The March on Washington, 60 years ago todayHow the economic progress of Black people has been stymied by the stagnation of the white working class.
I remember. Do you? Sixty years ago today, Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, seeking to focus the nation’s attention on civil rights and jobs. I was a high school junior, watching the event from afar on TV. I was mesmerized by the power of King’s oratory, overcome by his grace and hope. One of my mother’s friends, visiting at the time, called Dr. King a “troublemaker.” That was the last I ever saw of her. He was a troublemaker, in the sense that the late civil rights leader and Congressman John Lewis used the term: He was a maker of “good trouble.” Dr. King’s speech, as well as the March on Washington, focused on economic discrimination and the lack of decent jobs for Black Americans. The civil rights leaders who organized the events made sure to include white labor organizer Walter Reuther, the head of the United Auto Workers. Today, 60 years later, I can’t resist asking: How much progress has been made since then? Poverty rates for Black Americans have fallen over the past 60 years. According to the latest data, a smaller proportion of Black people live in poverty than ever before. The Black poverty rate is 18.8 percent — about half what it was in 1966 — but still high in comparison to other races. The average income of Black households, after growing through the 1960s and 1970s, seemed to hit a ceiling. It is now around 65 percent of that of white households, where it’s been for some 40 years. The typical Black household now has around $24,000 in savings, investments, home equity, and other elements of wealth. The typical white household, around $189,000. If anything, the racial wealth gap has worsened. Mortality rates are far higher among Black women than white women, including deaths in childbirth. Police brutality against Black people continues. Hate crimes against Black people continue. Black children are disproportionately hurt or killed by gun violence. Why hasn’t more progress been made? One reason has to do with the economic stagnation of the white working class and the shrinkage of the American middle class, especially over the last four decades. It’s been hard for poor Black people to move up the ladder when so many of the lower rungs on that ladder are already occupied and the middle rungs are missing. Many white Americans in the bottom half are barely holding on — working paycheck to paycheck, fearing they could fall backward at any time, frustrated that their children aren’t doing better than they did at a comparable age. Meanwhile, white people at or near the top have gained so much wealth they’ve been able to effectively secede from the rest of America into wealthy enclaves. They don’t any longer see the struggles of the bottom half. Being rich in America today means not coming across anyone who isn’t. All of this has encouraged Republican leaders over the last several decades to use racial “dog whistles” to court the white working class. It’s prompted recent Republican “culture warriors” to attack diversity, equity, and inclusion and to roll back efforts to give schoolchildren honest accounts of the nation’s history of racism. And it’s encouraged Republican presidents to appoint Supreme Court justices who have eviscerated the 1965 Voting Rights Act — the crowning achievement of the Civil Rights Movement — thereby allowing restrictive voting laws in states with long-standing histories of racial discrimination. Republican appointees to the court have also barred the use of affirmative action in higher education. Dr. King understood that Black Americans could not get ahead if white Americans could not get ahead and vice versa. The destinies of lower-wage white and Black Americans were inextricably connected. As he said sixty years ago today, “many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.” With wealth and power now more concentrated at the top of America than at any time in the last 60 years, the only way the bottom half can advance is if the poor and working class join together with what’s left of the middle class in a multiracial, multiethnic political coalition. That prospect scares the American oligarchy more than anything. |
Monday, August 28, 2023
The March on Washington, 60 years ago today
Saturday, April 1, 2023
Trump Family in TOTAL PANIC following INDICTMENT
The Trump family is responding to the news that Donald Trump was criminally indicted by the Manhattan Grand Jury. MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports.
Tuesday, January 17, 2023
FOCUS: Dan Rather and Elliot Kirschner | My Question for Dr. King
16 January 23
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The guest on that Sunday’s “Face the Nation” in 1964 was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who was in Washington at the time to lobby for passage of the Civil Rights Act. I remember the moment but didn’t recall what I had asked Dr. King until I recently rewatched the clip. As I reflect today on my question and his answer, I can’t help but ponder the passage of these many years and the winding and far-from-finished journey we as a nation and a people have taken on civil rights.
The clip was featured in a segment (shared below) about growing diversity among members of Congress. In 2023, most people of color and women in Congress are Democrats. Making note of this political divide echoed the exchange I had with Dr. King way back in 1964. At that time, I was curious what he thought of the direction the Republican Party (the so-called “Party of Lincoln”) had taken on race relations.
