MLK Jr.’s Niece Alveda King isn’t impressed with Al Sharpton and the Congressional Black Caucus’s defense of racist Harry Reid

idiot_harry_reidAlveda King is Martin Luther King’s niece. While the Al Sharpton, the Congressional Black Caucus and the NAACP all jumped to the defense of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid after his racist remarks about Obama, Alveda King found the racist “negro dialect” remarks “sadly outrageous.” According to Fox News:

If Michael Steele or any other conservative had said anything like it, the remarks would be labeled racist and plastered over every available news outlet,” Alveda King said in a statement released Tuesday.

“What would my uncle and my father think, to hear such things from one of the most powerful leaders in the country? Their ‘beloved community’ is sorely threatened when racism rears its ugly head once again.”

Sen. Russ Feingold did his own soul searching after Reid was quoted in a book saying candidate Barack Obama in 2008 could benefit from being light-skinned and not having a “Negro dialect” unless he wants one. Feingold told a local television station late Monday that he’s still mulling whether Reid should stay or step down as majority leader.

“I’m thinking about that and we’re going to be getting together as a caucus next week, and that topic will come up. I have not decided whether these comments merit that or not,” Feingold told ABC affiliate WISN. “They’re very unfortunate. They should have never been said. So I need to think about it.”

But on Tuesday, he closed rank around the embattled leader. An aide to Feingold told Fox News the Wisconsin senator communicated through a senior member of his staff to Reid that he backs him as majority leader and is no longer unsure if Reid should remain in that position.

Some progressives bloggers, however, fearing Reid is a liability, said he should step down now so Democrats have a better chance of keeping the Nevada Senate seat in November. And while Reid reportedly called RainbowPush head Jesse Jackson to apologize after the gaffe was reported, Jackson has been uncharacteristically quiet on the racially tinged matter.

Reid said Monday that he “could have used a better choice of words,” and he signaled that he’s moving on.

“We have a lot to do,” Reid said. “I feel good about people reaching out to me. I’ve apologized to the president. … I’m not going to dwell on this anymore.”

Other leading Democrats, including President Obama, have accepted Reid’s apology, while conceding that he used inappropriate language. But critics say it’s not Obama who needs an apology but Americans who Reid presumed would hesitate to vote for a black man.

Steele, the first black chairman of the Republican National Committee, is among those Republicans calling for Reid to step down. He and others say Democrats are operating by a double-standard, since they were insistent that former Senate Republican Leader Trent Lott step down in 2002 after he praised the late Sen. Strom Thurmond, a former segregationist, at his 100th birthday party.

Feingold said Lott’s remarks were more insensitive than Reid’s.

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January 12, 2010 · Filed Under Harry Reid, Racism


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