Race And Politics In The South
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2012-08-30/race-and-politics-south
From the five states that make up the Deep South, there is just one white Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives -- and the Congressman is in jeopardy of losing his seat this November. It’s a trend that has been underway for years in many Southern states. Whites are aligning with Republicans, and blacks with Democrats. Political observers say the shift is happening, to some extent, across the country. But the political division along racial lines is most apparent in parts of the South, where an increasingly black Democratic Party is in the political minority. Diane and her guests discuss race and politics in the South.
Guests
Naftali Bendavid
national correspondent for The Wall Street Journal.
Paul Butler
professor at Georgetown Law School.
Sean Trende
senior elections analyst for RealClearPolitics and author of "The Lost Majority: Why the Future of Government Is Up for Grabs - and Who Will Take It."
Nia-Malika Henderson
national politics reporter for The Washington Post.
Comments
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First, while I am sure your guests know a great deal about the subject I think it mighta been better to go outside the usual DRshow panel cast from Georgetown and The WSJ on this matter. For instance Tim Tyson of Duke and Blood Done Sign my Name, as well as Mississippi native, now Emory proff Joe Crespino coulda brought added nuance to this subject; or my fellow Furman grad now teaching at Harvard, Tomiko Brown Nagin.
As a man shaped in Upstate S.C. from 62-78 the politics of race has fascinated me lifelong and been part of my family history. My white Baptist preacher father did his best to move things forward through the pitfalls of S.C. Textile and race politics during the Civil Rights Era.
Wash Post Tom Edsall in 84 spotlighted the Lee Atwater memo to the Reagan Bush Committee: The South is composed of Bourbon Democrats now reliably Country club Republicans; Blacks reliably democrats and the White Populists. The WP's resent the wealth and power of the CC Republicans, but hold great antipathy toward the Blacks. They are the trump card in the game of politics in The South.
As Atwater and then Rove found it untasteful to play the old Race Card of the Dixiecrats, they morphed it into the family values strategy. Perfect analogy is the leftover White Citizen council Southern Baptists who followed their leader Paige Patterson who said "Abortion ought to go over as well as the Inerrancy thing." Inerrancy was a Bible trick wedge issue to split Baptists and cut the incrementably progressive leadership off from the neck up and make it a playground for what is now the Tea Party.
Come back to this topic in October. Have Crespino and Tyson on the Program informed by Dan Williams God's Own Party. In meantime keep an eye on the daily posts at religiondispatches.org
Stephen Fox, Collinsville, Al.
"Two attendees were ejected from Republican National Convention on Tuesday for throwing nuts at a black CNN camerawoman.
The individuals told her "this is how we feed animals" as they threw the nuts, multiple witness said.
Convention security and police removed the two from the convention centre shortly after the incident.
In a statement, convention officials said the attendees had "exhibited deplorable behaviour".....BBC
So whats new? I`m frankly sick and tired of T-Party/Republican bigotry and racism.
Republicans are saddened by the fact that so overwhelmingly black people support democrats, the party that has served them so badly over the decades. Their dignity is insulted on a daily basis by the constant drumb beat from the democrat party that views black people as inferior and in need of constant and ever growing government support, which is in reality just another form of slavery. Booker T Washington said this about some black leaders and it describes almost completely the people who call themselves representatives of black people today.
Booker T. Washington
"There is a class of colored people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs. There is a certain class of race-problem solvers who don't want the patient to get well."
"Slavery had a disastrous impact on African-American families, yet sadly a child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household than was an African-American baby born after the election of the USA’s first African-American President". by Michelle Bachmann.
Hey Mom,Dad. Do them chains hurt?
Race has always been the giant elephant in the room in America. The enslavement, oppression, and colonization of the African continent and its people for hundreds of years has never even been acknowledged by a sitting president. Reparations will never make up for all the families torn apart, lives that were lost, and vast mineral resources that were stolen.. The moment an apology and recognition comes (from either party) on that matter will go a long way in healing the scars passed down from generations. Unfortunately, racism still grows like a cancer in America and it needs to be surgically removed, but it can't be until it is fully acknowledged.
fool me once wrote:
Republicans are saddened by the fact that so overwhelmingly black people support democrats, the party that has served them so badly over the decades. Their dignity is insulted on a daily basis by the constant drumb beat from the democrat party that .... yada, yada, yada.
