Black History Month: Democratic Party Owns the Legacy of Racism in America — Part 2
In Part 1 of “Democratic Party owns the legacy of racism in America,” we dealt with the Democratic Party’s historic role in the oppression of blacks from the end of the Civil War to the 1950s and 60s civil rights era. Many suggest that in modern times, we have seen a reversal in racism between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party.
Yes, times have changed, but those who believe that the Democrat Party is no longer the major source of institutional racism and black oppression in America simply do not know the facts. That is largely because the left-wing establishment – media, entertainment, and academia – has been proffering a false partisan view of black history.
From the 1960s to the present day, black oppression and institutional racism has declined significantly in most areas of the country. The most significant change is seen in the southern states. Southern Democrats mounted the Massive Resistance Movement in the mid-1960s to oppose school integration following the passage of the civil rights acts of the 1950s and 1960s.
Most of the vicious institutional racism imposed by Democrat regimes for 100 years after the Civil War ended as Republicans took the reins of government in Dixie. Gone were the lynchings … Jim Crow laws … voter intimidation … police brutality … job discrimination … and the everyday deadly violence of the Democrats’ sanctioned paramilitary terrorist organizations.
Symbolically, it was Republican governors and legislatures that began the removal of the Confederate battle flags incorporated into places of honor by the former Democrat leaders.
That was the end of de jure racism — but not the end of the old de facto institutional racism lingering in Democrat-run cities. That is still the case today. While conditions in the south changed drastically as de jure institutional racism ended, we still find institutional racism and black oppression in the urban ghettoes similar to what we saw back in the first half of the 20th Century.
Having spoken and met with local activists in Chicago’s inner city many times over the course of 50 years, the only noticeable change in ghetto life has been the increase in violence and murders. Like most major cities, the Windy City’s iconic ghettoes are still segregated.
The schools are still inferior, with high dropout rates, low achievement levels, and few advancements in colleges – and many blacks who start college drop out because they were not adequately academically prepared.
I had the opportunity to see the racism in the public school system inside and out – as a consultant to the Chicago Board of Education and as a civic activist. I have often said that the intentionally unequal education in the Chicago school system is immorality – a crime against humanity.
Millions of black children have been blocked from going to college … obtaining career-level employment … and achieving success in America’s opportunity society.
Lack of education has figuratively and literally destroyed lives – and conversely, it has denied American society the benefits that would have derived from the productivity, genius, and invention of those millions of children. That is what is being lost today in every segregated city in America.
And there is only one Party that runs those separate but unequal public school systems. Since the days of slavery, the Democratic Party has depended on ignorance – preventing quality education – to control and oppress blacks.
One of the tools in maintaining the segregated ghettoes is school districting. One look at school districts in the major cities and racial segregation becomes obvious. It is no accident that New York City is said to have schools that are less integrated today than they were in the 1960s.
Political redistricting is also used to maintain segregated communities. Election districts are gerrymandered to consolidate black and Hispanic voters in dense districts, which has two racist impacts. It limits the number of potential minority officeholders and keeps minority voters concentrated (segregated).
You do not have to go back before the 1960s to find instances of police racism and brutality. It is no coincidence that the most egregious cases of Police brutality have happened in cities in which the Police departments are controlled by Democrats – George Floyd and Tyre Nichols are just the latest two examples.
Chicago Police Captain Jon Burge was arrested and convicted for the brutal torturing of black arrestees. An attorney friend of mine ran a successful civil suit against him on behalf of the victims. This blatant racism was not back in the 1930s or 1940s – not the work of Sheriff Bull Connor. It occurred in 1991.
In an unrelated case, Chicago police maintained a secret facility in the Homan Square neighborhood at which arrestees were handcuffed to radiators and tortured. It was dubbed “the house of screams.”
When a person is arrested in Chicago, their name is supposed to be included in a public listing so that friends or family can learn the whereabouts of the person. The mostly young black men brought to the Homan location were never listed. The operation was exposed by an investigative journalist in 2015.
In response to public outrage, then-Mayor Rahm Emmanuel set up a $5.5 million dollar fund to compensate victims of police torture. (Yes, Rahm Emmanuel – one of the most powerful leaders of the national Democratic Party was the man in charge while the torture was going on.)
