Posted on 02/26/2005 5:12:12 PM PST by Bob
GOP's Proud Black Legacy
[part way down the article]
The House Policy Committee's 2005 Republican Freedom Calendar offers 365 examples of GOP support for women, blacks, and other minorities, often over Democratic objections. Among its highlights:
"To stop the Democrats' pro-slavery agenda, anti-slavery activists founded the Republican party, starting with a few dozen men and women in Ripon, Wisconsin on March 20, 1854," the calendar notes. "Democratic opposition to Republican efforts to protect the civil rights of all Americans lasted not only throughout Reconstruction, but well into the 20th century. In the south, those Democrats who most bitterly opposed equality for blacks founded the Ku Klux Klan, which operated as the party's terrorist wing."
Contemporary partisan hyperbole? Consider this 1866 comment from Governor Oliver Morton (R., Ind.), who is immortalized in the U.S. Capitol's Statuary Hall: "Every one who shoots down Negroes in the streets, burns Negro school-houses and meeting-houses, and murders women and children by the light of their own flaming dwellings, calls himself a Democrat," Morton said. "Every New York rioter in 1863 who burned up little children in colored asylums, who robbed, ravished, and murdered indiscriminately in the midst of a blazing city for three days and nights, calls himself a Democrat."
White supremacists worked club in hand with Democrats for decades:
May 22, 1856: Two years after the Grand Old party's birth, U.S. Senator Charles Sumner (R., Mass.) rose to decry pro-slavery Democrats. Congressman Preston Brooks (D., S.C.) responded by grabbing a stick and beating Sumner unconscious in the Senate chamber. Disabled, Sumner could not resume his duties for three years.
[many more examples follow]
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
I don't know where all those keywords came from. I only put in a couple, honest.
This is an excellent find. I was in an American Religious History class last week and an African American woman mentioned Jim Crow was a Republican during the 60's who fought against civil rights. I'm printing the article for her.
This is a GREAT article Thanks! I wish they would make a movie out of this:
"July 2, 1964: Democratic President Johnson signed the 1964 Civil Rights Act after former Klansman Robert Byrd's 14-hour filibuster and the votes of 22 other Senate Democrats (including Tennessee's Al Gore, Sr.) failed to scuttle the measure. Illinois Republican Everett Dirksen rallied 26 GOP senators and 44 Democrats to invoke cloture and allow the bill's passage. According to John Fonte in the January 9, 2003, National Review, 82 percent of Republicans so voted, versus only 66 percent of Democrats."
I hope she finds it to be interesting reading. :=)
Hey, Byrd is still filibustering and still thwarting the democratic will of the people! If he hates democracy so much, why doesn't the old bird get the hell out of the Senate? His rhetorical flourishes are only impressing himself.
I just happened to stumble across it and, when I saw the source, expected it would be a hatchet-job with a sarcastic title. I was very pleasantly surprised.
Oustanding article
I thought so too. I think this is only my second post on FR but I figured it was a pretty good one. :=)
What really surprised me was that it hadn't already been posted but I wasn't able to find it with a search. I was absolutely amazed at the number of items that the article cited.
...black Americans should ask Democrats: "Yesterday's gone. What have you done for us lately?"
I think that should say: What have you done for us lately ever?"
Hmmm, much like Republicans are portrayed today.
bump
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