In report, Clinton ‘praises KKK supporters’
http://www.michronicleonline.com/articlelive/articles/2638/1/In-report-Clinton-praises-KKK-supporters/Page1.html
Bankole Thompson
By Bankole Thompson
Published on 04/23/2008
Hillary Clinton
Bill Clinton
BlackCommentator.com, an online news outlet that provides cutting edge information on the political, cultural and socioeconomic thrust of the Black world, has an interesting article this week that links former president Bill Clinton to a group that supports the Ku Klux Klan.
The group, the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC), according to BlackCommentator.com, is an organization that is branded by many as racist, and the renowned Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate groups, says UDC is affiliated with other White supremacist groups such as the Council of Conservative Citizens and the League of the South.
Founded in 1894, UDC, according to Peter Gamble and David Love, authors of the investigative story, “limits its membership to women who are related to Confederate veterans of the ‘War Between the States.”
On June 21, 1994, Clinton, while president, wrote a letter to UDC, which was printed in the group’s magazine in September of that year as a special congratulatory message for UDC’s centennial anniversary edition.
In the letter Clinton expressed delight in the group’s 100th year celebration.
“One of the most rewarding of human experiences is the coming together of people to share common experiences and interests. For 100 years, the United Daughters of Confederacy has maintained and built upon the wonderful legacy of your founders. The strength of your organization today is a testament of the vision of your founders and to your commitment to your shared goals,” Clinton wrote in a White House letter secured by BlackCommentator.com.
“In 2000, the Southern Poverty Law Center wrote that ‘although the UDC promotes an image of genteel Southern ladies…its publications’ tell a different story, adding that recently the “UDC’s president, Mrs. William Wells, shared the podium with…White supremacist lawyer Kirk Lyons.”
In a 1989 UDC magazine article, Walter W. Lee argued that “purchasers of the slaves” were actually victims of slavery while “the worst suffering group among those engaged in the trade” were “the crews of slave ships.” Lee also made light of the horrific and deadly Middle Passage, claiming that “the sixteen inches of deck space allotted each slave is not all that much smaller (sic) than the eighteen inches that the Royal Navy allowed for each sailor’s hammock and the slaves rapidly had more room due to the much higher death rate,” according to the investigative report.
In August of 1995, Clinton sent another letter to UDC, which was printed on the inside of the front cover of the September issue of the UDC magazine that year.
“Greetings to everyone gathered in our nation’s capital for the 1995 National Convention of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
Congratulations on beginning of the second century of your organization. Your long history is a tribute to your dedication to and respect for the ideals of your founders. This week marks a special time for the members of your organization to share memories, traditions and goals. I hope that your visit to Washington is an enjoyable one and that you will take advantage of its unique beauty and many historical sites. Best wishes to all for an enjoyable convention,” Clinton wrote in this letter.
The authors of the BlackCommentator report, revealed that as recently as November of 2007, the UDC magazine printed an article titled “Confederate Classics” by Retta D. Tindal under its regular column “Confederate Notes,” in which books by KKK members were recommended.
“Tindall recommended the White supremacist racist text ‘Southern By the Grace of God,’ by Michael Andrew Grissom, a Ku Klux Klan member, praising the book, not just the Klan of Reconstruction but the Klan of the 1920s, which in turn recommends ‘The Clansman’ by Thomas Dixon, which later was made into a notorious movie, ‘Birth of a Nation,’” Gamble and Love reported.
BlackCommentator.com in its investigation of the Clinton letters to UDC landed upon a 1993 New York Times article in which former Illinois senator Carol Moseley Braun condemned UDC during a Senate vote.
“The Senate’s only Black member, Carol Moseley Braun, made the chamber listen today as freshmen seldom do. Her oratory of impassioned tears and shouts stopped Jesse Helms in his tracks as he defended the Confederate flag. Sen. Helms, the 20-year North Carolina Republican, had sought — and seemed to be finding — a roundabout way to preserve the design patent held by United Daughters of the Confederacy on a symbol that includes the flag. He proposed language to that effect as an amendment to the national service bill, which would provide educational grants in return for various forms of service. With many senators unaware of what they were voting on, he won a test vote, 52 to 48. Then Sen. Braun, a freshman from Illinois, took the floor in outrage at the defense of a symbol of slavery. She told the Senate: “On this issue there can be no consensus. It is an outrage. It is an insult. It is absolutely unacceptable to me and to millions of Americans, Black or White, that we would put the imprimatur of the United States Senate on a symbol of this kind of idea,” the Times reported.
