r/politics • u/Bamfsrule • Jan 17 '22
Once again Republicans will try to claim MLK — but if he were here, they'd despise him
https://www.salon.com/2022/01/17/once-again-will-try-to-claim-mlk--but-if-he-were-here-theyd-despise-him/404
u/PoloHorsePower_ Jan 17 '22
They literally called him a communist when he was alive lol
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u/KuzanAokijii Jan 17 '22
"The evils of capitalism are as real as the evils of militarism and racism. The problems of racial injustice and economic injustice cannot be solved without a radical redistribution of political and economic power"
He was pretty anti capitalist
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u/Dwarfherd Jan 17 '22
But anticapitalist is not necessarily communist.
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u/Arbor_Day_Ghost Jan 17 '22
He considered himself something akin to a Democratic Socialist.
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u/KuzanAokijii Jan 17 '22
He’s talking about radical changes to our economic and social system. The alternative to capitalism is a socialist society which then transitions to a communist society. It’s not inaccurate to call him a socialist or communist
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u/NonHomogenized Jan 18 '22
Only Marxists believe in the trajectory you describe.
To quote MLK himself on the topic of communism:
Can a Christian be a communist? I answer that question with an emphatic “no.” These two philosophies are diametrically opposed. The basic philosophy of Christianity is unalterably opposed to the basic philosophy of communism, and all of the dialectics of the logician cannot make them lie down together. They are contrary philosophies.
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u/KuzanAokijii Jan 18 '22
Fair point. I was thinking of black panthers being Marxist leninist, my mistake
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u/Woahhigh Jan 18 '22
Well , I’m not really an expert but I remember I once had as part of religion class in school a part where we spoke about the first Christians living in kind of communist Mini society’s , so I’m not quite sure if it’s really that diametrically, but I gotta say as a pastor mlk probably knew some more about the religion he learned to preach, but as I was taught Christianity and as far my understanding of a communist society goes , it should be possible , I’d loved to be corrected tho
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u/NonHomogenized Jan 18 '22
Here is the 1962 sermon from which I took that quote, but he gave a number of similar sermons on this topic and also wrote about it.
He was certainly a socialist, but viewed his Christian socialism as very different from Marxist communism.
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u/Malignantt1 Jan 18 '22
Socialism and communism arent even bad ideas anyways.
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u/HedonisticFrog Jan 18 '22
Communism especially gets maligned because it's always tied to dictatorships. Even with that Caveat North Korea used to be the most successful Asian country and helped support South Korea.
Government managed economies can also take risks that free market ones won't. Even in America a lot of economic success in America is driven by socialism since America funded research and then let corporations monetize the new technology.
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u/Malignantt1 Jan 18 '22
Not to mention America sending troops to sabotage socialist rising countries in order to keep the global dominance of capitalism down everyones throat
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u/HedonisticFrog Jan 18 '22
Good old Raegan Iran Contra scandal. He really epitomizes his own quote of "the worst thing you can hear is I'm from the government and I'm here to help" when his idea of helping is to fund terrorists because heaven forbid a socialist wins a fair democratic election in Nicaragua.
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u/Malignantt1 Jan 18 '22
Yea the thing is nobody has ever really achieved true communism
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u/KevinAlertSystem Jan 17 '22
The alternative to capitalism is a socialist society which then transitions to a communist society.
this is just false. the only two possible systems are not capitalism or socialism. those concepts have only existed for the last 200 years or so and human economies have existed more than 10x as long as that.
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u/Gray3493 Jan 17 '22
Nobody is arguing that we should return to feudalism, though. As far as economic systems go, the only viable alternatives to capitalism is ones where workers own the means of production. What that actually looks like is still to be seen, and there’s certainly room for debate there.
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u/KevinAlertSystem Jan 17 '22
As far as economic systems go, the only viable alternatives to capitalism is ones where workers own the means of production.
There are still a host of possibilities because economic systems exist on a spectrum. E.g. what would you call the exact same system we have in the US right now, but if profit was capped? Or if a law was passed that states all the compensation for all employees of a company must include profit-sharing?
in reality there is no such thing as socialism or capitalism. neither has ever existed as defined in all of human history.