A current major racial issue is jails being overcrowded with mostly black males serving time for crimes that white men do not. Many argue that the statistics are a prima facie sign of institutional racism in law enforcement. If it is racism – and I personally believe institutional racism is a major contributing cause – then it is noteworthy that the vast majority of these men in jail have been sent there by the police, prosecutors, and judges operating in the major segregated cities – and who are an integral part of the Democrat political machines that run those cities.
Substandard housing remains a major problem in the urban ghettoes. Zoning and housing laws are not enforced as vigorously in the ghettoes as they are in white communities – often allowing politically connected slumlords to avoid taking proper maintenance. For its part, the city does not maintain the infrastructure – streets, sidewalks, and parks – as it does in white neighborhoods.
Both of those failures to act in the segregated communities is, by definition, institutional racism by the folks running those municipal departments. That has not changed.
Democrats talk a lot about economic, commercial development in the inner cities, yet those neighborhoods are described as “food deserts.” They could also be described as “jobs deserts.”
Black oppression in our segregated major cities is evident by the frequent protests and riots. Check out the looong list of major riots since the 1960s and match them with the political party in charge of the cities ravaged by vandalism, arson, looting. There is no better indicator of the source of the oppression than looking at who the oppressed rise up against.
A lot of the deprivations blacks experienced in slavery and in the era de jure institutional racism exist today in America’s major urban centers. We can see that with our own eyes. We can hear the truth of that from folks who are trapped in the impoverished ghettoes. What is not said is … who is in charge. We hear complaints about the police. So, who is in charge of the police? We hear complaints about housing. So, who is in charge of the housing? We hear complaints about education. So, who is in charge of the schools? We hear complaints about segregation. So, who is segregating the communities?
These are just examples of the innumerable acts of institutional racism still occurring every day against millions of black Americans trapped in those impoverished and dangerous segregated communities by “the system” – a system of institutional racism that has been in place since the Civil War. If you do not believe that, find an era in which blacks in the major cities were not segregated and impoverished.
There are two irrefutable facts. The remnant of institutional racism exists today. And it is almost exclusively found where the Democratic Party rules as an autocratic one-party political force – and has for a very long time.
So, there ‘tis.
Some good points Larry. Lets look at some stats.
IL General Assembly, see “https://www.ilga.gov/house/” is 78 Dems and 40 GOPs.
When I look at the party affiliation of adults in the Chicago Metro area, see “https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/religious-landscape-study/compare/party-affiliation/by/political-ideology/among/metro-area/chicago-metro-area/” it looks pretty balanced to me. Possibly a slight edge to the Dems.
Now, according to this article at “https://www.chicagomag.com/news/opinion-how-illinois-became-a-one-party-state/” In 2002, the Democrats took complete control of the state, winning the governorship for the first time in 30 years and the state senate for the first time in more than a decade. Part of their success was due to the national political trends Ryan, (R-IL) had observed; part was due to Ryan himself (THIS RYAN GUY WAS GOP, SENTENCED TO FIVE YEARS FOR A LICENSES FOR BRIBES SCHEME). As the third and last in a 26-year run of Republican governors, his corruption had damaged the brand of a party that had overstayed its welcome. GEE, A 26 YEAR RUN OF GOP GOVERNORS DID NOT GET CHICAGO STRAIGHTENED OUT!
Here is a sad statistic on Chicago 2022 voter turnout, Total Registration and Turnout 1,540,821 714,798 46.39%
From this website, “https://www.politico.com/2022-election/results/illinois/house/” it can be seen that Chicago is heavy Dem.
So from 1972 to 2002, GOP had the Governorship. And from at least 1992 to 2002, GOP held the state senate.
From 1893 to 1932 the talley of Mayors of Chicago by party is about 50/50 split, see “https://ballotpedia.org/History_of_Chicago%27s_mayoral_office”
It seems like the GOP has trouble winning the mayorship of Chicago starting around 1933 or so which sends me back to your Part 1, where we discovered that in the 1930’s there was a rather mass migration of African Americans (AA) from GOP to DEM. As I pointed out with references supplied, this mass migration was caused by GOP policies and practices that were anti-negro, and AA’s saw no future, no dream, in the GOP. Larry, you believe it was due to handing out of Welfare checks by the Dems, and I am contesting this point and asking for your proof/references.
