Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS), a potential Republican presidential candidate, has an interesting perspective on the tumults of the civil rights era that swept through his Deep South state.
As Barbour recalls it in a new profile in The Weekly Standard, things weren't so bad in his hometown of Yazoo City, which took until 1970 to integrate its schools (though the final event itself is said to have gone on peacefully). For example, Barbour says that there was no problem of Ku Klux Klan activity in the town -- thanks to the Citizens Council movement, an organization that was founded on the basis of resistance to integration and the promotion of white supremacy.
"You heard of the Citizens Councils? Up north they think it was like the KKK," said Barbour. "Where I come from it was an organization of town leaders. In Yazoo City they passed a resolution that said anybody who started a chapter of the Klan would get their ass run out of town. If you had a job, you'd lose it. If you had a store, they'd see nobody shopped there. We didn't have a problem with the Klan in Yazoo City."
Yeah, only one problem with the Citizens Council...they were the Klan, just without the robes and pointy sheets.
The White Citizens Council movement was founded in Mississippi in 1954, shortly after the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision that outlawed segregated public schools, and was dedicated to political activities opposing civil rights -- notably boycotts of pro-civil rights individuals in Barbour's hometown, as opposed to Barbour's recollection of actions against the Klan. It was distinguished from the Klan by the public self-identification of its members, and its image of suits and ties as opposed to white robes and nooses.
In 1998, American Conservative Union head David Keene barred the Citizens Council's modern incarnation, the Council of Conservative Citizens, from the annual CPAC conference: "we kicked [them] out of CPAC because they are racists."
Just your friendly, garden variety white supremacists. And Barbour is hoping to rewrite history so that nobody notices and the Republicans become the champions of civil rights or something.
The bad stuff in the civil rights movement? Yeah, see, that was somebody else, see. And they think you'll fall for it.
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Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour keeps digging southern Republicans into a deeper and deeper hole with his steam shovel of a mouth.
No, that would be you trying to use a straw man to show Barbour as some kind of "racist". Barbour wasn't a member of any of the groups mentioned. He explained his knowledge of what the Citizens Council did to keep the Klan out of Yazoo City.
By your standards, the NAACP and the Nation of Islam are racist black supremacist groups, on par with the racist Black Panthers (who have members of Congress in office today).
But this is what I expect of someone who refuses to acknowledge any facts whatsoever.
By the way, got anything to say about the racist "Rev." James Meeks, who is running to be mayor of Chicago?
No, Barbour's just supporting the Citizen's Councils as a good thing. yes, the publicly denounced the overt violence of the KKK. They then turned around and laid down covert racism and boycotts of civil rights supporters and black in the South.
Barbour leaves those out.
And Meeks doesn't deserve to be Mayor of Chicago any more than Barbour does Governor or Mississippi.
There is also no indication he ever supported them. As Kleefeld said:
In 1998, American Conservative Union head David Keene barred the Citizens Council's modern incarnation, the Council of Conservative Citizens, from the annual CPAC conference: "we kicked [them] out of CPAC because they are racists."
Well, CPAC is going have Barbour as a featured speaker at next year's conference. If Barbour actually supported any of these groups, he wouldn't be at a conference that doesn't want them, does it? Plus, I doubt he would be governor of Mississippi if even an iota of what you say about him is true.
By the way, how is the NAACP not a black supremacist group?
"how is the NAACP not a black supremacist group?"
Tell you what, why don't you first you explain to us how the NAACP IS a black supremacist group?
"how is the NAACP not a black supremacist group?"
Tell you what, why don't you first you explain to us how the NAACP IS a black supremacist group?
I didn't say the NAACP is a black supremacist group. But as the Citizens Councils and it's descendant group promote support only for people of a certain skin color, and the NAACP promotes support only for people of a certain skin color, it would seem the only difference is the skin color of the people those groups support.
Besides, the Councils don't appear to be a bit like the Klan as Zandar would have people believe. The Klan is a terrorist group, which is one of the reasons why they wear the hoods, to keep members from being identified. I'm not saying the Councils were good, just that equating them with the Klan is a huge stretch. That's like equating the NAACP with the Black Panthers. Even I wouldn't do that.
Yeah, let's talk about those Citizens' Councils, Steve.
"Here is a Council newspaper from 1956, based in Jackson, Mississippi (which is roughly 40 miles from Barbour's hometown of Yazoo City). The paper includes such headlines as: "Christian Love And Segregation"; "Council Movement Spreads As Nation Reacts to Danger"; "Negroes Taking Over"; "Baptists Rap Mixing" (note: In 1950's American English, "rap" in this context meant to harshly criticize, similar to "blast" in a headline now); "Rape In Germany," warning of alleged rapes of German women by African-American soldiers; "Lady Veteran Raps Hospital Mixology"; and "Enemy Made Large Gains In 1955."
Not like the Klan at all. Nope.
Douchebag.
So then it's OK to equate a group like the NAACP with the Black Panther terrorists, right? That would also include Rev. Jeremiah Wright and his merry band of racists, correct?
Earlier, I mentioned James Meeks of Chicago. He is a long shot to becoming mayor. But a racist like him will still win re-election to his state senate seat. Go figure.
You're going to do it anyway. If you can't see the difference between "let's lift up blacks to fight for equal rights with all races" and "Whites must remain at the top, above other races" then there's nothing I can do for you.
And today Haley Barbour has done a complete 180 when he realized how much trouble he was in.
"When asked why my hometown in Mississippi did not suffer the same racial violence when I was a young man that accompanied other towns' integration efforts, I accurately said the community leadership wouldn't tolerate it and helped prevent violence there. My point was my town rejected the Ku Klux Klan, but nobody should construe that to mean I think the town leadership were saints, either. Their vehicle, called the 'Citizens Council,' is totally indefensible, as is segregation. It was a difficult and painful era for Mississippi, the rest of the country, and especially African Americans who were persecuted in that time."
Whoops. Feels a little silly defending the "totally indefensible" there, you know.
If you can't see the difference between "let's lift up blacks to fight for equal rights with all races"...
That's what it was back in the day. There have been enough affirmative action and diversity programs, for many decades now, to render what you say about the NAACP as obsolete. One of the more extreme, yet only one of many, examples I remember is when Rep. Bobby Rush (the former Black Panther terrorist) saying that because Obama is black, only a black man could replace him as U.S. Senator from Illinois; and then the corrupt Blago appointed the inept former Illinois AG Roland Burris, another Democrat who politicized justice (the Rolando Cruz case; look it up). We're long past the idea that blacks don't have equal rights. So the NAACP isn't looking at equal rights for people of all races at all; they like promoting affirmative action and diversity since it helps feed their fundraising efforts, especially money from those who stupidly suffer from white liberal guilt. Since you can't see that, there's nothing I can do for you.
As far as the supposed Barbour recantation, I'd have to believe your interpretation of what he said in the Weekly Standard piece, which I don't, because you aren't believable, and I have shown plenty of proof of that. In the Weekly Standard interview, he stated that the local Citizens Council kept the Klan out. That's it. He didn't say he supported the group, he was never a part of the group, nothing. Your claiming he did is a typically complete mischaracterization. Arguing that I defended his non-support as some kind of acknowledgment of his support is just more of the same from you.
That's funny.
Because you lost your argument the second Barbour corrected himself because he didn't want to be seen as implying he supported the Citizens' Councils.
Thanks for playing, Steve. You're always good for a laugh.
Again, you assume I believe you. You assume too much.
Yeah, pesky facts.
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