Did you know that over 90% of the black population is Democrat? Furthermore, did you know that just about 100 years ago they were nearly entirely Republican? Some people attribute this to a “big switch” in the 1960s where they claim that all of the sudden all the racist switched over to the Republican Party. People rarely look deeply into this assertion and my contention is that the “big switch narrative” is a naïve and over simplified version of history and thus I want to explore some facts that will help form a more complete narrative of racial relations and politics in American history.
Pre Civil War- The Age Of Slavery
When America was founded the Europeans were at the tail end of an age of exploration. During this age of exploration European civilizations came into contact more than ever with people around the world including those in Africa. Europeans had little respect for what they found in Africa and essentially viewed Africans as not being human in the same sense that they were. They quickly came to view Africans and many groups in the world on a spectrum of superior and inferior races. Furthermore, in Africa they found slavery to be common in a bustling slave trade already in existence and very popular among the Arabs. Shamefully, Europeans indulged in participation in the slave trade and the Americas became a prime location to utilize slave labor as much labor was needed in order to colonize the New World.
However, by the early 1800s a new movement was beginning to game steam fueled by Christians who saw slavery as a moral evil due to the teachings found in the New Testament. In the early 1800’s throughout most of Europe slavery became illegal. (The Movie “Amazing Grace” is a representation of this wonderful and historic movement) However, there was pushback against this especially in the Democrat controlled American South because slave labor was such an integral part of the economy and social order.
Post Civil War to 1930’s - The KKK Progressive Democrats
The Civil War can rightly be framed as a contest between Democrats and Republicans. The Democrats in the South and the North wanted to keep the institution of slavery and allow it to spread to the new states. The Republicans on the other hand wanted to either abandon the practice or at least stop its spread in the hope it would eventually die out over time. It should be noted that the Republicans for the most part we're not believers in racially equality as we believe in it today. They were vehemently opposed to slavery but for the most part the notion of racially quality was not the popular sentiment of the time. More importantly, the Republicans realized that the blacks made up a substantial amount of the population in the south and therefore could be a very powerful voting block to keep them in power. Hence, the Republicans did everything they could in order to get the black vote and the democrats did all they could to suppress it.
Following their loss in the Civil War and the subsequent oppression they faced at the hands of the Republican victors, the Democrats fought back in every way they could, including the formation of the KKK, which essentially was the terrorist wing of the Democrat Party during this time. Some of the Democrats also embraced the ideas of Charles Darwin and merged his evolutionary theory into the notion of progressivism. Progressivism is the notion that through our efforts in society and government mankind is destined to progress in various ways towards a bright (some would say utopian) future. The progressives like Margaret Sanger (the founder of Planned Parenthood) and many others saw this in biological evolution and believed that in order to help social progress certain superior racial groups were preferable because they were more biologically advanced. Social Darwinism, Progressivism, and the KKK all festered together in the Democrat party during this period. Still it should be remembered that, while a substantial voice in America, the democrats and progressives remained in the minority opinion during this time as the country was still largely dominated by Republicans- but that all changed with the Great Depression.
1930’s to WWII- Everyone Becomes A Democrat.
One cannot overstate the impact of the Great Depression. With so many people driven to economic desperation it is only natural for them to reject the status quo (which at that time was the Republican Party) and accept solutions from the other side. I've heard it said that during the great depression everybody became a Democrat (which is not totally true but the changes were staggering). However, this move in the Democratic Party was not based in Americans embracing the radical social agenda of the Democrats, but rather the economic programs that they put together under FDR's new deal. In short, people needed help and FDR was offering it.
This is the time when the black population began to flood into the Democrat party. It was FDR and the great depression that began bringing blacks into the Democrat party despite its history of extreme racism. Poverty can make for strange bedfellows. Suddenly you had some of the most racist Southerners voting alongside blacks and former non racist republicans- then World War II begins.
WWII to 1970. - The Reformation of the Democrat Party
What many people do not realize is that the racist, eugenics, Social Darwinism progressives of the early 20th century we're actually part of a worldwide movement. Hitler was the pinnacle of this movement. He took the notions of fellow racial purists like Margaret Sanger to their greatest conclusion and murdered the unfit in society to achieve the progress he envisioned. After a long bloody war against this kind of barbarism and with the horrors of the holocaust now on full display no one wanted to be associated with Hitler and the traditional progressive democrat racial agenda fell out of vogue. This put in motion a major change socially in America in our views towards race. Racism, which was socially acceptable prior to World War II suddenly had a growing movement against it.
As America headed into the 1950’s Republican voices began to challenge the notion of “Separate But Equal” and momentum began to build in the nation generally for an end to the racial segregation policies that were created by the pre WWII democrat party. With the stabilizing of the economy post World War II and the decline of racisms popularity the Democrat Party again begin to lose its monopoly on power and the United States was ripe for a civil rights movement that pushed for racial equality. The Republican Martin Luther king became the icon of that movement. And the Republicans were the ones who led the civil rights movement.