It would seem to me that in a state where the GOP was dominant at state levels from 1972 to 2002 that there is some shared level of responsibility between state and city (Chicago) for what has happened to Chicago, including racism, in the past 100 years! And then from 2002 onward, for some reason the GOP resoundingly gets its ass kicked in Chicago, all districts. This may be due to Whites tired of city conditions and moving to the burbs which results in a concentration of poor minorities left in the city. This is just a guess.
Larry, why do you think that when the GOP was dominant at state levels from 1972 to 2002 did they not correct these institutional racism problems since most “institutions” are run at the state level where the GOP was in rather firm control???
Larry, do you really think it is fair to blame and assign total ownership to the DEMs for the “Legacy of Racism” in Chicago for the last 100 years when the GOP was in form control of state levels and institutions from 1972-2002?
Tom … Again you follow Frank down the wrong path. The remnants of institutional racism is found in the major urban areas where the city administrations rule. Republicans in state legislatures, as governors and as small town mayors have virtually nothing to do with the kind of virulent institutional de facto racism you find in the major cities with large numbers of segregated and oppressed populations In other words … Democrat-run cities where one-party rule has been the case for generations. Since you do not — or cannot respond to the specifics of those facts, you rebut a point that is not the point. I sense your inability to focus on the issues I raise and respond to them in context has you and Frank enjoying a side show of self-pleasing sarcasm….lol
On a bright note Larry, this article should give your heart hope for the future of IL and Chicago: “https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2023/02/18/desantis-the-destroyer-blows-up-chicagos-mayoral-race-n1671809″ A big problem right now in Chicago seems to be” 1) Poverty, 2) NEA Teacher Union (very liberal group) seems to run the city, 3) This FOP leader seems to be a bit of a right wing nut job that espouses police violence as a legitimate tactic for combating crime and police slayings. 4) Not sure this Mayor Lightfoot is good for the city either. Seems like she is all about forgiveness of the criminals rather than justice for the victims. You put these four things together and I believe you will come out with a city in decay. Chicago politics have always been a very interesting affair! 🙂
Larry, I can agree that institutional racism has and still exists, but it is less. What I struggle with is your assertion that the Dem party owns it all. I hope we can agree that most “institutions” are run at the state level. And these state run institutions can heavily impact the economics at the local level such as cities like Chicago.
Using your home state of IL as the laboratory exercise, based on voting statistics and results by party, here is what I find (Independent Court – Judge Tom presiding) for party responsibility to correct the institutional racism over the past 100 years in IL/Chicago Institutions:
From 2023 back to 2002, 80-90% D and 10-20% R because D held Gov and State Senate
Note: voting turnout low thus general population is also 50% responsible. 2022 registered turnout of all voters only 49%
From 2001 back to 1992, 80-90% R and 10% D because the R held Gov and State Senate.
From 1991 back to 1972, 60% R and 40% D because R held Gov, and State House seems fairly even
From 1971 back to 1940, 50% D and 50% R because both of ebb and flows of power.
From 1939 back to 1900, 70% R and 30% D primarily because during this period GOP policies kept AA’s in poverty, leads to mass migration of AA’s from R to D party.
So rather than say “Democratic Party Owns Racism in America” since you used IL/Chicago as much of your discussion, and I used it as the lab exercise, both GOP and Dem party have historically owned the responsibility to eliminate institutional level racism in IL/Chicago, neither has done a very good job. And that is the opinion of the Independent Court, Judge Tom presiding.
