Welcome to HickoryRecord.com. Skip directly to: our Keyword Search, Section Navigation, Content.

HickoryRecord.com - Hickory Daily Record

HomeNewsEntertainmentSportsLifestylesOpinionCommunityWeather Online Tools Jobs | Real Estate | Shopping | Classified

Republicans wrongly accused of racism

Your Voice

Letters to the Editor

Published: October 23, 2009

President Jimmy Carter said the majority of the people who are dissatisfied with President Obama are dissatisfied because of his color. I do not believe that.

I believe that most people, including the people of the out party, are dissatisfied with his policies. Carter is trying to depict the Republican Party as a racist party.

There are some facts we know. Look at Gov. Orval Faubus (1955-67), a Democrat who tried to keep black students from going to Little Rock High School. It took a Republican president to straighten out the mess in Little Rock.

Lester Maddox, a Democrat from Atlanta, put a barrel of ax handles in his restaurant and threatened to bust any black man's head open if he tried to stage a sit-in at his restaurant. He won so much popularity that the Democratic Party elected him governor of Georgia (1967-71).

George Wallace, Democratic governor of Alabama (1963-67) who opposed integration, stood in the doorway of the University of Alabama in 1963 and would not let two black students go in and register for classes.

The same thing happened at the University of Mississippi. Gov. Ross Barnett (1960-64) would not let black students register.

You cannot find anywhere in the United states where a Republican governor acting in such as racist manner as these.

U.S. Sen. Robert Byrd from West Virginia was a member of the Ku Klux Klan. Bull Conner, a Democratic police chief from Alabama, turned the fire hose on a peaceable black march.

The first Democratic president owned slaves. The first Republican president abolished slavery.

Vice President Al Gore referred to Jack Kemp as a lone voice for civil rights in the Republican Party. But more Republicans voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 than Democrats. Gore's father, a senator from Tennessee, did not vote for civil rights.

I remember that before the Civil Rights Act was passed, black children in many Democratic states were bussed across two or three counties to be sure they were not mixed with white students.

It seems like Democrats are wrongly accusing Republicans of abusing civil rights.

Charlie Hildebrand
Hildebran

Candidate endorsed for Conover mayor

I am pleased to support Lee Moritz Jr. for mayor of Conover. I have known this young man for nearly 40 years, and I have observed his maturation into the outstanding person he is today.

Lee has a decorated military history as a helicopter pilot for 21 years, serving in the active and reserve forces. He has had a successful career as a business executive with Gold Toe/Moretz for 23 years and is a Conover city council member. Lee has been active in local civic, church and charitable causes and organizations.

He possesses the integrity, honesty and enthusiasm to serve Conover in a manner as to bring credit to the city and himself. I proudly support Lee Moritz Jr. in this election, and I urge my fellow Conover citizens to do the same.

Harvey E. Christensen
Conover