Democrat institutional racism is not just ancient history (BHM – Part 6)
Whenever I write about the Democratic Party’s abysmal history regarding race in America, I get told that it is all ancient history. In reality, the oppression of black Americans by Democrat political machines is as contemporary as yesterday’s news. It is hopefully the last vestiges of the Party’s more than two hundred years of racism and black oppression in America.
We should all keep in mind that slavery was a defining issue between the Democratic Party’s dedication to that evil institution – with all its grotesque human brutalities – and the Republican Party’s devotion to abolition. Virtually every abolitionist – politicians, activists, free blacks and common folk – were Republicans. Conversely, virtually every person and organization supporting slavery – and later oppressive segregation — were Democrats. That is an undeniable fact.
Following the Compromise of 1877, when federal troops were withdrawn from the defeated Confederacy, the Democratic Party took control of the south by force and imposed a reign of terror on black Americans for another 100 years – a reign of terror, at times, bordered on genocide.
All the horrific stories about lynchings, murders, beatings, and social, civic and political oppression – from violently denying the to vote to denial of equal justice under the law – were the product of one-party Democrat rule.
Every historic horror story – from the murder of Emmett Till to the massacre at Black Wall Street – was at the hands of the Democratic Party. The brutal paramilitary enforcers for Democrat rule – the Ku Klux Klan, White Citizens Councils, Knights of the White Camellia, the Red Shirts, etc. – were all formed, sponsored and empowered by the Democratic Party. The attacks on blacks by dogs and cow prods were the acts of the Democrat officials.
Take every horrific act that we reflect upon during Black History Month, and they are the work of the Democratic Party and its minions. But the oppression of blacks did not end in the distant past.
As late as the 1960s, Democrats led the fight against civil rights and school integration. During those days, Democrats filibustered to stop the passage of civil rights legislation. They mounted the Resistance Movement to stop school integration and protect the separate – but unequal – school systems. It was in the 1960s. that the Democratic Party showed its contempt for black Americans and civil rights by adding the Confederate battle flag to the southern state banners and emblems.
The names in the pantheon of racial infamy are all Democrats – Wallace, Byrd, Eastland, Long, Barnett, Maddox, Connors, Pettus, Black and many many more. A former member of the KKK served in the Senate until his death in 2010. That was Democrat Robert Byrd of West Virginia.
It was the Democratic Party that imposed institutional racism in the major cities they ruled over for generations – creating a policy of generational urban segregation in which millions of black Americans suffer from the deprivation of education, jobs, healthcare, housing and public safety TO THIS DAY.
If you think that is an exaggeration or some political bias, let us look at examples of contemporary racism in Democrat run cities.
Since the 1960s virtually every Democrat-run city has suffered repeated demonstrations, protests and riots by frustrated black residents suffering the oppression of racism. Today, New York City schools are more segregated than in the 1960s. Segregation is the reality in every city run by Democrat political machines. Every act of protest led by Martin Luther King was against a Democrat establishment – Democrat politicians, from Selma to Chicago.
Let’s go deeper into the weeds with some examples of modern day Democrat institutional racism. Here is just one excerpt from my manuscript on American racism.
“Police Take over Homan Square”
In more recent times, Homan Square would become connected with the continuing institutional racism of the Chicago machine. Within the Homan Square development was a large police detention and interrogation facility. Various reports allege Homan Square operates like a CIA black site, where prisoners are held, questioned and even tortured.
The headline in an August 5, 2015 article by Spencer Ackerman and Zach Safford in The Guardian read “Chicago police detained thousands of black Americans at interrogation facility.”
It claimed that:
At least 3,500 Americans have been detained inside a Chicago police warehouse described by some of its arrestees as a secretive interrogation facility, newly uncovered records reveal.
In a later article, The Guardian reported that the real number was more than 7,000 from August of 2004 to June of 2015, with only 68 allowed access to attorneys. There was no public notice of their whereabouts as required by law. Eighty-six percent of those taken to Homan Square interrogation facility were black. Most of the remainder were white Hispanics.
The article gave examples of how individuals were “abducted by masked officers, shackled, and held on false charges without access to food, water or attorneys at the behest of an authority referred to only as “covert operations.” Media reports and a subsequent lawsuit by The Guardian have delineated a horrific array of illegal enhanced interrogation techniques, including beatings and sleep deprivation.”
Note that the article from The Guardian was only seven years ago. And another excerpt:
“Baltimore Riot – 2015
On April 12, 2015, several Baltimore police arrested Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man with a rap sheet of largely petty offenses. Why they wanted to take him into custody and why he chose to run was never convincingly explained, one way or the other. Gray had to be forcibly restrained and was placed in a police van to be taken to the police station. In that process, Gray suffered a broken neck and died from his injuries a few days later.
