Haley Barbour Praises Civil Rights-Era White Supremacist Citizens Councils

[RamboLiberal]

Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS), a potential Republican presidential candidate, has an interesting perspective on the tumults of the civil rights era that swept through his Deep South state.

As Barbour recalls it in a new profile in The Weekly Standard, things weren't so bad in his hometown of Yazoo City, which took until 1970 to integrate its schools (though the final event itself is said to have gone on peacefully). For example, Barbour says that there was no problem of Ku Klux Klan activity in the town -- thanks to the Citizens Council movement, an organization that was founded on the basis of resistance to integration and the promotion of white supremacy.

"You heard of the Citizens Councils? Up north they think it was like the KKK," said Barbour. "Where I come from it was an organization of town leaders. In Yazoo City they passed a resolution that said anybody who started a chapter of the Klan would get their ass run out of town. If you had a job, you'd lose it. If you had a store, they'd see nobody shopped there. We didn't have a problem with the Klan in Yazoo City."

The White Citizens Council movement was founded in Mississippi in 1954, shortly after the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision that outlawed segregated public schools, and was dedicated to political activities opposing civil rights -- notably boycotts of pro-civil rights individuals in Barbour's hometown, as opposed to Barbour's recollection of actions against the Klan. It was distinguished from the Klan by the public self-identification of its members, and its image of suits and ties as opposed to white robes and nooses.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/12/barbour-i-saw-dr-king-speak----but-paid-more-attention-to-the-girls.php?ref=fpa

[aquart]

1. Still missing the good old days?

[HillbillyBob]

5. They were not bad for HIM he had his white priviledge

plenty to eat (obviously) and lived on the right side of the tracks..

[ladjf]

2. He's lining himself up for a Presidential run in 2012. Don't forget,

that Reagan announced his candidacy for President in a speech made in Philadelphia, Ms. so as to signal all white racists whose side he was on.

[HopeHoops]

3. We just call that "the GOP" now.

[kath]

8. Yep.

[Turbineguy]

4. Tom Lehrer

Who seemed to have a song for everything.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAwhC_btAUU

[madrchsod]

6. it just burns these fuckers that obama is the president

is haley the face of the new south?

[Kalyke]

11. Uh... no.

I'm a Southerner and I don't look at thing like this bulbous-nosed freak.

[madrchsod]

20. did`t mean you...

[FiveGoodMen]

7. But don't say anything bad about the south...

[kath]

9. And don't say that Republicans are racists.

[Hosnon]

13. You're imputing Barbour's idiocy on the entire region?? nt.

[FiveGoodMen]

15. What region keeps voting these guys in?

What region do we hear will never elect a liberal so Dems from there have to be conservative?

What region keeps bragging about its abominable "heritage"?

Individuals are individuals -- some good and some bad everywhere.

But regions have their own collective characteristics and the south is proud of its evil.

[Hosnon]

18. Good lord...

The South is proud of its evil? Please link to said quote from "The South".

And as someone born and raised in the South, the state I've visited with the most Confederate Battle Flags is Indiana.

Exactly where was President Carter from? And who voted him in as Governor?

You clearly have a nasty bigoted attitude towards the South.

[bluestateguy]

10. A few years back he attended a CCC fundraiser for all white private academies

The CCC does an annual fundraiser for all white Mississippi private academies and Barbour made an appearance.

http://crooksandliars.com/jon-perr/haley-barbour-neo-confederate-gop

If you think Obama got a lot of black votes in 2008, just see how well he does if they put up this guy against him.

[LuvNewcastle]

12. I lived near Yazoo City for two years

when I was growing up. The place is a real model of racial harmony. :sarcasm: We were from the Miss. Gulf Coast and Yazoo County was quite a shock to my parents, especially. I was in third grade when we got there, so I didn't see much difference except that we were in the country rather than in town. I could write a short novel about my experience there, but I'll just say this: the black people and the white people truly hated each other and I could feel that hate everywhere I went, at least in any place where blacks and whites came in contact with one another. The only time I've ever felt anything like it since was when I was in jail for a short time. I doubt things will ever get much better in Yazoo.

[mudplanet]

14. If there isn't anything wrong with the white trash citizens council then why

are their records still sealed in the state archives?

I'm sure things weren't "that bad" for ole' haley: no one ever threatened to lynch him with impunity, or went to apply for a job to see a sign in the window saying "Ni**ers need not apply" and he didn't have a problem with the KKK because he WAS the klan. No problem. They weren't burning crosses on his lawn, so what was the problem? I had a friend who published the only alternative newspaper (hippy) in Mississippi ten years after what Haley is talking about and the whitetrash citizens council continually spied on him, sent confidential reports to the governor, and the fucking FBI came to his house and kicked him around because they didn't like what he wrote.

Every time I read something new about this jackass it becomes more and more obvious that he has the integrity of a Paul Joseph Goebbels. He's a bald-faced liar.

[LuvNewcastle]

17. Yep, he's an evil piece of shit.

He's no dummy, either -- he's been a major strategist for the Republican Party for years. He's so good at getting what he wants that I wouldn't be surprised if he gets the Rep. nomination. A lot of people owe him favors and he's about to cash them in. No one should underestimate him.

[damntexdem]

16. The only reason that Barbour might not be a KKK member is that ...

he tried to use a contoured sheet. ;-)

[RamboLiberal]

19. Flashback: Citizens Councils Touted 'Racial Integrity,' 'Christian Love And Segregation'

Let's take a further look at the Citizens Council, the Civil Rights-era segregationist group that was recently praised by potential presidential candidate Gov. Haley Barbour (R-MS) -- for keeping order, he said, by deterring Ku Klux Klan activity during the civil rights movement.

Here is a Council newspaper from 1956, based in Jackson, Mississippi (which is roughly 40 miles from Barbour's hometown of Yazoo City). The paper includes such headlines as: "Christian Love And Segregation"; "Council Movement Spreads As Nation Reacts to Danger"; "Negroes Taking Over"; "Baptists Rap Mixing" (note: In 1950's American English, "rap" in this context meant to harshly criticize, similar to "blast" in a headline now); "Rape In Germany," warning of alleged rapes of German women by African-American soldiers; "Lady Veteran Raps Hospital Mixology"; and "Enemy Made Large Gains In 1955."

There is also a political cartoon, "The Aerial Rights Division," showing black crows saying "Mix!" "Mix!" as they stand ready to barge in on some white birds' nest, with the white birds aghast at the concept. An accompanying short essay explains how birds keep to their own species and do not mix with other kinds of birds. (This would seem to imply that black people might be some other species than homo sapiens.)

In addition, via Miami University, here is a road sign that the group had posted in 1964, which was seen by civil rights workers touring the state as part of the "Freedom Summer" voter-registration campaign:

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/12/flashback-citizens-councils-touted-racial-integrity-christian-love-and-segregation.php?ref=fpblg