Last night the President of the United States said that
Black people have been voting for
Democrats overwhelmingly for one hundred
years. That was a lie. It may have been an ignorant lie, it may have been a
vicious lie. Chances are, it was both. However, there is no doubt, it was a Damn Lie.
In theory, Black men
were given the right to vote in the aftermath of the Civil War. The 15th
Amendment to the Constitution was required because the original version
stated that Blacks were only “three fifths of a person”.
During the Reconstruction years in the South
many Black men did vote, electing former slaves to public offices on local,
state, and federal levels. Since the “Great Emancipator”, Abraham Lincoln was a
Republican, it was unthinkable for Blacks to vote for anyone that was not a
Republican. By the same token, no self-respecting white man in the former Confederate
states would consider voting for anyone that was not a Democrat, since being a Republican
was tantamount to being a Yankee.
The Civil War ended in 1865. The Reconstruction years lasted
from 1865 until 1877. During that time, the Union Army remained in the South.
The army protected the former slaves from domestic terrorists like the ku klux
klan, protected the schools that the Freedmen’s Bureau provided for
Blacks, protected the homes and property of Blacks, and ensured that Blacks
were allowed to vote.
The Presidential election of 1876 was between Rutherford
B. Hayes, a Republican, and Samuel Tilden, a Democrat. The vote
totals in four southern states were disputed, and in order to secure the
Presidency, Hayes made a deal with those four states that were controlled by
Democrats. In exchange for their electoral votes, Rutherford B. Hayes agreed to
withdraw all remaining Federal troops from the South.
The ku klux klan would do the rest.
Immediately, life for Black people in the South returned to
antebellum customs. No more voting. Enforced apartheid. Forced labor.
Institutionalized debt, incarceration for non-payment, and devalued education. All of these things were savagely enforced by custom, law, lynching, and the ku klux klan.
Meanwhile, the Democrat party ruled. Southern states were one party states. Republicans need not apply.
Today, that statement is still true, except for one thing.
The labels have switched. Southern States
are still one-party states, but today, the Republican party rules. Democrats
need not apply.
What the hell happened?
Just like the Civil War, just like Reconstruction, just like
the Compromise of 1877, Southern states supported the Democrats
because of racism. If Abraham Lincoln was a Republican, white people in
the South were Democrats. It was as simple as that.
But again, what
happened? How did it change? Why did it change?
Harry Truman was a Democrat, but he desegregated the military.
John Kennedy was a Democrat, but he integrated the University of
Alabama and supported the Civil Rights Movement.
Lyndon Johnson was a Democrat, but he passed the Civil Rights Bill of
1964, the Voting Rights Bill of 1965, and the Fair Housing Bill of 1968.
On the other hand, ….
Richard Nixon was a Republican, and devised “the southern strategy” to
get elected President in 1968, demonizing Blacks under a cloak of “law and
order”.
Ronald Reagan was a Republican, and he kicked off his campaign in
Philadelphia, Mississippi, the place where three civil rights workers were
murdered, touting “state’s rights”. He campaigned against “welfare queens” and
Black people buying steaks with food stamps, and vetoed a law that enforced
sanctions against South Africa for its apartheid practices against the majority
of its citizens.
George H.W. Bush was a Republican, and at the behest of his notoriously
racist campaign manager Lee Atwater, used a blatantly racist campaign ad
featuring “Willie Horton” to win election.
George W. Bush was a Republican, and he allowed thousands of Black
people to die in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, many of them begging for
help on rooftops and the Superdome, or floating lifelessly in the flooded
streets of the city.
There was a time in American history, when African-Americans
were allowed to vote, that vote overwhelmingly went to the Republicans. The
reasons were obvious. Republicans freed the slaves from bondage. The
Republicans gave them citizenship, property rights, equal protection under the
law, educational opportunity, the right to vote, and hope for a better future.
During that same period, white people in the south voted
overwhelmingly for the Democrats, because the Republicans took away their
property (slaves) destroyed their homes and cities, killed their sons, husbands, lovers, and
brothers, took away their dignity and altered forever their way of life.
Since July 26, 1948, when Harry Truman desegregated the
military, it has been the Democrats that have consistently done what was right
for America’s women and minorities. As a result, it has been the Democrats that
have slowly but surely earned the allegiance of African-Americans in the voting
booth.
On the other hand, the Republicans decided to make a deal
with the devil, trading justice and morality for a dependable block of votes
from what was once the Confederate States of America. By using a strategy of
division along racial and cultural lines, tactics of overt racism, covert
racial dog whistles, fear, intimidation, educational malpractice, and voter
suppression, the Republicans have conquered the Southern States as well as many
other states in which the defining factor is nothing more than a predominantly
white population and education and economic norms below the national average.
As a reward, they now control a majority of the country’s governorships and
state legislatures, as well as the House of Representatives, the Senate, and
the White House.
I do not care if the President is a Democrat or a
Republican. I do care if he is a racist. I don’t want my President to
be a racist. I don’t care if the congress is controlled by Democrats or
Republicans. I do want a congress that is not an apologist for a racist. I
want my congress to be an independent, equal branch of the government,
dedicated to doing what is best for the country, not what’s best for a
political party.
Abraham Lincoln once said, “A house divided against itself cannot
stand”. He was right. The Republicans have been dividing us since Richard
Nixon.
How much longer can we stand?
