Modern-Day Nullifiers Deserve Rejection
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One of the highlights of the annual Triangle Interfaith MLK Prayer Breakfast in Durham every year is the recitation of Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech by a young student.
This year the packed ballroom listened to Kenan High School senior Oshe Pittman, from Warsaw, deliver King's stirring words in combination with President Obama's "Yes We Can" speech.
The soaring demands for justice that King made in Washington in 1963 are always moving to hear, but one part seemed especially appropriate this year, and it's not a phrase that's quoted as often as many of the others.
"I have a dream that one day down in Alabama with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers."
Dripping with the words of interposition and nullification. King was talking about Alabama Gov. George Wallace's refusal to obey a federal court order to desegregate the schools, citing states' rights and Alabama's sovereignty in nullifying a federal law he didn't like.
Nullification is back in the news 50 years later. Just two weeks ago at a rally outside the Legislative Building on the session's opening day, leaders of radical tea party groups urged state lawmakers to "honor their oath" and nullify the Affordable Care Act, the health care law passed by Congress and upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.
It was hard to tell the radical tea partiers from the politicians. Several state legislators addressed the crowd, as did N.C. GOP Chair Robin Hayes, who praised the event's organizers. George Wallace would have been proud.
The folks on the radical right are now also urging nullification of President Obama's commonsense proposals to reduce gun violence if Congress adopts them. Some sheriffs have vowed not to enforce any new gun laws.
Many of these radical groups feature websites claiming that Obama is a Muslim or a communist or not eligible to be president because they claim he was not born in the United States.
Instead of ignoring them, the leaders of the prominent think tanks on the right funded by State Budget Director Art Pope routinely appear at the modern-day nullifiers' events, sharing a stage, inciting the same crowd, blaming the same government that Grover Norquist famously wants to shrink to the size where he can "drown it in the bathtub."
The George-Wallace-states-right-crowd is back, if they ever really left, and it appears that the leadership of the North Carolina Republican Party is with them.
Gov. Pat McCrory delivered a few minutes of awkward remarks at the prayer breakfast Monday, claiming King was a hero of his even as McCrory endorses the kind of ideas that King marched against, like voter suppression and slashing benefits to unemployed workers.
McCrory's not the first politician to clumsily honor King's memory even as his policies undermine King's crusade for justice for people of color and the poor.
But he is the first governor who has taken the reins of state government as the offensive calls of nullification are finding a place in the mainstream debate and earning endorsements and support from the leaders of his own political party, not to mention a friendly ear from groups created and funded by his new budget director.
McCrory could truly honor the man whom he calls his hero by speaking out loudly against this dangerous extremism from the George Wallace era and restore at least a little sanity to the current political debate.
The offensive words of nullification are dripping again from the lips of some of our political leaders. Our governor needs to step up and denounce them.
Chris Fitzsimon is executive director of N.C. Policy Watch. Contact him at chris@nc policywatch.com.
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Comments
DaveyNC 3 months, 2 weeks ago
Soooo....being opposed to 0bamacare is racist. Got it. Eat me.
clarabelle 3 months, 2 weeks ago
stay "classy" davey...........
Pappy 3 months, 2 weeks ago
What a waste of ink and paper !!!
Yukonjohn 3 months, 2 weeks ago
Chris, Ever hear of that pesky 10th Amendment to the Constitution?
dustyrhoades 3 months, 2 weeks ago
And Chris, I guess you forgot that Wallace, like many against civil rights in those days, was a DEMOCRAT !!
Apparently, the holes senility has bored in this old fool's brain went right through the cells where the memories of Nixon and the "Southern Strategy" were stored. Let's refresh your recollection:
Lee Atwater: 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 forced busing, states' rights and all that stuff. You're getting so abstract now [that] you're talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you're talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites. And subconsciously maybe that is part of it. I'm not saying that. But I'm saying that if it is getting that abstract, and that coded, that we are doing away with the racial problem one way or the other. You follow me — because obviously sitting around saying, "We want to cut this," is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than "Nigger, nigger."
That's a Republican talking, wdd. Former RNC chairman, former adviser to St. Ronnie Reagan and George HW Bush.
Those are those "facts" you claim I never use.
So don't try and pretend it's the Dems who are racist, especially when all anyone has to do to see and example of your own virulent racism is click on your username and read your wall.
Those are some more facts, Jack.
teufelhunden 3 months, 2 weeks ago
DaveyNC-hilarious! Just about sprayed my drink all over the computer! It's unbelievable isnt it? The dems have this racist thing down pat. Shameful and so transparent.
teufelhunden 3 months, 2 weeks ago
Well it IS the dems pointing at everyone who questions and disagrees with Obama, calling them racist. They can use that and make it allllllll go away. Nice and tidy.
Our president and his stooges shouldn't be untouchable like a bunch of Chicago mobsters. Wait!......no never mind. That would be considered racist! Lolololol
teufelhunden 3 months, 2 weeks ago
Both parties have racist elements-don't kid yourself but since Obama has been president the race card has been wayyyyyy overplayed. A vast number of people that voted for him did so because of the color of his skin. No joke. (!)
He is the democratic socialist dream weaver!
For people to say everyone who disagrees with Obama is racist is both crazy and pitiful. There are (albeit small) a number of black people who disagree with many of Obama's social policies. Are they racist? The dems call them all kinds of names. Are all of those hard working tax paying minorities who disagreed with Bush racist? I think not.
This is convenient for them and that's all it needs to be. That's the truth so too bad.
Yukonjohn 3 months, 2 weeks ago
Teufelhunden, you are so right. All I can think of is that comedian Glozell talking about the President. She is hilarious!! Her name is Glozell Green, if you have not seen her, she is worth your time on youtube!! Hope you are having a fantastic evening!!!
teufelhunden 3 months, 2 weeks ago
Yukon-I've seen Glozell. She got me straight trippin boo! Lol
Hope you're doing well too! Keep me posted on any northern lights activity. Lots of solar eruptions recently should make for some some pretty skies. Is it better to view in the summer though?
teufelhunden 3 months, 2 weeks ago
wdd101st-DR does bring it up (racist stuff) all the time doesn't he? Hmmm, curious...
If he's slipping he just trots that card right on out. Part of his "I know you are but what am I" defense kit. Which is way overplayed too. But whatever...