Showing posts with label Martin Luther King Jr.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Martin Luther King Jr.. Show all posts

Monday, January 16, 2017

"I have a dream": Today we honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. #MLKDay
















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Did you know...
◼ The Republican Party - the party of Abraham Lincoln - was borne in 1854 out of opposition to slavery.

◼ The party of Jim Crow and the Ku Klux Klan was, as Jeffrey Lord points out in an article at the WSJ, the Democratic Party.

◼ The 13th (abolishing slavery), 14th (due process for all citizens) and 15th (voting rights cannot be restricted on the basis of race) Amendments to the Constitution were enacted by Republicans over Democratic opposition.

◼ The NAACP was founded in 1909 by three white Republicans* who opposed the racist practices of the Democratic Party and the lynching of blacks by Democrats.

◼ In fairness, it was the Democrat Harry Truman who, by Executive Order 9981 issued in 1948, desegregated the military. That was a truly major development. Yet - the military has been the single greatest driving force of integration in this land for over half a century.

◼ It was Chief Justice Earl Warren, a former Republican Governor of California appointed to the Supreme Court by President Eisenhower, also a Republican, who managed to convince the other eight justices to agree to a unanimous decision in the seminal case of Brown v. Board of Education. That case was brought by the NAACP. The Court held segregation in schools unconstitutional. The fact that it was a unanimous decision that overturned precedent made it clear that no aspect of segregation would henceforth be considered constitutional.

◼ Republican President Ike Eisenhower played additional important roles in furthering equality in America. He "proposed to Congress the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960 and signed those acts into law. . . . They constituted the first significant civil rights acts since the 1870s." Moreover, when the Democratic Governor of Arkansas refused to integrate schools in what became known as the "Little Rock Nine" incident, "Eisenhower placed the Arkansas National Guard under Federal control and sent Army troops to escort nine black students into an all-white public school."

◼ The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was championed by JFK - but it was passed with massive Republican support over 80%) in Congress and over fierce opposition from Democrats who made repeated attempts at filibuster. Indeed, 80% of the vote opposing the Civil Rights Act came from Democrats.( Women were added to the Act as a protected class by a Democrat who thought it would be a poison pill, killing the legislation. To the contrary, the Congress passed the Act without any attempt to remove the provision....

◼ Martin Luther King Jr. was the most well known and pivotal Civil Rights activist ever produced in America. His most famous speech, "I Had A Dream," was an eloquent and stirring call for equality. You can find it here. Rev. King was, by the way, a Republican.

◼ h/t, and credit to: Wolfhowling, who compiled this wonderful collection of links: Standing At The Crossroads - Identity Politics, Multiculturalism & The Melting Pot (Updated & Bumped)
◼ article in WSJ
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Monday, January 16 is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is a United States federal holiday marking the birthday of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It is observed on the third Monday of January each year, which is around the time of King's birthday, January 15.

* To advance civil rights for blacks, Republicans started the NAACP on February 12, 1909, the 100th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln. The first black head of the NAACP was black Republican James Weldon Johnson who became general secretary in 1920 and wrote the lyrics to the song "Lift Every Voice and Sing". Republicans also founded the HBCU's (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) because Democrats were trying to prevent blacks from getting a good education.

◼ To Celebrate Black History Month, Congressman West took to the House Floor with a remarkable speech on the relationship between African-Americans and the Republican party - MUST WATCH.
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Monday, January 18, 2016

Honoring Martin Luther King Jr.





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Sunday, February 15, 2015

(N)either Kennedy brother was genuinely sympathetic to their cause, concerned as they were with losing the support of white southern Democrats in ’64.

◼ Secret tapes reveal JFK’s duplicity in Cold War, civil rights - Larry Getlen/NY Post

...Based on recently uncovered, secret tape recordings Kennedy made in the White House — including of the Eisenhower call above — plus declassified documents, Sloyan says that Kennedy was deceitful about some of his most important accomplishments and positions due to his desire to win re-election in 1964....
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Monday, January 19, 2015

The truth is, the GOP has always championed human freedom:



◼ Why Martin Luther King Was Republican - Human Events

It should come as no surprise that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Republican. In that era, almost all black Americans were Republicans. Why? From its founding in 1854 as the anti-slavery party until today, the Republican Party has championed freedom and civil rights for blacks. And as one pundit so succinctly stated, the Democrat Party is as it always has been, the party of the four S’s: slavery, secession, segregation and now socialism.