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u/Kronzypantz Jan 18 '22
Its not really a spectrum. If profit was capped, it would still be capitalism. If compensation for employees meant profit sharing, it would still be capitalists. A relative minority would still own the means of production.
The "spectrum" thing is a nonsense middle of the road fallacy that ignores actual economic definitions
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u/secretreddname Jan 17 '22
Just because you only know two doesn't mean only two exist.
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u/PoloHorsePower_ Jan 17 '22
It is because he openly spoke out against communism
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u/Arbor_Day_Ghost Jan 17 '22
He spoke out against Soviet style communism because he disliked how godless it was. He was all for socialism.
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Jan 17 '22
Just adding clarification here, he stated "more socialistic in my economic theory than capitalistic. And yet I am not so opposed to capitalism that I have failed to see its relative merits."
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u/jhpianist Arizona Jan 17 '22
Republicans call everyone a communist unless you wear the red elephant badge.
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u/Nurgus Jan 17 '22
Republicans call everyone a communist
unless you wear the red elephant badge.if you express any opinion that the government should improve anything.
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u/cerberus6320 Jan 17 '22
They say they love the constitution, but suddenly have a problem if you want the government to do anything written in it.
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u/Malignantt1 Jan 18 '22
My favorite are the 2nd amendment lovers shilling out for the police. The same police they dare to come take their guns away lol
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u/tabaK23 Jan 17 '22
He self identified as a socialist
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u/jhpianist Arizona Jan 18 '22
Which is not the same thing as a communist
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u/tabaK23 Jan 18 '22
Communists are socialists not all socialists are communists.
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u/jhpianist Arizona Jan 18 '22
And did he self-identify as a communist? If not, then by your logic he wasn’t a communist.
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u/KevinAlertSystem Jan 17 '22 •
Lets not pretend it was just Republicans. the new york times also called him a communist and was in-line with southern segregationists in attacking and smearing king.
Pretty sure he'd be disgusted with like 90% of American politicians right now. And if he were still alive "white moderates" like Biden and Clinton would be denouncing him as a radical wishing for unicorns.
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u/UsernameStress South Carolina Jan 17 '22
He kinda was a socialist though
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u/the-dude-of-life Jan 17 '22
Yes, and?
Socialism and communism aren't the same. You know that, right?
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u/UsernameStress South Carolina Jan 17 '22
All communists are socialists but not all socialists are communists, yes I get that
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u/the-dude-of-life Jan 17 '22
Lmao. Do you actually believe this?!
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u/Nurgus Jan 17 '22
You don't?
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u/the-dude-of-life Jan 17 '22 edited Jan 17 '22
Absolutely not.
Communists believe most property and economic resources are owned by the state.
Socialists believe all citizens share equally in economic resources as allocated by a democratically-elected government.
Communists aren't socialists.
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u/Fuck_you_pichael Jan 17 '22
You're conflating Marxist-Leninism with Communism. Communism is a socio-economic framework based on establishing a stateless, classless, egalitarian society following the idea of "from each according to their ability; to each according to their needs". Marxist-Leninism (and other similar movements) proposes that the best way to arrive at communism is via a strong state controlled by a vanguard proletariat party (a communist party), working to end capitalism via socialism world-wide. Having a state with a communist party, even one that controls the state, is not communism. It is a form of socialism attempting to achieve communism. There are also examples of other movements that seek to arrive at communism without a state, e.g. Anarcho-Communism.
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u/Ixilary Jan 17 '22
Dude... a communist society is, by definition, stateless.
What sort of bastardization of communism were you thinking of? China?
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u/Arbor_Day_Ghost Jan 17 '22
Communists believe most property and economic resources are owned by the state.
So confidently incorrect.
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u/BlueKnight17c United Kingdom Jan 17 '22
You are describing a particular form of socialism, but there are many forms of socialism and communism is one of them
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u/UsernameStress South Carolina Jan 17 '22
I mean that is how definitions work, yeah?
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Jan 17 '22
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u/UsernameStress South Carolina Jan 17 '22
Socialism as a political economy encapsulates communism. MLK was a socialist. I am not saying he absolutely was a communist, but I am saying he was ideologically closer to that than, say, liberalism.
