Op-ed: Joe Biden Is The White Moderate Dr. King Warned Us About

[DKW 86 7,431]

Op-ed: Joe Biden Is The White Moderate Dr. King Warned Us About

JOE BIDEN, FORMER U.S. VICE-PRESIDENT, AND 2020 DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, SHARED FOND MEMORIES TUESDAY NIGHT OF JAMES O. EASTLAND, THE WHITE SUPREMACIST MISSISSIPPI SENATOR KNOWN AS “THE VOICE OF THE WHITE SOUTH,” CALLING HIM “SON.”

 

 

LEIGH VOGEL—GETTY IMAGES

 

BY KIRSTEN WEST SAVALI · JUNE 19, 2019

 

“I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Council-er or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice.”  — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

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Joe Biden, the architect of the 1994 Crime Bill and former U.S. Vice-President, is not as slick as he thinks he is. In fact, he’s a cliché, a stock photo, an avatar, for every single liberal white man who believes that just because he’s not a member of the Republican Party or an adherent to the most virulent white supremacist policies, that he can disguise his rancid racism behind “Aw shucks, I just tell it like it is” performative politic-ing and Black people will just fall in line.

Because at least he’s not Donald Trump.

He proved that again Tuesday night at an NYC fundraiser, during which he reportedly told the crowd that he and James O. Eastland, the long-serving, segregationist, white supremacist Mississippi senator known as “The Voice of the White South,” and the “Godfather of Mississippi Politics”, shared a mutual fondness and respect for each other.

 

The senator from Delaware reportedly stated, “I know the new New Left tells me that I’m — this is old-fashioned. Well guess what? If we can’t reach a consensus in our system, what happens? It encourages and demands the abuse of power by a president.”

“I was in a caucus with James O. Eastland,” Biden continued, reportedly slipping into a southern drawl. “He never called me boy, he always called me son.”

 

 

Because Eastland was a refined man, you see. A civil man who only used “boy” to reinforce a racist power dynamic and dehumanize the “ni—ers” he hated so much—never Biden.

Later reports added that Biden also mentioned his fondness for segregationist Georgia Gov. Herman Talmadge, saying of both of the white supremacists, “At least there was some civility. We got things done. We didn’t agree on much of anything. We got things done. We got it finished. But today you look at the other side and you’re the enemy. Not the opposition, the enemy. We don’t talk to each other anymore.”

 

It makes sense, then that while Biden’s daddy was wreaking havoc in the lives of Black Mississippians, Biden was a crusader for anti-integration, anti-busing policies and actively courting Eastland’s support.

In a March 25, 1977 letter, Biden wrote his mentor, who at the time served as chairman of the Judiciary Committee, these words:

 

“Dear Mr. Chairman, I want you to know that I very much appreciate your help during this week’s committee meeting in attempting to bring my anti-busing legislation to a vote.”

Eastland worked closely with the Mississippi Sovereignty Commission, a state-sponsored white terrorist organization that aided and abetted in the assassinations of Black civil rights leaders—and surveilled others, including my grandparents. Yet, he was apparently not only a model of civility for Biden, but a political accomplice.

In asking Eastland to speak on the Senate Floor in favor of his anti-busing bill, Biden wrote the man, who once called Black people “an inferior race,” another note on Aug. 22, 1978, pleading, “I want to personally ask your continued support and alert you to our intentions. Your participation in floor debate would be welcomed.”

Be clear: Former President Barack Obama may consider Biden to be his BFF, but the man cannot be trusted. He is making it plain that he will beat Trump at his own game, twisting the knife of white supremacy deeper still into the core of this nation with a smile on his face and a song in his heart.

 

Democrats, is this your king?

If not, they need to make it plain now, because it is past time, but potentially too late, for this so-called “progressive” party to reckon with itself.

Whether it looks like 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris previously threatening Black mothers with prison time if their children were truant from school; or New York City Mayor and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Bill de Blasio refusing to stand with the family of Eric Garner in demanding the release of killer Daniel Pantaleo’s disciplinary record; or former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel closing public schools in Chicago and participating in the cover-up of the extrajudicial killing of Laquan McDonald; or not one police officer being convicted of federal hate crimes under the Eric Holder-helmed Justice Department during the Obama administration for the state-sanctioned killing of a Black person, it is clear that the Democratic Party cannot be exempt from excavating its own devils.

 

Even those, especially those, with a twinkle in their sparkling blue eyes.

[AUDub 11,158]

We should ask black voters what they think. 

Oh, wait. They overwhelmingly supported him in the primary and essentially put him over the top. 

How about what few civil rights movement leaders we still have with us? Oh wait, they're practically all supporting him too.

You're spending too much time on r/SandersforPresident and r/WayoftheBern. Those aren't reality. They're dens of morons butthurt over their preferred candidate losing.

Y'all want so much to run against mid-nineties Joe Biden.

[aubiefifty 16,824]

i would vote for pee wee herman to keep trump from screwing up the country any more than he already has.

[Grumps 3,704]

4 hours ago, AUDub said:

We should ask black voters what they think. 

Oh, wait. They overwhelmingly supported him in the primary and essentially put him over the top. 

How about what few civil rights movement leaders we still have with us? Oh wait, they're practically all supporting him too.

You're spending too much time on r/SandersforPresident and r/WayoftheBern. Those aren't reality. They're dens of morons butthurt over their preferred candidate losing.

Y'all want so much to run against mid-nineties Joe Biden.

I think you may have missed his point. The point of the article doesn't seem to be who blacks will vote for as much as who will ultimately provide justice for blacks. 

[TitanTiger 20,499]

2 hours ago, Grumps said:

I think you may have missed his point. The point of the article doesn't seem to be who blacks will vote for as much as who will ultimately provide justice for blacks. 

