Posted by
man of principle on Sunday, October 07, 2007 3:23:33 AM
THE ROLE THE POLITICAL PARTIES PLAYED IN BLACK AMERICAN HISTORY
Have you ever noticed that when "Black History" is being discussed, the roles of the various political parties are rarely mentioned? "Black History Month" is celebrated each February. Public schools, the media and articles from "historians" fail to educate the public as to the impact politics played throughout the slavery/civil war/reconstruction/southern redemption periods. Last February I watched several programs on PBS. The terms "Democrat" or "Republican" were not even mentioned until a date in the 1930's when a black newspaper owner allegedly encouraged blacks to support the Democratic Party. This gave the impression that Democrats were friends of the African-American community...which could not be further from the truth.
On the Democratic Party website, they state that they are "proud" of their history on civil rights. This, in my opinion, demands a careful inquiry of exactly what role the Democratic Party actually played in the issues of slavery, emancipation, the Ku Klux Klan, lynching of Black Americans (and any Republican supporters), segregation, black voter suppression, etc.
With the vast majority of public school administrators/teachers and professional media executives fallling into the liberal/democrat tent, it is understandable why accurate, historical information would be suppressed. But, we must ask ourselves: How can a child growing up in our public school system and being exposed to a biased media be adequately prepared to make important life choices as they enter into adulthood? Who should we vote for? What political party should we support? Would so many citizens support a political party that if they understood it has a 185 year history of slavery, terrorism, voter suppression and/or the general oppression of a particular minority group? I don't think so!
The following is a letter which questions the silence by the media, public schools, and supposed historians on the issues of racism, slavery, terrorism and oppression in black American history.
Dear Ms. McElrath,
I thoroughly enjoy your articles on black American history. As I continue to read I notice an ominous silence on the roles that the major political parties played prior to the Civil War, during "reconstruction" and "southern redemption" and throughout the 20th century in regard to liberating and/or oppressing the newly emancipated slaves.
Would it not be appropriate to point out (?) that:
(a) the Republican Party was formed for the express purpose of abolishing slavery
(b) the Democratic Party fought to keep slavery legal and celebrated the 1857 US Supreme Court - Dred Scott -decision (which further legitimized slavery by declaring the African slave to be “property” and not “persons in the legal sense”) and passed out copies of the infamous decision along with their 1860 presidential campaign literature
(c) For ten years after the civil war, it was the Republican Party that, through congressional legislation, granted equal rights to blacks - including integrated schools, right to vote, right to run for public office, right to private property, etc. Republicans placed federal troops in the south to protect and defend those rights.
(d) Democrats (Nathan Bedford Forrest et al) founded and supported the Ku Klux Klan for decades, passed Jim Crow laws and opposed anti-lynching laws and opposed and oppressed the blacks through the 1960's
(e) Democrats pulled federal troops out of the south (southern redemption) to give the KKK full reign to intimidate and terrorize southern blacks.
(f) Democrats could not even muster up enough votes to pass the 1964 civil rights bill within their own party, in fact Democrats, such as Robert Byrd filibustered the senate in an effort to defeat the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (legislation that reintroduced civil rights for blacks that had been granted 100 years prior by Republicans and subsequently repealed by Democrats).
(g) They were Democrats who blocked black children from attending “white” schools in the 1960’s and who declared that, “…a child born today would not see integrated schools in his lifetime” .
(h) Beginning with the 1820 Missouri Compromise, the Democratic Party was clearly a racist, pro-slavery organization.
Historically, it was the Republican Party that was the party of civil rights, equal opportunity and human dignity for the black community. Shouldn't the African-American community be apprised of these facts? Shouldn't the public, in general be made aware as well? How can American citizens (whatever race) make important life decisions such as what political party to support or who to vote for if we don't know anything about the history of the respective political parties?
For more information: www.nbra.info
Book/Video: “Setting The Record Straight: American History In Black And White”
by David Barton www.wallbuilders.com
Respectfully Yours,
Robert A. LaCasse pro_usa@hotmail.com