Haley Barbour says the poor Ku Klux Klan is a just a misunderstood group of good old boys who got together from time to to time to do good things for the community.
Of course, the activities of this civic action group including bombing black churches, hanging black men, raping black girls and castrating black men.
But wait. Haley says he remembers the Klan as a “Citizens Council” as a group that tried to do good things for his hometown of Yazoo City, Mississippi.
Barbour provided his nostalgic memories in a recent profile for the Weekly Standard magazine. As expected,his overt racism sparked outcries from one end of the country to the other. Even aging racists in Mississippi wondered what the hell he was up to.
So someone with an IQ of an average plant got to Barbour and said “hey, Haley, we’ know you’re dumb as a rug but this is too stupid even for you and it’s time for some damage control.”
When you’re Haley Barbour and you’ve said things that eve makes the Klan blush it’s hard to come up with damage control, but he’s trying, now claiming the Citizen’s Council is “totally indefensible” along with the the “segregation” it supports.
The right-wing propaganda machine has gone into overtime, saying Barbour’s remarks wer “innocent nostalgia” and calling the uproar over the blatant racism just “a left-wing smear campaign.”
Hot Air‘s Allah Pundit (a perfect name for a right-wing propagandist) said Barbour’s rant was “simply naive about the Citizens Councils’ purpose..
Speaking of propagandists, Fox News claims Barbour “fends off left-wing racial smears with ease.”
With ease? The only thing that has been easy for Haley Barbour is just how easy it is for him to slide back into the outright racist hatred that has always been part of his real political background.
14 thoughts on “Haley Barbour: Racist to the core”
That song runs through my heart and soul like fire in all I see that we as a nation have become.
Great reference to poetry every racist should have to hear.
Thank you dvl666..
Scratch the modern Southern GOP and you find daddies and grandaddies who were segregationist Democrats. With the pasage of the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights act they all deserted the ‘integrated’ Democratic Party for the ‘white’ GOP. Ironically the right wing yakkers now claim that they were the leaders of the movement. Not unlike the TEA Baggers who suddenly noticed our national debt etc. when a “non-citizen black man ” became President. They now want “Our Country” back. I guess that means back to Haleys youthful days of bliss.
As Bob Dylan sang, “And the poor white remains like a caboose on a train , only a pawn in the game.”
Just substitute tea baggers.
Merry Christmas.
I’m 5 years younger than Haley Barbour, and this is the “nostalgia” of that time for me in South Florida: On my 8th birthday my mother took me to the S&H Greenstamps store (who remembers them?) for my present. We then went to the courthouse for something. I was thirsty and went to get some water from the drinking fountain and my mother pointed to the sign “colored” and explained that I couldn’t drink from that one. I didn’t understand and she didn’t either. I still don’t.
I remember separate entrances to doctors offices; separate movie theaters, separate restaurants, separate BEACHES for God’s sake, and so on. My father trained as a fighter pilot in World War II, in Selma, Al., and couldn’t understand why “those guys in Tuskeegee” were separate from his outfit. You fight, you die, you’re equal.
So by the early 70’s a white could actually shake a black’s hand in broad daylight. Mr. Barbour may remember it all as a simpler time, and he’s right. It was simpler and brutal and the whole rotten mess robbed this nation of its strength for centuries.
How ironic that all these years later the champions of the Plantation Economy (globalization) have figured out that corporate slavery is color blind.
The “Invisible Empire”; I.E., the Ku Klux Klan has gone through two incarnations since its founding post the Civil War in the 1860’s. The second ran from 1915 to around 1940 and the third 1950 to present.
The second manifestation of this org attracted many people of renoun that might shock people. In fact five former Presidents were Klan members and one Supreme Court Justice as follows:
President Warren G. Harding, President Woodrow Wilson, President McKinley, President Calvin Coolidge, and President Harry S. Truman, Supreme Court Justice members: Hugo Black.
I’ve viewed some old b&w films of hundreds of thousands of people marching in Klan ralleys in the early part of the 20th century. Of course the majority were unwitting dupes as to the dark, seedy, deadly undercurrents of this organization.
Haley has a snowballs chance in hell of making it to the White House, mainly because he sweats both racism and bigotry and can’t hide it, but in past times the stigma of being a Klansman didn’t seem affect one’s chances for ascendancy to high office.
I’m providing the Wiki link concerning the Klan. An interesting read indeed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ku_Klux_Klan
Carl Nemo **==
Well Carl Nemo, I believe your are mistaken in your assertion about Harry S. Truman and the KKK. Take a look at what Wikipedia (your reference source) has to say about Harry S. Truman and the KKK
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_S._Truman
Look in the Politics section. A short quote from the above Wikipedia article “…was never initiated, never attended a meeting, and never claimed membership.[40][41][42]” The numbers are sourced reference documents.
