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January 16, 2006
Property Rights is a Civil Right
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was one of the first civil-rights activists to speak publicly about civil rights beyond the rubric of race, which, at the time, was to the dismay of many in "the movement."
In 2005, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference filed a friend of the court brief in support of the homeowners in the case of Kelo v. New London. The organization, founded by Dr. King, recognizes that, in order to protect civil rights, they must extend their support and the public discourse beyond the debate of equality for all races. For the civil-rights movement to endure, equality must be extended to all those who are disenfranchised.
In recent times, Liberals have watched the "war against poverty" turn into the war against the poor, while Conservatives have witnessed the fight for the individual against the power of special interests become a campaign especially in the interests of the powerful. Both groups have watched in dismay as eminent domain, the government seizure of private property, has become a coercive tool used to benefit private real estate development.
Americans are beginning to understand that eminent domain generally displaces those who are poor and politically disenfranchised for the benefit of the wealthy and politically connected and that property rights is a civil right.
Posted by lumi at January 16, 2006 8:59 AM