The fury in the black ghetto of East Baltimore was not to be restrained. As was often the case in such outbursts of public frustration and anger, the peaceful demonstrations quickly led to full scale rioting characterized by the same type of looting and arson that was seen in Ferguson – only on a grander scale.
In the aftermath of one night of rioting, some 600 small businesses and residences, mostly belonging to members of the local black community, were burned to the ground. Scores of motor vehicles were torched, including police cars. More than 400 residents were arrested. The negative economic impact was between $20 and $30.5 million dollars, according to various estimates.
Another Failure of long-term Democratic Leadership
The Democratic Party had ruled over Baltimore for 48 years – essentially since the launch of Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty. The white mayor, who governed over Baltimore during the Martin Luther King riots, was Thomas J. D’Alesandro III – the brother of Nancy Pelosi, the former Democrat Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and Minority Leader at the time of this writing. Democrats have ruled Baltimore for 71 of the past 75 years.”
There are just two of hundreds – thousands – of examples of urban institutional racism that had characterized Democrat rule in America’s big cities since blacks participated in the Great Migration to the north at the turn of the 20th Century.
The examples of urban racism could go on and on for thousands of pages. The point, however, is that we still see a stark divide between Republican policies and the harsh, dangerous, and too often deadly consequences of Democrat institutional racism in America’s cities TODAY.
While the vast majority of the American public are not racists, the remnants of the Democratic Party’s long, long history of INSTITUTIONAL racism can still be found in the urban centers that the Party has ruled over for generations. It is a racism that is not only based on skin color, but on the maintenance of a political system that rewards the overlords with power, prestige and profit. It is a racial subjugation that has benefited virtually exclusively Democrat politicians for generations.
That may seem rather blunt … but the facts are the facts – no matter how the modern Democratic Party tries to dodge, distract and deflect, it has been – and is – the oppressor of millions of black Americans confined to those segregated communites.
So, there ‘tis.
Your priorities seem to be very messed up.
Is there or isn’t there institutional racism in the US? I was just reading where there isn’t, now I’m reading where there is.
Yes, in places like chicago, Baltimore, and other places where Democrats are in power.
Yes. Systemic racism is JUST where Democrats rule proving Joe’s head is way up his ass but he’s still willing to spew his lies.
Systemic racism is everywhere; it’s a US issue, not just Democrats. Larry points out some D-issues that it’s his opinion cause some of it, but Republicans own their share too. Only a few would say one party owns it, or someone who does not grasp the issue.
Racism What would we do if the democrats didn’t have a race card? I’ll answer the question. All people in the country would get along just fine. And what would people of color do without democrats telling them that they are too stupid to have picture ID to vote? The democrats have been pissed off since the republicans took their slaves away from them
Oct … yes it does exist … but racism is not endemic among the people. Even people who live in places where institutional racism is part of the political system are not racist. In some ways the last vestiges of institutional racism we see in Democrat cities is not even as much about race as money and power. Minorities are confined to segregated areas because it provides the basis of political power and wealth. Check out my final Black History Month commentary in a day or two. I provide a bit more detail.
To pinpoint racism as solely owned by the Democrats is a laughable argument. Is David Duke a Democrat. Which party do most White Supremacists vote? On 1/6 were those BLM flags or the Stars and Bars and how often was the n-word hurled at police?
You are spinning. Many of the same problems that you attribute to Democrats, in democratic cities, apply to Republicans, in Republican cities. Furthermore, almost every photo restriction law passed within the last year affects minorities in a racist fashion. So give it a rest, racism with with us, systemic racism is with us, and it is a bipartisan affair. I won’t even discuss your points above given your overarching premise that it’s all the Democrats fault it’s just stupid. They may have some merit, but the red herring in certain out there smells like dead fish.
Your history lesson is just that, history. Today, while the Republican Party is not racist, most races go Republican. Blaming the Democrats for all of this will certainly not make your tent any bigger.
That’s voter, not photo. Sorry.
Frank Stetson … like some many left wing Democrats, you ignore massive deadly institutional racism in the Democrat controlled cities and counter with a name of one guy — and not a good example, at that. David Duke switched parties from time to time. He was also rebuked and rejected by Republican leadership. You point to a fringe on the right and ignore the left. Which party do the members of ANTIFA vote fore — or the revolutionaries that occupy places like Portland, etc.? I am glad that you at least admit that the Republican Party is NOT racist. It is not ALL Democrats fault, but the vast majority of racial oppression is at the hands of Democrat by far. They are responsible for the last vestages of de facto segregation and all that goes with it.