Helms insisted that the symbol, a wreath, was used as a proud insignia of the UDC.
“The United Daughters of the Confederacy have consistently defended the Ku Klux Klan. For example a postcard showing a Grand Cyclops of the KKK could at least at one time be found in the UDC Chapter Room at Florence, Alabama,” BlackCommentator.com reported.
Both Bill and Hillary Clinton have promoted themselves as champions of civil rights. And for good reasons they probably have done significant things to advance or address issues faced by Blacks. But this new disturbing revelation deserves an explanation. There is no way to go around it. Hillary Clinton cannot have it both ways. She should explain these letters to the nation. And the national media should for once abandon its hypocrisy and put her on the hot seat on this one. The Louis Farrakhan and Jeremiah Wright tests against Barack Obama, both of which failed, were inflamed in part because of the media’s insouciance towards real issues and decision to go for the associations of the candidates.
Well, let the media show us that it is fair game by asking Sen. Clinton to explain. In fact, I would like to know if she is member of the UDC.
Controversial Black political figures are crucified and portrayed as devils in the media, and yet their White counterparts are praised or recruited as political and spiritual sages on national television. Black elected officials are asked and pressed to transcend race but not White elected officials. We are not asking for much. All we need is fairness. Apply the same standard of scrutiny to everyone, including Rev. Pat Robertson, who suggested that immorality was partly responsible for the unfortunate events of September 11, 2001.
“It also happened because God is lifting His protection from this nation and we must pray and ask Him for revival so that once again we will be His people, the planting of His righteousness, so that He will come to our defense and protect us as a nation,” Robertson said in a press release after the attacks.
Why didn’t the media take Robertson to task?
Oh no! It’s free speech for the Rev. but not for Black revs. The media continuing in this double standard game risk becoming increasingly irrelevant to Blacks and otherminorities in this country.
Thompson’s latest book, “A Matter of Black Transformation,” pushes the frontiers of Black socioeconomic empowerment in the light of globalization. Read his blogs at michronicleonline.com or e-mail bthompson@michronicle.com.
BlackCommentator.com, an online news outlet that provides cutting edge information on the political, cultural and socioeconomic thrust of the Black world, has an interesting article this week that links former president Bill Clinton to a group that supports the Ku Klux Klan.
Ku Klux Klan
Hillary Clinton
Bill Clinton
BlackCommentator.com, an online news outlet that provides cutting edge information on the political, cultural and socioeconomic thrust of the Black world, has an interesting article this week that links former president Bill Clinton to a group that supports the Ku Klux Klan.
The group, the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC), according to BlackCommentator.com, is an organization that is branded by many as racist, and the renowned Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate groups, says UDC is affiliated with other White supremacist groups such as the Council of Conservative Citizens and the League of the South.
Founded in 1894, UDC, according to Peter Gamble and David Love, authors of the investigative story, “limits its membership to women who are related to Confederate veterans of the ‘War Between the States.”
On June 21, 1994, Clinton, while president, wrote a letter to UDC, which was printed in the group’s magazine in September of that year as a special congratulatory message for UDC’s centennial anniversary edition.
In the letter Clinton expressed delight in the group’s 100th year celebration.
“One of the most rewarding of human experiences is the coming together of people to share common experiences and interests. For 100 years, the United Daughters of Confederacy has maintained and built upon the wonderful legacy of your founders. The strength of your organization today is a testament of the vision of your founders and to your commitment to your shared goals,” Clinton wrote in a White House letter secured by BlackCommentator.com.
“In 2000, the Southern Poverty Law Center wrote that ‘although the UDC promotes an image of genteel Southern ladies…its publications’ tell a different story, adding that recently the “UDC’s president, Mrs. William Wells, shared the podium with…White supremacist lawyer Kirk Lyons.”
In a 1989 UDC magazine article, Walter W. Lee argued that “purchasers of the slaves” were actually victims of slavery while “the worst suffering group among those engaged in the trade” were “the crews of slave ships.” Lee also made light of the horrific and deadly Middle Passage, claiming that “the sixteen inches of deck space allotted each slave is not all that much smaller (sic) than the eighteen inches that the Royal Navy allowed for each sailor’s hammock and the slaves rapidly had more room due to the much higher death rate,” according to the investigative report.
