In the Feb. 8th Transcript, Kerri Ellen Wilder gave us a disgraceful column designed to vilify and discredit the Democratic Party as racist. Toward this end, she presented very old information that simply does not reflect the Democratic Party as it is today (or for the past half century or more). That she was merely parroting right-wing propaganda she found online I strongly suspect, since I've seen this specious line of argument before. Basic decency should indicate that I be allowed to present a more honest portrayal of both parties as they have been more recently.
It's wholly dishonest to go back to the antebellum South, or to the Reconstruction Era, to characterize the Democratic Party today. Those people are long dead. Both parties are different now. The Democrats became a progressive party under FDR. The right-leaning Republicans became a purely reactionary party under Reagan. And it is (clearly) they who have adopted the mantle of racism. Let's look at a more recent timeline.
1947-- Harry Truman (D) desegregates the military.
1948-- Minneapolis mayor Hubert Humphrey, addressing the DNC, advocates a civil rights plank. Strom Thurmond and other Southern delegates walk out. He later becomes a Republican.
1963-- JFK reaches out to sympathize with Coretta Scott King after her husband's bogus arrest. Daddy King, still a Republican from outdated sentimentality for what is no longer the Party of Lincoln, changes his registration to Democratic, as do many other blacks.
1964-- The Senate passes the Civil Rights Act. 46 Democrats and 27 Republicans for. Lyndon Johnson (D), in signing it, predicts that the Democrats will lose the South for a generation. (It's been longer than that.) That fall, civil rights opponent Barry Goldwater wins 5 Southern states (of only 6 total he won). Southern whites start converting to Republican.
1968-- Richard Nixon (R) adopts his "Southern strategy" using coded appeals to racial resentment. Let's quote him: "You have to face the fact that the whole problem is really the blacks. The key is to devise a system that recognizes, that while not appearing to." (To Haldeman.)
1980-- Ronald Reagan (R) kicks off his campaign in, of all places, Philadelphia MS, where three civil rights workers were murdered. There, he proclaims he's for "States' Rights". His listeners know what that really means.
1980's-- GOP's Lee Atwater becomes famous for ruthless and racially charged campaign tactics. Let's quote him: "You start out in 1954 saying [N-word, N-word, N-word]. By 1968 you can't say [N-word]-- that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like 'forced busing', 'states' rights', and all that stuff. You're getting so abstract talking about cutting taxes ... sitting around saying 'we have to cut this' is much more abstract than [N-word, N-word]."
2000-- Florida under GOP rule purges 8000 valid black voters. Its pivotal success in stealing election inspires other GOP legislatures.
2009-2016-- Tea Party takes over Republican Party, uses ugly racist images to insult President Obama. Birther movement attempts to delegitimize Obama as an alien, hence not allowed to even be President. In the South, the Republicans are pretty much the white party, and Democrats the non-white party: 94% of Mississippi whites registered with a party are Republican.
2013-- Republicans on the Supreme Court in a 5-4 vote gut the Voting Rights Act. Republican state legislatures then pass a spate of voter suppression acts designed to suppress black vote. Perhaps 3 million valid voters are disenfranchised.
2016-- KKK enthusiastically endorses GOP nominee. Alt-right racists accepted into party. Breitbart head now top Administration strategist.
I could have appended a lot more detail, but I think I've made my case, and I don't want to be as verbose as Wilder always is.
The attempt to deride the Democratic Party as "the real racists" is patently ridiculous. Do they really think black voters are so stupid that they overwhelmingly support a party that's allegedly so racist? They're shrewd voters and they know who's not on their side. It's the white working class voters who are the stupid ones, perpetually angry about their stagnant or declining standard of living, yet continuing to support a party-- Republican-- whose politics made and keep it that way! And who constantly exploit their racial resentments to keep them voting against their own economic interests. Nothing will get better until Republicans let go of their racism, but I'm not hopeful.
Sincerely,
Stephen Van Eck
Rushville, PA