Quote of the Day: Martin Luther King Jr. Edition

Quote of the Day

Cowardice asks the question - is it safe?
Expediency asks the question - is it politic?
Vanity asks the question - is it popular?
But conscience asks the question - is it right?
And there comes a time when one must take a position
that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular;
but one must take it because it is right.

-- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Hat tip to Litbrit for the quote.

Martin Luther King "I have a dream"

On this day in 1963, Martin Luther King marched on Washington D>c> and delivered his famous "I Have A Dream" speech.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are creted equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

The MLK Is A Republican Billboards Up In Florida

The National Black Republican Association put up seven billboards in Florida, proclaiming that Martin Luther King is a Republican. The NBRA is even bragging about it on the website.

The reaction by the black community has been laughter.

"these guys never give up, do they," said Rev. Joseph Lowery, a personal friend of King's. "Lord have mercy."

The King Center told the Associated Press there is no proof that King was ever a Republican. Even if there was, the GOP and Democratic Party have shifted on civil rights. The Dixiecrats wents over to the Republican Party. The Nixon presidential campaign courted white Southern voters by playing to their fears about segregation.

"The Republican Party geared its appeal and program to racism, reaction, and extremism," Martin Luther King wrote. "All people of goodwill viewed with alarm and concern the frenzied wedding at the Cow Palace of the KKK with the radical right."

I somehow doubt that passage from King's book will be quoted at the Republican National Convention.

Ron Paul's Racist Newsletters

The Plank has the old Ron Paul newletters. Paul had several newsletters called Ron Paul's Freedom Report, Ron Paul Political Report, The Ron Paul Survival Report, and The Ron Paul Investment Letter. The paranoid and racist rambling about the L.A. riots are a classic example of what Paul supports.

A Special Issue On Racial Terrorism

These criminals who terrorize our cities -- in riots and on every non-roit day -- are not exclusively black males, but they largely are. As children, they are trained to hate whites, to believe that white oppression is responsible for black ills, to "fight the power," to steal and loot as much money as possible. Anything is justified against "The Man."

It gets better. The newsletter states whites are never raised to be racist.

My friend waved to the the tiny child, who scowled, stuck out her tongue and said (somewhat tautologicallly): "I hate you, white honkey." And the parents were indulgent. Is any white child taught to hate in this way? I've never heard of it.

Is that a rhetorical question? Newsletters that print racist garbage are a place where people are taught to hate.

Order was only restored in L.A. when it came time for the blacks to pick up their welfare checks three days after rioting began. ... What if the checks had never arrived? No doubt the blacks would have fully privatized the welfare state through continued looting. But they were paid off and the violence subsided.

There is this love letter to former Klu Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke.

Duke's platform called called for tax cuts, no quotas, no affirmative action, no welfare and no busing. "Tonight, we concede the election," he said. "But we will never concede our fight for equal rights for all Americans."

To many voters, this seems like plain good sense. Duke carried baggage from his past, but the voters were willing to overlook that. And if he had been afforded the forgiveness an ex-communist gets, he might have won.

The Paul newsletter The Political Report calls Martin Luther King "a world class adulterer." Another newsletter accuses King assaulting women.

Paul's newsletter describes gay men as fatalist that want to die of AIDS.

Well, gays in San Francisco do not obey the dictates of good sense. They have stopped practicing "safe sex."

This newsletter writer unscientific out of his ass to make his argument.

"[T]hese men don't really see a reason to live past their fifties. They are not married, they have no children, and their lives are centered on new sexual partners." Also, "they enjoy the attention and pity that comes with being sick."

Paul went into damage control mode and issued a statement on his web site.

“The quotations in The New Republic article are not mine and do not represent what I believe or have ever believed. I have never uttered such words and denounce such small-minded thoughts.

“In fact, I have always agreed with Martin Luther King, Jr. that we should only be concerned with the content of a person's character, not the color of their skin. As I stated on the floor of the U.S. House on April 20, 1999: ‘I rise in great respect for the courage and high ideals of Rosa Parks who stood steadfastly for the rights of individuals against unjust laws and oppressive governmental policies.’

The question is why the hell would Paul allow his name to be used on this newsletter if he didn't agree with the contents? Can Paul tell us who wrote the newsletter? I'm betting he can't. New Republic's James Kirchick notices that many articles are written in the first person.

Can't Pander To Everyone All the Time

Mitt Romney said on Meet the Press that he saw his father march with Martin Luther King. George Romney never marched with Martin Luther King.

Susan Englander, assistant edi tor of the Martin Luther King Jr. Papers Project at Stanford University, who is editing the King papers from that era, told the Globe yesterday: "I researched this question, and indeed it is untrue that George Romney marched with Martin Luther King."

The Mittster corrected the statement.

"If you look at the literature, if you look at the dictionary, the term 'saw' includes being aware of in the sense I've described," Romney told reporters in Iowa. "It's a figure of speech and very familiar, and it's very common. And I saw my dad march with Martin Luther King. I did not see it with my own eyes, but I saw him in the sense of being aware of his participation in that great effort."

It gets better. The Mittster, in 1978, said he and Pops marched with Martin Luther King.

"My father and I marched with Martin Luther King Jr. through the streets of Detroit."

And I have a pink elephant for a best friend.