How about Bill Penzeys commentary?

Orlando FL

Description

“Right now every Republican in the US Senate is working to end the minority voting rights Dr. King gave his life to achieve. Every last one of them. Republican voters can say the Republican Party isn’t a racist organization. They can say their vote for “textbook” racists isn’t an act of racism or that the real racists are anyone calling out their racism. They can say all these things and more, but we can say they are not telling the truth. We’ll never know where Dr. King would have taken his highly-seasoned movement for equality or how he would have mentored the next generations of civil rights leaders because the racists murdered him precisely to stop him from doing those things. Back in his day, Republicans were far from the enemy of equality. They actually voted for the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which King personally did so much to make possible, with 30 Republicans in favor and only one opposed. What would Dr. King make of this new Republican Party marching 100% in lockstep against the rights of those outside the majority he gave so much to achieve? Once again, we don’t know, but with his history of pursuing conflict with the greatest sources of racism of his day to show the anger and rage always churning right below racism’s surface, I think he would have seen today’s Republican Party as America’s longest segregated lunch counter ripe for his brand of action. From my inbox these last three days, that anger and that rage of racism is very much alive and at home in today’s Republican Party and it is every bit as ugly as it’s always been. What we do know from Dr. King’s life is that, if he was here today he wouldn’t be looking for politicians to shoulder the burden of all this on their own. The pin pictured above was from a draft MLK for Vice President group made within those backing Robert Kennedy’s 1968 presidential campaign. To me this pin is wonderfully symbolic of how JFK and President Johnson were able to deliver on our nation's greatest achievements in equality on the back of the work King did to create irresistible demand for that equality. Without a movement, without a groundswell demanding action, great things don’t get done. In this moment where everything King and the Kennedys gave their lives for are every bit as much under siege as our nation’s Capitol on January 6, I’m convinced Dr. King would be wondering what we are waiting around for. It’s like we ordered the Saving Voters Right Combo from Joe Biden’s House of Politics on our phone’s political delivery app 45 minutes ago and are now sitting around getting angrier and angrier that those voter protections have not yet been delivered. That’s not how any of this works. President Joe Biden is a good man who has proven more than willing to spend whatever political capital he has improving the lives of everyone. But that capital is now all spent on a remarkable restoration of our economy that also works to overturn the economic roots of social injustice, ending the Afghanistan War, and returning America to its rightful place of leadership in the fight against climate change. He’s already accomplished so much, but if we want more (and we do) he’s going to need our help. Just like the Kennedys had Dr. King to create a demand for action that couldn’t be ignored, we too must move from spectators to actual demand creators. As Cooks I think we may well have more of a leg up on this than any of us imagines. Ultimately what the Republicans are now attacking, and what racists have always attacked, is our shared humanity. Cooks create humanity. We are the original super-humanizers. Plus, all those years of giving of ourselves to cook tasty food for those around has earned us respect. That will come in handy. What next? These past half dozen years the Republican Party has gained a whole lot of enthusiasm from its voters by moving from subtle code-word “dog whistle” racism to out in the open “textbook” racism without paying a price. I think it’s time for them to start paying rent. Lots and lots of rent. … And 1968, dang. As the pin above shows there were people starting the year dreaming of the giant leap forward four years of Kennedy and King in the White House could bring. Instead, by summer both would be assassinated, and come November it would be Richard Nixon elected. Nixon would introduce his “Southern Strategy” welcoming racists into the Republican Party. They would take over. Wherein 1965, 30 out of 31 Republican Senators voted to protect the rights of minority voters, today there is not a single Republican with both the ability and desire to stand up to the racists controlling their party. Not a single damn one of them. We have our work cut out for us ahead… building a better America Thanks for your support, you make us possible. Bill”