Yeah, foolme, the African American population should come on down to the party that shows open hostility to them. There's a good idea. By the way, it's the Democratic Party, not the Democrat Parrty, but I'm sure you already knew that.
The GOP: giving ignorance a seat at the head of the table.
To be pitied for existing and for things that happened over a hundred or more years ago is the ultimate insult. It means that I would be viewed as less than a man, something incomplete, a permanent social cripple. Pity would not give me self worth, it would steal it, it would destroy me and my future prospects. The democrat party offers pity and everyone who receives it reaps the whirlwind of failure. There is no getting past the horrible statistics of the "great society" programs that have destroyed the black family and in particular the black man. Insult a man to his face and you have a fight, insult him with pity and a poisonous helping hand and you have destroyed him forever.
you mean there is still one left? None of this is any secret, it is just something that we ignore. no one wants to admit that the modern republican party was born when the civil rights act was passed. that was when whites fled the democratic party and said that "i didn't leave the democratic party the democratic party left me". these folks who still fly the rebel flag and whine about their states' rights, chief among which is their right to enslave people who look like me are the backbone of the republican party. along with the tea party the two of them are the largest hate groups in the country
Interesting thing this,
Yesterday I (in my 50s) was at Mom's (in her 70s), the subject of women and blacks being "allowed" to vote came up.
Mom asked when blacks were "given" the vote, I asked legally or actually because in my lifetime blacks could vote but voting could get them killed. Jim Crow and such.
In my lifetime I remember Whites Only drinking fountains while vacationing in the south.
People don't want to accurately remember the 80's let alone the 60's, this stuff happened in my lifetime but to the children, the teeners and twenty somethings it's ancient history.
@ fool me:
What you're doing is called projection, assigning your own faults and attributes to others. Some people do that knowingly, others don't realize their doing it.
Mark.H wrote:"What you're doing is called projection, assigning your own faults and attributes to others. Some people do that knowingly, others don't realize their doing it"
How typical that you picked that post as an example of "projection" I guess you can't see the obvious because of the 2X4 stuck in your eye.
It used to be said that racism was based on ignorance and bigotry. Well, guess what, in case we didn't know or knew but were reluctant to admit, racism is based actually on empowerment. That is, it is a justification or a rationalization by one ethnic/racial group to collectively overpower, exploit, and marginalize another ethnic/racial group for the benefit of the former. The most obvious and best known example of such is slavery, of course, that existed for centuries around the world, including in sub-Saharan Africa where blacks enslaved other blacks. But, as far as residual racism in current America is concerned, the European-Americans who still hold the overwhelming wealth and power still discriminate against African-Americans and other minorities, albeit subtly yet noticeably, because they obviously do not wish to lose their privileged status of the ruling class. On the other hand, the African-Americans, now, also practice racism against the European-Americans (and other ethnic groups), because they wish to gain more socioecononmic power which they believe are too long overdue, but are still not fairly shared by the former. So, what would or should be the future of racism in America? Well, sure, ideally, we all wish it to disappear, but, frankly and realistically, although it may diminish further by whatever degree, as long as it is based on retaining or gaining socioeconomic empowerment by each ethnic group over the other, racism will always exist.
But, does that give the blacks a right to still hate or discriminate against whites or other non-blacks, as a pay back? And how much longer should whites carry the burden of slavery, to keep subsidizing blacks, as a compensation for slavery or segregation? What about Asians or Latinos who had nothing to do with enslaving blacks, but must also put up with the retaliatory racism by blacks, or subsidize or yield to blacks, along with the whites?
It is so pleaseing to hear this kind of analysis on the radio. I thought the art of false flaging and backspin was lost. It is absolutly essential to reinforce the false stereotype that truly polorizes us. Thanks for refreshing my memory. :D
I thought that this show was gonna deal with absentee voting. I have great story about how whites in the South(MS) have held on to political power for over 30 years using fradulent absentee voting. We have tried unsuccessfully so far to get federal and state authorities to address the matter. Its interesting how they have perfected their way of getting these fradulent votes processed and counted.
The effects of the evangelical Christian movement on the shift of Southern Democrats to the Republican party in the 70's and 80's is not being stressed sufficiently.
Another fascinating conversation
Historian Darren Dochuk has a book From Bible Belt to Sun Belt, in which he proposes that it was the migration of Fundamentalist Southerners from the western South to the West Coast, and their subsequent transformation from yellow-dog Democrats to California Republicans, that began the rightward tilting of the national Republican Party back in the 1970s. This is a piece of the picture that often gets left out in the usual conversations about "Southern racists." Would your guests please comment?