It was the Democrats who fought to keep blacks in slavery and passed the discriminatory Black Codes and Jim Crow laws. The Democrats started the Ku Klux Klan to lynch and terrorize blacks. The Democrats fought to prevent the passage of every civil rights law beginning with the civil rights laws of the 1860s, and continuing with the civil rights laws of the 1950s and 1960s....

Given the circumstances of that era, it is understandable why Dr. King was a Republican. It was the Republicans who fought to free blacks from slavery and amended the Constitution to grant blacks freedom (13th Amendment), citizenship (14th Amendment) and the right to vote (15th Amendment). Republicans passed the civil rights laws of the 1860s, including the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the Reconstruction Act of 1867 that was designed to establish a new government system in the Democrat-controlled South, one that was fair to blacks. Republicans also started the NAACP and affirmative action with Republican President Richard Nixon’s 1969 Philadelphia Plan (crafted by black Republican Art Fletcher) that set the nation’s fist goals and timetables. Although affirmative action now has been turned by the Democrats into an unfair quota system, affirmative action was begun by Nixon to counter the harm caused to blacks when Democrat President Woodrow Wilson in 1912 kicked all of the blacks out of federal government jobs.

Few black Americans know that it was Republicans who founded the Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Unknown also is the fact that Republican Sen. Everett Dirksen from Illinois was key to the passage of civil rights legislation in 1957, 1960, 1964 and 1965. Not mentioned in recent media stories about extension of the 1965 Voting Rights Act is the fact that Dirksen wrote the language for the bill. Dirksen also crafted the language for the Civil Rights Act of 1968 which prohibited discrimination in housing. President Lyndon Johnson could not have achieved passage of civil rights legislation without the support of Republicans.... KEEP READING

◼ GOP History
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Thursday, February 6, 2014

Dr. Alveda King: Pelosi Deserves Her Planned Parenthood Award

◼ It's true that Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi deserves Planned Parenthood's Margaret Sanger Award - almost no one has done more to promote the killing of innocent babies in the womb than she has. - Dr. Alveda King/CNS News

If Mrs. Pelosi wants finally to take her role as a public servant seriously, though, she will reject the award named after a racist woman who had no problem speaking to a Ku Klux Klan meeting....
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Monday, January 20, 2014

Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King’s Dream


My favorite line from that speech is when Dr. King declared the dream he had for his children: “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 do not believe Dr. King was asking for a handout. Rather, his message was a demand that government recognize the fundamental rights of people everywhere—namely, “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Dr. King wanted freedom, and I don’t believe he ever intended for any of us, whether black, white, or any other color or group, to receive special status in society. -- ◼ Mia Love, running to represent Utah’s 4th congressional district in Congress.
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Dr. Ben Carson Says More About MLK Day With 25 Words Than the Huffington Post Says With 800




◼ Nailed it! A lot of other people thought so, too, tweeting sentiments like “Amen!” and “Exactly” in response - Emily Hulsey/IJ Review

It’s a day to recognize how far we’ve come thanks to Dr. King’s service, to realize what kind of nation we want to be in the future, and to remind ourselves what it will take to get there. To me, Dr. Carson’s tweet accomplishes that.

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, everyone!

◼ Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday
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'In honor of MLK': Sarah Palin asks Obama to stop playing race card; Cue massive outrage

◼ What The President Said About Racism Being Responsible For His Failed Policies Is Really, Really Sad - IJ Review

President Obama has taken a big hit to his approval ratings after being awarded Politifact’s “Lie of the Year” for misleading Americans on “keeping your plan” under ObamaCare. But now he’s pulling a familiar card. You got it – the race card.

In an interview with The New Yorker, Obama addressed his falling job-approval ratings:
“There’s no doubt that there’s some folks who just really dislike me because they don’t like the idea of a black President.”
Obama has always been more popular than his policies; that is, until recently. He was elected – and reelected – with support from millions of white Americans. The majority of (white) Americans did give him the benefit of the doubt - many of them, precisely because he was America’s first black president, but his policies and results have proved otherwise.

I’m going to go out on a limb, here, and suggest that none of the above has anything to do with the color of Obama’s skin – nor that of any of the other people to whom I referred. It does, however, have everything to do with their respective policies, proposals, ideology and track records. Think about it, America.

