Fund Your Utopia Without Me.™

15 July 2012

George Romney, Civil Rights, And Martin Luther King, Jr



M2RB:  Elvis Presley









Why can't you see
What you're doing to me

When you don't believe a word I say?


We can't go on together

With suspicious minds

And we can't build our dreams

On suspicious minds










In The Summer Of 1963, Governor Romney Participated In Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Freedom Marches” In Grosse Pointe, Michigan.


In 1963, George Romney gave the Keynote Address at the conference that sparked the Martin Luther King “Freedom Marches” in Detroit.


“The establishment of these human relations groups came in the wake of several major events (besides the embarrassing racist practices of such suburbs as Dearborn), which took place in 1963 and helped galvanize interracial support and cooperation for integrated housing. The first event was the Metropolitan Conference on Open Occupancy held in Detroit in January 1963. The second event was the Martin Luther King ‘Freedom’ March in June of the same year, the spinoffs of which were several Detroit NAACP-sponsored interracial marches into Detroit suburbs to dramatize the need for black housing. … Governor George Romney gave the keynote speech at this conference, in which he pledged to use the power of the state to achieve housing equality in Michigan.”

- Joe T. Darden, Detroit, Race and Uneven Development, 1987, p. 132


In their 1967 book, Stephen Hess and David Broder wrote that George Romney “Marched With Martin Luther King Through The Exclusive Grosse Point Suburb Of Detroit”:


“He has marched with Martin Luther King through the exclusive Grosse Pointe suburb of Detroit and he is on record in support of full-coverage Federal open-housing legislation.”

-Stephen Hess and David Broder, The Republican Establishment: The Present And Future Of The G.O.P., 1967, p. 107


Detroit Free Press:


“With Gov. Romney a surprise arrival and marching in the front row, more than 500 N*groes and whites staged a peaceful antidiscrimination parade up Grosse Pointe’s Kercheval Avenue Saturday. … ‘the elimination of human inequalities and injustices is our urgent and critical domestic problem,’ the governor said. … [Detroit NAACP President Edward M.] Turner told reporters, ‘I think it is very significant that Governor Romney is here. We are very surprised.’ Romney said, ‘If they want me to lead the parade, I’ll be glad to.’”

- “Romney Joins Protest March Of 500 In Grosse Pointe,” Detroit Free Press, 06.29.63



 

Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. speaks to graduate student Laura L Leichliter (center) and Michigan's First Lady Mrs Lenore Romney on 9 March 1966.



Governor Romney Marched In July 1963 In An NAACP-Sponsored March Through Grosse Pointe.


“The next couple of NAACP marches into the suburbs were more pleasant. Both Grosse Pointe and Royal Oak Township welcomed the interracial marchers. Close to 500 black and white marchers, including many Grosse Pointers, marched in ‘the Pointes’ that July. Governor George Romney made a surprise appearance in his shirt sleeves and joined the parade leaders.”

- Joe T. Darden, Detroit, Race and Uneven Development, 1987, p. 132


In 1967, George Romney Was Praised At A National Civil Rights Rally For His Leadership:


“Michigan Gov. George Romney walked into a N*gro Civil Rights rally in the heart of Atlanta to the chants of ‘We Want Romney’ and to hear protests from N*groes about city schools. ‘They had invited me to come and I was interested in hearing things that would give me an insight into Atlanta,’ the Michigan Republican said. Led by Hosea Williams, a top aide to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the all-N*gro rally broke into shouts and song when Romney arrived. ‘We’re tired of Lyndon Baines Johnson,’ Williams said from a pulpit in the Flipper Temple AME Church as Romney sat in a front row pew. ‘Johnson is sending black boys to Vietnam to die for a freedom that never existed,’ Williams said. Pointing to Romney, Williams brought the crowd of 200 to its feet when he said, ‘He may be the fella with a little backbone.’ Williams said Romney could be ‘the next President if he acts right.’.”

- “Romney Praised At Civil Rights Rally In Atlanta,” The Chicago Defender,” 09.30.67





Shirley Basore, 72, says she was sitting in the hairdresser’s chair in wealthy Grosse Pointe, Mich., back in 1963 when a rumpus started and she discovered that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and her governor, George Romney, were marching for civil rights — right past the window.

With the cape still around her neck, Basore went outside and joined the parade.

“They were hand in hand,” recalled Basore, a former high-school English teacher. “They led the march. We all swung our hands, and they held their hands up above everybody else’s.”

She remembered the late governor as “extremely handsome.”

Until this week, that was just a vivid memory for a sweet retiree who now lives in Pompano Beach, Fla.

But Basore’s memory became important this week when news accounts questioned the recollections of the late Michigan governor’s son, Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts governor.

News stories suggested that Romney was exaggerating. It turns out that he may not have attended the Grosse Pointe march, but it certainly happened.

The campaign posted citations quoting one author as writing that “George Romney made a surprise appearance in his shirt sleeves and joined the parade leaders.”

Stephen Hess and David S. Broder also wrote about the march in their 1967 book, “The Republican Establishment: The Present and Future of the G.O.P.”

