Posted on 08/02/2004 10:50:02 AM PDT by hoosiermama
Open Letter from African Americans to the Democratic Party
Open Letter from African Americans to the Democratic Party
Email from the author | 6/3/04 | Frances Rice
By Frances Rice
We, African American citizens of the United States, declare and assert:
Whereas in the early 1600’s 20 African men and women were landed in Virginia from a Dutch ship as slaves and from that tiny seed grew the poisoned fruit of plantation slavery which shaped the course of American development,
Whereas reconciliation and healing always begin with an apology and an effort to repay those who have been wronged,
Whereas the Democratic Party has never apologized for their horrific atrocities and racist practices committed against African Americans during the past two hundred years, nor for the residual impact that those atrocities and practices and current soft bigotry of low expectations are having on us today,
Whereas the Democratic Party fought to expand slavery and, after the Civil War, established Jim Crow Laws, Black Codes and other repressive legislation that were designed to disenfranchise African Americans,
Whereas the Ku Klux Klan was the terrorist arm of the Democratic Party, and their primary goal was to intimidate and terrorize African American voters, Republicans who moved South to protect African Americans and any other whites who supported them,
Whereas, according to leading historians (both black and white), the horrific atrocities committed against African Americans during slavery and Reconstruction were financed, sponsored, and promoted by the Democratic Party and their Ku Klux Klan supporters,
Whereas from 1870 to 1930, in an effort to deny African Americans their civil rights and to keep African Americans from voting Republican, thousands of African Americans were shot, beaten, lynched, mutilated, and burned to death by Ku Klux Klan terrorists from the Democratic Party,
Whereas Democratic Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Truman rejected anti-lynching laws and efforts to establish a permanent Civil Rights Commission,
Whereas the Democratic party has used racist demagoguery to deceive African Americans about the history of the Republican Party that: (a) started as the anti-slavery party in 1854, (b) fought to free African Americans from slavery, (c) designed Reconstruction, a ten-year period of unprecedented political power for African Americans, (d) passed the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the U. S. Constitution granting African Americans freedom, citizenship, and the right to vote, (e) passed the Civil Rights Acts of 1866 and 1875 granting African Americans protection from the Black Codes and prohibiting racial discrimination in public accommodations, (f) passed the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1965 granting African Americans protection from the Jim Crow laws, (g) established Affirmative Action programs to help African Americans proper with Republican President Richard Nixon's 1969 Philadelphia Plan that set the first goals and timetables and his 1972 Equal Employment Opportunity Act that made Affirmative Action Programs the law of our nation, and (h) never sponsored or launched a program, passed laws, or engaged in practices that resulted in the death of millions of African Americans,
Whereas Brown vs. the Board of Education of Topeka (a 1954 decision by Chief Justice Earl Warren who was appointed by Republican President Dwight Eisenhower) was a landmark civil rights case that was designed to overturn the racist practices that were established by the Democratic Party,
Whereas after Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt received the vote of African Americans, he banned African American newspapers from the military shortly after taking office because he was convinced the newspapers were communists,
Whereas Democratic President John F. Kennedy voted against the 1957 Civil Rights Law, opposed the 1963 March on Washington by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and was later criticized by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for ignoring civil rights issues.
Whereas Democratic President John F. Kennedy authorized the FBI (supervised by his brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy) to investigate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on suspicion of being a communist,
Whereas Democratic Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia, a former member of the Ku Klux Klan, made a 14-hour filibuster speech in the Senate in June 1964 in an unsuccessful effort to block passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and was heralded in April 2004 by Democratic Senator Christopher Dodd as a senator who would have been a great leader during the Civil War,
Whereas when the 1964 Civil Rights Act came up for vote, Senator Al Gore, Sr. and the rest of the Southern Democrats voted against the bill,
Whereas in the House of Representatives only 61 percent of the Democrats voted for the 1964 Civil Rights Act as compared to 80 percent of Republicans, and in the Senate only 69 percent of the Democrats voted for the 1964 Civil Rights Act, compared to 82 percent of the Republicans,
Whereas Democratic President Bill Clinton sent troops to Europe to protect the citizens of Bosnia and Kosovo while allowing an estimated 800,000 black Rwandans to be massacred in Africa, vetoed the welfare reform law twice before signing it, and refused to comply with a court order to have shipping companies develop an Affirmative Action Plan,
Whereas Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore created harmful racial division when he falsely claimed that the 2000 presidential election was “stolen” from him and that African Americans in Florida were disenfranchised, even though a second recount of Florida votes by the “Miami Herald” and a consortium of major news organizations confirmed that he lost the election, and a ruling by the U.S. Civil Rights Commission declared that African Americans were not denied the right to vote,
Whereas the Democratic Party's soft bigotry of low expectations and social promotions have consigned African Americans to economic bondage and created a culture of dependency on government social programs,
Whereas the Democratic Party's use of deception and fear to block welfare reform, the faith-based initiative and school choice that would help African Americans prosper is consistent with the Democratic Party's heritage of racism that included sanctioning of slavery and kukluxery, a perversion of moral sentiment among leaders of the Democratic Party whose racist legacy bode ill until this generation of African Americans,
Now, therefore, for the above and other documented atrocities and accumulated wrongs inflicted upon African Americans, we demand a formal written apology and other appropriate remuneration from the leadership of the Democratic party.
