[backtothestreets]

"It is a complete distortion of history."

To credit the Republicans is an equal distortion. The movement toward civil rights began long before the Republican Party was created. It began with the extension of voting rights to citizens that were not property owners.

Make note too that Lincoln's proclamation "freeing" the slaves only affected slaves in the Confederate States, while keeping slaves of the border states bound to slavery.

[Qwinn]

"To credit the Republicans is an equal distortion."

Please. For fifty years the media drumbeat has been "Conservatives are racist, Democrats are the only hope for civil rights, if you elect a Conservative pretty soon they'll be burning down the churches again.". What I have posted completely debunks this.

At the very least, the following can be said (and was):

"I knew that however bad the Republican party was, the Democratic party was much worse. The elements of which the Republican party was composed gave better ground for the ultimate hope of the success of the colored man's cause than those of the Democratic party."

- FREDERICK DOUGLASS, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, chapter 47, p 579 (1941). [Quotation 1600, p 300]

So, no, it's not an "equal" distortion. However you slice it, the Republican Party deserves far more credit for civil rights than the Democrat Party does. It -definetly- deserves less blame for civil rights abuses and segregationist policies.

"The movement toward civil rights began long before the Republican Party was created. It began with the extension of voting rights to citizens that were not property owners."

No one said the Republican Party gave birth to civil rights. What was said was that civil rights gave birth to the Republican Party.

Qwinn