Catholic League president compares BLM, Democrats to Klansmen for limiting schools for poor minority children
On Tuesday, July 1, Catholic League president William Donohue said that both the Democrat Party and Black Lives Matter supporters were equal to the Neo-Nazi group Ku Klux Klan because they were not willing to give the underprivileged kids the same options when it comes to school choice that the rich kids got.
“The Democratic Party, and its new allies, Black Lives Matter, are strongly opposed to giving minority children from poor families the same options for school choice afforded rich white folks,” Donohue said. “So is the Ku Klux Klan. In 1922, the Klan succeeded in pushing for an Oregon law that forced every child to attend a public school. Three years later, in Pierce v. Society of Sisters, it lost, in a unanimous decision, in the Supreme Court.”
He added: "This may be a bad day for the Democrats, Black Lives Matter, and the Ku Klux Klan, but it is a good day for Catholics, and indeed people of every faith. It is a particularly good day for the Catholic League. Fr. Virgil Blum made school choice his number one issue when he founded the organization in 1973."
The statement was in reference to Tuesday’s 5-4 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that states may provide tax credits to those donating to scholarship funds for religious schools. The court ruled in favor of a Montana school choice program In Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, and allowed a tax-credit scholarship program to benefit religious schools.
"The state program is voluntary and is funded through private donations. It allows a dollar-for-dollar tax credit to those who participate. Chief Justice Roberts concluded that although no state is required to subsidize private schools, once it does 'it cannot disqualify some private schools solely because they are religious'," Donahue's statement said.
He added: "The Montana law was challenged because it violated its Blaine Amendment; it denies state funding of religious schools. The original Blaine Amendment, named after Rep. James Blaine of Maine, was proposed in 1876, but was never passed at the federal level. It did, however, prevail in the states. Montana is one of 37 states that has this amendment in its constitution. The Blaine Amendment was rooted in anti-Catholic bigotry. It was designed to force Catholic students to attend public schools, which at the time required students to embrace Protestant teachings and practices.”
He also stressed the fact that while it does not resolve "school choice issues" it does ease out the "public school monopoly has had on education." "It will be denounced by the public school establishment and its unions: they reject all competition, including charter public schools," he said,
Meanwhile, Trump accused New York City of “denigrating” the area around Trump Tower in Manhattan by putting up a 'Black Lives Matter' sign on 5th Avenue. He tweeted on July 1: "NYC is cutting Police $’s by ONE BILLION DOLLARS, and yet the @NYCMayor is going to paint a big, expensive, yellow Black Lives Matter sign on Fifth Avenue, denigrating this luxury Avenue. This will further antagonize New York’s Finest, who LOVE New York & vividly remember the horrible BLM chant, 'Pigs In A Blanket, Fry ‘Em Like Bacon.' Maybe our GREAT Police, who have been neutralized and scorned by a mayor who hates & disrespects them, won’t let this symbol of hate be affixed to New York’s greatest street. Spend this money fighting crime instead!"