Blind allegiance: Blacks and the Democratic Party
By Kerry W. and Peggy McCarthy
Black Americans, like many citizens, are increasingly frustrated, at the sluggish economy and lack of jobs. Yet the growing disappointment has not yet coalesced into anger or a diminished support for President Barack Obama. One of the great ironies of American history lies in the fact that nine of 10 black Americans vote Democrat, in spite of the mostly submerged truth about the party.
In 1860, for instance, the Democrats controlled enough seats in Congress to render the Republican President Abraham Lincoln a failure and a mere footnote in American history. Instead, the nation soon became embroiled in a bloody Civil War. Southern slave holders foresaw that states forming in the North and West would eventually provide enough votes to pass a constitutional amendment outlawing slavery. When a sectional president was elected (Lincoln received no electoral votes in the South), Southern Democrats exaggerated the issue of tariffs, accused Lincoln of dictatorship, then abandoned their congressional seats and destroyed any chance for a united government to solve differences constitutionally. Today, conservatism is strongly associated with small government, but in times of disintegration, it can and should provide strong government, such as Lincoln did.
Secession depended for success on the inability of the North to rally around this inexperienced president. The South fired the first shots, hoping the North would not rally. Southern leaders were mistaken, war came and the dreaded constitutional amendment outlawing slavery finally arrived.
Despite their failure to save their "peculiar institution," Southern Democrats, who controlled state governments throughout the South at all levels during this time, were able to continue to oppress black people through the repressive Jim Crow laws for nearly 100 years. The atonement and redemption that should have been achieved as a result of the bloodiest war in our history was stillborn.
Thus, in the late 19th century and early 20th century, it was the Republican Party rather than the Democratic Party that championed the rights and interests of blacks.
By the 1960s, amid growing awareness of the injustice black Americans were suffering, the public supported greatly expanded social welfare legislation. These programs produced negative results, including a spike in single parent families and poor job prospects for black youth. Over the next four decades, "white flight" left blacks trapped in crumbling inner cities. Their hopelessness and increased dependence on government was solidified. Blacks, lured away from traditional paths to success, became firmly aligned with Democrats, who continued to offer government involvement as a solution, which in turn fostered a sense of victimhood. This strategy by Democrats paid even greater dividends when Republicans were accused of preventing the realization of these unrealistic promises.
Since 1998, actor and comedian Bill Cosby had been delivering a conservative message to black audiences about responsible parenting. He found himself in a hornet's nest of criticism in May, 2004 for his outspoken remarks at an NAACP gala marking the 50th anniversary of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision. Mr. Cosby decried a 50 percent dropout rate among blacks and encouraged black parents to parent; they should insist on proper English from their children, accept responsibility and "take back the neighborhood," said Mr. Cosby. While defending his position on PBS' Tavis Smiley's talk show that same month, Mr. Cosby became uncharacteristically self-protective: "It was the white man who got the word from somebody who was there, who called the white man, who put it in the white paper, which is called the Washington Post." Mr. Cosby's a-typical race-conscious language is significant. Under duress, he signaled that he was prepared to appease opinion makers.
"We know Bill Cosby's not on the right wing. He's not Clarence Thomas, he's not Ward Connerly," said Princeton Professor Cornell West in Mr. Cosby's defense.
Yet Mr. Connerly, chairman of the American Civil Rights Institute, and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who advocate responsibility and authentic achievement, should be Mr. Cosby's natural allies. However, they have been stigmatized by liberals and the mainstream press. Mr. Thomas came from the same humble background as Mr. Cosby. Mr. Connerly opposes racial and gender preferences in hiring and state university admissions. In an environment free of manipulation, Mr. Cosby would not feel a need to distance himself from these men.
By contrast, many Democrats are exempt from the very standards they uphold. For example, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, described then-candidate Obama as a "light-skinned" African American "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one." Former President Bill Clinton said to the late Senator Ted Kennedy that "a couple of years ago, [candidate Obama] would have been getting us coffee."
Senator Robert Byrd, West Virginia Democrat, was an Exalted Cyclops and a Kleagle (recruiter) in the Ku Klux Klan, but he does not appear to be troubled by his past. The fact that in 1964 he led the filibuster against the Civil Rights Act is never mentioned by the mainstream press. His liberal voting record since the 1960s continues to shield him from scrutiny, even though he occasionally reveals his true racist sentiments. In 2001, for instance, Senator Byrd infamously used the term "white-N-rs" during an interview with the late Tony Snow on Fox News Sunday. His subsequent apology appeared to absolve him; he was not held responsible by the media or fellow Democrats for what the term truly implies. The word "white-N-rs" expresses the idea that the lowest any white person can sink is to join blacks, who Mr. Byrd continues to relegate to the bottom of the social heap.
After the Civil War, hooded night-riders burned crosses, lynched and otherwise terrorized innocent black people. They killed any affection that might have grown in the hearts of a long-suffering people who were finally allowed to become citizens in the land of their birth. It is understandable that some blacks feel estranged from the America that white citizens identify with. Ironically, while the Republicans, the party of the hated Yankees, could not win elections in the South, they were tarred as the perpetrators of injustice.
The tangible force previously used to oppress blacks has been replaced by words and opinion: Blacks are still being encouraged to act contrary to their self-interest. By embracing the Democratic Party wholeheartedly, blacks accept ideas and policies that perpetuate their victimhood rather than advance their freedom.
-Kerry W. and Peggy McCarthy are writers living in Indiana.