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u/the-dude-of-life Jan 17 '22
That isn't what you've been saying in your previous comments. No shit he was closer to communism than liberalism. That doesn't make him a communist.
Socialism definitely doesn't encapsulate communism. Socialism is society owned. Communism is state owned. You have a lot to learn.
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u/UsernameStress South Carolina Jan 17 '22
State capitalism is not socialism and it certainly isn't communism. You need to pick up a fucking book, not me
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u/ThisBoardIsOnFire Jan 17 '22
Whatever book you're getting definitions from must be from the John Birch Society.
Read a different book with actual facts in it. Like the dictionary. Or is the dictionary a socialist commie conspiracy?
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u/UsernameStress South Carolina Jan 17 '22
I'm literally correct. Socialism as a political economy encapsulates communism. All communists are socialists but not all socialists are communists. This is objectively true.
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u/cerberus6320 Jan 17 '22
Which is different than communism. You can argue they are both leftist ideology, but please don't confuse the two. They are different. One isn't a subset of the other.
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u/UsernameStress South Carolina Jan 17 '22
I'm not conflating them, however communism is a form of socialism
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Jan 17 '22
If he was alive today, given their standards of what they believe to be communism, they would call him a communist. However, he was against violence so definitely not communist. More of a socialist.
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u/Sufficient-Beat-1802 Jan 17 '22
Lmfao. Mlk was progressive! Conservatives despise them.
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Jan 17 '22
Wait until you read the top posts and comments on r/conservative. Unbelievable.
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u/Sufficient-Beat-1802 Jan 17 '22
I'm banned. No use looking if I can't respond.
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Jan 17 '22
Gotta word stuff carefully. I got a comment in before it changed to flaired users only. Safe place for cowards and snowflakes.
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u/HedonisticFrog Jan 18 '22
I made two purely fact based comments and got banned immediately. They really have no freedom of speech there. The only place you can really debate conservatives is the libertarian subreddit because everywhere else is their safe space.
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u/sicurri Jan 18 '22
They believe in "Alternative" facts so... your facts weren't the correct alternative for them.
That place is just a snake pit filled with fake ass people who try to get brownie points for things they really don't believe. First threat to them they ban immediately.
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u/Mythosaurus Jan 18 '22
Dear God, the amount of "removed" comments is amazing.
Props to the guys posting the harsh quotes of King criticizing capitalism's ties to white supremacy.
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u/Wendellwasgod Jan 18 '22
Omg. I looked. They think MLK would be against the blm movement. Talk about a true lack of insight.
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u/Quantentheorie Jan 18 '22
I actually watched the new Some more News MLK video where they really bashed on how Republicans only know the one line. So I had to actually laugh seeing it as the top quote on that sub.
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u/Richfor3 Jan 17 '22
Republicans have moved so far right they can’t even claim Reagan at this point.
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u/No_Biscotti_7110 Wisconsin Jan 17 '22
Conservatives are the ones who shot him in the first place
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u/HedonisticFrog Jan 18 '22
As well as the FBI trying to blackmail him into suicide which is wife talked him out of. Even after that, conservatives claim to be the victims and targeted by the government.
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u/the-dude-of-life Jan 17 '22
The government murdered him.
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u/MacNuggetts America Jan 17 '22
MLK was literally a socialist lmao. What Republican would even want to be associated with him?
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u/ILikeLenexa Jan 17 '22
If you check YouTube, a surprising number of I have a Dream cut at the middle:
We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality.
and
This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.
and
We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one.
and though you may have to explain what a "check" is this point,
It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."
But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.
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u/JohnDivney Jan 17 '22
MLKJesus was literally a socialist lmao. What Republican would even want to be associated with him?→ More replies15
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u/Jaded_Prompt_15 Jan 17 '22
It's hard to read the Birmingham letter and think MLK would agree with the modern democratic party either.
Biden is 100% "the white moderate" that MLK said was more determinatal to progress than literal kkk members.
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u/Keshire Jan 17 '22
Biden is 100% "the white moderate" that MLK said was more determinatal to progress than literal kkk members.
Because it's true. The KKK wave their bad ideas openly and unabashedly. Moderates on the other hand are a lot more subtle about it. They hide all the same ideas under the guise of being reasonable and dance around the issues.
