“A TRAVESTY”
by Paul R. Hollrah, ©2013
(Sep. 2, 2013) — An open letter to Congressman John Lewis, Democrat of the 5th District of Georgia.
Dear Congressman Lewis:
The best that can be said for the 50th anniversary celebration of Martin Luther King’s 1963 March on Washington is that it was a travesty.
As one of the few living individuals who stood with Martin Luther King, Jr. in the 1963 March on Washington, you have been in a position to do much for your people. But what is so sad and so disappointing is that you and others… Rev. Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Julian Bond… have turned your backs on almost everything Dr. King stood for.
I address this message to you because, of all the black leaders in the liberal/Democrat camp, you appear to be the only person who has maintained a measure of integrity. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are race hustlers; they’re in the business of selling victimhood for the money… nothing more. And Julian Bond? Bond was an embittered old man when he was young, consumed by racist passion. James Clyburn, John Conyers, Elijah Cummins, Keith Ellison, Hank Johnson, Maxine Waters, Sheila Jackson Lee, Charlie Rangel, and Bobby Rush, among others, are proof of nothing more than that fools have a right to be represented in Congress just like everyone else.
It is truly sad. Although my great-grandfather emigrated to a slave state in the mid 19th century, he was adamantly anti-slavery. He served as a lieutenant colonel in the Union Army during the Civil War. In fact, members of my family, of whatever generation, have always been dedicated to the proposition that “all men are created equal.”
From its beginnings, the Democratic Party has always been the party of Slavery, Secession, and Segregation. It was that way before, during, and after the Civil War, and it’s still that way today. Democrats created the KKK as a paramilitary arm of the party in 1866 because they needed a way to keep black people “in their place,” and they have you exactly where they want you today.
It appears that nearly every black leader to step forward after Dr. King was assassinated has been a “Judas goat,” leading black people into a political party with an unbroken record of anti-black bigotry. I cannot imagine sharing a political party with members of the KKK, but it appears that today’s Democrats… whether black, white, or Hispanic… have no problem with that. Until recent years, you had a President Pro Tem of the U.S. Senate who was a former Grand Kleagle of the Klan.
Among contemporary Democratic leaders, Lyndon Johnson was typical. In his book, Inside the White House, Ronald Kessler quotes LBJ as saying, “These Negroes, they’re getting pretty uppity these days and that’s a problem for us since they’ve got something now they never had before, the political pull to back up their uppityness. Now we’ve got to do something about this, we’ve got to give them a little something, just enough to quiet them down, not enough to make a difference.”
In a discussion of Great Society programs aboard Air Force One, Johnson is also quoted as telling two Democratic governors, I’ll have those n_ _ _ ers voting Democratic for the next 200 years.” And he was right. LBJ laid out a big free lunch and the self-appointed black leaders led their people right into the Democrats’ dining room… where they’ve remained ever since.
Clearly, Johnson knew what he was talking about. He knew how easily the votes of black people could be bought, in spite of the fact that in the twenty-six most important civil rights votes in Congress since Roosevelt came to power in 1933, a majority of Democrats opposed civil rights legislation in over 80 percent of the votes, while a majority of Republicans voted in favor of civil rights legislation in over 96 percent of the votes.
So when do black Americans begin to show their appreciation for the hundreds of thousands of Republicans who gave their lives in the war to set their forefathers free? And when do you and other black leaders give public recognition to the fact that it was Republicans who wrote and sponsored the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments… outlawing slavery and giving black people citizenship and voting rights… and all of the post-Civil War civil rights legislation?
On the 50th anniversary of MLK’s famous “I Have A Dream” speech, Barack Obama charged that a full century after the Civil War… fought by Republican abolitionists against Democrat slave masters… black men and women still did not have the rights and freedoms they were entitled to in 1963.
If there is any truth to Obama’s assertion, have you ever stopped to consider why that might be the case? Everyone who has studied American history is fully aware that Democrats spent an entire century doing everything in their power… legal and illegal, moral and immoral, violent and non-violent… to prevent black men and women from enjoying those rights. Yet, after Republican Martin Luther King, Jr. led the way; after nearly a century of Republican civil rights legislation; after more than a century of atrocities carried out by Democrats clad in white robes, you and your liberal colleagues led your people blindly into a new kind of slavery.
I remember very well the early days of the civil rights movement. I was a teenager when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Birmingham bus. I was a 20-year-old soldier, stationed overseas, when the Brown v. Board of Education decision was handed down, and I was an engineering student, working my way through college, when the Freedom Riders took the civil rights movement directly to the Democratic oppressors.
I remember thinking then about all the things black parents would have to do to guide their children toward a full realization of the American Dream. With all of the new opportunities open to them, it was important that black children do their homework every night; that they be in school, on time, every day; that they respect their teachers and pay attention in class; and that they be on their best behavior. Then, when they were finished with their schooling, it was important that they find jobs; that they arrive at work every day, on time, properly dressed and groomed; and that they give their employers at least eight hours of their best efforts in exchange for eight hours’ pay.
It was those simple and straightforward rules of behavior that have always been the keys to the American Dream. But we all know that’s not what happened. When Democrats found that their welfare programs had become a way of life for many minority families, they decided that the taxpayers might find it improper for families to be receiving welfare checks with able-bodied men living in the household, so they wrote rules forcing husbands and fathers out of their homes.
As a result, the black family structure has been destroyed, black-on-black crime has become endemic, our prisons are filled with young black men, and nearly 75% of black babies are born out of wedlock. You can thank your fellow Democrats for that sad state of affairs.
On Wednesday, August 28, you and your congressional colleagues, along with many thousands of your black brothers and sisters, participated in a charade on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Republicans, the descendants of those who set your people free and who were the authors of your civil rights, were few and far between. They apparently were not welcome.
Instead, you and the other blacks present threw your arms around men such as Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, men just one generation removed from those who participated in the wanton murder of thousands of black people… men, women, and children. I couldn’t help but think how it must have felt, knowing that the white Democrats who stood next to you, so hypocritically celebrating the life of Martin Luther King, Jr., were the direct descendants of those who fought for slavery, secession, and segregation, and who authored the Jim Crow laws and the Black Codes.
Mr. Lewis, there is a job vacancy in our country… a job that has been vacant since the day that a lifelong Democrat assassinated Martin Luther King, Jr… and all it will take to earn that mantle is for one black man of national stature to do what Louisiana State Senator Elbert Guillory did justthree months ago. He turned his back on the party of Bull Connor, George Wallace, and Lester Maddox, confessed the error of his ways, and pledged his allegiance to the Republican Party.
Just look around you. Make an honest assessment of what has happened to the advancement of black people in the years since white Democrats hijacked the civil rights movement and you’ll be forced to admit that conditions have not improved a great deal, in spite of the $3 trillion to $4 trillion spent on social welfare programs for minorities. Yes, you’ve helped elect thousands of white Democrats to public office, but at what cost?
Mr. Lewis, I believe you’re a good man at heart, a decent man. But in the years since you stood at the side of Martin Luther King, Jr. you have helped to lead your people down the road toward social and economic serfdom. However, all is not lost. There is still time for atonement. All you need is the courage to make a public confession of error, as Senator Guillory has done, and to lead your people in a new direction. He sets the example. I hope you can find the courage to follow his lead.