How Long can the Truth be Hidden? How Long? Not Long! Dr. Martin Luther King was a Republican!

The truth has a funny way of finally being brought to light. 

In a 2008 Associated Press story, King’s son and namesake Martin Luther King III said: "It is disingenuous to imply that my father was a Republican. He never endorsed any presidential candidate, and there is certainly no evidence that he ever even voted for a Republican." 

As I will show below, his statement is not true and not supported by historical facts.

In 1956, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rev. Ralph D. Abernathy voted for the Republican president, Dwight D. Eisenhower.  He later told Nixon of his vote during a public meeting in Ghana, where they were attending a presidential inauguration.  Also, Daddy King (father of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.) and nearly all of the most powerful preachers of the National Baptist Convention were life-long Republicans.

Dr. King’s niece, Alveda C. King, a founder of the group King for America, also verified, "My uncle, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., during his lifetime, was a Republican." It is easily verifiable that MLK subscribed to Republican values, such as freedom, self-reliance and liberty, and that most black voters before 1960 associated themselves with the Grand Old Party -- the Party of Lincoln -- that passed the 13th and 14th amendments to the Constitution ending slavery and guaranteeing equal rights in the 19th century.   

On June 23, 1958, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower invited Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., to the White House to discuss the progress he was making on Civil Rights. Other African American leaders in the meeting included Roy Wilkins, Lester Granger and A. Philip Randolf.

 Dr. Kenneth W. Goings, professor and past chairman of the Department of African American and African Studies at Ohio State University, said in an email message that King may have had to register as a Republican to vote in Alabama in the 1950s. Goings said: "Daddy King was a Republican as were most African Americans in the South until the early 1940s. But the combination of Dem. Party outreach and Republican Southern strategy meant that by the 1950s the South was well on the way to the split that is evident now. I’ve not seen any written evidence that MLK Jr. was a Republican, but if he registered to vote it would have been as a Republican in Alabama simply because the Dems. would not allow black voters." My Lord, Black Americans, wake up! "Dems would not allow black voters"?!

To show his appreciation to President Kennedy for releasing him from jail, Dr. King was strongly advised by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, that he should not align himself with the Republican Party.  Yet, he refused to align himself with the Democratic Party.  The fact of the matter is this, he had "very positive feelings" about Republican Richard Nixon in the late 1950s and "extremely positive feelings" about Republican Nelson Rockefeller, the New York governor who later served as vice president. Dr. King became "a very harsh critic" of Democratic President Lyndon Johnson over his escalation of the Vietnam War and "wouldn't necessarily have backed (Democratic presidential nominee) Hubert Humphrey in '68 had he (King) lived."

During my congressional campaign, I was pleased to see the responses from citizen voters in Memphis when asked if Dr. Martin Luther King was a Republican.  Very few black Americans showed surprise. I spoke to quite a number of people who understood history and knew the truth in their hearts concerning Dr. Martin Luther King’s convictions, for others, it was an education.

I believe in my heart that we can bring about liberty and prosperity, starting in Memphis and spreading throughout the nation, as we get back to the true message of Dr. King, which is that of freedom, liberty, and self-respect; and judging a person by their character, not by the color of their skin.  Dr. Martin Luther King fought, not just for civil rights for African Americans, but for social justice for all.  That's what keeps his mission compellingly alive. He understood that the Republican Party of Lincoln was the party of freedom, self-reliance and liberty. He did not come to Memphis to fight for the sanitation workers so that they could receive government handouts. He fought for their right to equal pay and dignity, which included fair treatment on their JOBS.

