The Daily Background

Unlike the AP which drools over Heston for “his large, muscular build, well-boned face and sonorous voice,” I’m not from the school of thought that says you’ve got to pretend like you loved somebody after they died.

Heston started off his career as a liberal and an active participant in the Civil Rights Movement but later morphed into an arch-conservative on issues such as Affirmative Action, abortion and gun control. Heston campaigned for Reagan, Bush I and Bush II.

NAACP Board Chair Julian Bond once said of the former NRA president:

Charlton Heston’s civil rights credentials are seriously sullied by his bigoted and homophobic remarks and his attacks on racial minorities. The endorsement by white supremacist David Duke further threatens to erode the considerable respect many Americans felt toward Heston for his years-ago commitment to human rights.

Eleanor Smeal, President of the Feminist Majority Foundation once said of Heston:

I am shocked by Charlton Heston’s intemperate remarks delivered before the Free Congress Foundation. Heston in one speech manages to display deep-seated bigotry and hostility while attacking feminists, African Americans, Hispanics, gay men, and lesbians. No wonder David Duke praised this speech. Heston’s comments on feminists, who he characterizes as persons “who preach that it is a divine duty for women to hate men,” not only malign feminists but show his profound ignorance of a movement that has made in the 20th Century vast political, social, and economic gains for women.

More from Ms Magazine editor Marcia Gillespie:

It’s very sad and very telling that the actor, Charlton Heston, who is the First Vice President of the National Rifle Association, in speeches defends the right to bear arms while championing white power—most specifically the virtues of being white and heterosexual, prolife, fundamentalist, and antifeminist. Heston’s views on recent history are as distorted as his attacks on those who advocate for gun control. He condemns Hip hoppers like Ice-T but has nothing to say about the skin heads, he ignores the rise of white supremacist and militia groups but calls for “cultural warfare.”

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