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Thoughts On The History Of Blacks, Democrats,
And Republicans:
Part One
residential candidate
Donald Trump’s re- cent question and statement to Black voters, “What the hell do you have to lose?”, and “Democrats have taken Blacks for granted,” led me to reflect upon the experi- ences of Blacks in America with both parties, and com- pelled me to look at what each president of the United States has done to support civil rights legislation and policies that benefited Blacks. Thus, we will exam- ine which presidents have helped promote equity for Blacks socially, economi- cally, and educationally.
First, we must consider that Republicans have dominated the seat in the White House for the past 155 years, with Re- publicans occupying the seat for 113 years to 42 years for Democrats.
Even though Republicans occupied the White House nearly three times longer, Democrats overwhelmingly dominated the support of legislation, policies, and pro- grams that uplifted Black Americans.
The Democrats have not taken Black voters for granted. Rather, they have delivered a signifi- cant return on invest- ment for the loyalty of Black voters. In fact, only during the tenure of Repub- lican Presidents Abra- ham Lincoln, Ulysses
Grant, and Dwight Eisen- hower did Blacks experi- ence any progress.
After the Civil War, Re- publicans easily and quietly gave up the fight for racial equality and Blacks’ rights in the South, when Republican President Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Samuel Tilden reached a compromise to give Hayes the White House in return for Hayes withdrawing the last federal troops from the South, thereby ending Re- construction in 1877.
In fact, if the Confederate states had stopped rebelling against the Union, Presi- dent Abraham Lincoln would never have freed the slaves.
During the era that fol- lowed (1860-1933), lynch- ings, bombings, murders, segregation, unemployment, Jim Crow and disenfran- chisement of Blacks (73 years), Republican presi- dents and legislators looked the other way and did not even speak of the plight of Blacks.
Each Democratic presi- dent influenced the lives of Black Americans by both omission and commission.
Lincoln reluctantly freed the slaves while Grant defeated the Confederacy and was described as “the strongest advocate for Blacks of any 19th century president – who fought for the 15th Amendment that gave Blacks the right to vote.
President Dwight
Eisenhower while “initially reluctant to support Civil Rights,” signed the 1957 Civil Rights Act which created the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, sent federal troops to Little Rock Arkansas to protect children integrating Central High School, and made the armed forces fully implement the racial integration ordered by President Harry Tru- man, 15 years earlier.
Blacks achieved the most progress under Democratic presidents in spite of a few who did nothing at all to change the plight of Blacks.
Grover Cleveland did nothing to support Blacks and refused to enforce the 15th Amendment (voting rights for Blacks).
Furthermore, President Woodrow Wilson failed to act on the lynching of Blacks and screened the pro-Ku Klux Klan movie, Birth of A Nation, at the White House.
While Franklin D. Roosevelt tolerated segre- gationist policies as a trade- off for passage of the New Deal anti-poverty program, he did sign executive orders that ended discrimination in hiring for jobs by federal agencies and government contractors, and created a Civil Rights Commission.
Though he was known to have expressed racist views, Harry Truman was said to be the first president to di- rectly address civil rights, in- tegrated the military, and created a Civil Rights Com- mission in 1946 that issued a report that examined vio- lence against Blacks in America.
Most of the progress for Black Americans took place under the leadership of Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, Carter, and Clinton, and of course, President Barack Obama.
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C. Blythe Andrews 1901-1977 (1945)
C. Blythe Andrews, Jr. 1930-2010 (1977)
Labor Day: A Sobering Consideration
sn’t it strange that Labor (as in Labor Day) has be-
come a virtue – like good and bad . . . right and wrong? Isn’t it fascinating how the ideology of Labor and its immaculate child Economics have been re- ceived as sacred.
But there are shadows. In the name of Labor, the continent of Africa was raped, and her babies kid- napped to toil forever in a foreign and savage land. In the name of plenty and progress, such concepts as “Reservation” and “Manifest Destiny” were invented then used to justify an unjust dispossession of Native Americans and later, Mexican Americans, seizing their lands on the false excuse that no economic develop- ment was taking place.
Yet, we celebrate the Spirit of Organized Work and jeer at the devil of “No-Profit.” For, without Labor in its organized sense, none of our nation’s miracles would have happened . . . no sterling societies, no pin- nacles that scratch the clouds, nor vehicles that rule earth, sea and sky. But in the midst of our applause, we must accept the sobering fact that our Labor Day’s hands are drenched in blood.
On its behalf, a standing Army, Air Force, and Navy is on constant alert to protect both liberty and free- dom, Labor’s other children. The two words capitalism and democracy are flags that Labor proudly waves, and few Americans would turn their backs on the promise of a society that delivers “a chicken in every pot.”
But at the bottom of Labor Day is a root word whose ugliness has made everything possible. That word is slavery. So, as you enjoy your barbecue, do give thanks to Labor Day, but also consider that it continues to be a genie that gives America exactly what she asks for.
seen” by people living in and visiting their neighborhood.
Furthermore, the mothers took time to play with the neighborhood children, “fed
people and gave out a lot of hugs.” (Remember in an earlier editorial, we called at- tention to the fact that showing love and affection for children reduced their involve- ment in crime, gangs, and attraction to terrorist groups.”).
Furthermore, MASK’s use of the village concept resulted in “no shooting, no death, not even anything as much as a fist fight has happened, because we are a mothers’ movement, according to Manasseh.
Indeed, this simple strategy is worth duplicating in every high crime area in America, if not the world. Not having our children killing us or each other is worth every minute spent guarding them. Spread the word. Save our babies’ lives.
Help Spread “Mothers Against Senseless Killing” (MASK)
e were excited and intrigued by the news of the
success of a group of biracial Chicago mothers who used the “old way” of raising their children in order to end murders and shootings in their neighbor- hood. The group’s founder, Tamar Manasseh, was quoted as saying, “In a place where murders and shootings were pretty much an everyday occurrence, there hasn’t been a shooting or murder on that block or within a one-mile radius in over a year.”
Building on the adage, “It takes a village to raise a child,” bringing back the time when Grandma and Mother sat on the front porch to watch the kids play and made sure didn’t nothing happen”, MASK mothers sit on the street corners, walk around their neighbor- hood, sit out front of homes on the block, act as patrols of the neighborhood and pride themselves for “being
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