Basore said she was very angry about how the issue has been covered on cable television.

“This very arrogant guy on TV questioned Mitt Romney, and I marched with them,” Basore said. “I hope that the campaign demands an apology. I want him to publicly apologize to me. That was a personal insult, and an insult to Mitt Romney.”

Basore said she called the campaign, and the campaign supplied her contact information.

Another witness, Ashby Richardson, 64, of Massachusetts gave the campaign a similar account.

 “I’m just appalled that the news picks this stuff up and say it didn’t happen,” Richardson, now a data-collection consultant, said by phone. “The press is being disingenuous in terms of reporting what actually happened. I remember it vividly. I was only 15 or 20 feet from where both of them were.”


http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1207/7524.html






Witness, 71, recalls Romney-MLK march


Shirley Basore, 71, called the Palm Beach Politics Blog to raise a fuss about how Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has been treated lately in cable television newscasts.

Basore shared a story Monday that she’s been telling national political news reporters.

It’s a tale of how she was sitting in a beauty salon in suburban Grosse Pointe, Mich., in 1963 when a crowd gathered and she discovered that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and that state’s then-governor, George Romney, were marching for civil rights.

When Basore saw the popular governor and civil-rights leader marching, she unhesitatingly joined the parade.

“Their hands were in the air, and they took up the entire street,” Basore recalled. “I was getting my hair done, and I still had on a bib but I ran out and shook hands with the both of them. It’s true. They were there.”

As for George Romney, Mitt Romney’s father, Basore says: “He was a very handsome, educated, smooth man.”

Until this month, Basore figured her story was just a fading memory for the former high-school English teacher, who now lives in Pompano Beach in Broward County.

But the story has taken on more importance this month with news accounts questioning Mitt Romney’s accuracy in telling the story of his father’s march with King.

News stories last week suggested that Romney exaggerated, and that he may not have personally witnessed the march. Some reports even suggested, Basore says, that the march may not have occurred. Romney and his campaign staff have insisted that the march transpired and was an important civil-rights development in Michigan. It’s a point on which Basore agrees.

“I remember the whole thing, like it were yesterday,” Basore says, adding that she so liked George Romney, she’s sure that his son would make a good president. A long-time Republican, Basore said she’s planning to vote for Romney in the Jan. 29 Florida presidential primary.



King spoke positively about the possible [presidential] candidacies of republicans George Romney, Charles Percy, and Nelson Rockefeller.”

- David J. Garrow, Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Pulitzer-Prize Biography Winner, 1986, p 575








George Romney Attended King’s Funeral In 1968.



“Vice President Hubert Humphrey represented the White House. Senator and Mrs. Robert F. Kennedy; Mrs. John F. Kennedy; Governor and Mrs. Nelson Rockefeller of New York; the mayor of New York City, John V Lindsay; and Michigan’s governor, George Romney, were present.”

-Octavia Vivian, Coretta: The Story of Coretta Scott King, 2006, p 99





George Romney Joined Other Prominent Americans In Attending King’s Funeral


“Inside was the greatest galaxy of prominent national figures there had ever been in Atlanta at one time: Robert Kennedy, George Romney, Mayor Carl Stokes of Cleveland, Nixon, Rockefeller, Harry Belafonte, and an endless array of others equally as famous.  Coretta Scott King, sitting with her family front and center in front of the casket, looked lovely and courageous and dignified in a black mourning veil.”

- Franklin Miller Garrett, Atlanta and Environs: A Chronicle of Its People and Events, 1987, p 517




After King’s Assassination, George Romney Declared An Official Period Of Mourning, Ordered All Flags To Be Flown At Half Staff And Said King’s Death Was “A Great National Tragedy


“On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated as he stood on a motel balcony in Memphis, Tenn., where he had gone to lead a civil rights march.  The following day, Michigan Gov. George Romney declared an official period of mourning for King. The period extended through King’s funeral. Romney ordered all flags on public buildings to be flown at half-staff and asked that the same be done on private buildings. Gov. Romney, in an official statement, said: “The assassination of Martin Luther King is a great national tragedy. At a time when we need aggressive nonviolent leadership to peacefully achieve equal rights, equal opportunities and equal responsibilities for all, his leadership will be grievously missed.”

- “Rearview Mirror: Detroit Reacts To King’s Assassination,” The Detroit News, 04.0407




This is what would make Martin Luther King, Jr, disgusted today:



 











Suspicious Minds - Elvis Presley

We're caught in a trap
I can't walk out
Because I love you too much baby

Why can't you see
What you're doing to me
When you don't believe a word I say?

We can't go on together
With suspicious minds
And we can't build our dreams
On suspicious minds

So, if an old friend I know
Drops by to say hello
Would I still see suspicion in your eyes?

Here we go again
Asking where I've been
You can't see these tears are real
I'm crying

We can't go on together
With suspicious minds
And be can't build our dreams
On suspicious minds

Oh let our love survive
Or dry the tears from your eyes
Let's don't let a good thing die

When honey, you know
I've never lied to you
Mmm yeah, yeah

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