This is not necessarily breaking news that there are some on the conservative side of the political spectrum who assert that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. may have been a Republican. Whether he was or was not, however, mostly is irrelevant. This issue is back in the news as a group of black conservatives have sponsored a billboard that has brought the debate back into focus.
Really, this is nothing new, however.
Many blacks affiliated with the Republicans until they felt as if they were abandoned by the party and thus moved to the Democrat Party.
Here is how the Fox News story begins:
Who knew?
A billboard proclaiming that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a Republican has stirred a religious and political hornets’ nest in Houston, where a church leader is trying to draw black voters into the Republican Party.
The jumbo-sized roadside ad made its contentious claim for about a week — until a local black activist charged that the sign unjustly politicized King’s legacy and was hurting his community by telling a “blatant lie.”
“Martin Luther King may have very well believed in some of the Christian principles of the Republican Party, but Dr. Martin Luther King was not a Republican or a Democrat,” said Quanell X, who heads the New Black Panther Party in Houston.
“Dr. King was bigger than a political party – he was a humanitarian, and so to attach him exclusively to any party is to devalue his humanitarian global status,” he said. “We were insulted … by the billboard because it was a blatant lie.”
I don’t know if it’s a blatant lie, but it certainly is old news. The Republican Party that existed during the day of Dr. King does not exist today.
More from the Fox News story:
Quanell X told FOXNews.com he was pleased that he had succeeded in getting the billboard removed. He added that King would never have embraced the present-day GOP, which he said had “racist elements.”
“Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would not be with the party of Newt Gingrich, he would not be with the party of Sarah Palin, he would not be with the party of Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage or Sean Hannity,” he said.
The Republican Party is not one that looks comforting or inviting to many minorities.
Perhaps this will spark some dialogue, but hopefully that dialogue begins within the Republican Party by following the Michael Jackson song and take a look at the “Man in the Mirror.”
Maybe a dialogue is a good thing if Republicans seriously ask themselves why they do not appeal to minorities (and, no, this did not just start with Barack Obama) and, in particular, blacks.
Rather than ask was Dr. King a Republican, a better question might be: Would Dr. King be a Republican if he was alive today?
I don’t think so.
Martin Luther King a Republican radio ad:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/18/AR2006101801754.html
Martin Luther King billboard:
http://www.mofopolitics.com/2009/07/12/video-martin-luther-king-jr-was-a-republican-billboard-causes-uproar/
Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wires/2009/07/13/martin-luther-king-jr-was_ws_230729.html
Essence:
http://www.essence.com/news_entertainment/news/articles/martin_luther_king_jr_was_he_republican
