Turns out I am not alone on the "Times" MLK/Bush story today. I Emailed "TimesWatch" and got this answer. And they posted this article on it. I think it would have been more effective if they contrasted the Times article with the AJC one.
Dear Mr. Millan:
Yikes! That Times piece was really skewed. I'm doing a long piece on it today.
Clay Waters
Times Watch
"Civil Rights Leaders" Tell Bush: Stay Away from MLK Day
Thursday's story by Jeffrey Gettleman and Ariel Hart, "Bush Plan to Honor Dr. King Stirs Criticism," find anti-Bush racial animosity in Atlanta on the eve of Martin Luther King's birthday celebration. Coauthor Gettleman previously compared "Ten Commandments" Judge Roy Moore and his supporters to Alabama’s segregationist former governor George Wallace. In his latest offering, Gettleman again flings down race cards every step of the way of his trip through urban Atlanta.
The story opens: "When President Bill Clinton came to town on the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, crowds poured into the streets to watch him lay a wreath at the foot of Dr. King's grave. On Thursday, President Bush is coming to town. And the streets may be full again. Many of Atlanta's civil rights leaders are outraged about Mr. Bush's planned visit to commemorate Dr. King's 75th birthday and are using the occasion for protests. Already, they have marched with bullhorns, signs and thumping drums, shouting for the president to stay away."
Then the Times brings up the liberal anti-war angle: "Many demonstrators asked how Mr. Bush, who pushed for war in Iraq, could champion Dr. King, who stood for nonviolent resistance. 'It's hypocritical,' said Minister Mmoja Ajabu of Providence Missionary Baptist Church. Pointing to Dr. King's tomb, a slab of white marble overlooking a reflecting pool, Mr. Ajabu added, 'It's quite possible that Dr. King will get up out of his grave there and say, 'What's going on here? You're killing so many people?'
Gettleman and Hart apparently finds Ajabu's criticism credible. What they don't mention is Ajabu's, er, inflammatory past. A former Black Panther militia leader, he was arrested in 1996 for burning an American flag at an Olympics celebration. In 1994, after a fire destroyed Randolph County High School in Wedowee, Ajabu was quoted as saying, according to the Atlanta-Journal Constitution: "The school board wouldn't get rid of [Principal Hulond] Humphries, so somebody got rid of the school. This sends a message that black folks aren't going to sit down and let white folks run over us." (The school was the subject of protests after the school's principal opposed mixed-race dating at the school prom.)
Gettleman and Hart continue with more anti-Bush criticism: "Civil rights leaders said the hastily planned presidential visit, to be followed by a $2,000-a-person fund-raiser in Atlanta, is interfering with birthday plans. They also said coupling a visit to honor Dr. King with a political fund-raiser was in poor taste. 'It's the epitome of insult,' said the Rev. Timothy McDonald, an organizer of the birthday celebrations. 'He's really coming here for the fund-raiser. The King wreath was an afterthought.'"
Again, the Times ignores the radical background of the "civil rights leader" they quote. In August 2002, lamenting the defeat of anti-Israeli Rep. Cynthia McKinney, McDonald blamed everyone in sight for her loss: "McKinney was defeated by the extreme wing of the Jewish community; the Southeastern Legal Foundation, which sued the city of Atlanta over its affirmative action program; the Christian Coalition, which gave us right-wing ideologues in Congress; and the Republican Party, which took advantage of the opportunity to cross over in a Democratic primary."
Ironically, Martin Luther King himself was a strong supporter of Israel, a fact that should give Israel-bashers like McKinney and McDonald pause.
Gettleman and Hart contrast Bush's racially charged reception with that of another president: "When President Clinton came in 1996, he received a standing ovation. But this presidential visit will be different. It seems to have lifted the lid on long-simmering anger many blacks feel toward Mr. Bush. Some Bush policies, including tax cuts mainly benefiting those with higher incomes and cutting back on welfare-type programs, have alienated black voters, analysts say." They don't back up this dubious tax analysis and fail to cite any welfare cuts--in fact, a big complaint from conservatives is that Bush is spending too much on government programs like Medicare.
Finally, in paragraph 18, the Times gets around to the inconvenient fact that the actual caretakers of King legacy welcome Bush's presence in Atlanta: "The King Center is the official guardian of Dr. King's legacy, and a spokesman at the center said the president's visit was welcome. 'We don't have any problems with this,' said the spokesman, Robert Vickers. He called the security arrangements a 'minor inconvenience.'" Still, the Times gives the protestors the last word: "Those on the streets may disagree. This morning, a stream of civil rights activists marched through Dr. King's old neighborhood, singing spirituals while Buddhist monks banged on drums."
For the rest of the outrage from Atlanta,
nytimes.com |
