Democratic Party Racist Heritage

FDR Statue

I do not believe that "systemic racism" exists in the United States today but no one can doubt that racism has existed in the past. The following guest post by Rudy Costello, a friend and long time student of American history, demonstrates that it has long been associated with the Democratic party.

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Democratic Party Racist Heritage
by Rudy Costello

In the hysteria of defacing and tearing town historic monuments, name changes, charges of systemic racism; and the mob violence associated with the movement, certain historical facts are conveniently obscured. Trying to revise and rewrite history by going back centuries to Columbus, or to the arrival of the first slave ships to colonial America; then to the rise of the slavocracy and the Confederacy does not relate the whole story.

A tragic Civil War and 600,000 lost lives later, the scourge of slavery and those who perpetuated it were defeated. What ensued during the years afterward became the real causes of racism and its lingering effects which can still raise its ugly head. As the reconstructed former Confederate states were brought back into the Union and as their leaders gradually returned to political power, the freed former slaves found themselves at the mercy of their former masters. Thus would begin the history of the type of racism which can still be felt in our society.

Despite winning civil and political rights through the passage of the 13th,14th and15th amendments to the Constitution, African-Americans in the South soon found themselves in a new form of bondage. Now under the rule of the Southern wing of the Democratic party, these state governments chipped away at the newly won constitutional rights of the former slaves and their descendants. The infamous "black codes" and Jim Crow laws, which included restricting the right to vote, created stereotypes of blacks and established an institutionalized racism. The Democratic Party, devastated by the Civil War, needed to regain power which was threatened by "Black Republicans". Much of the hope the freedmen had was taken away from them. Segregation, discrimination, intimidation, and violence became the norm for African-Americans.

The most notorious example of the treatment of blacks in the South was the practice of lynching. According to the Tuskegee Institute there were 4,700 lynchings between 1882-1951, two-thirds of which were black victims. This became the favorite tool of the KKK. Numerous anti-lynching bills during this same period were introduced in Congress only to be defeated by the filibusters of Southern Democratic senators. In 1920 the Republican Party platform called for anti-lynching legislation. President Harding supported a bill which passed the House in 1922 but was blocked again by Southern Democrats in the Senate. Even as late as 1934 the liberal icon, FDR, refused to push for such a bill for fear of losing the crucial support of Southern Democrats for his New Deal legislation. No civil rights legislation came out of the New Deal.

Finally, in 1957 President Eisenhower worked with both parties to get a civil rights act passed, the first in over eighty years. Though it did not go far enough, it laid the foundation for the more comprehensive Civil Rights Act of 1964. President Eisenhower also defied the Democratic governor in Arkansas and sent in federal troops to enforce school integration mandated by the Supreme Court.

So the history of the two political parties on race has been distorted. The history of the Democratic party shows a de facto racism by its southern base and a political compliance by the national party. While the political landscape has changed, the present Democrats can't deny that they are heirs to this once racist party. They can't deny that their success throughout most of the twentieth century depended upon a strategy that prolonged de jure racism in our country. Kamela Harris even hinted at this in a challenge to Joe Biden during one of the debates this year.

In addition, over the same period of time, the Democratic Party has controlled the governments of our largest cities where a de facto racism has long existed. Irresponsible fiscal, economic and social policies have resulted in high rates of crime, violence, broken communities and poor schools. These situations have weighed heavily on African-American communities.

Removing or tearing down statues of defeated Confederate soldiers, or an explorer who happened to come upon the shores of the New World, or of Presidents Washington and Theodore Roosevelt can be disingenuous at the least and quite hypocritical at the worst. A Senate office building is named after Richard Russell, one of the most racist members ever to serve in that body, and his statue graces the entrance. Are there any plans for its removal and a name change?

Witnessing our present civil disorder and the politicians caving into it for political advantage, I am reminded of a quote from JFK's inaugural that may be quite appropriate : " ... those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside."

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