Wash. Post Recasts Rand Paul As Civil Rights Ally, Forgetting Their Own Reporting
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on August 15th, 2014 11:08 pm by HL
Wash. Post Recasts Rand Paul As Civil Rights Ally, Forgetting Their Own Reporting
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The Washington Post reporter Dan Balz portrayed Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) as a key figure who can help GOP outreach to racial minorities, following Paul’s criticism of Ferguson, Mo., law enforcement and their role in the Michael Brown killing. But Balz ignored Paul’s previous opposition to the Civil Rights Act, despite having reported on it in 2010.
In his August 14 article, Balz highlighted Paul’s opinion piece in Time decrying the response of Missouri police to protests in the wake of the police shooting of the 18-year-old Brown. Paul acknowledged in his piece that race skews “the application of criminal justice in this country” and criticized the “militarization of our law enforcement” — which Balz characterized as “a shift away” from typical conservative rhetoric. According to Balz, Paul’s acknowledgement of racial disparities in particular “sets him apart from others in his party,” allowing him to help expand the GOP’s base (emphasis added):
Paul is a prospective 2016 presidential candidate and the leading proponent of libertarian philosophy among elected officials. In Ferguson, he has found circumstances almost tailor-made to advance his worldview. In doing so, he continues to set himself apart from others in the Republican Party with the hope of expanding the party’s coalition and advancing his own political future.
In this case, he blames the militarization of local police on big government and especially Washington’s willingness to provide such materiel to local communities. His comments on race mark another moment in which he is trying to show an openness to the issues affecting African Americans that sets him apart from others in his party.
But in 2010 Balz himself reported that Paul had “embarrassed the GOP establishment” by “questioning parts of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.”
In an interview while running for his Kentucky Senate seat, Paul had said that while he supported portions of the Act, particularly in regards to ending discrimination by the government, he also believed “in freedom” and “private ownership.” When asked if “it would be okay for Dr. King not to be served at the counter at Woolworth’s,” Paul responded that such action would be “abhorrent” but implied he would support the private owner’s right to discriminate.
Racial discrimination by private actors is prohibited by both Title II and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