◼ ‘In honor of MLK’: Sarah Palin asks Obama to stop playing race card; Cue massive outrage - Twitchy



The full message from Sarah Palin’s Facebook post:

Happy MLK, Jr. Day!

“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.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Mr. President, in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. and all who commit to ending any racial divide, no more playing the race card.

You probably guessed what happened next. Here’s just a sampling:








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This kind of hate is nothing new:























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His monumental accomplishments came from something much deeper than we usually hear about.


◼ How MLK's Faith Influenced His Public Life - Heritage

Across the country today, speakers will honor the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. They will likely quote the resounding “I Have a Dream” speech and the stirring “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”

But what made it possible for King to accomplish so much? Let’s go deeper into the origins of his belief that men and women of all races are born to the same rights and freedoms.

◼ Martin Luther King Tribute: "Be the Best of whatever you are" - Wayne Dupree/NewsNinja
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Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Today is the 85th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr's birth, Happy Birthday, Dr. King.

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Thursday, August 29, 2013

Only Black Senator Not Invited to MLK Event Because He's Republican?

◼ Sen. Tim Scott wasn’t invited to event commemorating MLK march on Washington - Joel Gehrke/Washington Examiner @joelmentum

Sen. Tim Scott, R.-S.C., the only African American serving in the United States Senate, wasn’t invited to the event commemorating the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s march on Washington, though a host of Democratic luminaries spoke on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

The event organizers didn't completely exclude Republicans from the event — former President George W. Bush, for instance, received an invitation, but he couldn't attend as he is recovering from surgery — but the slate of speakers was filled with names such as former President Clinton, Gov. Martin O'Malley, D-Md., Oprah Winfrey, Jamie Foxx and others.

President Obama was the keynote speaker of the event, of course, which is held in honor of the achievements of Dr. King and other civil rights leaders. Wouldn't it have made sense to have the first black president joined by the first black senator from South Carolina, which was a Jim Crow state when the original march on Washington took place?

◼ O’Reilly on MLK Anniversary Speeches: ‘Uplifting’ but ‘Grievance-Mongering’ Won’t Advance Civil Rights - Mediaite

◼ Clean living, pure thought, and high aspirations - John Hayward/RedState @Doc_o

It has been sad, but predictable, to watch a parade of leftist hacks draft the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. into service this week, to promote some bit of Democrat Party dogma or other. Impeached former President Bill Clinton took the cake by uncorking a bizarre finger-wagging rant that was presumably intended to slam voter-ID laws by comparing them to the process of purchasing an assault weapon. Since Clinton is a lazy ideologue who assumes his audience is filled with idiots, he didn’t put a lot of thought behind his words, and ended up saying something that could be interpreted as a call for photo ID, background checks, and a waiting period before allowing voter registration....

Black conservatives were distinctly unwelcome at the MLK celebration today... That’s too bad, because I’ve seen no better discussion of what Dr. King might be saying today than the one offered by Dr. Ben Carson. #MLK #MarchOnWashington
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Wednesday, August 28, 2013

10 fascinating facts about the “I Have A Dream” speech

"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."

◼ The speech was delivered to an estimated 250,000 people who came to Washington, D.C., to march for civil rights. And they weren’t disappointed by the iconic event. 10 fascinating facts... - Yahoo
◼ Why You Won't See Or Hear Much of Speech Today... - Josh Schiller/Washington Post
◼ MLK would be alarmed by black-on-black violence, lack of family values - Dr. Ben Carson/Washington Times
◼ MLK III BEMOANS 'STAGGERING' JOBLESSNESS AMONG BLACKS... - AP via Drudge
◼ At RNC event, speaker says African Americans have taken a back seat to gays, immigrants - Washington Post

“Everybody has come in front of them on the bus — gays, immigrants, women, environmentalists,” Woodson said. “You never hear any talk about the conditions confronting poor blacks and poor people in general.”

◼ 22 Racially Divisive Comments by Democrats & Left-Wingers This Year - IJ Review

◼ REMINDER: The Republican Party was born in the early 1850's by anti-slavery activists

It all started with people who opposed slavery. They were common, everyday people who bristled at the notion that men had any right to oppress their fellow man. In the early 1850’s, these anti-slavery activists found commonality with rugged individuals looking to settle in western lands, free of government charges. “Free soil, free labor, free speech, free men,” went the slogan. And it was thus in joint opposition to human enslavement and government tyranny that an enterprising people gave birth to the Republican Party....