“Do you think there’s a real danger of the Republican Party becoming the ‘white man’s’ party in this country?” I asked.
“I think this is a real danger,” he answered in his measured voice. “I’ve talked with some Negro Republicans who are very concerned about this. I see trends and developments which will reveal that unless the liberals of the Republican Party take a much more … decisive role in leadership positions, this will become a white man’s party. And I think this will be tragic for that Republican Party as well as tragic for the nation.”
Here’s the “Face the Nation” clip:
The record shows that in the decades that followed, the grim scenario Dr. King lamented in our exchange largely came to pass. In 1968, Richard Nixon used dog whistle appeals to racism in his euphemistic “Southern Strategy” to win the White House. In the ensuing years, what had been a “Solid South” for Democrats tracing back to the Civil War became a wall of red states that helped propel Republicans to power. From Ronald Reagan's demonizing “welfare queens” to George H.W. Bush’s Willie Horton ad, Republicans had concocted a playbook of racist appeals in order to win the white vote. With Trump, dog whistles became bullhorns.
To be sure, Democrats have also sometimes used racist subtexts to appeal to white voters. And despite Trump’s toxic and xenophobic rhetoric, he performed better with minority voters than previous Republicans had. Furthermore, we have seen more prominent Black Republicans seeking, and winning, elected office. These trend lines suggest we should avoid the most simplistic narratives around race and politics.
We have made a lot of progress since 1964. While significant overt racism still exists in America, we are also at a point when even most self-described “conservative” Republicans embrace Black public officials who share their political ideology. Dividing lines between the races are not nearly as impervious or immutable as they were.
Some politicians and others point to these societal changes and say they prove that racism itself is over, along with the need for remedies to address it, such as voting rights laws and affirmative action. Sadly, this view is not supported by reality. Discrimination, while perhaps subtler or even subconscious, permeates our society from our neighborhoods to our schools to our jobs and to our health.
With all this context in mind, it is important to remember that Dr. King’s vision of America was one in which race was inextricably tied to power — and that power was built on a foundation of white supremacy. He preached that we, as a nation, would never reach the full potential of our founding until we reconciled this fact.
As Dr. King stated in his “I Have a Dream” speech at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom:
“In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked ‘insufficient funds.’ But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.”
In honor of Dr. King’s birthday, scores of politicians, companies, and organizations will issue comfortable statements praising his courage or quoting his memorable rhetoric. Far too few will acknowledge the continuing truth of what he said. That truth was widely viewed as “radical” at the time. To some swaths of America, it still is.
As I tweeted this summer, undoubtedly inspired by some comment in the news at the time, “Make no mistake, if Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were alive today, he would be stigmatized as ‘woke’ and attacked accordingly.”
Make no mistake, if Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were alive today, he would be stigmatized as “woke” and attacked accordingly.
— Dan Rather (@DanRather) August 21, 2022
Everything Dr. King stood for is under attack in America today. You can see it in efforts to disenfranchise voters. You can find it in the whitewashing of history and the demonization of so-called “critical race theory.” Whether it’s the banning of books, attacks on labor rights, or the death knell of affirmative action, an America of ideas, engagement, and reckoning with our past is under siege. In the sneers at “wokeness,” one finds an effort by the privileged to hold onto the positions of power they feel they are owed. It is an insult to everything Dr. King hoped to achieve.
A significant proportion of today's Republican Party has been taken over by performative hatred, lies, and reactionary attempts to undermine American democracy. This dynamic presents new and unique challenges to our journey toward justice. Dr. King would have been fearless in denouncing these forces of hatred and autocracy.
An important way to celebrate Dr. King is to recognize that he was human and thus subject to all the frailties and contradictions inherent to our species. Yes, he had his flaws. No, he was not perfect. But rather than deified, he should be studied as a leader and a visionary. To celebrate him in context is to recognize that he was deeply political, although not in a simple party line sense. Rather, he understood how to amass the power of the people to shift the levers of government — even subtly. Small changes, he knew, can lead to big results.
