
<p>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. ; </p>



<p>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.</p>



<p>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. ; </p>



<p>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. ; </p>



<p>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.</p>



<p>That was the end of <em>de jure</em> racism &#8212; but not the end of the old <em>de facto</em> institutional racism lingering in Democrat-run cities.  ; That is still the case today. ; While conditions in the south changed drastically as <em>de jure</em> 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 20<sup>th</sup> Century.</p>



<p>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. ; </p>



<p>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.</p>



<p>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. ; </p>



<p>Millions of black children have been blocked from going to college … obtaining career-level employment … and achieving success in America’s opportunity society. ; ;</p>



<p>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.  ; </p>



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



<p>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).</p>



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.” ; </p>



<p>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. ; </p>



<p>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.)</p>



<p>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 <em>prima facie</em> 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.</p>



<p>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. ; </p>



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.”</p>



<p>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.</p>



<p>A lot of the deprivations blacks experienced in slavery and in the era <em>de jure</em> 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?</p>



<p>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.</p>



<p>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.</p>



<p>So, there ‘tis.</p>

Black History Month: Democratic Party Owns the Legacy of Racism in America — Part 2