Maybe you should read the entire article about President Truman.
I don’t know about the others but it is possible they were, and I know at least one Supreme Court Justice was a member.
As for the alleged Supreme Court justice, the reality was that he was possibly named with them, but his actions, spoke volumes that he didn’t for a second support, or attend or integrate any thoughts that might be Klannish, in his work or personal life. Hugo Black would be disappointed at the alleged linking that your post implies. Ultimately, he was never to side with the Klan, associated organizations, or other similar groups. Black’s membership in the Klan was speculative at best.
Back in Hugo’s home town, many prominent men were listed as members, even if they never attended a single meeting or gave the organization a single thin dime.
I grew up in an almost all white community in the North, and in a state known for progressive actions, where ‘ethnic’ meant someone with brown hair. Needless to say, I was over the age of five before I saw my first African American. I also remember embarrassing my grandmother and mother in the process. It was a mistake I’ll never forget and never live down. But that was then, and this is now.
I hold no nostalgia for days when people were singled out for ‘special treatment’ based upon skin color or any other attribute. Of course, singling people out for high intellect, applied smarts, honorable intentions with the stamina to stay to a principled course, and included with all that, a conscience that would prohibit greed, skulduggery or other failings — well, that’s another story entirely.
Hi Lillibet,
I offer you a superb narrative concerning Justice Black’s nomination process and the aspersions that he as a KKK member.
https://www.nisk.k12.ny.us/fdr/ideas/portfolio/vandersee/vandersee.html
Seemingly he was. Generally speaking were there’s smoke there’s fire.
Carl Nemo **==
My apologies for the typos dear lady. : |
Nemo **==
Hi SDRSr…
First thanks for your reply to my post. I recognize you as a new participant to the CHB forum. : )
There was conjecture as to whether President Truman was a member or not. Of course it would have been “negative press” for him, but not as much as people would have thought for that era. Just the same there are allegedly sworn affidavits that he was once a participant regardless of the Wiki article to the contrary.
https://howard53545.wordpress.com/2007/07/25/was-harry-s-truman-a-member-of-the-kkk/
Considering his no nonsense seemingly “cranky” personality I could believe he embraced a Klan membership in youth, later realizing that it was a “dark path”.
All I can say is “Giv’em Hell Harry” was my absolute favorite, modern era Presidents. “The buck stops here” and he damn well meant it…! 😀
Carl Nemo **==
Actually, Carl Nemo, I am not new to these forums, I have lurked here since early 2001. Had to recreate my account once or twice over the years.
Maybe Harry S. Truman was a member of the KKK. Would a member of a raciest organization formally desegregate the military as Harry S. Truman did, I think not. He also had a history of railing against racism, a brief mention of an incident is made in the referenced wiki article.
This speaks nothing of the fact that Harry S. Truman decided to recognize Israel over the objections of his advisers, the British and Arabs. Hmmm, not something a member of the KKK is likely to do, I would think.
Maybe he was, but his actions say he was not.
You are correct SDRSr. Since you’ve changed your handle over time I would not know so. Maybe if you disclosed your former i.d. I would recognize you although I haven’t been a lurker since 2001.
You are correct about President Truman as well as Lillibet concerning Justice Hugo Black, appointed by FDR to the Supreme Court. Their actions once arising to their lofty positions doesn’t indicate any hardcore allegiance to KKK ideals. Their joining indicates to me the foolish things younger men and women do with little thought of the longer term consequences.
The History Channel aired a superb production during the past year concerning the KKK, it’s origins etc. The 1915 incarnation of the org attracted hundreds of thousands of unwitting folks to their ranks then faded again in the 40’s to come back in the 50’s with advent of the push for desegregation. On my post, the fourth down in this thread I offered the Wiki link concerning the KKK. It’s an interesting read and if you haven’t done so, I highly recommend it.
Happy Holidays 2010 to you and yours… : )
Carl Nemo **==
Interesting how Barbour’s remembrance from a youth gone by is filled with only the “good” things the citizens’ council was intended to do, without even the apparent memory of the “dark” activities it was involved in. It could be argued I suppose that he never knew details, and thus had no memory, but that seems a stretch. As a psychological mechanism, we all tend to remember the positives best, but Haley’s total lack of perspective – in the face of historical outrage over the KKK – reveals a shallowness that is shocking. Is it just he… or does that reflect broadly on Mississippi culture?
Twere there any justice left in this universe,
Haley and his ilk would be made to trade places with the ” Strange Fruit ” Ms. Billie Holiday sang so tragically of..
Nice caption for the photo, Doug. Advisers. Ha.
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