Today, Dr. King’s work remains far from finished. To continue to bend the “arc of the moral universe” toward justice, there is a need to recognize the role politics will invariably play. At the same time, Dr. King understood that political divisions could exacerbate social ones. The business of mending what tears us apart, while remaining firmly rooted in a foundation of justice, is a mission each generation must adopt.
Beginning in 1962, as a young, new correspondent for CBS News, I covered Dr. King and his then fledgling movement throughout the Deep South. He was struggling to gain traction and garner news coverage. He faced constant danger but was determined not to give up, never to give in.
By 1964, I had become the network's chief White House correspondent. As such, I had a front row seat as Dr. King’s efforts helped drive historic civil rights legislation through Congress and into federal law. By then, he could see clearly how much remained to be done and how many perils lay ahead. He pressed on, although an early death would be his destiny.
In his victories, may we find hope.
In all that remains to be done, may we summon his inspiration to continue to forge a path of progress. Steady.
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Sunday, June 19, 2022
MAGA mob attacks Republican congressman
Today's Top Stories:
Rep. Dan Crenshaw ambushed by MAGA mob in his home state
The Republican congressman was ambushed at a GOP event by the same right-wing radicals that his party has been dog whistling for years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-zQjdgUtfI
VIDEO OF THE DAY: Jamie Raskin smacks Trump down over pardon promise
The Maryland Democrat called the disgraced ex-president's pledge to commit corruption if he's reelected a "gratuitous and scandalous injection of politics into the presidential pardon power."
Take Action: Expel the congressmen who tried to get Trump pardons for their role in Jan. 6th!
Amy Weirich is one of the cruelest, Trumpiest district attorneys in the country — and she represents a Biden district!
OD Action partner: Under Weirich, crime has soared and the police get away with murder. She even pushes to execute the mentally disabled! A Harvard study of every district in the country found her to be "the worst DA in the country." Can you chip in to help civil rights lawyer Steve Mulroy flip a red seat blue?
GOP congressional candidate says Black Americans are "held hungry and dumb"
Notorious racist Carl Paladino, who STILL has the support of Republican leadership in his upstate New York race to become a US congressman, also said African Americans are "conditioned" to vote for Democrats and "you can't teach them differently."
Take Action: Tell Congress to pass the Equal Rights Amendment NOW!
Herschel Walker publicly admits he has four kids after damning report
The Daily Beast blew the lid off the Republican senatorial candidate's undisclosed children last week, and Saturday Walker publicly acknowledged them for the first time in the middle of a pathetically futile response.
Take Action: Demand Herschel Walker tell us if he’s our dad!
Kentucky orthodontist roasts Mitch McConnell for his opposition to keeping kids safe in schools
Dr. Mark Perelmuter took his senior senator to task for his deadly hypocrisy on guns, reminding the world that the best dads are also clever Democrats.
Uvalde police never attempted to open classroom doors to find shooter
San Antonio Express-News has learned of troubling surveillance video that purportedly shows cops navigating hallways inside Robb Elementary School passing door after door without trying to open any of them.
Take Action: Tell the Senate: Pass red flag laws to take guns away from potential mass shooters!
January 6 Committee SINKS Trump with brilliant tactic
No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen: WOW.
Local news airs farcical segment about cops being "exposed to fentanyl"
A so-called investigative reporter aired the shameful segment without consulting a single toxicology expert in just the latest example of the "copaganda" media accepting police narratives without scrutiny.
Lauren Boebert wants infrastructure funds she voted against
The Colorado Trump loyalist voted to kill President Biden’s landmark Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, at the time calling the legislation "wasteful" and "garbage." Now she wants a piece for her constituents back home.
CDC formally approves COVID-19 vaccine for children under 5
A panel of expert advisors at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention have voted unanimously to strongly recommend kids and babies as young as 6 months old receive the vaccine, which will be available as soon as Tuesday.
Ford sued for allegedly dumping "toxic sludge" on Native American land
New Jersey state officials are investigating the iconic carmaker for contaminating hundreds of acres of land home to a large population of Ramapough Lenape people.
Seriously?
Yes. Seriously.
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Friday, May 6, 2022
POLITICO NIGHTLY: Omicron’s befuddling evolution
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Top News | 'He’s Not Going to Run Unopposed': Sanders Rejects Schumer for Majority Leader
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