By Barry Curtis
I remember interviewing the great civil rights icon Dale Long recently, where he casually mentioned to me in passing, and I quote, “Dr. King was a Republican, you know that right”? I did indeed know that and history supports that position. That to me is not so startling as much as the liberal media’s push back on that fact.
We know Martin Luther King Jr.’s father, Martin Luther King, Sr., was not only a registered Republican but also actively supported Richard Nixon for president. Would it be a stretch or a surprise that his son and namesake was also a Republican?
History proves the King’s right in supporting the Republican Party, after all the Republican Party was the party that supported blacks thru most of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It was the Republican Party that amended the constitution to free all men from the shackles of slavery thru ratification of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments. Those amendments abolished slavery, made blacks citizens and outlawed involuntary servitude. The Republican Party stood firm by ratifying the civil rights act 1866 and the reconstruction act of 1867. In fact the Republican Party was founded in 1854 as an anti-slavery party.
Contrast those accomplishments with the Democratic Party’s passing of the sickening Jim Crow laws and the so-called civil codes that gave us separate but equal schools, bathrooms and drinking fountains. History shows us that the Democratic Party universally opposed every civil rights bill adopted in the 1950’s and 1960’s, with the notable exception of President Lyndon Johnson.
Some notable Democratic icons such as Senator Al Gore senior and then Senator John Kennedy voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1957.
It was black Republicans that founded the NAACP. Richard Nixon created “the Philadelphia plan” that was the blue print for affirmative action.
Why would the liberal media fail to give Republicans our due in the history of civil rights? Why is the liberal media so afraid of the many contributions of black and white republicans to the cause of civil liberty and freedom?
It is clear that we all should proudly herald the contributions of all Americans black or white, republican or democrat. On the next MLK day give thanks to the contributions of Dr. King, the Republican and Ronald Reagan the former democrat turned Republican that signed the law making MLK day a national holiday.
You are absolutely right, MLK was more than likely a Republican, it was the Republican party that “freed” the slaves and passed other Civil Rights legislature favorable towards Blacks which only further proves the point that Republican and Democrat are just labels. In the end they don’t really mean much. It is a man’s deeds that define him and I’m certain MLK were he alive would be unequivocally opposed to the ideologies propogated by the Republican party today as he would be to Regan who only deserves credit for being the absolute worst president, including George Dumbya Bush, in the history of the United States. The American economy still has not recovered from Reganomics. And Regan may have signed into law the nationalizing of MLK day but that small deed does not come close to outweighing the damage he did during his tenure as president nor the fact that he campaigned against the civil rights movement in his run for governor in California and definitely not the fact that he chose of all places Philiadephia, MS to announce his presidency uttering those infamous racially coded words “state’s rights”. No Mr. Curtis Regan was no friend of nor to Blacks and we all including you would do well to remember that today as well as tomorrow and on the next MLK day.
To be sure; both the Democrat and Republican parties have shamefully failed to represent the needs and interests of black people at various times in history. As “they” say, in politics – there are no permanent friends or enemies. I have never been so impressed by either party that I felt the need to stand up and shout out praise for them like Mr. Curtis is doing for the Republicans. I hope he reads more history and/or gets paid more money (or whatever) in the future for his support. I personally couldn’t/wouldn’t do what he’s doing for any earthly amount of love or money – not even in the dirty game of electoral politics.