New RNC Website Claims Jackie Robinson As “GOP Hero” — But He Was Indy Who Condemned GOP’s Racial Ta

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/republican-national-committee/new-rnc-website-claims-jackie-robinson-as-gop-hero-but-he-was-an-indy-condemned-gops-racial-tactics/

New RNC Website Claims Jackie Robinson As “GOP Hero” — But He Was Indy Who Condemned GOP’s Racial Tactics


The new Republican National Committee Website is offering up a somewhat white-washed history, as it were, of Jackie Robinson’s relationship with the party.

The site, which the RNC unveiled today, claims Robinson as one of around two dozen “GOP heroes.” But it doesn’t mention that Robinson was a registered independent, according to one biography, or that he condemned the GOP in his autobiography for taking a hard turn towards racial tactics in the 1960s — a legacy the party arguably has yet to shed entirely.

The RNC’s site claims Robinson was a “great Republican” by pointing out that he campaigned for Richard Nixon for president in 1960 and supported New York governor Nelson Rockefeller’s campaign in 1964. It also says that Branch Rickey, who hired Robinson for the Brooklyn Dodgers, was also a Republican.

It’s true that Robinson campaigned for Nixon and Rockefeller. But that’s only a small part of the story. Robinson actually identified himself as a “registered independent,” according to “Jackie Robinson: A Biography,” by Arnold Rampersad. That book, which did acknowledge his support of Republicans, quoted Robinson, speaking in 1959, this way:

“I guess you’d call me an independent since I’ve never identified myself with one party or another in politics.” He was, in fact, a registered independent. But already Robinson had shown a clear disposition to support Republicans, and in particular Nixon.

What’s more, Robinson was appalled by what the Republican party had become in 1964, when Barry Goldwater won the nomination over Rockefeller. In his autobiography he described his reaction to the that year’s GOP convention as follows::

That convention was one of the most unforgettable and frightening experiences of my life. The hatred I saw was unique to me because it was hatred directed against a white man. It embodied a revulsion for all he stood for, including his enlightened attitude towards black people.

A new breed of Republicans had taken over the GOP. As I watched this steamroller operation in San Francisco, I had a better understanding of how it must have felt to be a Jew in Hitler’s Germany.

To be clear, there’s no quibbling with the fact that Robinson supported Nixon and Rockefeller. But today’s GOP is in many ways as southern a party as it ever has been — perhaps more so — and it’s fair to ask whether it has more in common today with the wing that picked Goldwater and rejected Rockefeller than it does with other strains of Republicanism. Given that history, it seems like a stretch to claim Robinson as a hero of today’s Republican party.

http://www.framinghamdems.org/JackRob.html

(snip)
One of the first things that became clear to me was that I had not been called on to be the black adviser to the campaign. Often white politicians secure the services of a black man and slot him only for appearances and activities within the black community. Sometimes they do this to avoid letting whites know that they are making a strong pitch for black support. During the Rockefeller campaign I met with groups and made appearances before audiences which were sometimes predominately black, and other times mainly white. On several occasions, when the governor came into town for a meeting with politicians or community people, I would accompany him. At some of the larger meetings, I would be asked to introduce the governor.

I was not as sold on the Republican party as I was on the governor. Every chance I got, while I was campaigning, I said plainly what I thought of the right-wing Republicans and the harm they were doing. I felt the GOP was a minority party in term of numbers of registered voters and could not win unless they updated their social philosophy and sponsored candidates and principles to attract the young, the black, and the independent voter. I said this often from public, and frequently Republican, platforms. By and large Republicans had ignored blacks and sometimes handpicked a few servile leaders in the black community to be their token "niggers". How would I sound trying to go all out to sell Republicans to black people? They're not buying. They know better.
(snip)

Tonight. :)