In August of 1995, Clinton sent another letter to UDC, which was printed on the inside of the front cover of the September issue of the UDC magazine that year.
“Greetings to everyone gathered in our nation’s capital for the 1995 National Convention of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
Congratulations on beginning of the second century of your organization. Your long history is a tribute to your dedication to and respect for the ideals of your founders. This week marks a special time for the members of your organization to share memories, traditions and goals. I hope that your visit to Washington is an enjoyable one and that you will take advantage of its unique beauty and many historical sites. Best wishes to all for an enjoyable convention,” Clinton wrote in this letter.
The authors of the BlackCommentator report, revealed that as recently as November of 2007, the UDC magazine printed an article titled “Confederate Classics” by Retta D. Tindal under its regular column “Confederate Notes,” in which books by KKK members were recommended.
“Tindall recommended the White supremacist racist text ‘Southern By the Grace of God,’ by Michael Andrew Grissom, a Ku Klux Klan member, praising the book, not just the Klan of Reconstruction but the Klan of the 1920s, which in turn recommends ‘The Clansman’ by Thomas Dixon, which later was made into a notorious movie, ‘Birth of a Nation,’” Gamble and Love reported.
BlackCommentator.com in its investigation of the Clinton letters to UDC landed upon a 1993 New York Times article in which former Illinois senator Carol Moseley Braun condemned UDC during a Senate vote.
“The Senate’s only Black member, Carol Moseley Braun, made the chamber listen today as freshmen seldom do. Her oratory of impassioned tears and shouts stopped Jesse Helms in his tracks as he defended the Confederate flag. Sen. Helms, the 20-year North Carolina Republican, had sought — and seemed to be finding — a roundabout way to preserve the design patent held by United Daughters of the Confederacy on a symbol that includes the flag. He proposed language to that effect as an amendment to the national service bill, which would provide educational grants in return for various forms of service. With many senators unaware of what they were voting on, he won a test vote, 52 to 48. Then Sen. Braun, a freshman from Illinois, took the floor in outrage at the defense of a symbol of slavery. She told the Senate: “On this issue there can be no consensus. It is an outrage. It is an insult. It is absolutely unacceptable to me and to millions of Americans, Black or White, that we would put the imprimatur of the United States Senate on a symbol of this kind of idea,” the Times reported.
Helms insisted that the symbol, a wreath, was used as a proud insignia of the UDC.
“The United Daughters of the Confederacy have consistently defended the Ku Klux Klan. For example a postcard showing a Grand Cyclops of the KKK could at least at one time be found in the UDC Chapter Room at Florence, Alabama,” BlackCommentator.com reported.
Both Bill and Hillary Clinton have promoted themselves as champions of civil rights. And for good reasons they probably have done significant things to advance or address issues faced by Blacks. But this new disturbing revelation deserves an explanation. There is no way to go around it. Hillary Clinton cannot have it both ways. She should explain these letters to the nation. And the national media should for once abandon its hypocrisy and put her on the hot seat on this one. The Louis Farrakhan and Jeremiah Wright tests against Barack Obama, both of which failed, were inflamed in part because of the media’s insouciance towards real issues and decision to go for the associations of the candidates.
Well, let the media show us that it is fair game by asking Sen. Clinton to explain. In fact, I would like to know if she is member of the UDC.
Controversial Black political figures are crucified and portrayed as devils in the media, and yet their White counterparts are praised or recruited as political and spiritual sages on national television. Black elected officials are asked and pressed to transcend race but not White elected officials. We are not asking for much. All we need is fairness. Apply the same standard of scrutiny to everyone, including Rev. Pat Robertson, who suggested that immorality was partly responsible for the unfortunate events of September 11, 2001.
“It also happened because God is lifting His protection from this nation and we must pray and ask Him for revival so that once again we will be His people, the planting of His righteousness, so that He will come to our defense and protect us as a nation,” Robertson said in a press release after the attacks.
Why didn’t the media take Robertson to task?
Oh no! It’s free speech for the Rev. but not for Black revs. The media continuing in this double standard game risk becoming increasingly irrelevant to Blacks and otherminorities in this country.
Thompson’s latest book, “A Matter of Black Transformation,” pushes the frontiers of Black socioeconomic empowerment in the light of globalization. Read his blogs at michronicleonline.com or e-mail bthompson@michronicle.com.