The Republican Party also played a leading role in securing women the right to vote. In 1896, the Republican Party was the first major political party to support women's suffrage. When the 19th Amendment finally was added to the Constitution, 26 of 36 state legislatures that had voted to ratify it were under Republican control. The first woman elected to Congress was a Republican, Jeanette Rankin from Montana in 1917. So it was by hardworking Republican hands that color and gender barriers were first demolished in America...
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Saturday, August 24, 2013

THOUSANDS DESCEND ON NATIONAL MALL TO COMMEMORATE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.’S ‘I HAVE A DREAM’ SPEECH

◼ Organizers of Saturday’s march hoped this year’s event would serve to inspire people again to educate themselves about issues they see as making up the modern civil rights struggle. - AP via The Blaze

Tens of thousands of people marched to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial and down the National Mall on Saturday, commemorating the 50th anniversary of his famous speech and pledging that his dream include equality for gays, Latinos, the poor and the disabled.

The event was an homage to a generation of activists that endured fire hoses, police abuses and indignities to demand equality for African Americans. But there was a strong theme of unfinished business.
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Saturday, August 3, 2013

Allen West: ‘The nature of conservatism
is that it sees no color’


◼ Allen West headed to Amsterdam Tuesday to embark on National Review’s conservative summer cruise, saying he owes his success as a “young black man” to the nature of his character. - Jessica Chasmar/Washington Times

“I was invited to be a guest speaker with a premier assembly of conservative thinkers,” the Republican wrote. “Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would be proud to know that a young black man born and raised in his same neighborhood rose based upon character. It is this equality of opportunity that is great about America … not President Obama’s phony rhetoric of inequality which is no more than equality of outcomes — social egalitarianism.”

...“I would hope William F. Buckley Jr. and Dr. King are smiling above as the embodiment of conservatism and the civil rights movement has come to fruition. The nature of conservatism is that it sees no color. The nature of liberal progressivism is that color is all it sees,” he concluded.

On Sunday, Mr. West wrote, “as conservatives, we don’t care about the color of your skin, we care about the color of our flag.”
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Thursday, July 18, 2013

EDITORIAL: Eric Holder, you’re no Martin Luther King

◼ The attorney general strikes a shameful pose - By THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Eric Holder, who gets more headlines than any other member of the president’s Cabinet, and usually for the wrong things, confuses celebrity with credibility. He imagines celebrity makes him a credible champion of civil rights. He’s fond of citing a man whom he seems to regard as his equal as a civil rights pioneer.

But some of us knew Martin Luther King, and Mr. Holder, you’re no Martin Luther King.

We know Mr. Holder, too, as the attorney general whose office declined to prosecute Black Panthers who attempted to intimidate white voters in Philadelphia, approved the intimidation of the Associated Press, presided over the most sweeping collection of information on private citizens in the nation’s history, and authorized the killing of an American citizen by drone attack, depriving him of his civil rights....
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Monday, January 21, 2013

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan 30 years ago this year.


◼ Remarks on Signing the Bill Making the Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., a National Holiday - webcitation.org.

The President. Mrs. King, members of the King family, distinguished Members of the Congress, ladies and gentlemen, honored guests, I'm very pleased to welcome you to the White House, the home that belongs to all of us, the American people.
When I was thinking of the contributions to our country of the man that we're honoring today, a passage attributed to the American poet John Greenleaf Whittier comes to mind. "Each crisis brings its word and deed." In America, in the fifties and sixties, one of the important crises we faced was racial discrimination. The man whose words and deeds in that crisis stirred our nation to the very depths of its soul was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King was born in 1929 in an America where, because of the color of their skin, nearly 1 in 10 lived lives that were separate and unequal. Most black Americans were taught in segregated schools. Across the country, too many could find only poor jobs, toiling for low wages. They were refused entry into hotels and restaurants, made to use separate facilities. In a nation that proclaimed liberty and justice for all, too many black Americans were living with neither.

