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...
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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.
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 Sh