Only four African-American Republicans in Congress since 1901 (none since 2003). This is the success of the "Southern Strategy."
I had been away from the Mississippi Delta for nearly a decade when the hip-hop group Public Enemy came out with their seminal album Fear of a Black Planet back in 1990. I remember thinking about that title — Fear of a Black Planet. I have no doubt that many of my fellow whites from the Delta saw the album as a threat, a call to arms among young black men everywhere… but I strongly suspect that very few whites realized that Public Enemy's Chuck D was harshest of all on his fellow blacks, expounding on everything from history to fashion: "use your brain instead of a gun ... drugs are death ... know your past so you won't screw up the future ... gold chains worn around the neck demean the brotherhood in South Africa." But to a racist – even to those who were 'only' moderately so such as myself – what would have mattered was not the contents of the album, but the title on its cover. I cannot think of a more appropriately-named work of art when it comes to the fear that is driving the current resurgence of overt racism among whites in America.…
Article comments
26 - Lumpy
All clear now. Glenn is only bigoted against white people between Virginia and Louisiana. Oh and any black folks who vote Republican. Oh and anyone who owns a small business. Oh yeah and anyone who believes in individual liberty. And Christians, of course. Oh and people from Texas. Did I leave anyone out?
27 - zingzing
yeah, that individual liberty thing... so awful. glenn hates it, obviously. no one is going overboard. such a bigot.
don't be silly, lumpy. you undercut your own argument.
28 - roger nowosielski
Lumpy does pose though an interesting question.
Is it OK to be bigoted against bigoted people? And if you are, does that make you a bigot too?
29 - handyguy
Glen is not a bigot. That's been a favorite obnoxious-conservative ploy for years: yer a bigot too...yer bigoted agin' me!
30 - handyguy
Roger, you think of "post-American President" as a cool thing, a good thing, a preview of interesting changes ahead. Believe me, neither John Bolton nor Baronius intended it as a compliment to Mr. Obama. They don't want a post-American president.
31 - roger nowosielski
I'm aware, Handy, of Baronius's or Bolton's intentions and meaning. They both think it's the end of the world.
As for me, it's neither a cool or a good thing - just the inevitable thing. At least we're moving with the times rather than being obstructionists.
32 - handyguy
I'm not sure what "post-American president" even means really. Certainly I don't see us going in that direction as any intentional result of Obama's policies.
The right has found out that the more provocative their rhetoric, whether partly true or all fantasy, the more political advantage they can muster. Or so they think. I would luv to prove them dead wrong.
33 - zingzing
isn't it clear that obama hates this nation and grew up in kenya dreaming of the day he could replace our democracy with communism, then dictatorship, then he'll kill the jews (being a muslim, he'll want to get that out of the way first,) before he finally sets about to actually, physically destroying america? we will be nothing but a crater. how's he going to do that? he'll encourage iran to develop the bomb and then he'll kill their grandmothers, and they'll send down the megabomb in wichita. then! he'll wander the post-nuclear landscape, confiscating any remaining freedom and liberty and putting it into his butt and farting it on white people, whom he hates, because he's a racist. isn't that all clear by now?
34 - roger nowosielski
What it means to me, Handy, is simply that the entire world is a playing field when it comes to human rights and universal justice.
And from this, global perspective, preoccupation with the state of affairs in America alone is a myopic one to say the least.
So in a nutshell, my appraisal of the administration's policies, international and domestic, is that finally we're recognizing the interconnectedness we share with the rest of the world, and starting to act in accord with that understanding.
But as I said, to such as Baronius it means the end of America as we know it.
Well, it's the end of America in that restricted sense, but it's the beginning of a new America, America as part of the global community and hopefully, a force for the good.
35 - handyguy
But if in reaction to Obama, the country elects a more conservative president in 2012 or 2016, that person could take a step or three away from the pattern you describe, into renewed belligerence and/or isolationism, neither a pleasant option.
36 - roger nowosielski
Reaction is unavoidable, part and parcel of the upward movement of history. We're not out of the woods yet, but we're getting there.
