Guest Commentary

Democrats Bury the Civil Rights Movement

By the time you read this, Joe Biden may have already announced selection of his vice presidential running mate.

From everything we read, it is certain that it will be a woman, and a good chance that woman will be black.

But why, when so much of what dominates our national discussion today is the alleged importance of elimination of racism and sexism, is there open and unabashed talk about how sexism and racism must be the basis for choosing the candidate for the nation’s second-highest office?

Can anyone imagine what would happen if a presidential candidate were to announce that his running mate must be a white male?

That, of course, would never happen. Because we reject racism and sexism? No. Because white male, certainly in Democratic Party circles, is politically incorrect, and black female is politically correct.

Is this because selecting a black female implies more morality, fairness and justice?

Anyone who believes that turns what the civil rights movement was allegedly about on its head.

The civil rights movement was about freedom.

We are just a few weeks from the 57th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s most famous speech, the “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 28, 1963.

In that speech, King defined the ideals of the movement he led.

He embraced the ideals of America. His criticism was that the nation was not living up to those ideals, not that those were the wrong ideals for us to strive for.

The promise of America, said King, was that “all men — yes, black men as well as white men — would be guaranteed the ‘unalienable rights’ of ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.’” “Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children,” he said.

How can I not bring up the most quoted line of that speech?

“I have a dream today that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

The purpose of the civil rights movement, stated clearly by its leader that summer day in 1963, was that qualified candidates for the office of vice president of the United States would not be denied because they are a woman or because they are black.

The dream, and the purpose, was not that an individual would be chosen for that job, or any job, because he or she is a woman or is black.

The ideals of America and the civil rights movement, that every American is a child of God and all God’s children live continued from page

freely under the same Godgiven eternal truths, have been lost by the Democratic Party.

Why has it happened? Why have the Democratic Party and the liberals who populate it and vote for its candidates buried the ideals of the civil rights movement?

Because those ideals — one free nation under God — imply a deal they don’t want to make.

First, it means faith in God and God’s word — the Bible. Second, it means every individual takes personal responsibility for his or her own life.

Liberals don’t want it. They don’t want eternal truths that apply equally to all. And they certainly don’t want personal responsibility to be the hallmark of individual behavior in a free country.

They want a politicized nation where politicians gain power by making huge promises paid for by other people’s money. And they want to make sure that if someone’s life is not working, they can blame it on someone else.

This may be the formula for electing a Democratic president today. But it is also the formula for destroying our country and certainly all the dreams that black Americans strived for in the civil rights movement.

Star Parker is president of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education and author of the new book “Necessary Noise: How Donald Trump Inflames the Culture War and Why This is Good News for America.” Readers can respond to Star’s column by emailing star-parker@urbancure. org.