Larry, I see glimmers of hope in this writing, though we don’t necessarily agree on the root causes. You state that there is systemic racism in the United States. Bravo! So many of the pundits on the right would argue with this, as it is something that more liberal-minded people have been espousing for decades. You also mention the police, and their treatment of black people. Again, kudos to you for being able to at least recognize a problem, even if the cause escapes you. The disparity of education in the poorer neighborhoods is also mentioned, and you see that as a major problem. Indeed it is. The cause of that one is pretty easy to establish however-it is simply lack of funding. Schools in most areas of the country are predominantly funded through property taxes. Lower property values in the poorer neighborhoods of course result in lower property tax collection. The solution would appear to be for either (or both) the state and the federal government to step in to resolve this issue. Unfortunately members of both parties have been unable to work together to resolve this problem-just this morning I read an article where the Republican led congress was wanting to cut $150 billion from federal funding for education and healthcare. This is not surprising however, as the majority of Republicans see little need to educate the populace (this, of course is a logical outcome for them, as educated people tend to vote for Democrats rather than Republicans….) I hope that we can continue to educate you on problems such as these in the United States so that you can (hopefully) produce writings to educate your readers who get their information exclusively from faux, newsmax and OAN….
Mike, it would appear that you missed the focus of the article. What forms of racism Larry pointed out have been known to most of us for a long time. The focus of his article was on the assertion that is stated in the article’s title, ” Democratic Party Owns the Legacy of Racism in America”
So what is your opinion? Does the Democratic Party Owns the Legacy of Racism in America?
Next, I was an educator for ten years. You could have given me a pile of money and it would not have solved these social problems: lack of internet at home, lack of food, parents working three jobs and not at home to make sure kids do homework, kids on their cell phones until 3 a.m. and too tired for school learning, fathers sexually molesting their daughters at 1 a.m., lack of good parenting, lack of holding kids accountable for school violence, not adhering to sports academic requirements when your star basketball player is failing math but starting every game, drugs, teen pregnancy, mental health issues that play out in the classroom, gangs, fighting on school property because the club where the problem started won’t let them fight there, Dreamer hopelessness because they can never be a citizen and on and on!!! I would suggest you read about what Bill and Melinda Gates learned before you make the erroneous assertion that throwing more money at public education will solve the problem – Bill and Melinda learned the opposite at “https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/12/bill-and-melinda-gates-say-education-philanthropy-is-not-having-impact.html”
Now I am an Independent/Unaffiliated voter. I do not listen to any of the news outlets you sourced in your response. Nor do several people that blog here listen to those news outlets.
Mike f … You are parroting what those ruling over institutional racism say to deflect. It is the fault of the oppressed. It is the lack of money for their education? You are looking at the symptoms and results of institutional racism .. not the causes and how is responsible. I am doing my best to educate readers — mostly those who have been indoctrinated by the narratives (propaganda) you absorb from the those on the left.
Systemic racism: invented, created, and maintained by Democrats in all major metros also only operated by Democrats while hidden by the Democratic-controlled media and public information propaganda machine proven by anecdotal data.
“Fooled them again, Josie.”
Makes one wonder, how can Republicans fail so much and so often. At least they have their seditious conspiracy going for them.
My daddy used to say, “Son, practice makes perfect.”. Daddy felt that the more you practice the better you become at whatever you are doing. So I would imagine this would also apply to failure. The more you fail the better you become at it.
Larry’s article on CDT should be banned as part of the ongoing culture war on the unwoke.
Kids should not be groomed with CDT as Larry seems only too happy to do at colleges across the land. What’s next, Larry talking CDT in grade schools in made up in blackface and handing out SNAP cards saying it’s a plot since there is no such thing as a free lunch? Unless it’s tax cuts for the rich.
We need to remove his book from public school libraries before it come out in 2034 or whenever he finishes it or it finishes him.
CDT or Critical Democrat Theory teaches that Democrats cause all the country’s evils and always has. Many feel this makes young liberals feel guilty for things their parents, grandparents and great grandparents did. Larry teaches that he has many Democratic friends which totally confuses kids who can’t understand being friends with the Devil. .
Next we’ll talk about the Democratic plan to bus poor urbanites to Boca Raton to get away from racism.
Good one Frank! I like the CDT (Critical Dem Theory), I can just see damaged liberal leaning kids everywhere! But can’t we just put these poor kids on Welfare, SNAP, and Medicaid? That way we can dry their tears with a check, a burrito at Taco Bell, and free counseling from a Medicaid provider? In this way, Larry’s CDT book is actually herding young malleable minds right into the hands of the evil Dems! Then when these poor kids get to voting age the sequel book will be titled, “They Cheated Again! How The Dems Caused GOP Kids to Migrate to the Devil Dems.”.