37 - cannonshop
#25 Why, oh why, can't Aksimet lose MY replies?
Some of them NEED to be lost.
38 - cannonshop
Per Infoplease:
18
Number of states with an estimated black population on July 1, 2008, of at least 1 million. New York, with 3.5 million, led the way. The 17 other states on the list were Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.
38%
Percentage of Mississippi's population that is black, highest of any state. Blacks also make up more than a quarter of the population in Louisiana (32 percent), Georgia (31 percent), Maryland (30 percent), South Carolina (29 percent) and Alabama (27 percent). They comprise 56 percent of the population in the District of Columbia.
67,000
The increase in Georgia's black population between July 1, 2007, and July 1, 2008, which led all states. Texas (64,000), Florida (41,000) and North Carolina (45,000) also recorded large increases.
24
Number of states or equivalents in which blacks were the largest minority group in 2008. These included Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
I see an awful lot of southern states there, Glenn. Georgia, Louisiana... and states with over a million persons of african descent (with the exception of New York, but then, NY leads in MOST of these kind of studies) most of them are these racist southern states you're talking about.
So, the question becomes...
Are they not voting, or not running for office in the South? (if so, then all that effort in the sixties was for nothing, and your cousins have a lot to answer for.)
39 - Glenn Contrarian
C-shop -
I'm assuming you didn't grow up in the Deep South, because if you did, you wouldn't even need to ask your question. You'd know better.
I've posted the below information several times, but your rank ignorance of race relations in the Deep South make clear that it bears repeating.
We had a family acquaintance named James O. Eastland. He lived about six or seven miles down the road from us - practically neighbors as the Delta goes. My grandmother used to sell moonshine for him back in the 40's (no kidding).
He was also known as Senator James O. Eastland, and he was twice president pro tem. He was one of the longest-serving senators ever in the U.S. Senate. He was also the most powerful racist in America for at least a generation.
After the passage of the Civil Rights Act, he led the way in starting the Council of Conservative Citizens, which was a group dedicated to keep black-owned businesses from succeeding. It was Trent Lott's connection with this group that got him fired from being Senate Majority Leader. Eastland also helped start a series of K-12 'academies' which were too expensive for blacks to attend, thereby continuing segregation by economic means. I attended one of those for one year. The first time a black student attended there was (IIRC) back in the mid-80's. Even now, out of 500 students the student body at Indianola Academy is still 99% white. Bear in mind that this is in a town that is probably 70% black (it's the hometown of B.B. King).
Back in 1980 (two years after he left the Senate) Eastland offered to get me into the Naval Academy. I turned it down. Think about that, C-shop - one of the five most powerful men in America (and perhaps the world) was our family acquaintance, and I turned him down (I somehow realized I wasn't ready for something like that)...and I'm glad I did, now that I know what he really did.
The point, C-shop, is that the real power belongs with the whites in the South, and while the blacks do very well on the local level where there are pockets of an overwhelming African-American majority, when it comes to statewide offices, even the 38% of Mississippi that is black cannot hope to overcome the 60+ percent that is white...and YES, both DO tend to vote along racial lines in the South. That statement is backed up by exit polling year after year after year.
THAT, sir, is why you don't see very many blacks holding statewide offices in the South. City offices, sure - but statewide? No. It's not even close. That's why we still get racists such as Haley Barbour as governor of Mississippi, because racism is alive and well there. Just yesterday the news broke about how a judge had to give a court order to desegregate two schools in south Mississippi...45 years after the Civil Rights Act.
In other words, C-shop, when it comes to race relations down South, one of us knows what the hell he's talking about - and it ain't you.
Tell you what - I won't try to teach you about ordnance, and you don't try to teach me about race relations in the Deep South, okay?
40 - roger nowosielski
The moral of the story seems to be, Glenn, you've got to know the rich and powerful to know about racism in the South.
The typical racist attitudes on the part of poor whites don't count; they're petty ante.
41 - Glenn Contrarian
Roger -
No, you're completely wrong (which is not something I've said very often to you). You've got to spend a significant portion of your life in the Deep South to understand about racism there.
