It seems that in a lot of ways, the more things "change," the more things remain the same. How do we break this cycle of ignorance?
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mike and brandy
it may be instructional to research history to see which porty ‘actually’ defended the practice of slavery and which repeatedly and historically fought it and the party who defended it… you may have to check your presuppositions.
-mike
R. J. Johnson
Political parties are made of people and people change. Now I’m not a historian but I imagine the Democratic party changed because some people knew fighting racial and gender discrimination was just the right thing to do. But others were forward thinking enough to see a demographic shift in America even back then and knew that years later the “southern strategy” would not work forever.
The Republican party could learn some lessons from the Democrats of old . Either evolve or die..
mike and brandy
the ‘southern strategy’ was designed by the republicans to limit the influence of southern democratic politicians on national policies precisely because of their (southern dems) continued opposition to Civil Rights legislation.
the republican party is NOT guilty of institutionalized racism. please read history and start with why the rep party was formed in the first place (by abolitionist Democrats and Whigs in opposition to the expansion of slavery by the Kansas/Nebraska Act)… to understand, you have to go back to that point and go forward.
almost everything you have been told about the history of race relations and political parties in the last 150yrs is just dead wrong. you owe it to yourself and those who read here to do the research and get educated.
-mike
R. J. Johnson
I think our disconnect is that you are stuck on this political party thing. I would call my self a Republican today if the GOP would kick out the racist elements of their party and bring forth policies that would advance the cause of civil rights and justice for all people. The Democratic party that you want me to go back and dig up is long dead. Just like the people who supported them. I vote for ideas not for “D’s” or “R’s”
mike and brandy
by the way, why is ‘race’ the first thing that popps into your mind when considering why people vote the way they do? why would that be the filter through which these election results pass in your mind?
-mike
R. J. Johnson
It’s not. I actually just re-blogged this without much thought. But now I’ll give it some and answer your question. I don’t care what race or creed and elected official is. But what I do care about is their policy. Personally in Ohio in 2006. There was not anything you could do to get me to vote for Ken Blackwell for Governor.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_gubernatorial_election,_2006
And if you look at the map of Ohio on that link most people of color in Hamilton and Cuyahoga counties would agree with me. Its not the color of a candidates skin but their polices that determine if Blacks and Browns turn out for them.
This is link is a great! A real time example that proves my point and shows how out of touch and lost the GOP really is. (start at 1:30)
I hate begging the question, but I keep hearing how many people voted for the President just because he is Black, But why do I never hear anything about how many people voted for Romney because he is White. But to be honest I have never given it much thought or cared. I just know his policies were bad.
mike and brandy
i need to apologize in advance for any offence i may give here. i am passionate, but i mean no personal disrespect,
MLK Jr would be sad that it’s even something that comes to mind anymore. in the dream speech he said he dreamed that his children would “not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. ” the fact that you thought the ‘historically misleading’ article worthy of re-blogging tells me you don’t really understand that even 40+ years later.
we all need to stop dividing people by Race and the first step in doing so is to refuse to let ourselves give validity to it whether it comes from ourselves or from others. we are Americans, we are People of the same Human Race.
who voted for Obama because he’s black? who voted Romney because he’s ‘white’? (by the way, who made up that ‘color distinction’?) I say “Who cares?” racism is racism regardless of which ‘color’ it’s against. identify and judge yourself and others by ideas and character… not by Race or Color. Treat people and yourself as people, not a voting block. Only then will you start to understand what the Civil Rights movement was all about.
-mike
R. J. Johnson
That’s all fine and good. But I would rather have overt racism of the past then the covert racism that we have now. But after this election cycle I think as a country we are moving back to the overt variety. That sounds terrible does it not? But the overt is easier to identify and combat.The dog whistle variety is what really frightens me. I could argue that racism is really an gimmick to keep people of the same class and caste fighting each other. But that’s a whole separate topic.
mocgator
Strange how your post doesn’t happen to mention that in fact it was the democrat party in the south that staunchly fought against integration and civil rights for black Americans. Violently in fact. And that a far larger percentage of Republicans than democrats voted for civil rights. Strange how those charts seemed to miss that.
R. J. Johnson
I’ll refer you to the replies I left Mike and Brandy above this one. But you got me thinking. How many of those slave states had active abolitionist movements of note and what are their voting demographics like now, I think I create a new post on what I find. Thanks
mike and brandy
your comment on desireing ‘overt’ rather than covert racism? what, like MSNBC’s Melissa Harris Perry saying that white people are only against abortion to expand their race?
on national tv… when does this stuff ever get reported? where is your outrage for this?
racism is racism. it’s wrong, immoral and should be a fireable offense on the job but especially in a public position. recognize it for what it is, from either side of the fence.
-mike
R. J. Johnson
Yeah thats nuts. Let me find that and Ill post it. Send me things like that and Ill do my best to make it viral.