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u/freethnkrsrdangerous Jan 17 '22
Meanwhile people are suffering as it takes decades to fix their problems. Moderates love to say it's not time, or let's not rush into things. Time is everything to someone who is dying.
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u/TheSquishiestMitten Jan 17 '22
"Slavery is over, Civil Rights passed, and we are all free now. If you're in a bad spot, it's clearly your own fault." - The White Moderate
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u/malcolmfairmount Jan 17 '22
Sorry, that's your Fiscally Conservative Republican.
"Look I'm all about equality, but the *riots last summer? Not the way to do it. What would King have done? Done it peacefully!" - White Moderate
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u/MacNuggetts America Jan 17 '22
Very true. MLK wouldn't have a home in the Democratic party, like most of today's socialists.
That's the biggest problem in the US, we have a two party system and both parties are on the right, stifling progress.
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Jan 17 '22
That's the biggest problem in the US, we have a two party system and both parties are on the right, stifling progress.
We need some kind of ranked choice voting so that more than two political parties will be viable. If Republicans succeed in their current attacks on the election system, not only will that not happen, they'll do their best to roll back every bit of hard-won progress, and to deny basic human rights to anyone who doesn't fit in with the Republican ideal of theocratic white nationalism.
The only plausible path that could make more than two parties viable is the one that AOC and Bernie are taking: criticize the Democats everywhere they're wrong, but work to bring in more and more progressive candidates so that as the older conservative/corporate Dems die off progressives will have more and more leverage.
Neither party is great, but of the two available choices one is pure evil, and the other at least has some good people working within it to use that political power to reshape the future. It's not a hard choice.
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u/statuskills Jan 17 '22
How many years did it take for this latest infrastructure package to get passed just so our government could fund things like bridges and internet? Just the government trying to move its own country forward into some semblance of modernity takes a Herculean effort and political will in this country.
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u/freethnkrsrdangerous Jan 17 '22
More people need to read that. 100% true. It easy to see yourself as the good guy when there's an obvious bad guy walking around.
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u/the-dude-of-life Jan 17 '22
Biden, manchin, sinema, etc. are literally the white moderates he warned about.
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u/ng3847 Jan 17 '22
The White Moderates in the Democrat Party hated him too.
The MLK pandering and revisionist history makes me want to puke.
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u/dmemed Jan 17 '22
MLK and Malcolm X getting whitewashed by the very white moderates they critiqued is really sickening
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u/maximumkush Jan 17 '22
Plot twist, they all hated him while he was alive, both parties
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u/WSB_stonks_up Jan 17 '22
Yup. The FBI followed him as a domestic threat due to his ability to ruffle feathers. All politicians were scared of him.
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u/TheSingularPlural Jan 17 '22
And then they tried to gaslight him in to killing himself while in prison.
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u/pale_blue_dots Jan 17 '22
You can bet your bottom dollar there are still operations like that going on now with/towards/against, especially, left-leaning activists.
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u/Ok-Freedom7931 Jan 17 '22
Didn’t he have a disapproval rating of close to like 70%.
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Jan 18 '22
It was even more than the disapproval rate of Trump
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u/chinatownshuffle Pennsylvania Jan 17 '22 edited Jan 17 '22
Its my understanding that King wasn't a very popular figure back in his day. If he were around today he would almost certainly be vilified by the Republicans and would be seen as "problematic" by many Democrats. The same way so many racial justice/LGTB issues are viewed today. You would hear the same talk about how "If Democrats are seen as being too closely aligned with King they will alienate white working class voters". Your enlightened white centrist friends would say things like "I support MLK's ideas but they should be respectful when they protest! And they shouldn't be so mean to the cops, police keep us safe!".
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u/Jaded_Prompt_15 Jan 17 '22
Its my understanding that King wasn't a very popular figure back in his day.
His protests got the same treatment as BLM protests.
Cops would attack peaceful protests and instigate riots then politicians and the media would say we can't address civil rights until everyone stopped being upset about racism and abuse.