#####
Frances Rice is an attorney and an African-American woman who served in the Army for 20 years before retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel. While in the Army she served as a company commander, an adjutant in a basic combat training brigade and a prosecutor in courts-marital.
Upon retiring, she was awarded the Legion of Merit. She is currently serving on the Board of the Military Officers Association of Sarasota, the SaraMana Black Republican Club and the SaraMana Community Development Corporation, a non-profit organization that helps low-income residents become homeowners and small business owners. In these positions, she puts both her Juris Doctorate and MBA degrees to good use.
She was recently appointed by Governor Jeb Bush to serve on the Medal of Merit Board for the state of Florida. Frances is married to Peter Rice, a retired diplomat from the U.S. Department of State.
Here 'tis!
Bump!
Makes me long for the Democratic Party of old...
Wow...this is something. I agree with the points about welfare dependency and the soft bigotry of low expectations. But I think the historical argument is a little off -- the reason fewer Democrats than Republicans voted for the Civil Rights Act is that the Democrats used to be based in the South. The constituency (or at least region) responsible for most of the atrocities mentioned now vote Republican. Likewise, the constituencies (or regions) that once fought for the abolition of slavery are now voting Democrat.
Now don't get me wrong; I vote Republican, straight down the ticket. But that doesn't mean I respect the racist wing of the party. And come on, let's not kid ourselves: the national Republicans capitalize on that wing. The letter mentions how the KKK was a wing of the Democratic Party, but I think you'd be hard pressed to find a KKK member today who would vote Democrat. So in this debate, I think we should stick to the issues -- welfare is harmful, affirmative action breeds resentment -- rather than this imagined line of descent from racist southern Democrats to modern northeastern Democrats.
Dude, tell me you're joking right?
For a couple of weeks now, the local dems, supported by the ACLU, MoveOn.org, and, of course, the local NYT subsidiary, have been actively seeking to get her lynched because she's had the audicity to leave the democrat plantation, and worse, speak up about it.
Seems the political left is all for free speech, until you say something they don't like. Then they want you hung. What a surprise.
Huh?
incoming mail....
Off the plantation PING!
You forgot the < /sarcasm>. Now, get with it!
I'm an educated person, but had never seen these facts in school....We're you taught this information? If we haven't seen these facts, how many of the 90 to 95% who vote a straight ticket have ever seen this information....? So don't you think it would be a good idea to spread these facts around? Give Frances some support! IMO, she's a true leader and deserves not only our respect but assistance in spreading her message. She's speaking out in defiance of the liberal machine working against this knowledge.
That's very interesting. What counties are you referring to? I'd like to look into that further. Are there a lot of blacks in your county? If so, perhaps the KKK folks are in the Republican minority.
Regardless, you have to admit that white racists would be foolish, rationally speaking, to support a party that favors affirmative action and a welfare system that fosters black dependency. It just wouldn't make any sense. Like I said before, I, too, am opposed to those things -- but for different reasons than fear or loathing of the Black Man.
We know who the KKK people are here (definately dems), they tried to organize a national meeting in our county and weren't really successful. Meant with alot of resistance and needed to be protected by local LI.
There are a few AA families that moved here a couple of generations back from the neighboring county have intermingled with local population....Most others live here because they have married into the local (white) families (Ironically one once had ties with the KKK). OR were AA children adopted by families. A few families have moved in because of transfer etc job related...middle class families --well liked.
The children are all well thought of, successful in school and socialize/date without any reference to skin color as do our Asian children. It is truly as MLKing's dream speach indicated...acceptance as a person with out regard to skin color.
Will freep mail you the two counties....There is quite an extensive history written somewhere....but don't know if I can locate it.
Byrd, the Senator from W.V. is a former KKK.---where is the apology?
No racist Democrat switched parties to the republican party, other than Strom Thurmond.
And you might be surprized to know that the diehard KKK members, and other white supremist groups hate BUSH as much as the Dems!
The history in this letter is completely accurate! Read this website:
http://wayneperryman.com/
The "constituancy" which voted for and fought and died for equal rights, is the same constituancy that still fights this fight: Evangelical Christians. The Democrat/Republican split is quite different than North/South it is really more along the lines of Urban/Rural. Check out the county by county map from the last election:
Did you know that Affirmative Action was signed into law by NIXON?!
Do you realise how many people of color Bush has appointed into real positions of power in his administration? How does his record measure up to clinton's administration?
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said that he had a dream, which the Republicans try to live out; that a person should be judged by the content of his character, not the color of his skin.
Does this mean they are voting for Nader?
Get the book!
http://wayneperryman.com/
No one around here would vote FOR Nader.....They might push his button, but it would be a "neither of the above" vote.
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