The old promissory note
At first blush, you might think that Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has had a newfound appreciation for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 鈥� and all he stood for.
Rubio tweeted part of Dr. King鈥檚 鈥淚 Have a Dream鈥� speech at 5 a.m. on Martin Luther King Day.
鈥淲hen the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. 鈥� Dr. Martin Luther King (1963)鈥� 鈥� Rubio tweeted.
But before I could throw up my hands and utter 鈥淗allelujah,鈥� somebody discovered the lack of wisdom in Rubio鈥檚 attempt to be seen as a forthright supporter of King and his legacy.
Nikole Hannah-Jones of the New York Times Magazine鈥檚 1619 Project noted that Rubio conveniently left out the important part of King鈥檚 statements about that promissory note.
A somewhat angry phrase, and the true reason why hundreds of thousands of people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial that day in 1963.
鈥淚t is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked 鈥榠nsufficient funds,'鈥� King said, but Rubio failed to add.
That omission wasn鈥檛 lost on those people who saw Rubio鈥檚 initial post on Twitter.
Some fellow named Seth McFarland (not to be confused with the entertainment guru) issued a direct rebuke.
鈥淪hut! Don鈥檛 say his name. Do not say his name, while you remove it from history books. Do not say his name, while you strike down voting rights. Do not say his name, while you destroy all he achieved,鈥� McFarland posted in a graphic.
Rubio鈥檚 hypocrisy isn鈥檛 the worst in Congress.
Many Republicans failed to make any note of the day.
But when you think about it, perhaps Rubio should have remained mum, too.
So should have the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire.
Somebody up there had the very bad judgment to, momentarily, butt in on the Rubio/commonsense dispute.
鈥淏lack People (not my caps, by the way) in America get special access to essential drugs, receive special federal funding due to race, and are first-in-line for every college and every job.鈥� (And they were just getting warmed up.)
鈥淎merica isn鈥檛 in debt to black people, (curiously they didn鈥檛 use caps again), if anything it鈥檚 the other way around,鈥� they tweeted.
But bad tweets have a way of disappearing at light speed nowadays.
And so did that one.
Whoever it was, happened to 鈥渢weet the quiet part out loud鈥� long enough to let anybody who isn鈥檛 a member of the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire wonder why there is a Libertarian Party of New Hampshire.
But, I suppose one reason it exists is to court favor with that one term, twice-impeached grump down there in Florida.
That stuff about 鈥淏lack People (not my caps) in America get(ing) special access to essential drugs鈥� may have been the outgrowth of a tall tale Donald Trump told at his recent rally in Arizona.
鈥淭he left is now rationing life-saving therapeutics based on race. Discriminating and denigrating, just denigrating white people to determine who lives and who dies,鈥� Trump told his gullible fans.
And if that fib didn鈥檛 work, he laid it on thicker.
鈥淚f you鈥檙e white, you don鈥檛 get the vaccine. If you鈥檙e white, you don鈥檛 get therapeutics. It鈥檚 unbelievable to think this,鈥� he told his believers, who鈥檇 eat up anything this fellow would say.
And for good measure, he added, 鈥淎nd nobody wants this. Black people don鈥檛 want it. White people don鈥檛 want it. Nobody wants it.鈥�
To that, there were uproarious cheers.
Consider that.
He was speaking to a crowd of people who don鈥檛 seem to care much for vaccines, or other stuff that鈥檚 supposed to help people survive COVID-19.
But he鈥檚 gotten them seeing red because he鈥檚 told them there are people out there who鈥檙e taking that stuff (the stuff they don鈥檛 really want) away from them.
Oh, my!
Edward A. Owens is a multi-Emmy Award winner, former reporter, and anchor for Entertainment Tonight, and 40-year TV news and newspaper veteran. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net.