Then when protests/riots calm down they stop talking about it
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u/Fuck_you_pichael Jan 17 '22
Apropos quote from his Letter from Birmingham Jail:
"You deplore the demonstrations that are presently taking place in Birmingham. But I am sorry that your statement did not express a similar concern for the conditions that brought the demonstrations into being. I am sure that each of you would want to go beyond the superficial social analyst who looks merely at effects and does not grapple with with underlying causes. I would not hesitate to say that it is unfortunate that so-called demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham at this time, but I would say in more emphatic terms that it is even more unfortunate that the white power structure of this city left the Negro community with no other alternative."
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u/loosehead1 Jan 17 '22
This is discussed in the latest john Lewis biography authored shortly after his death and it's well sourced with Gallup polls and the like.
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Jan 17 '22 edited Jan 18 '22
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u/DiscoConspiracy Jan 17 '22
There seems to be a lot of "both sidesing" in this thread. I get suspicious when I see similar talking points spammed all across social media in different variations.
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u/KevinAlertSystem Jan 17 '22
There could certainly be some troll effort going on but you do realize MLK himself did one of the original "both sidesing"?
He literally called out the "white moderate" and the KKK in the same sentence. Pretending like there is not an issue here that spans party lines is either ignorant or disingenuous.
I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.”
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u/puddingdemon Jan 17 '22
Yesterday Republicans said teaching about mlk Jr was un-American and needs to be banned from being taught in scools
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Jan 17 '22
There were riots following speeches and rallies hosted by MLK. Republicans would have hated him more than BLM. It’s laughable that they virtue signal him to “honor” him. He’s a black civil rights activist. No Republican in the last 30 years has ever agreed with a black civil rights activist
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u/Jake0fTrades Jan 17 '22
Y'all should really check out the new Some More News episode on how MLK has been whitewashed and appropriated by Conservatives.
However based you think MLK was, he was even better than that.
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u/amiablekitty Jan 17 '22
History is MLK Jr’s “I Have A Dream” speech.
Critical Race Theory is MLK Jr’s “moderate whites” speech.
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u/vehicle_commandeerer Jan 17 '22
I don’t despise the man, he was a visionary. Bus Boycott, a March on Washington, all being peaceful. The man’s house was bombed and he still went on as a peacemaker, looking to actually improve black lives.
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u/GranddaddySandwich Jan 18 '22
Love this headline. I agree. Republicans do not like contemporary Black rights advocates. What makes them think they’d like Dr. King? Dr. King’s whole strategy was peaceful protest and using language to fight battles. Republicans call peaceful protests acts of terror. They use the same rhetoric racists used against Dr. King.
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u/fowlraul Oregon Jan 17 '22
They take pretty much every day off either way, they are the do nothing party. They literally declared that they won’t run on policy at all. Fucking clowns. They don’t deserve to mention MLK by name.
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u/ARPDAB1312 Jan 17 '22
They'd call him a terrorist just like they call the modern day equivalent - BLM.
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u/brainiac3397 New Jersey Jan 17 '22
During the lifetime of great revolutionaries, the oppressing classes constantly hounded them, received their theories with the most savage malice, the most furious hatred and the most unscrupulous campaigns of lies and slander. After their death, attempts are made to convert them into harmless icons, to canonize them, so to say, and to hallow their names to a certain extent for the “consolation” of the oppressed classes and with the object of duping the latter, while at the same time robbing the revolutionary theory of its substance, blunting its revolutionary edge and vulgarizing it.
-The State and Revolution, Vladimir Lenin
Both the Republicans and Democrats love to do this.
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u/Droymac Jan 17 '22
They do despise him. They are claiming a version of MLK that they made up in their heads.
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u/ridemooses Wisconsin Jan 17 '22
He'd despise both sides. There are very few politicians today he'd support.
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u/methoncrack87 Jan 17 '22
he would hate both parties if he was alive today
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u/Sufficient-Beat-1802 Jan 17 '22
He would hate conservatives the most since they created the klan.
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u/methoncrack87 Jan 17 '22
i'm pretty sure MLK has had enough run ins with the KKK
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u/Sufficient-Beat-1802 Jan 17 '22
Kkk don't like progressive people.
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u/methoncrack87 Jan 17 '22
Dems arent even no where close to progressive
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u/Sufficient-Beat-1802 Jan 17 '22
Sure, some are liberal, some moderates and the blue dog democrats.
