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February 01, 2006

MSNBC: Dancing over MLK's grave

That was disgusting. At 12:21 AM tonight, Tucker Carlson proudly declared - not once but twice - that Martin Luther King "never" supported affirmative action and to say that he would have distorts his great legacy! Tucker said this in response Bush's mention of the death of his widow, Coretta Scott King, less than 24 hours ago.

Not a single member of the panel on Hardball corrected him, or even questioned whether he was right. How low can these ingrates go?

Here is the transcript from MSNBC:

ROSEN: Well, and I would go one step further to—you know, George Bush started out his speech with a tribute to Coretta Scott King. When you think at what he‘s doing to the Supreme Court, goes against everything that Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King stood for.

MATTHEWS: How so, by the way. Hilary, why do you say that‘s true?

ROSEN: And nobody commented on that.

MATTHEWS: Why do you say that‘s true?

ROSEN: Well, they‘re against affirmative action. They‘re against gay and lesbian rights. They‘re against the voting rights acts extension. I mean, every single thing...

CARLSON: Well, wait. Since when was Martin Luther King for affirmative action?

MATTHEWS: I defy you to...

ROSEN: Well, Coretta Scott King came out very strongly over the last 15 years for affirmative action. So there‘s just no way that we‘re going go...

MATTHEWS: Admit it, Tucker, you have no idea what Coretta Scott King‘s position on affirmative action was.

TUCKER: I actually...

MATTHEWS: I don‘t.

CARLSON: Look, I‘m not taking any stand against Coretta Scott King. I‘m merely saying, to say that Martin Luther King endorsed affirmative action is a total crock.

Here is an excerpt from the speech MLK gave the night before he died:

It's all right to talk about "long white robes over yonder," in all of its symbolism. But ultimately people want some suits and dresses and shoes to wear down here. It's all right to talk about "streets flowing with milk and honey," but God has commanded us to be concerned about the slums down here, and his children who can't eat three square meals a day. It's all right to talk about the new Jerusalem, but one day, God's preachers must talk about the New York, the new Atlanta, the new Philadelphia, the new Los Angeles, the new Memphis, Tennessee. This is what we have to do.

Now the other thing we'll have to do is this: Always anchor our external direct action with the power of economic withdrawal. Now, we are poor people, individually, we are poor when you compare us with white society in America. We are poor. Never stop and forget that collectively, that means all of us together, collectively we are richer than all the nations in the world, with the exception of nine. Did you ever think about that? After you leave the United States, Soviet Russia, Great Britain, West Germany, France, and I could name the others, the Negro collectively is richer than most nations of the world. We have an annual income of more than thirty billion dollars a year, which is more than all of the exports of the United States, and more than the national budget of Canada. Did you know that? That's power right there, if we know how to pool it.

We don't have to argue with anybody. We don't have to curse and go around acting bad with our words. We don't need any bricks and bottles, we don't need any Molotov cocktails, we just need to go around to these stores, and to these massive industries in our country, and say, "God sent us by here, to say to you that you're not treating his children right. And we've come by here to ask you to make the first item on your agenda fair treatment, where God's children are concerned. Now, if you are not prepared to do that, we do have an agenda that we must follow. And our agenda calls for withdrawing economic support from you."

And so, as a result of this, we are asking you tonight, to go out and tell your neighbors not to buy Coca-Cola in Memphis. Go by and tell them not to buy Sealtest milk. Tell them not to buy—what is the other bread?—Wonder Bread. And what is the other bread company, Jesse? Tell them not to buy Hart's bread. As Jesse Jackson has said, up to now, only the garbage men have been feeling pain; now we must kind of redistribute the pain. We are choosing these companies because they haven't been fair in their hiring policies; and we are choosing them because they can begin the process of saying, they are going to support the needs and the rights of these men who are on strike. And then they can move on downtown and tell Mayor Loeb to do what is right.

If you want more examples, find a copy of "Where Do We Go From Here" which is the book King wrote which advocates - in addition to affirmative action - far more radical efforts to end poverty such as raising the minimum wage to match the median income, anually and changing zoning laws to prevent de facto segregation by wealth.

Tucker Carlson should be ashamed of himself, and so should MSNBC.

Posted by Mike at February 1, 2006 12:54 AM

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