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One thing I love, is when republicans glomp onto MLK Jr. Yeah, Yeah, he said that thing about judging people by the content of their character. He was also a vocal proponent of Affirmative Action, stridently against the Vietnam War, strongly pro-union, and in favor of a guaranteed minimum salary for all Americans. The fact is, MLK was *hated* in his day. And there's really not much in the current GOP that he would find acceptable, although I doubt he'd love the democratic party either.
I'm also amused by the obsession with Al Sharpton that you, and many white people have. The man has never had all that much of a following outside of NYC - and in that city, he's one of the best high-profile critics of police brutality. I can see why MSNBC gave him a show, since he's sure to bring better ratings, but I'd really rather have Melissa Harris-Perry host a show than him.
As for myself, no, I'm not on any "plantation", I'm a progressive. Even if the GOP were to dump their "reparations", "Democrat plantation" talking points, I'd still be voting for democrats and trying to pull them to the left. That's how freedom actually works for black people. It doesn't mean "all black people vote for republicans". it means "black people decide who to vote for individually". And in my case, you're barking up the wrong tree. And that's *actual* freedom - I looked at the two parties, and decided that I'm closer to the democrats than to the republicans (although I'd rather see more to the left - I'm in favor of single-payer, as one example).
Hmmm...I would think Republicans quoting MLK would be viewed as a good thing. He is considered an American hero by most people, no?
And I have yet to find the historical figure whom I agree with 100 percent. He or she does not exist.
Btw- since were are time traveling, Orville Faubus and George Wallace were Democrats.
Hanging Chad. Did you vote democrat? Did you think Gore was robbed? And the fallout afterward, did you think the republicans stole the election?
Sorry...but I'm a working induvisual....
I'm probably not your 'template' 'black'....
I work hard, when employed,( and when unemployed, mind my own business), regardless of who's elected at what office or seat and when...my value system is not influenced by elected officials...who all seem very distant to me...
Another person suggesting that the democrats turned into republicans and the republicans turned into democrats. Except that the good democrats stayed democrats and the evil republics stayed republicans. Everyone who was bad went R and all the good people went D, and the "political realignment" was complete.
As for myself, no, I'm not on any "plantation", I'm a progressive. Even if the GOP were to dump their "reparations", "Democrat plantation" talking points, I'd still be voting for democrats and trying to pull them to the left. That's how freedom actually works for black people. It doesn't mean "all black people vote for republicans". it means "black people decide who to vote for individually".
It is funny that the underlying premise of these threads, and there have been numerous ones covering this same thread worn ground, is that African Americans are incapable of independent thought, a historical meme which traces itself to antebellum concepts of the child like negro incapable of functioning without the guiding hand of the white and therefore superior race.
This is a theme that could be heard from Reconstruction through the Civil Rights movement. It was only because of northern carpet baggers that newly freed slaves demanded access to schools, private property and civil power. During the Civil Rights era, if it weren't for northern liberals and Communist local negroes would remain compliant with the "southern institutions". And while couched in far more "polite" terms the theme remains the same, African Americans only do what they do, think what they think, through the agency of some duplicitous white liberal agency, in this case the Democratic Party. Never mind the historical fact that long before FDR and the Great Society the African American defection from the Republican Party was underway, not as the result of free stuff, but policy that were antipathetic to their political goals.
The Republicans’ presidential nominee in 1928 cast more doubt in black voters’ minds.171 Herbert Hoover’s handling of the relief efforts after the devastating 1927 Mississippi River floods disappointed the African-American community. Tone deaf to issues that resonated with blacks, Hoover catered to the lily-white delegations at the Republican National Convention. The platform contained no substantive concessions to blackinterests besides a perfunctory sentence about the necessity for anti-lynching legislation. Furthermore, during the campaign Hoover devised a southern strategy against Democratic nominee Al Smith, who was perceived negatively in the South because he was Catholic and was believed to represent ethnic and black interests. By courting the racially conservative white vote with tacit support for the segregationist status quo, Hoover fractured the solid South and captured the electoral votes of five southern states: Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Florida, and Texas.172
The 1928 presidential campaign marked a significant step toward the eventual black exodus from Republican ranks. Though a majority of African Americans cast their vote for Hoover, black defection from the party was greater than in any prior election. Manufacturers of public opinion within the black community, including the Chicago Defender and the Baltimore Afro-American, supported Al Smith.173 Meanwhile, the party of Lincoln seemed unresponsive to the changing electorate and lacked a strategy for adjusting to new political realities. “As Negroes moved to the North and to the cities, they became part of the new urban constituency,” explains historian Richard Sherman. “Just as America had ceased to be predominantly Anglo-Saxon, so had black-white relations ceased to be primarily a problem for the South…In short, Republicans failed to develop a program which could attract major elements of the new, urban America,” a constituency that formed the core of the Roosevelt New Deal coalition that propelled Democrats into power in the 1930s.174
It is funny that the underlying premise of these threads, and there have been numerous ones covering this same thread worn ground, is that African Americans are incapable of independent thought, a historical meme which traces itself to antebellum concepts of the child like negro incapable of functioning without the guiding hand of the white and therefore superior race.
This is a theme that could be heard from Reconstruction through the Civil Rights movement. It was only because of northern carpet baggers that newly freed slaves demanded access to schools, private property and civil power. During the Civil Rights era, if it weren't for northern liberals and Communist local negroes would remain compliant with the "southern institutions". And while couched in far more "polite" terms the theme remains the same, African Americans only do what they do, think what they think, through the agency of some duplicitous white liberal agency, in this case the Democratic Party. Never mind the historical fact that long before FDR and the Great Society the African American defection from the Republican Party was underway, not as the result of free stuff, but policy that were antipathetic to their political goals.
One of the very few reads I'm not sure to agree with or not...
A hard task indeed...
I'm not sure if this thread is condescending or liberating....
I'm united with people more in this day and age for other reasons than color...
but then again...I'm a vet...yes me...
And we fought for all Americans...regardless...and protected each other...regardless....
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