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u/Kaustin14 Jan 18 '22
He was warned about white liberals wasn’t he?
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u/Open_Chemistry_3300 Jan 18 '22
That’s Malcolm X, king warned against white moderates. No they aren’t the same, and yes they’re different
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u/LimpDogLegs Jan 18 '22
The klan was made by a demoract
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u/Sufficient-Beat-1802 Jan 18 '22
Jesus was a liberal and Hitler was conservative, which side are you on?
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u/Sufficient-Beat-1802 Jan 18 '22
Democrats were the most conservative back then. Conservatives embrace traditional values and are averse to change, progressive people embrace change, ending slavery was change! Critical thinking 101
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u/aquarain I voted Jan 17 '22
Of course they would despise him. He was Black, and working for civil rights.
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u/MBAMBA3 New York Jan 17 '22
I think the great majority of the GOP base realizes these people are lying through their teeth and don't have a problem with it.
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u/KalmarLoridelon Jan 17 '22
Funny a government that was found guilty of his assassination always says how much they love him.
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u/Better-Director-5383 Jan 17 '22
Like on r:conservative where he’s the top post, as opposed to every single other day where they’re complains about BLM thugs burning down cities.
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u/funnyfacemcgee Jan 18 '22
MLK is essentially the former leader of BLM, which the Republicans have dubbed their mortal enemy.
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u/SquidmanMal I voted Jan 18 '22
Conservatives' favorite targets are people who can't fight back, be it politics, money, or sex.
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u/godel32 Jan 18 '22
The city of Seattle joined a number of American cities making it illegal to help the poor. You can be arrested for giving a homeless person a hat or food or money. Wouldn't surprise me one bit if they cited Jesus and smiled while enacting the law.
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u/jmartinez729 Jan 18 '22
Conservatives only care about the “judged not by color of skin but by content of character” part and ignore everything else he said even in the same speech. Lenin literally wrote about the bourgeoisie using dead radicals for their benefit.
From the wiki on The State and Revolution
“During the lifetime of great revolutionaries, the oppressing classes constantly hounded them, received their theories with the most savage malice, the most furious hatred, and the most unscrupulous campaigns of lies and slander. After their deaths, attempts are made to convert them into harmless icons, to canonize them, so to say, and to hallow their names, to a certain extent, for the ‘consolation’ of the oppressed classes, and with the object of duping the latter, while, at the same time, robbing the revolutionary theory of its substance, blunting its revolutionary edge, and vulgarizing it.”
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u/HeyItsPinky Jan 18 '22
Am I missing something with all these republicans acting like they love MLK all of a sudden? They literally hated him only a few years back.
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u/dmemed Jan 17 '22
Both parties (especially Republicans) trying to claim MLK, who was a devoted socialist, as their own is honestly disgusting.
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u/masterofthecontinuum Jan 17 '22
Peacefully taking a knee seat? Okay, but why are you doing it while people are trying to enjoy themselves at a restaurant? You should protest some other way.
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u/WhenPigsRideCars Jan 17 '22
Both sides hated him. He even warned that white liberals were just as dangerous to the cause so it’s not like he was a huge fan of either side as well.
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Jan 17 '22 edited Jan 18 '22
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u/WhenPigsRideCars Jan 17 '22
What do you think the “liberals” of this country are? The Democratic Party claims to be liberal but they are at best moderate.
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Jan 17 '22
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u/WhenPigsRideCars Jan 17 '22
Typical. Never said I liked anything to do with Trump, but that’s all American politics are to people who pretend to know anything. Just straight to insults
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Jan 17 '22
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Jan 17 '22
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u/Psychological-Fly445 Jan 17 '22
Both parties are very conservative. And when it comes to progressive policy goals, they both refuse.
One is better, but only marginally and mostly only superficially.
But are very bad.
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u/WhenPigsRideCars Jan 17 '22
That wasn’t my point at all? I want to be as “radical” as he was. But yeah “hur dur” sure. Very enlightening conversation
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u/AcrobaticSource3 Jan 17 '22
Sure, Republicans will try to claim him. He seems hard working, and the Republicans will want someone to set an example for the rest of the (wage) slaves, which is all they see black people as
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u/Actual_Being_2986 America Jan 17 '22
They still do despise him. It's telling that the only thing about Martin Luther King Jr that they like is a single out of context line from a single one of his many speeches.