To whom did Dr. King make his appeals for freedom? He wrote a letter of thanks to  President Dwight Eisenhower for providing escorts and protection for the nine black students' entering Little Rock Central High School, an all-white public school, for the first time since the Reconstruction era, against the directives of Arkansas governor, Orval Faubus (D).  Numerous times, he contacted Senator Everett Dirksen (R-Ill.), who was a civil rights hero.  During his sixteen years in the House of Representatives, Dirksen voted for anti-poll-tax and anti-lynching measures, and ended a record-breaking Democrat- led filibuster, that had consumed fifty-seven working days, against the passage of the Civil Rights Bill. Dirksen stood for civil rights, in spite of receiving little support among Chicago’s black voters and he was picketed at his home by rights activists.

Martin Luther King, Jr. (left), Senator Everett Dirksen, R-Ill. (right), and John Lewis (far right) meet shortly before King's "I Have a Dream" speech during the March on Washington in August 1963.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Senator Everett Dirksen and freedom fighters from all over (which included blacks and whites), fought for liberty during the Civil Rights movement. Without their sacrifice, I feel as though it would have been difficult to obtain the type of life, or educational and employment opportunities that I have had. I'm not even sure if I'd be alive today, if it had not been for those heroic freedom fighters.

What Dr. King did not know was that history would be rewritten through slander, fear and flat out lies about what the Republican Party represents. In order to keep the lie alive, it became necessary to keep tension and separation going between the political parties. Therefore, just before every election, mind-control accusations of racism would start, which invoked an unnecessary fear of a return to slavery.  For example, VP Joe Biden, recently quoted, “‘gonna to put y’all back in chains.’ Quotes like that have worked for over 60 years in our Black American communities. What have we gotten for our loyalty?

I grew up in a family which hung two pictures on the wall. The first was of Jesus breaking bread with his twelve disciples at the ‘Last Supper.’ The other was that of Dr. Martin Luther King, flanked on both sides by our slain 37th President, John Fitzgerald Kennedy and his brother, Senator Robert Kennedy.  While in school, we were taught to say the president's full name, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, which demonstrated the respect our teachers gave to our 37th president. We would also start each morning by reading a scripture and afterwards, pledging allegiance to the flag, which reinforced what we learned at home concerning respect for religion and our country.  Those two pictures molded many young lives, mine included. They both said that Jesus, Dr. King, President Kennedy and Senator Robert Kennedy were to be our life models. The Kennedys represented the Democratic Party. At that time, the party was viewed differently. 

Dr. Martin Luther King spoke loud and often, in the final days of his life, about economic injustice, about poverty and freedom. But, he would be appalled at how his sacrifice has been twisted to shatter lives and destroy the incentive to reach one's full potential, since the government has come in, like a cancer, killing the cells of drive and self-determination, and replacing them with a life-long dependency on what is falsely seen as the "cure":  the government drugs of welfare, free phones, free healthcare and yes, food stamps.  

Dr.  King very wisely labeled the last act of his epic, but short life, the "Poor People's Campaign", because he understood that while racism was (and is) a great oppressive force in our land, freedom can be had as a result of a good education and hard work. Millions upon millions of Americans are habitually looking for employment only to experience more discouragement and desperation. Sadly, today, many people have not been taught how jobs are created and the fundamentals of economics. The current administration does not understand how powerful an unshackled free market is for job creation.  

I am in the poverty-class for now, and I have come from generations of poverty, dating back to American slavery in the 1800s. What I have, which they did not have, is an education. A chance to live in a country, which under normal circumstances would allow me to achieve riches, through hard work and integrity.  But I, like  Dr. King, I have a dream. That dream is that Memphis, Tennessee, the place where he lost his life, in a horrific assassination, where the seed of the 20^th century slavery began, will be the place where,  though we have taken a 50 year detour,  we will finally get to the ‘Promise Land.’

PolitiFact's report about the Bergmann's billboard http://www.politifact.com/tennessee/statements/2012/jan/23/charlotte-bergmann/another-republican-claims-martin-luther-king-jr-wa/

http://wreg.com/2012/10/26/texas-billboards-claim-dr-martin-luther-king-jr-a-republican/

  ~Brought to you by CharlottePAC and Lynne Roberts, COO Frederick Douglass Republicans/Liberty Messenger