Instead of simply dismissing what I said off-the-cuff, verify for yourself the proofs I provided. Look up "Indianola Academy" on the Wikipedia. Google the election results by race by county in Mississippi. Google James O. Eastland and the Council of Conservative Citizens and the system of essentially all-white K-12 "academies" in Mississippi.
Roger, IIRC you've not spent a great deal of time in the Deep South, but if you do not at least research the claims I made before dismissing those claims, then you're following the examples of the BC conservatives who let their beliefs determine the facts, rather than letting the facts determine their beliefs.
And one more thing - I didn't know what Eastland had done until a little over three years ago. Until then, I'd actually been pretty upbeat about our acquaintance with him (which as you know is not at all unusual for nobodies who happen to know someone rich and very powerful). So your statement that "you've got to know the rich and powerful" is essentially null and void. What you DO have to do is to pay attention and have the determination to do the research.
That's why I posted links proving that in the opinion of the Confederate states in their declarations of secession from the Union, the Civil War WAS all about slavery (more specifically, the states "rights" to preserve and perpetuate the institution of slavery)...and historian Dave Nalle cannot refute them despite what he wrote in his article "Happy Confederates Day" and tells us in the teaser line that "Today is a day to remember and celebrate freedom fighters who struck back against an oppressive regime almost 150 years ago." Much of what he said about the individual heroism and combat skill of Confederate soldiers is quite true - but the same is true of any armed force defending its homeland; many individual soldiers among the Viet Cong fought heroically, too, against someone they saw as an invader.
Does it seem like I'm rambling? Yes, it does...but you must understand how deeply the Civil War resonates even now among so many whites in the Deep South. It's not for nothing that it's called (usually in jest) the War of Northern Aggression. Look again at the teaser line of Dave's article. Was he simply 'jesting'?
"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." My Lord Jesus said that, and He was of course referring to matters of salvation. On more secular matters, insisting on the truth also set me free from racism, and from the rank distortions of history that would keep us all chained to the practice of putting political dogma above provable fact.
42 - Doug Hunter
"Is it OK to be bigoted against bigoted people? And if you are, does that make you a bigot too?"
No and Yes. That's called justification and it's used to excuse all types of bad behavior. You accept that it's OK for Glenn to be racist, hateful, and prejudiced against entire groups because in his judgement they are prejudiced only becuase you agree with him politically. KKK members agree with other KKK members as well and believe their actions are justified. I believe it's appropriate to borrow from the religious folks here, we should hate the sin and love the sinner, not hate the sin hate the sinner and hate anyone who associates themselves with the sinner.
A case in point here, Glenn has quoted Governor Barbour, who he claims to know is a racist, as having said "(slavery) doesn't mean diddley". Is that really what Barbour said? There is little doubt that the answer is no (indeed he was talking about the omission of the mention of slavery in a report, claiming opponents were trying to make something out of nothing, not the institute itself). That is a very important distinction and one which Glenn is far too wise to overlook unintentionally, but his hatred and disdain for Barbour whom he has already prejudged as a white southerner has justified the little omission in his head. Now, I see Glenn playing loose with the facts, does that justify me lying as well in my comments?
43 - roger nowosielski
"You accept that it's OK for Glenn to be racist, hateful, and prejudiced against entire groups because in his judgement they are prejudiced only becuase you agree with him politically."
That's bullshit, Hunter, and you fucking know it. Neither do I agree with Glenn poliitically; and even if I did, that's never a reason enough for me to agree with someone on other issues.
Besides, mine was a rhetorical question - indicating no agreement or disagreement. So get off your high chair and stop the fucking preaching. Not to me at least.
44 - Cannonshop
Glenn, I'll agree with you on one point-the Deep South is a shit-hole, where most of the poverty is self-inflicted by a disfunctional, bigoted, race-obsessed 'culture'.
I was stationed at Ft. Polk just long enough to really Hate the place, and surprisingly not for the climate, or the wildlife (which is quite keen on killing you), but for the residents. (one of my fonder fantasies involves a replay of the missouri earthquake taking out the flood controls, and washing the white-trash out to sea...)
