It is Time to Demythologize Goldwater by Telling the Truth,
Goldwater was a Racist
"You start out in 1954 by saying, "Nigger, nigger,
nigger. By 1968 you can't say 'nigger' -- that hurts you.
Backfires. So you say stuff like States' Rights," — Lee
Atwater.
Many States' Rights Democrats were attracted to the 1964
presidential campaign of Goldwater who was notably more
conservative than previous Republican nominees, such as Dwight
D. Eisenhower.
Goldwater's principle opponent in the primary election,
Governor Nelson Rockefeller of New York, was widely seen as
representing the more moderate and pro-Civil Rights Northern
wing of the party. Rockefeller's defeat in the primary is seen
as one turning point towards a more conservative Republican
party and the beginning of a long decline for moderate and
especially liberal Republicans. Goldwater's primary victory is
also seen as a shift of the center of Republican power to the
West and South.
In the 1964 presidential race, Barry Goldwater ran a very
conservative campaign, primarily with an emphasis on
"States' Rights." As a conservative, Goldwater
broadly opposed strong action by the federal government.
Goldwater favored the Rights of the states. Namely because a
defeat of Civil Rights could not be won on a national level
leaving the only alternative — winning in a few individual
states where anti Black sentiments prevailed. States' Rights
was thus born as a label and movement to defeat giving Civil
Rights to Blacks.
Goldwater oppose the Civil Rights Act of 1964. His stance
based on his view of States' Rights has been interpreted as an
appeal to racist white Southern Democrats, and undoubtedly
attracted a few conservative anti Civil Rights bases.
The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr
JULY 16 1964 King asserts that nomination of Senator Barry
Goldwater by Republicans will aid racists
The Republican Party geared its appeal and program to racism,
reaction, and extremism. All people of goodwill viewed with
alarm and concern the frenzied wedding at the Cow Palace of
the KKK with the radical right. The "best man" at
this ceremony was a senator whose voting record, philosophy,
and program were anathema to all the hard-won achievements of
the past decade.
It was both unfortunate and disastrous that the Republican
Party nominated Barry Goldwater as its candidate for President
of the United States. In foreign policy Mr. Goldwater
advocated a narrow nationalism, a crippling isolationism, and
a trigger-happy attitude that could plunge the whole world
into the dark abyss of annihilation. On social and economic
issues, Mr. Goldwater represented an unrealistic conservatism
that was totally out of touch with the realities of the
twentieth century. The issue of poverty compelled the
attention of all citizens of our country. Senator Goldwater
had neither the concern nor the comprehension necessary to
grapple with this problem of poverty in the fashion that the
historical moment dictated. On the urgent issue of civil
rights, Senator Goldwater represented a philosophy that was
morally indefensible and socially suicidal. While not himself
a racist, Mr. Goldwater articulated a philosophy which gave
aid and comfort to the racist. His candidacy and philosophy
would serve as an umbrella under which extremists of all
stripes would stand. In the light of these facts and because
of my love for America, I had no alternative but to urge every
Negro and white person of goodwill to vote against Mr.
Goldwater and to withdraw support from any Republican
candidate that did not publicly disassociate himself from
Senator Goldwater and his philosophy.
While I had followed a policy of not endorsing political
candidates, I felt that the prospect of Senator Goldwater
being President of the United States so threatened the health,
morality, and survival of our nation, that I could not in good
conscience fail to take a stand against what he represented.
The celebration of final enactment of the civil rights bill
curdled and soured. Rejoicing was replaced by a deep and
frightening concern that the counter-forces to Negro
liberation could flagrantly nominate for the highest office in
the land one who openly clasped the racist hand of Strom
Thurmond. A cold fear touched the hearts of twenty million
Negroes. They had only begun to come out of the dark land of
Egypt where so many of their brothers were still in
bondage-still denied elementary dignity. The forces to bar the
freedom road, to drive us back to Egypt, seemed so formidable,
so high in authority, and so determined.
------------------
Civil rights equates to The Peoples' Ongoing Struggle ... and
I suggest it has been essentially stalled.
Newflash: It's not HRC or Bill Clinton's DLC who will
"serve" anything more than their own best interest
and that of their surrogates and operatives. Sure they'll try
a little "race baiting" and talk kindly to
homosexuals, but have they done ANYTHING TRULY PROFOUND for
peoples of color ... well other than pitting them against each
other for political expediency.
Obama, due to his own personal struggle, will CARE and ACT on
behalf of us "little people" who have been
disenfranchised for far too long by the powerful *insiders* of
the D.C. Beltway Political Elites. All these entrenched
"status quo" politicos are frightened and will
resort to ANY DIRTY trick to keep preferably "the
RNC's" but will accept "the DNC's" darling in
THEIR Executive Branch.
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