Republicans honor Martin Luther King, Jr. on his Birthday

January 15, 2003 | Michael Zak

[Grand Old Partisan]

Republicans honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on his Birthday

Washington, DC – January 15, 2003 – In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr., the Conference for a Republican Majority, Black Republican Women International, Republican Youth Majority, and other Republican organizations met at the National Press Club today to commemorate Dr. King’s legacy and explore ways the Republican Party can contribute toward full implementation of his dream of equal rights for all Americans.

The master of ceremonies, William Coleman, former Secretary of Transportation and President of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, called upon Republicans, as they honor Dr. King, to remember their party’s commitment to civil rights. He noted that historically, most civil rights laws were Republican initiatives. Coleman suggested a new reform agenda in areas such as education and social security.

Among the honored guests was Senator Lincoln Chafee, who urged the party to do more to recruit black candidates at every level, up to and including President of the United States.

The keynote speaker, Michael Zak, author of the book Back to Basics for the Republican Party (see www.republicanbasics.com), lauded Dr. King’s role in the long struggle for civil rights and recounted GOP’s achievements in that effort, including:

· the founding of the party as an anti-slavery civil rights movement

· the passage by Republicans of the 13th Amendment freeing the slaves, the14th Amendment extending the Bill of Rights to the states, and the 15th Amendment extending voting rights to blacks

· the appointment to the federal bench by Republican President Dwight Eisenhower of Judge Frank Johnson, who ruled in favor of Rosa Parks in Montgomery and then championed Dr. King at Selma

· the passage with support from congressional Republicans in higher percentages than from Democrats of the landmark Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1960 and 1964, and the 1965 Voting Rights Act

Chafee, Coleman, and Zak all urged the party and those activists present to rededicate themselves to grassroots outreach and a broadening of the party’s base.

Michael Zak mzak@mindspring.com

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[Grand Old Partisan]

Republicans must learn their true heritage, and not rely on books written by Democrat history professors.

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[knighthawk]

One of the best quotes I know are from him:

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy

[Commander8]

I agree, if Martin Luther Jing were still alive, he'd be doing the same things as Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.

[Grand Old Partisan]

The party of Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, or the party of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton -- where do you think MLK would be?

[Solamente]

I know where you're going, and you're right.

[knighthawk]

When I look Martin Luther King, I don't look at what party he is might be with. I see a man who helped us remember that it isn't about what color you have, or where you come from, but it matters that you are an American.

I see a man who had a dream, a dream that many of us have.

[UbIwerks]

As Peter Brimelow pointed out, Martin Luther King makes a very ambiguous hero. The guy was a plagiarist, adulterer, and fellow traveler.

I think Sen. Goldwater was correct in opposing the 1964 Civil Rights Act too because of its attack on property rights.

[Commander8]

Amen

[SwinneySwitch]

"Let us be dissatisfied until that day when nobody will shout, "White Power!" when nobody will shout, "Black Power!" but everybody will talk about God's power and human power." MLK Jr.

[BenLurkin]

[marron]

Republicans must learn their true heritage, and not rely on books written by Democrat history professors.

I agree with you.

The Republicans were the "civil rights" party, all through the bad old days, when to support color-blind citizenship was to be very out of step with your friends and neighbors. Especially, to be a Republican in the old South was at one time a very lonely position.

As for Martin Luther King, to point out that he was a flawed human being, in a world of flawed human beings, is to reveal nothing at all. Anyone with a conscience knew that the Jim Crow south was immoral, but not everyone was willing to go and confront it.

Remember, we insist that our rights are God-given, and inalienable.

But to insist upon such a thing, in some places, in some times, is a very dangerous thing. Not everyone is willing or capable of confronting evil. Most of us think we would, if it came down to it, but the fact is that it did come down to it, and one flawed preacher and his flawed followers confronted it, and some of us supported him from safety, and some of us just watched it on TV.

It is sad to say that it was his death that broke the back of traditional racism in America. Post 1968 racism is rejected by almost everyone, outside of the Democratic party and its racial hucksters, but then again, that is as it always was.

It is sad to see black voters pulling the lever for the Democratic party, the party of their long oppression, in a weird kind of Stockholm syndrome, and it is sickening to see the Democrats taking credit for a crusade they came to only in the last few moments, after all the hard and dangerous work was done.

They say that there is no limit to what you can do, if you don't care who gets the credit. There is truth in this, but in politics it is very necessary that credit be assigned where it belongs. Liberty comes from those who believe in liberty. It is the Republican party that resisted racial politics all during the bad old days, and continues to do so now. We are consistent.

[Grand Old Partisan]

Thank you. We Republicans let the Democrats b*tch-slap us because we do not know our history.

You can read about my book, Back to Basics for the Republican Party, at www.republicanbasics.com, and the second edition is on Amazon.

[Valin]

How can this be? As we all KNOW all real republicans a evil rich racists. < /sarcasm>

[marron]

There were a few segregationists who famously jumped ship and joined the Republican party, perhaps attracted by, perhaps misunderstanding, Republican support for "states rights", as defined by the 9th and 10th ammendments.

Of course, these ammendments were intended, like other "separation of power" provisions, to provide yet another bulwark against government abuse of power, by assuring that no one arm of government could ever go completely unchallenged. Federal power could be checked by state and local power, which could similarly be checked by the federals.

"States rights", constitutionally, was a safeguard against government abuse. It was never intended to shelter or enshrine government abuse. It could never be a defense for the oppression of citizens.

Republicans know this. Segregationists failed to see the distinction.

But while Repubs have been embarrassed for years by the one or two high profile segregationsists who joined, and who may or may not have been completely reconstructed, the fact remains that all, all, of the rest of the segregationists remained with the Democratic party. There, their old segregationist beliefs go unchallenged and forgotten. The old elitism that held that blacks were children, and must be shepherded by a paternalistic society, has morphed into a new elitism, that holds that blacks must still be cared for by paternalistic Democrats. The more things change, the more they remain the same.