Are Democrats the party of the KKK?

Before you Dems go into an apoplectic rage, this question was not posed by me, a Right Wing White Guy, but by Dr. Alveda C. King, niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dr. King writes in the most current issue of Black Republican magazine about how the Republican party has championed the cause of blacks. From the Civil War, up through the civil rights legislation of the 50s and 60s, to desegregation, to the present, it has been Republicans that have fought for the rights of blacks against Democrat opposition.

It was an unfortunate gaffe by Nixon in the election of 1960 that started the black switch to the Democrat party. You can read the full history in Dr. King's article which is available at the website for the National Black Republican Association (www.NBRA.info), but the bottom line is that blacks basically jettisoned 100 years of favorable history with the Republican party when they began switching to the Democrat party during the 60's.

Dr. King cites example after example of legislation that was favorable to blacks that has been resisted by Democrats. A portion of her article is worth quoting and asks a powerful rhetorical question:

"To their eternal shame, the chief opponents of the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act were Democrat Senators, Sam Ervin, Albert Gore, Sr. and Robert Byrd, a former Klansman. All of the racist Democrats that Dr. King was fighting remained Democrats until the day they died. How can anyone today think that Dr. King, my uncle, would have joined the party of the KKK?"

Democrats like to portray themselves as the champions of blacks, but the facts (oh those pesky facts!) are that Republicans have always been, and continue to be, the strongest supporters of traditional black values and interests. It is only through an unfortunate turn of events that the Democrats have been able to successfully fool the black electorate into thinking that they really represent their best interests.

Dr. King concludes by issuing a clarion call for blacks to reclaim her uncle's legacy and to return to the Republican party.