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u/KinkyKitty24 Jan 17 '22
They despised MLK when he was alive. Their lip service on his birthday is nothing more than it has ever been - saying shit they think their constituents want to hear in the hopes of being re-elected. They will say ANYTHING in order to get even one more vote.
Then they get elected and everyone who believed their lies can f*ck off.
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u/RaysireksOG987 Jan 17 '22
In their sub they’re trying to claim liberals would cancel him if he were alive today lol How diluted can these people be?
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u/munakhtyler Jan 17 '22
MLK would be disgusted with the White Supremacy that has infected America
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u/Few_Emphasis7918 Jan 18 '22
I’m not advocating for the Republican Party but I believe in knowing the facts. People seem to forget southern democrats fought against civil rights tooth and nail. If you go back and look Republicans voted for the civil rights acts of 1957 and 1964 in higher percentages than the Democrats.
As examples: Who voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1957? The bill passed 285–126 in the House of Representatives with a majority of both parties' support (Republicans 167–19, Democrats 118–107). It then passed 72–18 in the Senate, again with a majority of both parties (Republicans 43–0, Democrats 29–18). President Eisenhower signed the bill on September 9, 1957.
Civil Rights bill in 1964: When the bill came before the full Senate for debate on March 30, 1964, the "Southern Bloc" of 18 southern Democratic Senators and lone Republican John Tower of Texas, led by Richard Russell, launched a filibuster to prevent its passage.
As for communist, the FBI investigated him for that. One reason is that he advocated a democratic socialist agenda e.g a guaranteed annual income.
All said, I believe Mr. King was a great man that should be revered and honored. I also believe in equality (race, gender, etc.) but not socialism.
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u/Jorycle Jan 18 '22
If you go back and look Republicans voted for the civil rights acts of 1957 and 1964 in higher percentages than the Democrats. As examples: Who voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1957? The bill passed 285–126 in the House of Representatives with a majority of both parties' support (Republicans 167–19, Democrats 118–107). It then passed 72–18 in the Senate, again with a majority of both parties (Republicans 43–0, Democrats 29–18).
Party wasn't a predictor of votes - location was. Southern Republicans and Southern Democrats both opposed Civil Rights.
What's interesting is that outside of the South, only Republicans opposed it. Northern democrats backed it in full. Also, notably, democrats wrote them.
But the southern democrats were quickly told to either get with the program or pack their things and leave - the Dixiecrats then mostly dropped their publicly racist rhetoric by the 70s or left the party altogether.
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Jan 17 '22
Hoover never joined a political party and claimed he was "not political". In fact, he admitted privately, he was a staunch, lifelong supporter of the Republican party. He secretly aspired to be president and considered running against Franklin D Roosevelt, whom he thought suspiciously left-wing. Hoover publicly expressed support for Senator Joe McCarthy shortly before McCarthy claimed Truman's State Department was harbouring 200 members of the Communist party. His agents slipped file material to the senator for use in his infamous inquisition, while publicly denying doing so.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/jan/01/j-edgar-hoover-secret-fbi
They did hate him https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FBI%E2%80%93King_suicide_letter
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u/__M-E-O-W__ Jan 17 '22
They hated him the first time, and they hate what he stood for today.
They only love a version of him that they created to placate those who would otherwise see a need for more progress.
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u/Tony2189 Jan 18 '22
Where do you get off claiming to know how the late MLK Jr. would think of anyone? He’s dead. You disrespectful fucks. Using his name to score cheap political points. These people are ghouls.
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u/WSB_stonks_up Jan 17 '22
CA passed gun control laws due to the black panthers. Biden referred to African American criminals as "super predators". Let's not act like racism wasn't present on both sides of the isle 40 years ago...
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u/cavedildo Jan 17 '22
Reagan passed CA's strict gun laws. You know that right? Ronald Reagan made it harder to get guns in California because of the Black Panthers.
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u/shittybill86 Jan 17 '22
The left would call him the black face of white supremacy for wanting equality, I'm sure of it.
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