The kerfuffle in Colorado of the gun-toting school board member and radio station owner who broadcasts a denunciation of Martin Luther King Jr. brings back memories of those halcyon days when Dr. King was still alive.
Brett Reese, owner/operator of KELS-FM, a tiny "pirate" station has been running a letter four times daily every three years leading up to MLK Day denouncing King as a sexual degenerate, an embezzler, a "plastic god" and "an America-hating communist."
The letter is said to have origins among white supremacists. Reese, a member of the Greeley-Evans 6 school board recently had his concealed-carry permit pulled by the sheriff because he threatened a rival station's sales manager with a "shootout" if the station's ad sales team didn't stop calling businesses that underwrite his non-commercial station.
He's a right-wing punk getting his 15 minutes; if he doesn't go hard starboard one day and shoot up a school board meeting, he'll be forgotten until next year when he'll try to recreate the media ejaculation he got this year.
But we hear every year smarmy radio conservatives like Glenn Beck (and now the tea parties) quoting the prolific King to buttress their stances on everything from Christian/American exceptionalism to balanced budgets.
But when King was marching around the country, making everyone uncomfortable about the big black elephant kept out of the front room of our democracy, he was dogged by a right-wing, racist FBI, and denounced as a commie and degenerate by Republican leaders, and Southern Democrats (who became the dominant, present-day GOP).
Also conveniently forgotten by King's new best friends: his marches for poor people and against the Vietnam War. (He was no communist, he was a Christian and hated the atheism and materialism of it; he believed capitalism in its present form in America to be corrupt and counter to economic justice).
And spare us the comparisons of the tea party and the civil rights struggles: King marched into the white mobs; the tea party are the white mobs.
The fight in the 1960's wasn't R vs D- the parties had made a (white) gentleman's "bi-partisan agreement" that excluded black civil rights in the South.
It was a conservative vs progressive. We liberals won. But that wound is never, ever far below the surface in the American right whose center of gravity is below the Mason-Dixon Line.
The tea party slimes the first black president like their predecessors did King. He, they say, hates America, is a communist, a terrorist. They question the 1964 Civl Rights Act and preach the appeals of the 10th and 14th Amendments.
Arizona, a state bristling with guns and rippling resentments against a sitting president (who happens to be black) was, surprise, surprise, a long holdout on recognizing the national MLK Day and it was not without their spineless "moderate" Congressman John McCain voting against the holiday in 1983. He conveniently apologized for that after he was nominated by the nearly all-white Republican Party.
There's the guy in Colorado spouting the same shit we heard from US Senators in 1960; Tennessee tea parties are demanding their legislature scrub textbooks of slavery or any other "portrayal of the minority experience." This from the state where King was martyred in 1968.
Martin Luther King won't be revised by right-wing revisionists. His was the greatest achievement of the progressive movement. His was an unarmed, peaceful walk into the muzzles of hate, and civic inequality.
Wow...excellent article, Michael.
Posted by: sparky | January 17, 2011 at 10:07 AM
A geography tangent:
Well, technically. But most Tennesseeans don't really consider Memphis a part of the state, and Memphis itself is at the confluence of three states. (Also Mississippi and Arkansas.) It is delta flatlands as opposed to the hills and mountains of most of TN; it's both more heavily African-American and more Democratic-leaning than the rest of Tennessee, and people in Appalachian East Tennessee, several hundred miles away, could not care less about it. Sort of like Seattle and Spokane, only much more so.
The classic example was when Bud Adams moved his Houston NFL team to the state in the '90s and, while he waited for a stadium to be built in Nashville, the "Tennessee Titans" played for a year in Memphis, 180 miles to the west. Almost nobody from Memphis went to the games, because they didn't want to support a Nashville team.
Posted by: Pete | January 17, 2011 at 10:23 AM
You'd think we'd have gone beyond that kind of hate and division. You have to wonder what it is in the American psyche that perpetruates generation after generation of hate.
Maybe I just haven't lived long enough. Perhaps I'm part f that generation that needs to die off before we can move on to a more tolerant society.
My mother disdained the Japanese - the war. Hardly anybody of my generation even notices a difference.
Do you think the creeping reverence for all things Confederate is the last gasp of an aging population in the south?
Watched Taylor Branch at Town Hall. He is the most inspiring writer I know. He does more to keep the ideas alive that Martin promoted than anyone. Well, except for the people who live those ideas. I laughed when Sam McKinney said that Martin loved the BBQ at Home of the Good ... on Yesler. That was a favorite when we went out for lunch at the court years ago.