80% of Republicans Voted in Favor of 1964 Civil Rights Act
64% of Democrats Voted in Favor of 1964 Civil Rights Act
The Democrats during this time realized the old progressivism based in racial progress was no longer viable so they dropped it and placed their focus on economic progressivism which continues to be central to their movement to this day. Furthermore, Democrats realized that despite their long dirty racial history they could get the black vote via social programs like the ones FDR put in place. Thus we see a shift from the Margaret Sanger Democrats who wanted to eliminate the blacks become Lyndon Johnson's democrats who wanted to provide blacks with welfare. Still, don't be fooled into thinking all the racist democrats suddenly disappeared they just realized they had to change there game when it came to the black community.
"These Negroes, they’re getting pretty uppity these days and that’s a problem for us since they’ve got something now they never had before, the political pull to back up their uppityness. Now we’ve got to do something about this, we’ve got to give them a little something, just enough to quiet them down, not enough to make a difference."- Lyndon Johnson (Democrat President 1964)
Another misconception is that racist southern whites abandoned the Democrat party during the 1960’s and joined the Republican party. People always say it happened because of Richards Nixons "Southern Strategy" in Republican Richard Nixon did get votes from southern states, but it’s hard to connect that with racist policies in the Republican party and much easier to connect it with the southerners feelings about the biggest issue of that era- the war in Vietnam. The reality is just about EVERYONE voted for Nixon in 1972, it was the biggest Presidential landslide in American History. Its pretty clear that Nixons popularity in 1972 was not based on racist policies, but the fact that the democrats had a terrible candidate in George McGovern and the fact that southern voters (like Nixon) were pro military involvement in Vietnam.
Not convinced? Still think the racist south all became republicans because of Nixons southern strategy? Take a look at the 1976 election map below. Does this look like the racist Dems in 1976 had all become republicans?
Even in 1980, in the heart of the south, Georgia still voted democrat when nearly all the rest of the country voted for Reagan. The change from Democrat to Republican happened over time and really did not kick into high gear until Jimmy Carter's failures and Reagans success; with states like Alabama not electing Republican senators until 1982. Indeed, it seems that as the south became less racist it became more republican and as the Democrat party focused more on welfare programs, it became more black.
1970-2000- The Welfare State
After the 1960s the tone of the Democrat Party essentially abandoned its old racist version of progressivism and focused instead on its socialist economic version of progressivism. In addition, the Democrats realized that any group who faced economic hardship could be an ally to the progressive cause. Therefore blacks became a key ally when the Democrats realized that through social programs they could buy their vote. As the saying goes “when you Rob Peter to pay Paul, you can always count on Paul’s vote”. The unfortunate part of this arrangement is that the Democrats have no incentive to actually lift the black community from poverty. History shows that you have a little need for the Democrat agenda once you find economic self sufficiency.
The democrats also realized that with increasing levels of black support they needed to portray the other party as “anti-black” and soon any challenges to welfare programs were propagandized into a form of racism and the Republican opposition to the welfare state was branded as a racist opposition to black people. This is also why the very small remaining groups of true racists vote Republican. Racists are not wanted by either party in modern America but ironically, because of successful democrat propaganda, these weak minded individuals feel they must fit in with the party of Lincoln.
2000-present : The Expansion of Identity Politics
And here we find ourselves in the story. The Democrat party learned an important lesson during the 20th century. They learned that through welfare handouts and playing on social identity (like race) they could gain enormous power and that has become the marching orders of the Democrats. Their current objective is to repeat with multiple groups what they did to gain such an enormous support from the black community during the 20th century. So hopefully now you can see why they want to divide us up into various groups based on gender race religion etc. The idea of identity politics is textbook marketing strategy. Divide a group (or Nation) into sub groups. Pit those groups against each other with narratives of inequality and oppression regardless of if it really exists, thus creating a need for someone to come in a help. Then show how the democratic candidate is going to solve all the problems faced by your group (usually by taking money from people in other groups) then watch the votes roll in. Don’t be fooled. They have been at this game for a long time and if you keep your eyes open you can see it happening every single day.
Questions for reflection.
When did blacks become democrats? Did they do it for racial or economic reasons?
Why did democrats suddenly become interested in helping blacks in the 1960’s after oppressing them for nearly a century?
Are there any race based policies from the 1960’s- 80’s that came from the Republican party that would have made all the racists want to become Republicans?
Why did racism in the south decline as it became more republican?
Does welfare handouts to certain groups help ensure they will vote for you?
Which is the party that has longest history of race obsession?
Which party more closely believes that people should be judged by the content of character and not the color of skin?
Which party was the party of slavery?
Has there ever been a member of the US government that was a KKK member? Were any of them Republican?