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Texas Senator Ted Cruz found himself infuriated on Sunday after the late civil rights champion Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s daughter attempted to invoke Dr. King’s legacy to attack the modern incarnation of the anti-racism movement.
Mr. Cruz used Dr. King’s name in his tweet attacking the NAACP, one of America’s oldest and best-known anti-racism organizations. Texas Republicans took issue with the organization after issuing a “travel advisory” warning about Florida’s far-right turn under Governor Ron DeSantis, specifically in efforts to ban “waking up” lessons in schools, which What most experts say on this issue is actually about erasing the teachings about civil rights and the struggle for racial equality in America. The advisory came as a result of a unanimous vote by the NAACP’s board.
“Florida is openly hostile toward African Americans, people of color, and LGBTQ+ individuals. Before traveling to Florida, please understand that the state of Florida devalues and marginalizes the contributions, and abuses, of African Americans and other addresses the challenges facing communities,” the advisory states.
Mr Cruz responded to a conservative publication’s writing of the issue on Twitter, writing angrily: “This is bizarre. And downright dishonest. In the 1950s and 1960s, the NAACP did an extraordinary job of leading the civil rights movement. Today, Dr. King will be ashamed of how deeply he has lost his way.”
But Dr. King’s daughter, author and activist Bernice King, countered that her father would strongly oppose conservative efforts to whitewash American history, as well as the campaign against LGBT+ Americans that is currently consuming the far-right. .
“My father would be deeply concerned about the harmful, discriminatory law in Florida,” she wrote.
She wasn’t the only person to take issue with the senator’s tweet. Mondiar Jones, a Democratic former member of New York’s congressional delegation, was less nuanced in his response as he said Mr. Cruz would have fought segregation efforts in the 50s and 60s.
“We know which side you would have been on in the 1950s and ’60s, Ted,” wrote the congressman-turned-CNN contributor.
NAACP President Derrick Johnson explained further about the organization’s decision in a statement.
“Under the leadership of Governor DeSantis, the State of Florida has become hostile toward Black Americans and in direct conflict with the democratic ideals upon which our Union was founded. They should know that democracy will prevail because its defenders are prepared to stand and fight We are not backing down, and we encourage our allies to join us in the fight for our nation’s soul,” Mr. Johnson said.
Meanwhile, Mr DeSantis’ team issued a response calling the advice a “stunt” to attract attention.