Posted by: joanie | January 17, 2011 at 01:09 PM
How can we ever get beyond that kind of hate and division when articles like Michael's above just perpetuate hate.
Nobody would know, or care about Brett Reese or any other idiot of that ilk if yahoo's like Bla'M didn't keep putting shit like this out there just to denigrate the hard working people that make up The TEA Party. Shame on you.
Most of the haters from that era are dead, dying or have expressed regret for being so damned stupid. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education." - Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. What will you do today to honor Dr. King's legacy?
Continue to push hate and ignorance for short term political gain?
When will the left ever learn?
Posted by: Chucks | January 17, 2011 at 01:43 PM
Michael's goal is to maximize the hits on his blog and to perpetuate disdain for the right while he's at it. As always, shameful.
Posted by: Radio Queen | January 17, 2011 at 01:50 PM
reminds me of that Simpsons joke "Fox News: Not Racist, But #1 With Racists"
Why is the conservative ideology such a magnet for ignorance, greed, delusion, racism, sexism, gun-nuttery, divisiveness, jingoism and nearly every other degenerative qualifty in mankind?
Posted by: Andrew | January 17, 2011 at 01:55 PM
Always blaming someone else, chucks.
Posted by: The Anti-Dori | January 17, 2011 at 02:33 PM
Racism needs to be brought out in the bright light. Not talking about it allows it to spread.
I don't know about that generational thing, joanie. The age of the men I see driving trucks with the confederate flag on it are younger than we are.
This month, the Koch brothers are bringing their super-wealthy friends to the California desert to a private gathering to strategize how they will dominate American political life, and bring a hardcore right-wing government to power in the U.S. These guys are the major funders of the Tea Party movement. Maybe the people you know personally, chucks, who belong to the Tea Party are not racists. But a lot of them are.
Ironically, Daddy Koch got his money by setting up and building the infrastructure for oil drilling for Communist Russia, then had the balls to start the John Birch Society to cover up his actions in the 1930's.
Money is power. As long as the disparity between the rich and poor increases, and the middle class disappears, racism and classism will continue.
Posted by: sparky | January 17, 2011 at 02:43 PM
According to Pete's logic , Seattle isn't really a part of Wahington state. Ridiculous nonsense. Memphis is in Tennessee. A PART of Tennessee. Period. Or does Pete think Memphis should really be considered part of Mississippi with its teeming armies of pinko libs? Or that damn commie-lib Arkansas?
Posted by: Tommy008 | January 17, 2011 at 02:44 PM
I don't think that was his point, tommy. Sometimes you're the biggest dufus on the blog.
BTW, Chucks, Michael is stating facts. You don't like them but that's the way it is. Why can'y you wrap your brain around facts? Is there a defense for what you read besides your opinion and feelings?
Posted by: The Anti-Dori | January 17, 2011 at 03:06 PM
Sorry Sparky, but nothing you posted justifies Bla'M painting a whole movement as racist. The whole purpose of his article is not to denigrate Reese. The goal is to undermine the whole group by using the asshat in Colorado as his tool to open the door to slam the rest of us.
There are plenty of racist in the democrat party as well as religious bigots. They no more define you as the few that think like Reese define me and my peers.
You have plenty of idiots (one woman here comes to mind) in the democrat party but, again they are not you (stifle Putz and KS).
King was a great man, but like the rest of us, flawed.
I just get tired of bigots writing stories like this to use to attack others, especially me.
Posted by: Chucks | January 17, 2011 at 03:23 PM
My point, Tommy, was that the "Tennessee tea parties" BlaM cited are most likely rooted in the eastern part of the state, and don't really have anything to do with or identify with Memphis. Johnson City, the most conservative part of the Tennessee, is 500 miles from Memphis. It's almost as bad as blaming El Paso for Houston's sins because both are in Texas.
Not that Memphis doesn't have plenty of its own racists (though many whites have moved to surrounding rural counties in recent years to get away from all the you-know-whos; metro Memphis has the highest percentage of African-Americans of any major US city). I spent time growing up there (and worked at the old talk station WWEE), so I do know something about the place.
Meanwhile, I have to agree that what the owner of a "tiny pirate station" in Colorado does is really of no consequence, other than to point up the broader issue that there are still plenty of people who hate MLK and everything he stood for. But you don't need a radio connection to make that point, and given that most pirate operators, left, right, and indifferent, are on the fringes of society, you can probably find one who's saying any damned thing.
Posted by: Pete | January 17, 2011 at 03:31 PM
Nice avoidance, Chucks. Do you have examples on the left? So many continued vendettas against the left without so much as a single item to support of those attacks. Sparky gave you more examples. The ball's in your court. Converse with her. Have a conversation instead of a pout.
