Republican Club
by Brian Harmon
LW contributor
The LW Republican Club supports law enforcement officers and rejects any efforts to defund the police.
Since February is Black History Month, the Republican Club remembers the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. as the leader of the civil rights movement in the U.S. His “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered in front of the Lincoln Memorial in 1963, the year before the passage of the iconic Civil Rights Act of 1964, may have been the biggest factor leading to the vote. This law ended the abominable practice of requiring Black people to use different restaurants, hotels, buses, restrooms, drinking fountains and other public facilities. School segregation had been legally ended 10 years earlier by the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education. This decision was enforced by Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy, sending armed forces to cities where segregationists were preventing integration of the schools and harassing, sometimes violently, and threatening Black children who were trying to go to the school they were legally allowed and assigned to go to. An inspiring moment in his speech came when King said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” The Republican Club believes that the United States has made great progress and will continue toward this goal. Laws cannot do it all. Attitudes have to change, and that takes time.
••• David Harlow spoke at the February club meeting, mostly about strategy and tactics for the upcoming elections. He emphasized that since voting will start in early March for the upcoming primaries, the club needs to start doing the groundwork now and start planning strategy.
Harlow continued to stress that the most effective issues appear to be family-related, such as education. He said the recent elections have shown that many parents are concerned that schools may be teaching things that offend their sensibilities.
He also said that volunteers will be needed to walk precincts, make phone calls and man the booth, which will be open more often as the election approaches. People who are interested in volunteering can call Harlow at (714) 335-0779.
••• The Valentine’s Day party at the Republican Club booth was successful with many smiles following the consumption of cookies and quickly melting ice cream bars and popsicles.
The booth will be open every Monday from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. for people to sign the petitions for the School Choice Initiative, join the club, volunteer to help in the upcoming elections, get literature and information, or to talk and have a good time.