In one city, a rule required all blacks to sit in the rear of public buses. But in 1955, when a brave woman named Rosa Parks was told to move to the back of the bus, she said, "No." A young minister in a local Baptist church, Martin Luther King, then organized a boycott of the bus company—a boycott that stunned the country. Within 6 months the courts had ruled the segregation of public transportation unconstitutional.

Dr. King had awakened something strong and true, a sense that true justice must be colorblind, and that among white and black Americans, as he put it, "Their destiny is tied up with our destiny, and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom; we cannot walk alone."

In the years after the bus boycott, Dr. King made equality of rights his life's work. Across the country, he organized boycotts, rallies, and marches. Often he was beaten, imprisoned, but he never stopped teaching nonviolence. "Work with the faith", he told his followers, "that unearned suffering is redemptive." In 1964 Dr. King became the youngest man in history to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Dr. King's work brought him to this city often. And in one sweltering August day in 1963, he addressed a quarter of a million people at the Lincoln Memorial. If American history grows from two centuries to twenty, his words that day will never be forgotten. "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."

In 1968 Martin Luther King was gunned down by a brutal assassin, his life cut short at the age of 39. But those 39 short years had changed America forever. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 had guaranteed all Americans equal use of public accommodations, equal access to programs financed by Federal funds, and the right to compete for employment on the sole basis of individual merit. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 had made certain that from then on black Americans would get to vote. But most important, there was not just a change of law; there was a change of heart. The conscience of America had been touched. Across the land, people had begun to treat each other not as blacks and whites, but as fellow Americans.

And since Dr. King's death, his father, the Reverend Martin Luther King, Sr., and his wife, Coretta King, have eloquently and forcefully carried on his work. Also his family have joined in that cause.

Now our nation has decided to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., by setting aside a day each year to remember him and the just cause he stood for. We've made historic strides since Rosa Parks refused to go to the back of the bus. As a democratic people, we can take pride in the knowledge that we Americans recognized a grave injustice and took action to correct it. And we should remember that in far too many countries, people like Dr. King never have the opportunity to speak out at all.

But traces of bigotry still mar America. So, each year on Martin Luther King Day, let us not only recall Dr. King, but rededicate ourselves to the Commandments he believed in and sought to live every day: Thou shall love thy God with all thy heart, and thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself. And I just have to believe that all of us—if all of us, young and old, Republicans and Democrats, do all we can to live up to those Commandments, then we will see the day when Dr. King's dream comes true, and in his words, "All of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning, '... land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.'"

Thank you, God bless you, and I will sign it.

Mrs. King. Thank you, Mr. President, Vice President Bush, Majority Leader Baker and the distinguished congressional and senatorial delegations, and other representatives who've gathered here, and friends.

All right-thinking people, all right-thinking Americans are joined in spirit with us this day as the highest recognition which this nation gives is bestowed upon Martin Luther King, Jr., one who also was the recipient of the highest recognition which the world bestows, the Nobel Peace Prize.

In his own life's example, he symbolized what was right about America, what was noblest and best, what human beings have pursued since the beginning of history. He loved unconditionally. He was in constant pursuit of truth, and when he discovered it, he embraced it. His nonviolent campaigns brought about redemption, reconciliation, and justice. He taught us that only peaceful means can bring about peaceful ends, that our goal was to create the love community.

America is a more democratic nation, a more just nation, a more peaceful nation because Martin Luther King, Jr., became her preeminent nonviolent commander.

Martin Luther King, Jr., and his spirit live within all of us. Thank God for the blessing of his life and his leadership and his commitment. What manner of man was this? May we make ourselves worthy to carry on his dream and create the love community. Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 11:06 a.m. in the Rose Garden at the White House.
As enacted, H.R. 3706 is Public Law 98-144, approved November 2.

Citation: John T. Woolley and Gerhard Peters, The American Presidency Project [online]. Santa Barbara, CA. Available from World Wide Web: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=40708.
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Monday, January 16, 2012

Morning Bell: Life-Changing Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

◼ The greatest tribute to the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., is not to name a street in his honor or celebrate a national holiday. It is to recognize and support those who are working to carry out his vision, those who empower those facing the greatest obstacles through personal relationships that restore the fabric of civil society—without the need for federal government intervention. - Robert L. Woodson Sr./Heritage Morning Bell
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On the Sunday before the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett visited Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta to give a political speech, in support of her boss (Barack Obama) and congressional Democrats

◼ Valerie Jarrett Blasts Republicans from the Pulpit - Daniel Halper/Weekly Standard

At the end of Sunday's sermon, after Jarrett had delivered her remarks to the congregation, the church held a voter registration drive.