You seem determined to keep yourself in her good graces. Have that conversation. I'd like to hear it myself.
Posted by: The Anti-Dori | January 17, 2011 at 03:44 PM
Great piece Hood.
Posted by: BlackRhino | January 17, 2011 at 03:46 PM
Anti, Are you suggesting that there are no racists in the democrat party?
Posted by: Chucks | January 17, 2011 at 04:31 PM
Pete has enough security and class to absorb my moderate criticism of his post without resorting to the personal epithet , unlike Antidori. Have i gotten around to posting a gratuitous insult for you yet AntiDori? Actually as i mentally calculate the jist of your body of posts, you actually deserve an earned insult by now, so here it is- Fuck off!
Posted by: Tommy008 | January 17, 2011 at 04:38 PM
This blog hasn't denigrated the Tea Party any more than their spokesperson Palin and others who open their corn-pone mouths and talk about "blood Libel" and other false equivalencies.
Posted by: Coiler | January 17, 2011 at 05:08 PM
Chucks;
Sure there are racist in the Democratic Party. But above all, the Democratic Party sets about mending wounds not create them.
Posted by: BlackRhino | January 17, 2011 at 05:24 PM
Where's R&D ? Are those fuckers finally FIRED !?!?
Posted by: Jim | January 17, 2011 at 05:26 PM
Yeah...and whose the gay guy with Curley?
Posted by: Jim | January 17, 2011 at 05:27 PM
I didn't suggest it either way. I asked for examples. Both Bla'm and Sparky gave you examples. You defend yourself with a whine. I'm asking for an adult response. That's all. Do you have any examples?
If you don't, then what do you think about the kinds of tactics used by those that have been put out as examples on the right?
Posted by: The Anti-Dori | January 17, 2011 at 05:28 PM
As BR said, no side is pure. But the invective from the right does not seem to be matched by that from the left. Tell us what you know.
Joanie takes you all on valiantly. Her special label is "idiot." Does that match what you hear on the right?
We've been hearing how both sides do it. Have you evidence -any at all? Do you consider Joanie to be in the class profiled by the above column?
Posted by: The Anti-Dori | January 17, 2011 at 05:33 PM
"the invective from the right does not seem to be matched by that from the left"
Of course not. Conservatives are ruled by emotion. They think they have a command over logic, but in reality they arrive at conclusions emotionally, and then only use tiny amounts of logic to help make sense of what they feel. There are some people who are ruled by emotion, and the more advanced among us who are ruled by reason. That's why they're racist, or jingo, or protectionist, or pro-military, these are all expressions of fear over thought and reason.
You know it's true. Look at what the rigth stands for: the patriot act, the war on terror, teaching religion in biology class, clinging to gun rights, they're all reactionary, borderline deluisional extremes. Nuance, anything beyond one level of depth, both fighten and confuses them.
Posted by: Andrew | January 17, 2011 at 05:47 PM
Chucks, I think it comes down to determining what groups we identify with. For instance, I no longer consider myself a Democrat because I think they are too wimpy. According to some on here, that brands me as a member of the far left crazy. I really haven't changed how I feel about things, but the political parties keep shifting around me. Hell, when I was 18, I voted for Nixon. I didn't know squat about politics then. I just voted like my family did with no questions. But when I decided how I did feel about things, they fall along the lines of progressives, and that core feeling hasn't changed, regardless of what people want to call me.
Now, a poll came out today that showed Cons and Libs approve of violence to fight the government at about 4-5% of the population on both ends of the spectrum. People who identified themselves as members of the Tea Party..13%. So, do you think violence is justified when disagreeing with the government?
Posted by: sparky | January 17, 2011 at 06:13 PM
Currently on Huffington Post is a headline showing Richard Lugar as supporting the assault weapons ban. He's a Republican of old. A man who lets reason dictate.
Do you, Chuck, think assault weapons should be banned? Or do you think we, the people, need them to survive?
Posted by: The Anti-Dori | January 17, 2011 at 06:50 PM
Well his name is Lugar.
Posted by: Coiler | January 17, 2011 at 07:42 PM
Coiler, he's for the ban. Lugar or not. Besides, isn't that - luger?
I guess Chuck has given up "reasoning" with us. To bad.
Posted by: The Anti-Dori | January 17, 2011 at 07:49 PM
I think Martin Luther King inspired change in the constitution which only Thomas Jefferson could appreciate.