Larry, as you know, I am not a left-wing Democrat. Except in your mind. Nice spin. You note that my counter was just David Duke. And you take exception to that. Here’s a baker’s dozen. If you want, I can find more. Basically, if they’re racist and they’re running then they are Republicans. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/02/republicans-100-far-right-candidates-2022
Then you toss out Antifa. What does that have to do with Democratic Party racism? I do not know. I have always said that all Republicans are not racist. You seemed surprised. It’s just that most racists today are Republican. You seem to avoid that fact. And then you whine on saying it’s not all the Democrats, but mostly. Especially segregation. The problem is you never prove it. You didn’t prove it in the story, you didn’t prove it in this comment. While I concede the history lesson, you have not shown current democratic policies that forced segregation, much less only in democratic cities. This is your statement: “It was the Democratic Party that imposed institutional racism in the major cities they ruled over for generations – creating a policy of generational urban segregation in which millions of black Americans suffer from the deprivation of education, jobs, healthcare, housing and public safety TO THIS DAY.” Sounds nice, you identify problems, you have a culprit, you just don’t have a root cause. What laws made this happen? How did the Democrats pull this off? Much less pull it off in a fashion that most people, except Larry, can’t see.?
Then you list a couple of police abuse issues. Do two abuses equal one David Duke? But they have nothing to do with segregation. I guess the real bottom line here is you spent the better part of your career supporting. Black causes in Chicago. Apparently, you really failed. And that’s the bottom line. Look forward to your description of what you mean by segregation? And some actual democratic policies and or laws that forced it only in democratic cities. Can’t wait.
Larry,
Democratic Party has historically held a majority in metropolitan districts. No surprise elected officials would be Democrats. Hanging your big fat prejudice hat on them is like a stroll through an orchard picking low hanging fruit. It’s no effort at all to pick a truck load. And, the fruit does not fight back when you hail them away or try an escape.
President Biden does not haul off and slap you as you deserve, He is very much a gentleman who respects an honors others views and opinions. He probably has no clue what you think, period. But, if he did, he would not disrespect you for your hearts sad conviction that his party is the trouble with the country and the woes you believe are directly attributed to some ailment kept secret.
The Democrats are easy pray like shooting ducks in a barrel. What difference does that make, not one iota. PBP is not the Times, the Post, the Journal, or the Forbes
The only ones trying to make you honest are Frank and Ben, if there are others, I am not aware.
PBP is hardly a classroom and the audience is not the impressionable young white college kids. Nor, are we all politically naive simple minded red-neck bumpkins thinking the election was rigged and the Russians are justified taking down Ukraine for Putin’s reasons.
What we have here is is a failure to communicate.
In the big picture, it’s become apparent that the party of the other are in the frame as negligent in the responsibility every American shares with every other American. That we respect and honor each other as equals. No one proves themselves more worthy, more righteous, or better, so that they have license to publish junk journalism purposed to diminish others in disagreement as to opinion just because the 1st Amendment says is legal up to the standard in law for libel. What, then, is the test for libel? Slander is allowed until some one objects with sufficient force?
The reasonable person ( able to distinguish right from wrong) reading condemnatory accusations such as are written above would see through the text and find seething hatred issuing from some self important supposing individual commanding a keyboard and nothing beyond.
If a parsing of the text that reveals thinking misrepresentations and take to task each word turn for proof of history being high jacked and an alternate fake rendition pasted coarsely in truth’s place, could force a stop to the ridiculousness. Some poor editor might be convinced to introduce objective truth in facts lived not Trump like fake facts’ misinformation.
More objectionable is the situation for this is the 6th iteration in a series.
White racist Christian Americans are to blame and before them White racist British but most recently it is white racist Chistian republicans that are most at fault. White racist Christians ike those at Bob Jones Univeristy that had a rule forbiding inter-ethnic dating until they lost at the Supreme Court in the year 2000,Liberty University, whose Founder Jerry Falwell Sr said ” segregation was God’s will” The infamous Lee Atwater Quote that says everything that republicans do is designed to hurt Africans worse. The republican effort to stop any social welfare,healthcare i.e. the Affordable Care Act,and infrastructure and educational spending because those things are seen as helping African-Americans. The gutting of parts of the voting rights act, gerrymandering, and voter supperssion laws are all republican efforts to disenfranchise Africans in america.
The that the racist white Christian republican president Donald J Trump was endorsed by David Duke former grand Dragon of the KKK should tell you something , the fact that Trump did not repudiate those people and that endorsement will tell you something else. The fact that Trump called the neo-nazi racists at the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville ,”very fine people” will tell you something ,yet again