate interest you might think of.
I say this as a registered democrat, lest you think I'm trolling.
I am so fed up with our 'representatives' on all levels. They don't represent me or the other working people I know, that's for sure.
Long Tooth @ 74:
Another totally misguided ignorant fool doing some historical LYING. MLK was brought up in an educated, upper middle class household. One of the incredible of the many great things about King was that in spite of his privileged background, he care so much about the less fortunate. Also, King never spoke negatively in public of other black leaders he philosophically disagreed with. I guess in your case, common sense isn't common.
Left&Left @ 103:
A modest proposal: Brush up on your satire.
Left&Left @ 103:
I think that was a snark.
Republicans, bigots that they are, must think black voters are as dumb and easily fooled as conservative ones.
Not 1 African-American is going to vote (R) because of this sign... but a few racist rednecks might just quit the party over it.
This reminded me, last month or so McCain's campaign released a power point presentation that showed how John McCain would win; highlights included: Lieberman handing McCain CT, McCain winning in CA because of his "Western Roots," and a very upbeat campaign manager explaining to supporters how McCain only needed to win 25% of the African-American vote to take the swing states...
Delusional - the 26%ers no longer have even the slightest connection with reality.
freepatriot @ 96:
The NBRA put up these billboards THIS month and it's a 2 year old story? OK..... I see.... I understand now..... perhaps you should take a break and take those meds your nurse told you to take.
Commentator @ 106:
Power Point has been proven to be the most effective tool to hide the truth ever devised.,
Things are getting so bad for Republicans, they simply make up things to get attention. This is outrageous to say the least about these ass holes.
CowBoy Bob in Austin @ 101:
Oh! Oh! Can I help? ;-) ;-)
Nathan Bedford Forrest was an ABOLISHIONIST.
StCyrlyMe2 @ 109:
They have been making things up all along. In fact the reason i left the Republican party in the early 1970s is my discovery of this fact. I was begining to do it myself and it stopped me dead in my tracks.
Terrible @ 110:
The Klu Klux Klan is the code name of the conductors on the UNDERGOUND RAILROAD.
I'm sorry everyone but this 'lets play alternate universe' game started by the NBRA cracks me up.
And CowBoy Bob, wouldn't it be damn interesting to see how the students did?
Terrible @ 112:
What a scary thought. We could start with, "Where is Iraq and where did it come from?" and call it a day.
xoites defends Constitution @ 113, ummmmm.... I thinking I'm missing what you mean. The imaginary test for the students was supposed to be statements and to determine which of them were historical fact and which were wacky bullshit. Hows a very serious current affairs question fit in?
Terrible @ 114:
Where Iraq came from is not current events.
In any case i was just commenting on our state of general education in this country.
It sucks.
I Like Pie @ 7:
Dr. King was a Republican?
I can't keep up with these people. Their ability to lie, is starting to affect the space time continuum.
NoGWBpolicyleftinplace @ 116:
It certainly is affecting mine. Just the other day i thought the streets were filled with Volkswagen bugs with spit rear windows...
xoites defends Constitution @ 115:
Education in America is the best its ever been in many areas, but those kids never get any credit. Personally, I really hate seeing people trash education as a "general" statement of fact.
The real fact is this, American education is like no other educational system in the world. I know of NO other society that requires ALL of their students to take a college prep curriculum, and then gives everyone a test to determine if the system is adequate. Quite frankly, that is fucking insane! But that's what the idiot politicians have given us in this country.
You go to any decent school district in America today and look at what these kids are learning, and I garuantee you, they will far and away surpass anything us old geezers learned in school.
NoGWBpolicyleftinplace @ 118:
Every teacher I know( one lives right next door) would have a different opinion.
NoGWBpolicyleftinplace @ 118:
65% of high school graduates in Washington DC can not read bus signs.
NoGWBpolicyleftinplace @ 118, I don't know about that. I've seen an awful lot of text books from the teens, 20's and 30's and have always been amazed at what they taught then. Many of the grade school textbooks then would be like our current high school textbooks and the high school textbooks like our college textbooks. But don't take my word for it, go to e-bay or amazon and buy a couple and see for yourself.
mudshark @ 119:
Well, I don't know where you live, but everyone I WORK with would agree with me. And I am a teacher!
NoGWBpolicyleftinplace @ 122:
You must live in a good school system area. You would be amazed at what is out there. I am from Baltimore (until recently) and the schools there have no text books. If there are paper and pencils in the classroom the teacher bought them. Chalk is rare.
This guy opened up a free bookstore in Baltimore after running into a bunch of teachers in a bar one night.
Education in Baltimore City sucks!
Karen @ 104:
Ya Think? Sheeesh.
NoGWBpolicyleftinplace @ 122:
The issue the teachers I know have is with NCLB. Over crowding of class rooms. When a school is failing they just move the students to another school. Makes no sense.
xoites defends Constitution @ 120:
Thank you for proving my point!
Having worked in an inner city school district for six years when I was a youngster, the last thing many of those kids were worried about was getting a college prep education. The idea of the middle-class suburban education path is not part of their reality. Violence, poverty, and day to day existence were the atop the priority list of most of those kids.
In most other countries, these poverty ridden kids would be working in sweat shops, or they would be "dumped" into a non-college prep trade curriculum. They most certainly would not have their test scores factored into the overall population.
