Monday, April 19, 2010

Uncle Tom versus Sambo

Charles Blow has referred to black tea party members as part of a "minstrel show" for the white racists. That usage of 1920's imagery is at least a bit more tactful than what others have called them - though not by much.

The hate heaped upon black Americans who have joined the Tea Party movement is deep indeed. That said, the black tea party goers are anything but shrinking violets, they all seem to be well aware of the history of Democrats in the civil rights movement, and indeed, it seems a few are proud to be called Uncle Tom - the hero who stood up to the evil Democrat in Harriet Beecher Stowe's iconic book. As to their detractors, at least one tea party goer felt the proper moniker for them was Sambo - still dancing to the white liberal democrat tune.



And then there is this observation from James Taranto at the WSJ:

The political left claims to love racial diversity, but it bitterly opposes such diversity on the political right. This is an obvious matter of political self-interest: Since 1964, blacks have voted overwhelmingly Democratic. If Republicans were able to attract black votes, the result would be catastrophic for the Democratic Party. Even in 2008, the Democrats' best presidential year since '64, if the black vote had been evenly split between the parties (and holding the nonblack vote constant), Barack Obama would have gotten about 48% of the vote and John McCain would be president.

To keep blacks voting Democratic, it is necessary for the party and its supporters to keep alive the idea that racism is prevalent in America and to portray the Republican Party (as well as independent challengers to the Democrats, such as the tea-party movement) as racist. The election of Barack Obama made nonsense of the idea that America remains a racist country and thereby necessitated an intensifying of attacks on the opposition as racist.

(H/T Instapundit)

2 comments:

OBloodyHell said...

As I have made the case many times prior, the history of the parties could not be more opposite that which is depicted by the Democrats:

I think the Democratic party's Racial Con of making the GOP out to be the racists is perhaps the greatest con job in human history.

The Dems gained very real major power in the 1870s -- by appealing to the racists in the South angry over Republican plans for the Reconstruction -- ones which involved "40 acres and a mule" and such, to actually provide reparations and a measure of equality to the former slaves -- policies which the Dems gradually chipped away at and a boulder which the GOP finally got tired of pushing uphill. The Dems used this to gain the entire South as a power base for over sixty years.

Further, the Dems have had two major schisms in the last 60 years over race -- in the 1948 (the Dixiecrats) and the 1964 Dem conventions (the latter in which legally elected black representatives from the South were disenfranchized at the convention by machinations of Humphrey and Johnson -- which led directly to the subsequent violence in the 60s, including the 1968 convention and the Watts riots. Details here).

The Dems also continue to promote victimhood and class warfare memes and policies which are divisive and have led to nothing good for American blacks -- the fruits of their attitudes are clear: ignorance, illiteracy, and futility, leading to a ridiculously large number of black males being incarcerated (correctly, mind you), massive levels of black illegitimacy (presence of a balancing fatherhood figure is a strong indicator of later success in life), and, through the prisons, widespread AIDS in the black populace.

When a black man or woman succeeds without their help, the Dems feel nothing whatsoever about denigrating them and their accomplishments by using offensively pejorative memes and terms -- terms like "stepinfetchit", "Uncle Tom", and "pickaninny".

...(continued)...

OBloodyHell said...

...(continued from above)...

It is particularly telling that the Kerry campaign had no prominent black people on it until someone noticed this and commented on it, only AFTER which were "a few token darkies" given visible places of "import".

Who are the racists, again?

In contrast, I suggest you consider the following:

We pledge that our American citizens of Negro descent
shall be given a square deal in the economic and political
life of this nation. Discrimination in the civil service,
the army, navy, and all other branches of the Government
must cease. To enjoy the full benefits of life, liberty
and pursuit of happiness universal suffrage must be made
effective for the Negro citizen. Mob violence shocks the
conscience of the nation and legislation to curb this evil
should be enacted.


-- from the 1940 GOP platform

Contrast especially with:
We stand for the segregation of the races and the racial
integrity of each race; the constitutional right to choose
one's associates; to accept private employment without
governmental interference, and to learn one's living in any
lawful way. We oppose the elimination of segregation, the
repeal of miscegenation statutes, the control of private
employment by Federal bureaucrats called for by the misnamed
civil rights program. We favor home-rule, local self-government
and a minimum interference with individual rights.

We oppose and condemn the action of the Democratic Convention
in sponsoring a civil rights program calling for the elimination
of segregation, social equality by Federal fiat, regulations of
private employment practices, voting, and local law enforcement.


-- from the 1948 Dixiecrat's Platform

Just who is the friggin' racist bunch, again?

The Truth needs to be put before the people and make it clear to all around that the Dems are not only the party who represents racism and racist policies, but have been for not less than 140 years and counting.

And, while that won't change all the minds, it's the Truth, and they won't be able to do much more than counter it with still more and ever blatant lies... which we will re-counter with still more Truth.

And I have faith in the Truth's power to win hearts and minds in the long run.

.
============================
P.S., one of the more obvious claims in response of that last part is that "The Dixiecrats" were not "Democrats".

Yeah, right.
They were Democrats in 1944.
They were Democrats again in 1952.

Ergo -- They were a significant part of the Democratic party both before 1948 and again after 1948.

There was no equivalent power faction in the GOP, ever.