Posted by: BlackRhino | January 17, 2011 at 08:15 PM
Nice revisionist history. Hoover and the FBI were never left nor right wing. They were Hoover-wing. Shows an ignorance of history to refer to the 'right wing FBI.' Hoover got his start under A Mitchell Palmer, atty gen under progressive godfather Woodrow Wilson in 1919.
Hoover especially thrived under left-wing hero FDR. In 1933 when FDR took office there were 353 FBI agents. When FDR died in 1945 there were 4,380 agents.
I'm not saying that Hoover was a left-winger or progressive. But it is absurd to refer to a 'right wing FBI.' Anyway the essence of the FBI was always big, intrusive government. Hardly a 'right wing' ideal.
Most of the rest of this post by Hood is equally fictional.
Posted by: woody held | January 17, 2011 at 11:42 PM
The 'call them racists' ploy does not work so well since the Spencer Ackerman debacle. Really is time to get a new line of BS. Plus it's getting boring.
Posted by: woody held | January 17, 2011 at 11:45 PM
No, I do not support a ban on hi-powered rifles. "Assault weapons" is nothing more than political hype by people ignorant of weapons and determined to interfere with other peoples rights.
"Lets reason dictate" means nothing more than agrees with you on an issue.
Under the circumstances we are living with today, I do not support armed intervention with government. Twenty six months ago, our nation went through a moment of stupid and elected the idiots that have been running this country this passed two years. As witnessed this passed November, Americans don't stay stupid. We cleaned out enough of them to bring some balance back.
As long as we as a people can make corrections at the ballot box, to the left or right as needed, we'll be just fine.
Let some POTUS go all Chavez or Putin on us and I could change my mind real quick.
Posted by: Chucks | January 17, 2011 at 11:53 PM
He's an extremist, Sparky. Extremists on the right can be dangerous. Think about it.
Posted by: The Anti-Dori | January 18, 2011 at 12:41 AM
I read an editorial in the Washington Times last week where Gary Locke presented an Obama proposal for a national ID for Internet users that would allow for a single password, through the government that would be used for your bank and credit card accounts, medical records, and blog access (including anonymous posting). It is limitless what kind of control this would give government over our lives.
Today, I am not the kind of extremist you need fear. I am opposed to hurting people and the rifles and pistols are safely locked away. But when will the federal government (or when did it) get just a little bit too much control over our lives.
When does it go from being a government for and by the people to being just a government of the people?
Posted by: Chucks | January 18, 2011 at 09:26 AM
Chux,
You have a very incomplete understanding about the "National Internet ID" proposal...typical friggin Tea Bagger.
Posted by: Rocky | January 19, 2011 at 12:34 PM
And here come Rocky, another one of those ignorant ass wipes that know little but say a lot, blowing through here snipping.
Another of the "If it is proposed by the big ol' gumment, it must be good for us" idiots.
Bite me Bozo!
Posted by: Chucks | January 19, 2011 at 01:48 PM
Chucks;
President Obama is planning to hand the U.S. Commerce Department authority over a forthcoming cyber security effort to create an Internet ID for Americans…
"We are not talking about a national ID card," Locke said at the Stanford event. "We are not talking about a government-controlled system. What we are talking about is enhancing online security and privacy, and reducing and perhaps even eliminating the need to memorize a dozen passwords, through creation and use of more trusted digital identities."
Locke also said ‘you don’t have to get it if you don’t want it.
They are proposing this "identity ecosystem" with the idea that public and private organizations may perceive a use for a trusted identy. There are no government institutions, private banking organizations or medical records association in line to utilize this, as of now, planed product.
To declare you know how it will be utilized is misinformed at least or fear mongering at worst.
Posted by: BlackRhino | January 19, 2011 at 03:59 PM
Thats OK Chuckles...we know thinking makes your head hurt....maybe Sarah Palin can explain it to you...she's done such a great job with 'Blood Libel"...Tea Baggers are so entertaining!
Posted by: Rocky | January 19, 2011 at 04:28 PM
What major government program has not grown by leaps and bounds since inception. Social Security, Medicare, Income taxes, fuel taxes, government employee pensions, Dept of Homeland Security, The FBI, The Presidents staff, Dept of Education.......?
Blacky and Rocky must both be government employees. Locally, how much are you paying for your $30.00 tabs?
Yes, government that controls all aspects of my life does cause some fear. Under our Constitution, we are supposed to have control over our government. Not the other way around.
Posted by: Chucks | January 19, 2011 at 04:52 PM
Don't try to reason with Chuck. He is a tea party guy and his intellect is commensurate. He thinks that 300 million people don't need government. A gun in every kitchen will do the trick.