What I said is a fact!
Go to any school district that has quality teachers and is not impoverished, and the kids today would be well ahead of anything us geezers learned.
Our one size fits all education mentality, is leaving more kids behind than ever before. Especially the poor and disenfranchised.
These communities need hope and opportunity, not test scores to use as blame bludgeons against them.
xoites defends Constitution @ 123:
I am in a very good (and wealthy) district with alot of support. Even there, we ran out of paper, and had to use the back of scrap paper at the end of the year. We cannot get new textbooks, even though our books are 12 years old! I spend money every week out of my own pocket in order to buy materials for engineering projects.
When our Sperintendent asked the local republicans to allow districts to use left over "service funds" to purchase textbooks, they said NO! His response was "don't your teacher's have health insurance? If the kids need paper and books, we should look there!"
This was the same asshole who praised us teachers in the newspapers the year before for "renagotiating" our healthcare a year early to keep the district afloat! We saved them $600,000 the first year. The only thing they can do, is pass unfunded mandates that will eventually fuck-up even the good schools.
Jo @ 21:
You've said it!!!
Oh, its coming one day.
Should we tell the freepers that Doctor King may have been a Republican but he was also a Christian socialist?
Terrible @ 121:
And what percentage of the American population used those books or mastered the material in them? !00%? 90%? 50%? I would say it was probably a very very small percentage!
Nonetheless, the English books from the old days were pretty good. I read through some a year or two ago. Not much evolution there. A verb is still a verb. At least until the neocons claim otherwise.
The math and science books are infantile compared to today. Especially if you are taking a mathematical modeling approach in your science courses.
And don't forget, in the 20's and 30's (when my parents were growing up and in school) many of my uncles didn't graduate, or even get past the 8th or 9th grade. Also, many of the ones that did finish school, missed several weeks throughout the year to work on the farm or in other jobs.
They most certainly were not tested for data purposes that would be used as an indicator of educational success for everyone.
If you take the top 10% from today, and compare them to the top 10% from back then, these kids would be light years ahead of them. Same for the next 10% and so on down the line. The numbers they use today to trash education, are based on data that compares apples to oranges. That is a fact!
Ladies and Gentlemen - I'm only going to talk to you just for a minute or so this evening. Because...
I have some very sad news for all of you, and I think sad news for all of our fellow citizens, and people who love peace all over the world, and that is that Martin Luther King was shot and was killed tonight in Memphis, Tennessee.
Martin Luther King dedicated his life to love and to justice between fellow human beings. He died in the cause of that effort. In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it's perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in.
For those of you who are black - considering the evidence evidently is that there were white people who were responsible - you can be filled with bitterness, and with hatred, and a desire for revenge.
We can move in that direction as a country, in greater polarization - black people amongst blacks, and white amongst whites, filled with hatred toward one another. Or we can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand and to comprehend, and replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand, compassion and love.
For those of you who are black and are tempted to be filled with hatred and mistrust of the injustice of such an act, against all white people, I would only say that I can also feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling. I had a member of my family killed, but he was killed by a white man.
But we have to make an effort in the United States, we have to make an effort to understand, to get beyond these rather difficult times.
My favorite poet was Aeschylus. He once wrote: "Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God."
What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black.
(Interrupted by applause)
So I ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King, yeah that's true, but more importantly to say a prayer for our own country, which all of us love - a prayer for understanding and that compassion of which I spoke. We can do well in this country. We will have difficult times. We've had difficult times in the past. And we will have difficult times in the future. It is not the end of violence; it is not the end of lawlessness; and it's not the end of disorder.
But the vast majority of white people and the vast majority of black people in this country want to live together, want to improve the quality of our life, and want justice for all human beings that abide in our land.
(Interrupted by applause)
Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world.
Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people. Thank you very much. (Applause)
Robert F. Kennedy - April 4, 1968
Oh, and Dr. King would have been so proud that the Republican party let New Orleans drown. snark.
black republicans remind me of Dave chapelle who played a blind black white supremacist.
except for the fact that black republicans are actually living and behaving like Dave chapelle character in real life
Susan @ 102:
Well, in terms of civil rights, yes- being a Democrat is so much better.
Martin Luther King Jr. OPENLY SUPPORTED INVADING IRAQ during his lifetime. He was in favor of any war waged by the last, best hope for the planet, and he said so many times. He also openly supported torture of "enemy combatants", and realized that anyone who disagreed hated America and was not to be trusted.
To deny this is just to deny reality.
Just to be clear, I'm trying on the republican persona here to see how it feels. It's a very dirty, unhealthy feeling but I think the exercise was worth it.
I am old enough to remember the White Citizen's Council billboards across the South in the 60's which claimed a slightly different political affiliation for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
"Rev. Martin Luther King at a Communist Training Camp" was the caption I recall.
Perhaps the next claim will be "John McCain father his black baby at Dr. King's Church."
Obviously King wasn't a Republican, but more meaningful than party affiliation would be ideology. The party is just a brand name. A more meaningful billboard would be "MLK was an anti-war liberal." Or what about "Jesus was no conservative."
c. atrox @ 19:
BTK was too.
Black Republicans = Chickens who love Col. Sanders