Back in the day I did an analysis of the income gap reduction under each party using that as a proxy for reduction in discrimination. This is what I found:

Date – 1967 to 1981
Disparity Decline – 3%
Percentage Decline per Year – .2%
Party in Control Majority of Congress and White House – 15 Years Democrat

Date – 1981 to 1996
Disparity Decline – 6%
Percentage Decline per Year – .4%
Party in Control of Majority of Congress and White House – 8 Years Democrat/7 Years Republican

Date – 1997 to 2003
Disparity Decline – 4%
Percentage Decline per Year – .6%
Party in Control of Majority of Congress and White House – 7 Years Republican

Now that isn’t even in what is known as “Real Wage Rates”. Some researchers have shown that the real wage gap between Blacks and Whites haven’t declined since the 60s.

At a certain point we really need to stop defending the undefendable.

You words are encouraging in this uncertain time.

Thanks..

To know oneself is to assert oneself…Competition lies within.

For the record I agree with your assessment of the Democratic Party and the contents of this Article. I spent a lot of time on a very powerful politician’s campaign and even more time in Corporate America. What I learned along the way is that people are just people but when an individual conquers self the SKY is the limit.

Was Malcolm X seeing things through rose colored glasses?

Hear what he had to say about Democrats nearly 50 years ago…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BYVv4LY_KQ

Respectfully, Wattree’s article is a bunch of half truths mixed with nonsense…

The Hidden History Of The Democratic Party

The Democrat Party was founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1792. If you go to the Democrat Party website and look for the history of the Democrat Party ) they use 1920 as the starting point of their history. The website also claims that the Democratic Party have been the defenders of Civil Rights for 200 years; however you will see that over 128 years of Democratic Party history is missing (1792-1920) from their website?!?

What was the Democratic Party doing before 1920?

The truth is that the Democratic Party was engaged in a near relentless “persecution” of black people for nearly 128 years before 1920 and 45 years after that and they really don’t want to talk about it. Since the founding of the Democratic Party, one of its primary interests has been to protect the institution of slavery as many of its elites were slave owners. The Democratic Party has done an excellent job of hiding their pro-slavery, pro-segregation history from their most loyal voters, the black community.

It appears that many blacks have forgotten that some well-known enemies of the Dr. King (Dr. King’s father was a Republican) and the Civil Rights movement like George Wallace, Bull Connor, Lester Maddox, Orval Faubus and William Fulbright were members of the Democratic Party. As a side note, in 1993, Bill Clinton awarded William Fulbright the highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 1965, Democratic Senator William Fulbright signed the “Southern Manifesto “ along with 99 Democrats and two Republicans in opposition to blacks being allowed full access to public places in the South.

Here are some historical facts that the Democratic Party website left out:
1. In 1789, George Washington signed the Northwest Ordinance which contained a provision to stop the spread of slavery into the federal territories. However by 1820, the Democratic controlled Congress passed the Missouri Compromise that reversed the earlier law allowing slavery in nearly half of the federal territories.

2. In 1850, the Democrats passed the Fugitive Slave Law requiring Northerners to return escaped slaves back to their masters or face huge fines. Southern slave catchers frequently used the law to kidnap free blacks and sale them into slavery. The laws threaten blacks in Free states which forced thousands of them to flee to Canada.

3. In 1854, the Democrats passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act that expanded slavery into areas of the U.S where it was banned. This action ignited violent conflicts in which pro-slavery and anti-slavery groups fought for control of the area. In response to these events, the anti-slavery Democrats along with other anti-slavery groups like the Whigs and Free Soilers formed a new political party to fight the spread of slavery called the “Republican Party”.

4. In 1856, Republican Party founder Charles Sumner gave a two speech on the floor of the Senate on the evils of slavery. After the speech, pro-slavery Democrat Preston Brooks walked to the floor of the Senate and used his cane to attack Charles Sumner nearly beating him to death. The Democrats in attendance felt the beating was deserved and Brooks later declared a hero. Sumner’s injuries were so severe that he did not return to the Senate for three and half years. When Sumner returned to the Senate, his first speech was against the evils of slavery.

5.Democratic Presidents that were slave owners: Andrew Jackson, Thomas Jefferson, Martin Van Buren James K. Polk, Andrew Johnson, James Madison, James Monroe.

6. After the election of Abraham Lincoln, the first Republican President, Southern Democrats succeeded from the Union to protect their practice of slavery.

7. In 1861, the Vice-President of the Confederacy, Alexander Stephens delivered a speech entitled: “African Slavery: The Corner Stone of the Southern Confederacy” in where he defined the Southern Democrat position that the founding fathers were wrong in stating that “All men were created equal” and that natural and “moral” condition of black people was slavery.

8. After the end of the Civil War, Southern Democrats enacted the “Black Codes” to restrict the rights of newly freed blacks and to preserve the institution of slavery. In many Southern States, if a black person did not have a work contract with a plantation, they could be charged with vagrancy and be handed over to a plantation owner as an unpaid worker. The codes also prohibited blacks from owning land and weapons to defend themselves.

