Article: Here���s how Republicans are whitewashing Martin Luther King, Jr. this year
Here’s how Republicans are whitewashing Martin Luther King, Jr.this year
As happens every year, Republicans forget what Martin Luther King Jr. actually stood for
Republican political leaders spent Monday trying to pay respect to Martin Luther King Jr. Day with their words, even as they defied its spirit through their actions.
President Donald Trump set the example that all others followed by spending the holiday (where else?) at his private golf course in Florida. It came less than a week after Trump was expressed a preference for white, Nordic immigrants while calling a number of non-white countries — including El Salvador, Haiti and the nations of Africa — as "s**thole countries." One day later, Trump signed a proclamation declaring the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
The president is hardly alone among Republican politicians trying to awkwardly reconcile the obligatory words with their unsavory deeds. Rep. Steve King of Iowa posted a quote on his Twitter account of Dr. King discussing getting to "the promised land." This is in spite of the fact that that promised land involved racial diversity, while Rep. King has repeatedly criticized diversity, and even tweeted a quote from a Hungarian white nationalist in December.
Steve King (@SteveKingIA )Martin Luther King,Jr. this MLK Day, “Ive been to the mountain top. And I’ve seen the promised land. ...we, as a people, will get to the promised land.”
Steve King (@SteveKingIA )Diversity is not our strength. Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban, “Mixing cultures will not lead to a higher quality of life but a lower one.” https://pgj.cc/PT7SoT
Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin also posted a King quote on his Twitter feed, even though one of King's signature issues was guaranteeing that racial minorities would have fair access to the ballot. One of Walker's chief legacies, on the other hand, is successfully pushing a voter ID law that exists mainly to keep racial minorities from voting in his state. Laws in both that state and North Carolina later proved crucial to Trump's narrow electoral college victory over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.
Scott Walker (@ScottWalker )Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. today. May we always remember his message of freedom and equality for all. #MLKDay
Then there is Vice President Mike Pence, who tweeted that King was "a great American leader who inspired a movement & transformed a nation." Pence conveniently overlooked how the "movement" in question consisted of African Americans protesting racial injustice even when they were harshly criticized for doing so. In October, Pence attended an Indianapolis Colts game just so that he could walk out after players kneeled during the National Anthem to protest racial injustice.
Vice President Mike Pence (@VP )Honored to lay a wreath at MLK Jr. Memorial w/ @SecondLady . He was a great American leader who inspired a movement & transformed a Nation. He took the words of our Founders to heart to forge a more perfect union based on the notion all men are created equal & in the image of God.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, meanwhile, posted a tweet that mentioned among other things reading the sermons penned by Dr. King. This is particularly ironic, given that King was a staunch critic of capitalism and would have almost certainly been horrified by Ryan's economic policies that benefit the wealthy at the expense of the poor.
Paul Ryan (@SpeakerRyan )Today we remember a great man and his work. We read his sermons. We recall his sacrifices. We give back. In doing these things, we raise our gaze and renew the spirit in which we serve one another. Such is the calling of #MLKDay .
Finally there's Trump's press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who tweeted a memory about being a student at Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., which was famously integrated by the American military after the district refused to desegregate.
Sarah Sanders (@PressSec )Twenty years ago as a student at Central High I watched President @BillClinton and my dad @GovMikeHuckabee open the doors for the Little Rock Nine - the same doors that had previously been closed to them because they were black. A moment I'll never forget. #MLKDay
This may have been a nice enough memory, but as humorist Peter Sagal — host of a documentary about the Constitution — noted in reply, after Little Rock public schools were desegregated, things didn't magically get better.
((((Peter Sagal)))) (@petersagal )Funny you mention that. I talked to Minniejean (Brown) Trickey, one of the Little Rock Nine, about that very day in front of CHS for my documentary, "Constitution USA." https://twitter.com/PressSec/status/952906112562614272 …
((((Peter Sagal)))) (@petersagal )Funny you mention that. I talked to Minniejean (Brown) Trickey, one of the Little Rock Nine, about that very day in front of CHS for my documentary, "Constitution USA." https://twitter.com/PressSec/status/952906112562614272 …((((Peter Sagal)))) (@petersagal )You would think that of all people, she would be satisfied with the government's response to racism and hate. Ike sent the 101st Airborne to escort her to class!
((((Peter Sagal)))) (@petersagal )You would think that of all people, she would be satisfied with the government's response to racism and hate. Ike sent the 101st Airborne to escort her to class!((((Peter Sagal)))) (@petersagal )But what I didn't know is that after the 101st left, CHS expelled her on a trumped up charge of assault after she spilled some chili on a white student.She spilled some chili. After being tripped by another white kid. "We got rid of one of them!" the teachers bragged.
((((Peter Sagal)))) (@petersagal )But what I didn't know is that after the 101st left, CHS expelled her on a trumped up charge of assault after she spilled some chili on a white student.She spilled some chili. After being tripped by another white kid. "We got rid of one of them!" the teachers bragged.((((Peter Sagal)))) (@petersagal )Then, of course, rather than continue to allow black students to attend CHS, the governor of Alabama closed the schools. http://ift.tt/1LhfZSe … "The_Lost_Year"
((((Peter Sagal)))) (@petersagal )Then, of course, rather than continue to allow black students to attend CHS, the governor of Alabama closed the schools. http://ift.tt/1LhfZSe … "The_Lost_Year"((((Peter Sagal)))) (@petersagal )Ms Brown looked around the country post high school. She saw Jim Crow, firehoses turned on Blacks, the murder of the Birmingham Four and the Mississippi Three. She moved to Canada.
((((Peter Sagal)))) (@petersagal )Ms Brown looked around the country post high school. She saw Jim Crow, firehoses turned on Blacks, the murder of the Birmingham Four and the Mississippi Three. She moved to Canada.((((Peter Sagal)))) (@petersagal )As of 2012, she found herself coming back to Little Rock, a place she told me she never wanted to see again. But she had family. And the National Historic Site center was there. She liked to drop by, talk to the kids about what happened.
((((Peter Sagal)))) (@petersagal )As of 2012, she found herself coming back to Little Rock, a place she told me she never wanted to see again. But she had family. And the National Historic Site center was there. She liked to drop by, talk to the kids about what happened.((((Peter Sagal)))) (@petersagal )Now she lives in Little Rock full time. She doesn't care that her name is inscribed on a bench in front of the school. She doesn't care that your dad welcomed her back in '99. She spends time at the Center, telling people what really happened. You should go talk to her.
((((Peter Sagal)))) (@petersagal )Now she lives in Little Rock full time. She doesn't care that her name is inscribed on a bench in front of the school. She doesn't care that your dad welcomed her back in '99. She spends time at the Center, telling people what really happened. You should go talk to her.
((((Peter Sagal)))) (@petersagal )Here's me, talking to Ms Trickey and Marty Sammon, who served with the 101st at Little Rock. Buddy Squiers on camera. CHS is off to the left. http://pic.twitter.com/ft4LUBf3sr
((((Peter Sagal)))) (@petersagal )Here's me, talking to Ms Trickey and Marty Sammon, who served with the 101st at Little Rock. Buddy Squiers on camera. CHS is off to the left. http://pic.twitter.com/ft4LUBf3sr((((Peter Sagal)))) (@petersagal )
Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
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