Eugene Volokh points out this article in The University of Michigan student paper, reporting the KKK’s endorsement of the anti-affirmative-action Michigan Civil Rights Initiative (MCRI).
MCRI asserts that the purpose of its ballot initiative is to guarantee equal protection under the law, regardless of race, ethnicity or sex. For this reason, the group presents itself as a civil rights initiative, heralding the ideals of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In numerous interviews, O’Brien has invoked the activist days of the ’60s. He has often quoted King’s idea that “individuals should be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
MCRI’s connection to King is evident in its mission statement and its petition methods. “Our goal is to finally realize the promise made four decades ago with the signing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act,” the statement reads.
“It should be unconstitutional to discriminate,” O’Brien said.
It is, of course, unfair to blame MCRI for the KKK’s endorsement – they don’t control who endorses them.
But I can’t help but see it as a form of ironic justice, since the MCRI has – either through dishonesty or ignorance – severely distorted Martln Luthor King Jr’s views. Although we can’t know what King would say if he were alive today, there’s no doubt that he favored racial (and other) preferences during his lifetime. Here’s what King said interviewed in Playboy (January 1965):
King: I do indeed. Within common law, we have ample precedents for special compensatory programs, which are regarded as settlements. American Indians are still being paid for land in a settlement manner. Is not two centuries of labor, which helped to build this country, a real commodity?
Here’s what King wrote about the “Operation Breadbasket” program, which he helped create and administrate, from King’s book Where Do We Go From Here?
As racial preferences go, this is much more radical than any currently operating Affirmative Action program.
King’s proposals didn’t begin and end with race, of course – he also wanted programs to help poor people of every race. But quotes like the above leave no doubt that MLK favored racial preference programs.
So what’s going on in Michigan? A group that continually falsely associates their views with MLK Jr., so they can unfairly benefit from MLK’s moral credibility, is objecting to being falsely associated with the KKK, because they don’t want to be unfairly tarred by the KKK’s lack of moral credibility.
Sounds like ironic justice to me..
