Whenever Rich Lowry writes this, I hear people blowing the dust off NR’s actual Civil Rights era editorials http://t.co/qo6c41U7aA
— daveweigel (@daveweigel) January 2, 2015
Not just open, but gaping! Rich ‘Starbursts’ Lowry explains it all for you his readers:
… The movie’s stars showed up for the New York City premiere with “I Can’t Breathe” T-shirts, and held their hands up for photos. One of its producers, Oprah Winfrey, says of the film, “It is here for a reason in this moment.” The actor who plays Martin Luther King Jr., David Oyelowo, calls the parallels with Ferguson “indisputable,” and the rapper Common, who plays activist James Bevel, pronounces, “Obviously, the story took place in 1965, which is almost 50 years ago, but we know that it’s happening now.”…
Whatever you think of the merits of voter-ID laws — often brought up to make the case that the struggle for voting rights is not over — they are not the least bit redolent of the Deep South of the mid-20th century. No one asks anyone to recite the preamble to the Constitution to get a driver’s license or some other valid ID…
As for policing, the worry in 1965 wasn’t ambiguous encounters or tragic accidents. It was beatings, or worse. It was whips and forced march by cattle prod. It was the violence of police who were the oppressive instruments of a lawless authority.
The protesters who faced off against the police in Selma didn’t shout abuse, although they would have been amply justified; they didn’t burn down local businesses; they didn’t randomly fire guns, or throw rocks or stones. The difference between demonstrators in Selma and Ferguson is the difference between dignity under enormous pressure in a righteous cause and heedless self-indulgence in the service of a smear (that Officer Darren Wilson shot Michael Brown as he surrendered)…
@daveweigel Lowest moment was when magazine said Birmingham church bombing perhaps done by a "crazed negro": http://t.co/0bZHeFmHOz
— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) January 2, 2015
@daveweigel One of my favorites: When National Review slammed "the ludicrously named 'civil rights' movement' — that is, the Negro revolt."
— Eric Kleefeld (@EricKleefeld) January 2, 2015
@daveweigel @EricBoehlert Read the comments section of the piece to get a flavor of the perspective of his readers on the subject. OMG.
— John Hentschel (@jchench) January 2, 2015
Open Thread: In <em>NRO</em>-world, Oprah Winfrey is the Real RacistPost + Comments (96)