But it is fun, sometimes, to pull your chain a little bit.
45 - Glenn Contrarian
C-Shop -
I'll give you that and heartily agree. I do love the climate and the land there, but I will not expose my wife and kids to the racism there.
Yeah, you spun me up pretty good. I should've seen that coming....
46 - Clavos
I'm not sure what "post-American president" even means really. Certainly I don't see us going in that direction as any intentional result of Obama's policies.
Too bad. The world would be better if y'all did.
47 - roger nowosielski
The teapartiers are surely on to it, and so are the ultra-progressives. But not the good ole liberals.
48 - Glenn Contrarian
Clavos -
Good to see you around - and I owe you something.
A month or two ago you and I were debating health care reform, and I pointed out a statistic showing that the single biggest factor on a nation's life expectancy is the infant mortality rate - to which you quite correctly replied that I'd just made your point against health care reform.
I never did respond - so it's time I did. You were right and I was wrong. I'm still a very strong supporter of the health care reform bill that was passed (because now my oldest son can get health insurance), but if I didn't own up to you being right (and me wrong) about something, then I'd be a hypocrite.
And thanks -
49 - roger nowosielski
I'll second. But I have no apology to make.
50 - roger nowosielski
And since you're on the subject, Glenn, you might find the following interesting.
51 - Glenn Contrarian
Rog -
I'm not surprised. Corporations - living entities that SCOTUS has deemed them to be - are forced by their corporate momentum to squeeze every bit of profit they can (as long as they can still pay hideous amounts to their CEO's and VIP's).
52 - roger nowosielski
Neither am I, Glenn. Just goes to show what matters most even when the well-being of the citizens is concerned.
But I suppose this little tidbit will be lost on all those who are dead set against universal healthcare. They'll just continue with their song and dance.
53 - handyguy
Maybe, just maybe the fact that these unsavory business practices are getting immediate press coverage and push-back from the White House will influence the outcome. These are public companies; they care what Wall St thinks, but they also have to be aware of their reputations.
54 - handyguy
Clavos #46:
I don't get your point, sorry. You are longing for a post-American world? Or something else?
And I join the others in welcoming you back. You can always liven up a discussion.
55 - Baronius
Thanks a lot, Handy and Roger. I never comment on threads unless I've read the article, so when I saw my name in the comments, I felt obligated to read another terrible article on race. (I admit that I skimmed over a bit of it.) Then I find that you guys mentioned me in passing, about something we'd previously talked about. Oh well, at least I was listening to some good music while I read it.
56 - roger nowosielski
If you're referring to Bolton's comment, then I don't see what's the problem, Baronius. I still regard it as an astute observation, though my take on it and yours are different. In short, the topic didn't die, and I don't believe I slighted you in the slightest.
57 - Glenn Contrarian
Baronius -
Your comment is very interesting. You see, that's what's the real danger to the GOP in the long run - you choose to ignore issues of race. And, if one will reread the quote in my article by Nixon advisor Kevin Phillips, one will see that the implementation of the Southern Strategy was the moment that Republicans largely gave up on matters of race...and the beginning of the migration of most white racists from the Democratic party to the Republican party.
The 'Southern Strategy' - the very beginning of the marginalization of the Republican party. Without a truly massive catastrophe (or unless the Republicans are able to pull themselves out of the "I'm more conservative than you" circular firing squad-cum-vicious circle), you will never again see the Republicans simultaneously control both the presidency and Congress.
58 - Baronius
I've read far too much Kevin Phillips over the years. He's a prior generation's Dick Morris, a turncoat who starts to believe the stories of his greatness that he himself leaked to the press. I think the success of the Southern strategy had more to do with the military pride of the South than its racism. It worked because Southerners hated hippies, and the Democratic Party was taken over by the anti-war movement in 1968.
59 - handyguy
What?! Humphrey was the Establishment Democratic candidate in '68. [And he came within a percentage point of Nixon in the fall.] George Wallace ran that year too, remember?