I think you're right in the sense that that's what the article is about.  But I don't think the article is correct in their summation of Biden - not the Biden of 2020.  And as Dub points out, it doesn't appear that most black voters feel that way either.  Because they are quite literally the reason he's the nominee.

[DKW 86 7,431]

Quote

“I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is...

the white moderate who is more devoted to ‘order’ than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice.”  — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Stumbling block

A stumbling block or scandal in the Bible, or in politics, is a metaphor for a behaviour or attitude that leads another to sin or to destructive behaviour.

The Author is retelling a story about Dr King. Dr King stated that the stumbling block, the thing that keeps holding otherwise good people back, would be a white moderate that was overly concerned with Law and Order. The 1994 Crime Bill is exactly what Dr King referenced. 

Support from Blacks toward the white moderate was assumed by Dr King. So support has really nothing to do with it. Dr King said "the stumbling block" the thing that would hold them up from making real Progress, (improving, getting better) was a white moderate in love with Law and Order: Joe Biden. That is exactly as predicted. The 1994 Crime Bill forms the majority of the laws on sentencing that now imprisons 4%+ of the Black Males in America. That damages Black Males, Black Families, Black Spouses, Black Children. Once in prison, and then out, they would be hampered from job opportunities, advancements, raises, building wealth, etc. That would in turn hurt the overall Black Community. 

Sheesh. It has absolutely nothing to do with Bernie, nor absolutely nothing to do with support.

Dr King said that Blacks would support the White Moderate...AND that the White Moderate would become the biggest obstacle to them Progressing. 

[AUDub 11,158]

3 hours ago, DKW 86 said:

Dr King said that Blacks would support the White Moderate...AND that the White Moderate would become the biggest obstacle to them Progressing. 

Black folks that took literal ass whoopings on the marches for their civil rights are endorsing him. Buzz off with your presumptive bull. 

[AUDub 11,158]

Wait I just noticed the author stuck an Assata Shakur - a cold blooded murdering bag of a**holes and admitted terrorist - quote in there at the tail end.

[DKW 86 7,431]

6 hours ago, AUDub said:

Black folks that took literal ass whoopings on the marches for their civil rights are endorsing him. Buzz off with your presumptive bull. 

You so completely Missed Dr Kings point. I mean COMPLETELY MISSED IT. 
There is nothing about supporting the guy that would trip them up. Their support was 100% anticipated by King.

Your comments make about as much sense as The Price of Tea in China or the Sex Lives of Rainbow Unicorns. 
In context your comments are actually nonsensical. So I guess, thanks for agreeing with me? Is that want you are trying to say?
I can explain it to you. I cant comprehend it for you. 

[TitanTiger 20,499]

13 minutes ago, DKW 86 said:

You so completely Missed Dr Kings point. I mean COMPLETELY MISSED IT. 
There is nothing about supporting the guy that would trip them up. Their support was 100% anticipated by King.

Your comments make about as much sense as The Price of Tea in China or the Sex Lives of Rainbow Unicorns. 
In context your comments are actually nonsensical. So I guess, thanks for agreeing with me? Is that want you are trying to say?
I can explain it to you. I cant comprehend it for you. 

Actually, I think you're misinterpreting King's words.  He's not predicting who black folks will support.  He's simply making the statement that white moderates are actually doing more harm than good in the quest for civil rights.  At best it can be read as a admonition for blacks not to throw their support behind such politicians in the future.  But there's nothing in that quote or the broader context of the letter it's lifted from that I can see that is 'predictive' of who black voters would support.

[DKW 86 7,431]

2 minutes ago, TitanTiger said:

Actually, I think you're misinterpreting King's words.  He's not predicting who black folks will support.  He's simply making the statement that white moderates are actually doing more harm than good in the quest for civil rights.  At best it can be read as a admonition for blacks not to throw their support behind such politicians in the future.  But there's nothing in that quote or the broader context of the letter it's lifted from that I can see that is 'predictive' of who black voters would support.

 

[TitanTiger 20,499]

You can be as unserious and dismissive as you want (to a point - this isn't the Smack forum after all).  But reading through several pages of Google searches on this quote, not one supports this interpretation of yours.  No one reads it as some prediction on how black people will vote.  It's a statement indicting the white moderates of his era (especially clergy) for their inaction and a belief that they are a worse problem going forward than overt racists.  It's to express dismay and disappointment in their prioritizing of keeping the peace over taking action on long-delayed justice for black people.  Perhaps the larger passage from which it came will help:

First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Council-er or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.” Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.

The only discussion here of future events is simply a discussion of the types of conversations and struggles black people will have with various groups/types of white people in the journey toward freedom.  There will be issues with the White Citizen's Council or the KKK, but the bigger problem is white moderates.  But that's simply as a statement of how effective or ineffective interactions with various groups/types will be.  At best you could read that statement then as a call for black people not to put their hopes in that kind of politician or clergyman.  But there's nothing in there that's a prediction about who blacks will support at the ballot box.  This isn't some arcane exercise to get to a meaning I prefer.  It's just Grammatical Structure 101.

[AuCivilEng1 11,012]

On 6/28/2020 at 9:32 AM, AUDub said:

We should ask black voters what they think. 

Oh, wait. They overwhelmingly supported him in the primary and essentially put him over the top. 

How about what few civil rights movement leaders we still have with us? Oh wait, they're practically all supporting him too.

You're spending too much time on r/SandersforPresident and r/WayoftheBern. Those aren't reality. They're dens of morons butthurt over their preferred candidate losing.

Y'all want so much to run against mid-nineties Joe Biden.

The craziest thing is that Sanders even came out in support of Biden. Lol. If they really trusted Sanders and his principles they’d trust his judgment.