◼ Praise Be: First Family Starting to Attend Church Again - Kate Hicks/TownHall

I hate to be a cynic, but there does seem to be something fortuitous about the timing. The Obamas have rarely spend Sundays worshipping since moving into the White House, but this one marks the third in a month where they have attended service -- just in time for election season.
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MLK Day 2012: The Civil Rights Movement, The Left & The Legacy of MLK



◼ Happy Martin Luther King Day - a day set aside to honor the most towering figure of our nation's civil right's movement begun in the 1930's. - Wolf Howling
◼ MLK Day Blog Round-up
◼ MLK Day proposal: Give the race card a rest - Michelle Malkin

◼ To Celebrate Black History Month, Congressman West took to the House Floor with a remarkable speech on the relationship between African-Americans and the Republican party - MUST WATCH.
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Sunday, January 15, 2012

Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday

Did you know...
◼ The Republican Party - the party of Abraham Lincoln - was borne in 1854 out of opposition to slavery.

◼ The party of Jim Crow and the Ku Klux Klan was, as Jeffrey Lord points out in an article at the WSJ, the Democratic Party.

◼ The 13th (abolishing slavery), 14th (due process for all citizens) and 15th (voting rights cannot be restricted on the basis of race) Amendments to the Constitution were enacted by Republicans over Democratic opposition.

◼ The NAACP was founded in 1909 by three white Republicans* who opposed the racist practices of the Democratic Party and the lynching of blacks by Democrats.

◼ In fairness, it was the Democrat Harry Truman who, by Executive Order 9981 issued in 1948, desegregated the military. That was a truly major development. Yet - the military has been the single greatest driving force of integration in this land for over half a century.

◼ It was Chief Justice Earl Warren, a former Republican Governor of California appointed to the Supreme Court by President Eisenhower, also a Republican, who managed to convince the other eight justices to agree to a unanimous decision in the seminal case of Brown v. Board of Education. That case was brought by the NAACP. The Court held segregation in schools unconstitutional. The fact that it was a unanimous decision that overturned precedent made it clear that no aspect of segregation would henceforth be considered constitutional.

◼ Republican President Ike Eisenhower played additional important roles in furthering equality in America. He "proposed to Congress the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960 and signed those acts into law. . . . They constituted the first significant civil rights acts since the 1870s." Moreover, when the Democratic Governor of Arkansas refused to integrate schools in what became known as the "Little Rock Nine" incident, "Eisenhower placed the Arkansas National Guard under Federal control and sent Army troops to escort nine black students into an all-white public school."

◼ The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was championed by JFK - but it was passed with massive Republican support over 80%) in Congress and over fierce opposition from Democrats who made repeated attempts at filibuster. Indeed, 80% of the vote opposing the Civil Rights Act came from Democrats.( Women were added to the Act as a protected class by a Democrat who thought it would be a poison pill, killing the legislation. To the contrary, the Congress passed the Act without any attempt to remove the provision....

◼ Martin Luther King Jr. was the most well known and pivotal Civil Rights activist ever produced in America. His most famous speech, "I Had A Dream," was an eloquent and stirring call for equality. You can find it here. Rev. King was, by the way, a Republican.

◼ h/t, and credit to: Wolfhowling, who compiled this wonderful collection of links: Standing At The Crossroads - Identity Politics, Multiculturalism & The Melting Pot (Updated & Bumped)
◼ article in WSJ
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Monday, January 16 is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is a United States federal holiday marking the birthday of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It is observed on the third Monday of January each year, which is around the time of King's birthday, January 15.

* To advance civil rights for blacks, Republicans started the NAACP on February 12, 1909, the 100th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln. The first black head of the NAACP was black Republican James Weldon Johnson who became general secretary in 1920 and wrote the lyrics to the song "Lift Every Voice and Sing". Republicans also founded the HBCU's (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) because Democrats were trying to prevent blacks from getting a good education.

◼ To Celebrate Black History Month, Congressman West took to the House Floor with a remarkable speech on the relationship between African-Americans and the Republican party - MUST WATCH.
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