Southern Strategy = "law and order" = [for some] fear of African Americans. And it applied to the "silent majority" nationwide, not just in the South [working class Catholics in the Midwest and Northeast, for example].
60 - Dave Nalle
Cannon, to answer your question from #38, I'll share my experience as an election judge. Your black southerners are voting Republican and doing it in larger and larger numbers. Some of them do it very quietly and secretly, but they are doing it.
Dave
61 - handyguy
Larger and larger numbers....moving from 1% to 1.5%?
62 - Dave Nalle
Just a limited sample, but in the recent primary here black voters in our precinct voted about 50% Republican.
Dave
63 - Dave Nalle
And that would be a higher percentage than hispanics or anglos.
Dave
64 - handyguy
You will forgive our skepticism that this has wider significance.
65 - zingzing
how many black people live near your compound, dave?
66 - Glenn Contrarian
Dave -
Your black southerners are voting Republican and doing it in larger and larger numbers. Some of them do it very quietly and secretly, but they are doing it.
And you base this on...what? Do you have ANY proof whatsoever?
Remember your claim that "lots of black people attend the Tea Party rallies"? And when I checked thirty-odd different Tea Party sites with literally hundreds of photos of rallies, what did I find? IIRC, it was less than FIVE individual African-Americans, and maybe a dozen Hispanics.
That's why I demand PROOF from you, Dave. Just saying it doesn't make it so.
67 - Dave Nalle
Glenn, as I said what I was reporting was based on counting heads while working as an election judge. Our precinct is about 30% Black. I don't have proof of how they voted. That would be illegal. But it wasn't difficult to keep a running tally in my head of how many of them asked for a Republican ballot vs. a Democrat ballot, since it was the primary.
And my claim was never "lots of black people attend the Tea Party rallies" but that those who do attend are prominent and that many of the organizers and speakers are black, facts which are indisputable.
I suggest you watch this video from YouTube.
And here is one of the leading figures in the Tea Party movement in Houston: Apostle Claver.
And the main organizer of the Dallas Tea Party group, Katrina Pierson.
I could go on and on with these examples, but proof and facts are of no interest to you, plus I'm limited to three links.
Dave
68 - Glenn Contrarian
Oh, GOOD!
My family and I are on our way out, but rest assured I'm coming back to check your links...and to see if I can find the place where you DID say "lots of African-Americans" or words to that effect.
69 - Glenn Contrarian
Dave -
I could go on and on with these examples, but proof and facts are of no interest to you, plus I'm limited to three links.
Limited to three links? I put four today in this thread.
And when it comes to proof and facts, you and Clavos are the only conservatives here who make any effort to provide proof...and getting you to post links to said proof is like pulling eyeteeth, as the old saying goes (for when we finally get you to do so, every once in a while you'll post something rather snide, as if to say, "It's all so obvious - how DARE you ask me for proof!").
70 - Glenn Contrarian
Dave -
Found it!
In the comments to "Have the Democrats Jumped the Shark", you said there are "plenty" of African-Americans at Tea Party rallies, that they are "strongly represented".
In the same batch of comments, after I pointed out that I went through the first three pages of results for Google searches of tea party rallies and found maybe TEN out of all the thousands in the pictures, you said the sites I checked were 'cherrypicked'...and when I said that NO, I did not 'cherry-pick', that almost all the sites were right-wing sites, that I specifically stayed away from left-wing sites to avoid skewing my research, you said that you didn't accuse me of 'cherry-picking', that it was the MSM that was doing it.
Suuuuuure.
When I start seeing photos of a crowd at a Tea Party rally that's close to 10% black - or even FIVE percent black - then I'll believe you. Until then, your words...are only words, and nothing more.
P.S. About your claims about the blacks who speak and organize at the Tea Party rallies...I see this in the same light as I do Michael Steele, chairman of a party who hasn't had an African American congressman since 2003. The word for it is...tokenism.
71 - Glenn Contrarian
'sokay - you don't have to reply. This topic will come up again (they always do), and I know right where to find it, since I wrote the article. Patience, they say, is a virtue....