MLK anniversary: The GOP blew it

On Aug. 28, a huge crowd gathered to honor the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Fifth years to the day prior, a similar gathering took place in Washington, D.C. It was a march of thousands for the cause of civil rights for all people of color. There under the gaze of the Lincoln Memorial, thousands of people looked up to see and hear what was to be Rev. King’s greatest speech for that cause.

“I Have a Dream” is a speech that still rings out to all of us. It rings out with power and passion, setting fire to elevate from a spark for the cause of human rights and equality that was set only a few years before in the Deep South. His tools were mass marches, peaceful gatherings, acts of civil disobedience and impassioned speeches. Non-violence was at the heart of all it. Change through peaceful means. It worked in most cases.

Fifty years later, people came together. Invitations were sent out to our elected leadership and to people of influence and celebrity to come sit in the gallery and to speak as well. Everybody and their brother showed up that day. Well, not everybody.

It became very clear on television coverage of the event, glaringly so. Not one Republican showed up. None at all. The GOP was very, very absent from this historic event. Why? There were a lot of excuses made from some very high-level GOP leaders like House Speaker John Boehner. He acknowledged he received an invitation. He claimed he already marked the occasion in July during a ceremony in the Capitol’s rotunda.

Others claimed schedule conflicts. All of them? I can accept only one excuse for the no-show, that of former President George H.W. Bush and his son, former President George W. Bush. For reasons of health, the elder could not attend. His son remained his side. Family comes first and I have no problem with that at all.

As to the others, there is an old army saying that applies very well to this screw up. It goes like this: The maximum range of an excuse is zero meters. Face it, the GOP blew it. After years of burning bridges and toppling fences with many groups of minorities and issues relating to them, they blew it big time. The 50th anniversary of Dr. King’s speech would have been the ideal way of mending some of those burnt bridges and fences.

It would have shown to the nation that some things go beyond partisan politics. Martin Luther King’s vision of equality for all is one of those things. His march and speech on that fateful day in 1963 was a major milestone in the cause of civil rights for all Americans. It was a cause for basic human rights of equal rights under the rule of law.

I do not know what the GOP’s problem is, but it is very clear they have lost touch with the people they are to have served. This has been going on for some time now. It’s a crisis of identity that has split the party in factions at war with itself, and in that process alienated many.

This wasn’t an event about partisan politics. It was beyond liberal or conservative ideals. It was an event to honor one man, one speech, one march for the cause of civil rights; to honor all those who took part and supported that cause and still do to this day. Because we have made great progress in regard to civil and equal rights, that dream is still a ways from becoming a true reality.

Apparently, the Republicans missed that memo, missed the entire message altogether. The egg is now in their collective faces. Now considering I’m not a Republican, you would think I would be laughing about all this. In fact I’m not. I may not like some aspects and policies the GOP embraces. Some do make some sense, like some of the other side of the political coin makes sense to me, too. This latest incident is deeply disturbing. It tells someone like me that they are in some very serious trouble. They have only themselves to blame.

We must continue to confront the evils of racism, bigotry and senseless hate everyday. We must fight for the rights of all Americans whether they be black, white, gay or straight. We mush fight for the equal rights of women, for equal pay and the right for them to choose what happens to their bodies. Martin Luther King Jr. was a man of such vision. He helped start a movement that changed America for all time. Now we must continue that fight. Too bad the Grand Old Party was too deep into chewing itself to pieces to figure that out. They blew it all right.

The really sad thing about all this is where it took place — right under the stone gaze of one of the greatest Republicans of all time, the image of the man who freed the slaves during the gravest of times, the Civil War, the “Great Emancipator” and very first Republican, Abraham Lincoln. If stone could cry, it would have a good reason to on that day when people from his own party failed to show up to honor who was a descendant of those slaves. Both of these great men paid a heavy price for their beliefs with their lives, by assassins’ bullets.

I can sum it up in one word, 1970s style: Bummer.

Wasilla resident Daniel D. Grota retired from the U.S. Army after more than 21 years of service.