9. The Civil War was declared officially ended on May 9, 1965. In December of 1865, the 13th amendment to the Constitution was ratified which declared slavery forever illegal in America. Sixty-three Southern Democrats out of the eighty-two Democrats in Congress voted against 13th Amendment.

10. On July 9, 1865, the 14th amendment was signed into law by the Republicans to provide blacks equal protection under the law. Democrats in Congress unanimously voted against the enactment of this law.

11.In 1866, ex-confederate soldiers formed the Klu Klux Klan (KKK). The goal of the KKK was to use terrorism, violence and intimidation to restore Southern Democratic rule. The newly elected black Republican officials were the primary targets of the KKK along with white Republicans or anyone else that supported efforts that educate or help blacks in any way. For the next one hundred years until the mid-1960s, the KKK would remain the enforcement arm of the Democratic Party.

12. In 1868, the Democratically controlled legislature in Georgia expelled 31 elected black Republicans as they passed laws preventing blacks from holding office.

13. Democrats at their 1868 National Convention complained that civil rights laws enacted on behalf of the newly freed blacks were unconstitutional and they, the Southern Democrats, were being subjected to military despotism and “Negro” supremacy at the hands of the Radical Republicans. Nathan Bedford Forrest, the first Grand Wizard of the KKK, was honored at this convention.

14. On February 25, 1870, Hiram Revels became the first black person to serve in Congress and the first black Republican Senator. Twenty three black Republicans served in Congress from (1869-1931). It wasn’t until 1935 that the Democrats elected Arthur Mitchell as the first black member of Congress. It wasn’t until 1993 that Carol Moseley Braun became the first black Democrat member of the U.S. Senate. In 2005, Barack Obama was the second black elected as a Democratic U.S. Senator.

15. All Civil Rights Bills that were passed by Congress between 1865 and 1877 were opposed by Southern Democrats. These bills contained vital protections for the newly freed blacks as they became targets of violence and intimidation in every southern state. The Democrats used the loopholes in these laws to circumvent the protections in them. When the Democrats regained political control of their state legislatures after 1876, they instituted measures in their state constitutions to neutralize black voting power in their states. They used poll taxes and literacy tests among other schemes to disqualify black voters who predominantly voted Republican. These methods were in used to control the black vote well into the 1960s.

16. Morrill Act of 1890 was passed to require states to establish a separate land grant college for blacks that were being excluded from the existing land grant college system. Many of the HBCUs were founded in response to the Second Morrill Act. The Morrill Act was sponsored by Republican Senator Justin Smith Morrill and signed into law by Abraham Lincoln.

17. On January 21, 1907, Democratic U.S Senator Ben Tillman from South Carolina argued that the 14th and 15th amendments to the Constitution giving black rights to due process and the right to vote should be abolished. Tillman once stated, “The black man must be subordinate or be exterminated”.

18. Demoratic President Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921), could be arguably one of the most racist presidents toward black people in American history. Prior to Woodrow Wilson’s election, blacks and whites in the federal government worked side by side. He deceived the black community into voting the Democrat ticket with promises of equal protection but once elected, Wilson instituted segregationist policies throughout the federal government. The blacks that were employed by the federal government were no longer allowed to work alongside whites. Many black employees were intimidated to resign or forced to quit. Wilson appointed Southern Democrats in positions of leadership in the federal government to help spread his racist policies.

19. In 1920, Republican James Weldon Johnson became the first black to lead NAACP. Johnson was the author of “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” often referred as the “The African-American National Anthem”.

20. In 1937, Democratic President Franklin Roosevelt appointed KKK member and lawyer Hugo Black to the U.S Supreme Court. Hugo Black opposed anti-lynching legislation promoted in Congress.

21.The first permanent Civil Rights Commission was established by Republican President Dwight Eisenhower. This idea was initially rejected by Franklin Roosevelt. Eisenhower also passed the 1957 Civil Rights Act though it was weakened and opposed by Democrat Lyndon Johnson. Eisenhower sent federal troops to Little Rock, Arkansas to support the desegregation of the public school system.

22. The 1964 Civil Rights Act was passed by House Republicans, 289 to 126. In the Senate, the Republicans passed the law 73 to 27. Of the 27 in the Senate that voted against , 21 were Democrat and 6 were Republicans. One of the Republicans was Barry Goldwater.

The notable Democrats that voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964 were :

Albert Gore, Sr.- This was Vice-President’s Al Gore’s father

J. William Fulbright- In 1993, “Bill Clinton” awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, highest civilian honor

Robert Byrd – a former KKK member, served as a Democrat Senator until 2010.

This is a mere fraction of the long, racist history of oppression against black people that the Democratic Party does not want to talk about. The Republican Party on the other hand was founded to end slavery and fought to establish equal protections under the law for black people. While no political party is morally superior, the racist history of the Democratic Party must be exposed in the light of history.