Disaffected Blacks Could Vote Republican for a Change

Here it is Black History Month, and all the talk is about “black rage” over the vote in Florida – an event not yet old news.

Where are paeans for great African-Americans such as Frederick Douglas, Harriet Tubman, and Booker T. Washington?

The Congressional Black Caucus met the other day to reaffirm their hate for whites in general and white Republicans in particular. Rep. J.C. Watts, the only black Republican in Congress, was not invited.

President Bush received less than 9 percent of the African-American vote in the recent election – a record low.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People spent millions of dollars running television ads accusing Bush responsible, somehow, for the horrific dragging death of a Texas African- American.

Yet, the murderers were apprehended. The driver has been sentenced to death and his buddy imprisoned for life. In this instance, blacks opposing capital punishment think hanging too good for the perpetrators.

Millions of African-Americans have made it into the mainstream of society through hard work and good citizenship but share the shame of silence. They seem to have been trapped into the Democratic plantation of involuntary servitude.

Wiped from their history is the contribution of President Abraham Lincoln, the first great Republican, in freeing the slaves through civil war and decree.

Forgotten is the fact that it was Democratic Governor Orval Faubus who called out the Arkansas National Guard in 1957 to prevent nine black children from entering Central High School in Little Rock. This, even though the U.S. Supreme Court said segregation was unlawful.

Arkansas Senator Dale Bumpers said the Little Rock standoff was “the gravest constitutional crisis since the Civil War.” The issue was clear, declared Bumpers – whether “state rights” or Federal law is paramount.

Republican President Dwight Eisenhower decided the issue by federalizing the National Guard and sending U.S. Marshals to Little Rock to escort the black children into school.

With all due respect to Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., it was Eisenhower’s crucial action that opened the door to desegregation.

Likewise, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was primarily crafted and adopted by Republicans – a fact ignored by black demagogues. More Republicans voted for the act than did Democrats.

The bill passed handily in the House of Representatives 290 to 130. However, it stalled in the Senate by a record 75-day Democrat filibuster.

Illinois Sen. Everett Dirksen, a quintessential Republican, organized his party to break the filibuster 71-29. Then he rewrote the bill to soften its inflammatory rhetoric.

After 106 roll calls to defeat 115 amendments by Democrats trying to water down the rights, the bill passed 73-29. President Lyndon Johnson quickly signed it into law. The same coalition passed the Voting Rights Act the following year.

President Johnson had been a segregationist until becoming president. Nevertheless, he was an astute politician. Vice-president Hubert Humphrey is quoted in Merle Miller’s “An Oral Biography of Lyndon:”

“Yes, yes, Hubert, I want all those things – buses, restaurants, all of that – but the right to vote with no ifs, ands, or buts. That’s the key. When the Negroes get that, they’ll have every politician, north and south, east and west, kissing their ass, begging for their support.”

This is rough language that emphasizes the hypocrisy of much Democrat rhetoric today.

In this month of Black History, it is well to recall the words of African-American Frederick Douglas who in 1848 fought for equality through his influential magazine “New National Era.”

Wrote Editor Douglas: “What are the colored people doing for themselves? We will rise or fall, succeed or fail, by our own merits.”

It is self-defeating for misled blacks to blame whites, and then count on them to redress grievances. Many cultural barriers remain to be torn down; but it takes two to tango.

The natural, historical, allies of African- Americans are conservative Republicans who promote inclusiveness and opportunity. This contrasts to the racial warfare of liberal Democrats who promote victim hood and political segregation.

Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Louis Farrakhan, Kweisi Mfume and the Black Caucus have polarized black-white problems. The new millennium requires new leaders with new solutions.

For starters, African-Americans could try a revolutionary idea – every one vote Republican. The only thing they have to lose is their own prejudice.

President Johnson’s prediction works two ways.

PARTING SHOTS

President Bush wants to lighten up on the “Hail To The Chief.” Too pompous. “Deep In The Heart Of Texas” should be acceptable once in awhile.

* * *

Al Gore started his new career of college lecturer by once again reinventing his wardrobe. He showed up at the University of Columbia in a brown wool jacket and red under sweater. He forgot one detail, leather elbow patches.

Lindsey Williams is a Sun Herald columnist

Sunday – feb. 11, 2001

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