TV TALK SHOWS
Dr. Martin Luther King 1:06:02
Well, I don't think either political party can boast of clean hands in the area of civil rights. I think both parties have betrayed the cause of justice. The Democratic Party has betrayed the cause of justice by capitulating to the undemocratic practices of the Southern Dixiecrats. And I think the Republican Party has betrayed the cause by capitulating to the blatant hypocrisy of many right wing northern Republicans. And it has been this coalition of right wing northern Republicans and southern Dixiecrats that has stood in the way of every progressive step in civil rights legislation, so neither party can boast of clean hands, and in this area, now, I think, more and more, the Negro will vote for that candidate, and that party, which will take a definite stand on the basic issues of human rights and all the the issues that go along with it. And that will do something about it, not just verbal affirmation, but in terms of concrete action. And I don't think any political party will be able to boast that it has a Negro and its best pocket. And I think this is good.
David Susskind 1:07:31
But it has the Democratic Party has, in fact, had and continues to have the Negro vote. And it's 70 80% of the Negro community in the big cities, Detroit, Chicago, New York, vote straight down the democratic line. Yeah. Isn't the Negro in voting that way doing himself a disservice?
Dr. Martin Luther King 1:07:48
Well, I think the the Negro is caught in a very difficult position here. On the one hand, the Democratic Party has been a little closer to the masses of people on breading, but bread and butter issues. And outside of the South, negros have been able to see a degree of progressive liberalism within the Democratic Party. And here is a dilemma that you have this schizophrenic personality at the center of a party, wherein on the one hand, you see a progressive liberal thrust. And on the other hand, you see this backward reactionary thrust on the part of the Southern Dixiecrats and it presents a dilemma. The Negro choosing between the issue of civil rights and social welfare issues
David Susskind 1:08:47
Medicare and education bill. But I wonder, for example, whether the republican party wins any votes for the effort, for example, in the House of Representatives recently of John Lindsay, and other congressmen to initiate on their own resources, effective civil rights legislation, not waiting on a presidential message. Do they earn Negro accolade?
Dr. Martin Luther King 1:09:09
Well, I think this could become increasingly true of the Republican Party would somehow throw the yoke of division from its own shoulders. Now there again, the Negro face dilemma because just as you have an Eastland and the Democratic Party, you have a Goldwater and the Republican Party, who will come down south and make a speech and say that the Supreme Court's decision in the law of the land, and who just yesterday made it clear that he's not sure whether he will support civil rights legislation. So it is a dilemma for the Negro he doesn't when he looks to the Republican Party, he sees the same schizophrenia. He sees the same division between the progressive Javits and the cases and and the In the middle Dershkins and the reactionary Goldwater so that you, you do run into a real and
David Susskind 1:10:08
The negro should begin to vote for the man and not the party would not be the more effective way
Dr. Martin Luther King 1:10:12
Well, I think this will happen more and more. And this has been true that, in many communities, negros and unknown have voted for liberal Republicans over against what they considered a Democrat who didn't quite come up to this person.
David Susskind 1:10:33
Does your being a minister, give you the ultimate conviction that your mission of equality of opportunity, equality of education, so forth, is going to be accomplished peacefully where the facts of history are, that human rights are almost always one in violence and bloodshed, and manifested in patients by taking up arms do you grow a little bit pessimistic about the philosophy of nonviolent resistance, however, militant that violence is?