Guest Author - Linda Sue Grimes
Since Lyndon’s Johnson signed the 1965 Civil Rights Voting Rights Act, the black vote for Republicans has never risen above 15%, and today nearly 90% of African Americans consistently vote for Democrats and identify themselves as Democrats. During the 2008 presidential election, Democratic candidate Barack Obama garnered 95% of the Black vote.
Yet many prominent African Americans ask the same question that researcher and activist Reverend Wayne Perryman asks, "Why are most blacks in America Democrats?" Perryman states, "Many believed the Democrats had a change of heart and fell in love with blacks. To the contrary, history reveals the Democrats didn't fall in love with black folks, they fell in love with the black vote knowing this would be their ticket into the white house."
Lt. Col Frances Rice, co-founder and Chairman of the National Black Republican Association states, "The Republican Party was started in 1854 as the anti-slavery party, fought to free blacks from slavery and championed civil rights for blacks." In their effort "to return black Americans to their Republican Party roots," Lt. Col Rice and the National Black Republican Association emphasize the following historical examples of the Democratic Party’s treatment of African Americans:
Dred Scott Case
Dominated by Democrats in 1857, the Supreme Court decided the Dred Scott Case in favor of the continuation of slavery. Democratic Chief Justice Roger Taney wrote the majority opinion stating that slaves were not citizens of the United States, and therefore, had no standing to sue in Federal courts.
Ku Klux Klan
Democrats supported the Klan effort to quash the struggle of slaves to assimilate and become citizens. The first grand wizard of the KKK was the prominent Tennessee Democrat, Nathan Bedford Forest. The Ku Klux Klan Act, also known as the Civil Rights Act of 1871, was introduced into congress by Republicans to put an end to the KKK’s activity against newly freed blacks. The congressional Democrats voted against this act.
Constitutional Amendments
The thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments to the Constitution were designed to guarantee voting rights to African Americans. The Democratic Party opposed all three. The Democratic Party, however, supported the Black Codes and Jim Crow laws.
Early Blacks in Government Were Republican
Until 1992, when Carol Moseley Braun (D-Illinois) was elected to the senate, Democrats had not elected one black senator, while the Republicans had elected three: Hiram Revels (1870), Blanche K. Bruce (1875), Edward William Brooke III, 1966).
Democrats Opposed Freedmen’s Bureau Act
In 1866, Congressman Thaddeus Stevens (R-Pennsylvania) introduced a bill as part of the Freedmen's Bureau Act that apportioned land to former slaves (later referred to as "40 acres and mule"), and the Democrats promptly voted it down.
Democrats Opposed Education of Blacks
Democrats struggled against African Americans receiving an education by trying to keep historically black colleges and universities from forming. Many historically black colleges are named for white Republicans, including Morehouse College, for Henry L. Morehouse, and Howard University, for General Oliver Howard.
Filibustering Against Civil Rights
The Democratic Party has opposed the following pieces of legislation put forth by Republicans to empower blacks in the quest for citizenship: Civil Rights Act 1866, Reconstruction Act of 1867, Freedmen's Bureau Extension Act of 1866, Enforcement Act of 1870, Force Act of 1871, Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, Civil Rights Act of 1875, Civil Rights Act of 1957, and the Civil Rights Act of 1960.
During the 1960s, the Democratic Party filibustered against both pieces of Civil Rights legislation. Despite the fact that a Democratic president, Lyndon Johnson, signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Acts of 1965, Johnson originally opposed those acts, and as he was signing them he lamented that doing so would result in his losing his party. However, he later claimed, "I'll have them n*****s voting Democratic for two hundred years.”
Democrats Opposed EEOA
Despite what seemed to be the Democratic tide turning in favor of black empowerment with a Democratic president signing civil rights legislation, in 1972, the Democratic Party opposed the Equal Employment Opportunity Act.
President Barack Obama
About the current Democratic president, Lt. Col. Frances Rice observes, “The combination of Obama's lack of experience and socialist agenda are disastrous for our country. In short order, Obama's presidency has produced record spending on wasteful social programs with the stimulus bill, massive budget deficits, crushing unemployment, tight credit, and a take-over of part of our private sector.”
Returning to Roots
Frances Rice explains, “At one time in our history, almost all blacks were Republicans because, since its inception in 1854 as the anti-slavery party, the Republican Party has always been the party of freedom and equality for blacks. Studies show that today, still, most blacks share the values of the Republican Party.”
To achieve their goal, the NBRA is building a network of black Republican activists throughout the U. S. They sponsor grassroots campaign training programs, they supply educational “tool kits” to activists, and they hold forum discussions in black communities.
Rice and the National Black Republican Association are working to inform Americans about the issues that affect citizens who aspire to live a free and prosperous life. They are dedicated to core Republican values and insist that Republican policies will uplift the black community by empowering the individual to achieve, not just receive government largesse.
Reference:
The Democratic Party
An Open Letter to the Democrat Party Written by Lt. Colonel Frances Rice, U.S. Army Retired
The Jim Crow Laws
Unfounded Loyalty
