Former head of the White House Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships office Joshua DuBois said on MSNBC’s “Now w/ Alex Wagner” that the heroes of the civil rights movement would be “rolling in the grave” if they heard Republican Senator Tim Scott’s statement on the 50th anniversary of the Selma March. (RELATED: Durbin: GOP Should Confirm Lorretta Lynch Because Of Selma)
The South Carolina Republican told McClatchy that he believed the commemoration of Selma should be “decoupled” from the political fight over voter ID laws. “…we ought to have an experience that brings people together and not make it into a political conversation,” he said.
“I think it’s also interesting, Joshua, that Tim Scott, as [MSNBC’s Joy Reid] mentioned he’s one of the faces of the GOP’s effort on Selma, has said that discussions about politics and voting rights should be decoupled from the anniversary celebrations what’s going in Selma,” said host Alex Wagner, “What’s your reaction to that, given the state of affairs as it pertains to voting right efforts and voter restriction efforts in the United States?”
“Well, I have the greatest respect for Senator Scott,” Dubois said, before adding, “but I have to imagine that when Fred Shuttlesworth, and Ralph Abernathy, and others of the bygone giants of that era heard him say that, they were rolling in their graves.”
“You can’t ‘decouple’ voting rights from Selma,” he continued. “It’s like decoupling slavery from Lincoln’s ‘house divided’ speech. Selma can’t just become a commemoration. It’s meant to be a mobilization.” (VIDEO: Democratic Congressman: ‘Tea Party People’ Want To Bring Back Segregation)