He's unbelievably ignorant about most civics stuff but probably a decent guy underneath.
Posted by: The Anti-Dori | January 19, 2011 at 04:58 PM
I say decent as long as things are relatively normal. If he were in Germany in the thirties, he would be one of the bad guys. He's very prone to propaganda. Sorry, Chuck. Had to say it. It is true.
Posted by: The Anti-Dori | January 19, 2011 at 04:59 PM
With the republican drinking game, assign a designated driver whenever republicans say something that isn't true
Posted by: Coiler | January 19, 2011 at 05:08 PM
Your right Chuck S, most government programs, agencies and projects expand. They need to expand as our population, economy or infrastructure increase. Nope, I’m no longer a government employee. As a matter of fact I left the public sector after eight years of hard work and lavish travel. But I soon found work with IBM, GE and Boeing, all of which own government contracts. And no, I am not a fearful person; I guess it’s due to my liberal leaning mind.
Posted by: BlackRhino | January 19, 2011 at 05:22 PM
I wonder if we will condemn a whole race of people once we discover the ethnicity of this mad bomber.
Posted by: BlackRhino | January 19, 2011 at 07:28 PM
It is interesting that the so called MSM is not picking up on this. The device found in Times Square last year was headline for days. I think you're right BR, it is dismissed when it is domestic.
Posted by: Coiler | January 19, 2011 at 10:04 PM
Oh no. It's because the MSM is left. And we all know the left doesn't want anybody to know about domestic terrorism. We want to keep the sheep asleep. Right.
I wonder what effect all these FCC-Internet-corporate mergers decisions will have on our ability to get news from sites like TPM and Huffpo? Maybe none? Anybody know?
Posted by: joanie | January 19, 2011 at 10:12 PM
OK, I surrender. You folks can have your circle jerk. You can just stand around your little cluster fuck and talk about what great ideas you all have. There is no need for the ideas of others that don't agree.
I shall join Putz and KS and just go elsewhere.
Posted by: Chucks | January 19, 2011 at 10:32 PM
Chucks, no one really wants you to leave. But you dish it out to us so you gotta take it.
You think government is too big and give examples of big government but don't tell us why they are too big. Responders have posted that there's a lot of people here. Reduced regulations destroyed our economy. Who regulates if it isn't government? What's your response?
Britain has a national curriculum. But you don't think we should even have public school teachers. You say charter schools are better. Yet research shows they are not better. Some are and a lot aren't. Some are simply scammers and profiteers. Yet you still believe they are better because you want to.
I don't get that. When you stick to beliefs that are proven concretely wrong, what do you expect us to say?
You think government is too big but you like the paycheck that comes home to your house even though it really can be earned cheaper in India. That's a fact. It isn't a fact I want to see happen anymore than I want to see public school teachers lose pensions or jobs. But you push the envelope for everyone else except yourself.
RV salesmen and small businesses should earn as much as they want but lawyers (who set up businesses) shouldn't. Explain that one. Even though they go through years of expensive training and just getting an office and law books puts them into debt for years.
How can we have a conversation when your values and priorities are not consistent?
If you want to take it personally and go elsewhere, then do. But please don't whine to us that we're mean or clique-ish. Surrender? I call it giving up when you haven't really met the challenge to begin with.
Personally, I think KS doesn't know what to say. He recognizes the fact that there's a lot of hate on the right and right now, he's not ready to defend it. JMO.
Posted by: joanie | January 19, 2011 at 10:50 PM
if KS and Puget have been driven from this blog in disgust. is their any dispute that the prime culprit responsible is the resident extreme rabid leftist and troll, Joanie? I heard a radio host ridiculing just how far left Drmocracy Now is, snd it's one of the troll's favorite shows.
Posted by: Anonymous in Tacoma | January 20, 2011 at 12:42 AM
KELS calls itself "Pirate Radio" but is a legit LPFM.
I suspect that most LPFMs up are more like KELS and less like the Pacificaish homes of folk music, punk rock and "Democracy Now!" that the Prometheus Radio Project likes to claim that LPFMs are.
Posted by: Spotlight05 | January 20, 2011 at 08:49 AM
@chucks
King was a great man, but like the rest of us, flawed.
...
Blacky and Rocky must both be government employees.
Speaking of flawed Chucks, hows your unemployment hypocrisy crusade working out? When you collect gov't checks, this technically makes YOU a government employee too. OUCH
BTW Chucks, don't you hate it when people game the system but then blame the system? Yeah, we do too
Posted by: mercifurious | January 20, 2011 at 11:23 AM