Many prominent Democratic politicians over the years such as President Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ) have been major supporters, participants and contributors to the Civil Rights movement. The Civil Rights movement in our country has a long and momentous history spanning from the mid-1950s to the late 1960s. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. played an instrumental role as the recognized African-American leader of the movement. Dr. King, Jr. operated by and believed in the doctrine of non-violent action.
He and the countless others that participated in the long struggle of the Civil Rights movement fought against the long history of government tyranny in the form of local Jim Crow laws in the South enacted soon after the Civil War era and countless other discriminatory laws and segregationist practices found across other parts of the country. Dr. King’s vision was inclusive and one that emphasized that we all live together unified as Americans no matter the color of our skin.
He was an advocate that every citizen should be freely entitled to all of the economic and political benefits that our country offers. Citizens of every color should be protected equally by the law guided by the rights meant to be granted to all by the U.S. Constitution. Overcoming impediments to voting by African Americans established by discriminatory laws prevalent in the American South were the often the primary objective of the movement.
The Selma to Montgomery, Alabama series of three marches highlighting racial injustice starting on March 7, 1965 and lasting for eighteen days were led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and a host of other Civil Rights leaders and a large number of non-violent activists along with many citizens of these local communities such as Amelia Boynton. It played a pivotal role in winning voting rights for African-Americans through the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
The attempted marches along a 54-mile highway named U.S. Route 80 running from Selma crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge to the Alabama State Capital in Montgomery were inspired by the shooting death of Deacon Jimmie Lee Jackson by an Alabama State Trooper during a peaceful march in nearby Marion, Alabama on February 18th. It was this murder that inspired the Selma marches.
On first march occurring March 7th, the unarmed 500 supporters were meet and violently attacked by a posse of State troopers and a local group of white armed organized civilians on the Edmund Pettus Bridge that provided a link between adjacent counties. They used billy clubs and tear gas to such an extreme that 17 marchers were hospitalized and 50 more were injured. The most dramatic image was the severe beating of one of the organizers Amelia Boynton to the point of leaving her unconscious on the bridge.
This event eventually became known as Bloody Sunday and it was captured by television images and the media and publicized to a world audience. Most dramatic was the image of Amelia Boynton lying wounded and unconscious on the bridge. It provided a devastating image of unrestrained hate and violent acts on display for the world to witness on television. The goal of the local officials in Alabama and the state and local power structure lead by then Governor George Wallace and Jim Clark, Sheriff of Dallas County was to maintain the status quo by any means possible.
The coverage by the media combined with the televised images of Bloody Sunday were powerful enough to prompt President Johnson into action to assist the movement and the marchers. LBJ became a strong supporter of Dr. King Jr’s. efforts. Bloody Sunday was followed on the night of March 9th after a second unsuccessful attempted march to Montgomery that day over the bridge, the beating death of civil rights activist and Unitarian Universalist minister from Boston James Reeb by a group of whites.
On March 15, in nationally televised address to the joint session of Congress President Johnson reacted by giving a speech supporting the right of every American to vote and moved forward to strongly support a bill that removed all obstacles and local laws that prevented equal voting rights. With the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which legally ended segregation in all public facilities and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, LBJ and his fellow Democrats in Congress stood for the protection and the extension of individual rights to all Americans regardless of color. During the speech, President borrowed Dr. King Jr.’s famous phrase “we shall overcome”.
Passage of the Voting Rights bill occurred on August 6, 1965 and was a major contributor to eliminating barriers to African-American voter registration and as LBJ was proud to proclaim, “a triumph for freedom as huge as any victory that has ever been won on the battlefield.” Quite often in the past, Democrats worked to protect or enhance the rights of groups of people that experienced severe historical disadvantages.
Judge Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination process starting on July 29, 2018 galvanized a contemporary posse of leading Democratic politicians, a line-up of Left-wing political operatives and the aligned Left-Wing Main Stream Media into a negative campaign of resistance personally targeting the nominee. The effort was on par with the destructive forces unleashed by Democrats in power locally in Alabama in 1965 during the Selma marches. Democratic Senators Dianne Feinstein, Mazie Hirono, Kamala Harris, Richard Blumenthal, Corey Booker and so many other allies associated with the recent effort to derail the Judge’s nomination by any means possible join the infamous ranks of Democratic Governor George Wallace with being on the wrong side of history. They are the new members of the American political hall of shame joining other disreputable figures such as former Senator Joseph McCarthy.
With the Democrats moving more politically Left, they have increasing exhibited dangerous signs of drifting towards totalitarianism. Their increased use of the numerous extreme tactics including utilizing the politics of personal destruction, demonstrating a distain for the rule of law and civility plus overlooking the presumption of innocence until proven guilty during the Kavanaugh Supreme Court nomination process should be a forewarning of our freedoms being threatened by an increasingly radical Democratic Party.
The Kavanaugh proceedings were televised and publicized to a world audience. Most dramatic was the image of Judge Kavanaugh pressing his case in the Senate confirmation hearings on the afternoon of September 27 obviously emotionally wounded and plainly outraged and frustrated by a series of last minute uncorroborated sexual assault allegations being used as a political weapon to undermine his nomination.
Overall, the actions by various Democratic leaders over the 91 days of the nomination process provided a devastating image of unrestrained hate and intentional and cynical deceit on display for the world to witness on television that has diminished the stature of our country. The Democrats did not succeed by a close margin in their ultimate objective of defeating his nomination in the final Senate confirmation vote, however, they intentionally divided us and utilized the dogma of Identity Politics in pursuit of political gain and power.
Only one Democrat, Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia who is in a close election race for his seat in November voted for his confirmation. The Senator never publicly expressed any public outrage about the unjust treatment of this highly qualified candidate for the Supreme Court – no Democrat politician has or ever will.
The Democrats have moved from hard core resistance to President Trump and his policies to a wider campaign of subversion of our country, our traditions and the rule of law. Once again, this November the American voter will decide what political path our country will take and what our future will look like.
The contrast between the policies, the vision and tactics of the two parties could not be more profound. An undecided voter should consider after this latest episode how much they value the blessings of freedom and the operation of the rule of law in America and if they want to see them under siege after the midterm elections by the Left.
The RightQuestions 