Sunday, January 13, 2008

Hillary and Civil Rights

The body of a letter I sent to Sullivan, re: "Top Down Clinton.":
Much is being discussed about Hillary's tone-deafness about Civil Rights history. I wonder if it could be from her conflicted upbringing, and her late arrival, at civil rights as a movement and a process. According to (what appears to be an authorized campaign site), she was a Republican, President of College Republicans, until 1966 and was "deeply affected" by the assassination of Rev. King... but what was she doing about Civil Rights before the assassination? Was she that concerned as a young adult and college student before that horrible event?

I say this to try to understand how she could defend LBJ and denigrate MLK (despite her subsequent backtracking, much like Michael Richards or Mel Gibson had to cover and backtrack). Back in 1965 & 1966, she may have actually felt that MLK wasn't that important but that the president was.
Backpost finished 2009-12-17.

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