Is it not true that there is a surge in libertarianism? This is due in large part to Ron Paul's views being spotlighted during the last two campaigns. (Look at all the youth he attracts)
I myself only realized I was a libertarian when i told a friend that I was conservative FISCALLY, but liberal SOCIALLY. She said, "well, then you are a libertarian!". I didn't know that!
I'm terrified by the 16+ trillion debt and love Paul Ryan for his remedies, but I see nothing wrong with marijuana being legalized or gay marriage.
By the way -- I live in the south!
The new Dixiecans were the old Dixiecrats...no tolerance for minorities, encouraging redlining and redistricting to preserve white majorities and corral black voters, willing to engage in widespread intimidation through voter suppression, finding ways to re-segregate schools based on the shrinking tax base in low-income districts...all efforts to keep the numbers of minorities down in the GOP, and "relegated" to a Democratic Party that the GOP can marginalize and control through laws and policies within their respective GOP controlled state houses.
Its deliberate, its insidious, its funded by people intentionally designing exclusionary policies. The GOP simply doesn't want minorities in their ranks...It relies on a systematic of purging of blacks and hispanics from their ranks and purity type pledges which stereotypes "moochers" and "welfare queens" to accomplish their trickle down economic ideology.
GWB was insistent on doing great damage to the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ if you recall. Obama had to restore its original authority and purpose...and thank god he did, though it may have been too late since much of the damage has been done. The more the denial of well meaning whites pervades the GOP towards minority and xenophobic attitudes in their party, the worse the problem becomes.
The GOP gives no reason why they can be trusted on any minority rights issues, short of the small and dwindling Cuban community still willing to accept their platitudes for now...but even that is shrinking.
I think Diane's pumping the race issue to boost her cumes serves up a fascinating two-edged sword, particularly for the voter in the middle.
On the one hand, there's no question that her identifying the presidency as a protected hiring class like any HR department today identifies minorities, women, the disabled, gays, etc., does just that. Once a protected class president is elected, any political criticism of him automatically becomes racism or some other bigotry, as is any attempt to replace him, so be very, very careful and discriminating about who you hire, because he will be almost impossible to get rid of through normal channels. Really, though, why even take the chance of getting stuck in the flypaper of being considered a bigot just for disagreeing? Better to avoid the problem entirely.
On the other hand, identifying a failed president like Obama as African-American over everything else he is just hands racists a self-evident proposition. Look, they'll say, we tried an African-American president, and just look how dismally that turned out. Why repeat the same mistake any time soon? Better a woman, or an Asian, or a disabled vet, anything but another predictable African-American failure. Maybe in another 2 or 3 generations we can try an African-American again.
I detest the fact that many minorities seem to vote -- almost solely -- on the basis of race and ethnicity. I could understand if it's just one factor in their assessments, but so often it's the sole factor. Kind of a knee-jerk, unthinking type of voting, it seems to me.
(And - look where that got us with Obama!)
I live in Yakima, Washington, a city that is some 45% Hispanic/Latino but has never elected an Hispanic city council person. I've only lived here a year, so I know that I have a lot to learn to understand it, but I hear some analysis that a big part of the reason is that council members are elected at-large not by districts. How might this be analyzed in terms of the guest's discussion of the isolation of blacks in separate districts in the south weakening their political power?
As ususal, most political pundits try to put voters in a box. There is a large group of voters, Republican, who have been overlooked; "Legacy Rebpublican Voters". I grew up in a Republican household and my father was active in the Republican Party. However, and I speak for myself, sisters, and numerous friends who are alienated from the Republican Party by the likes of Sara Palin, Michelle Backman, etal, who represent some extreme fringe that we do not recognize or agree with. We grew up in the 60's and 70's, have more liberal views than we get credit for, and see the need for some social reforms that need to be combined with fiscal responsibility to ensure that programs succeed. I am working at the RNC event, and to dismiss the diversity of the attendees is an offense that the press is commiting that is unpardonable, and further reinforces the decline of journalism in the US.
Don't tell me that Republicans aren't openly and overtly going for votes on the racial divide. When Jesse Helms was running against Harvey Gantt, his campaign used very racist ads, most notably the one showing a pair of white hands tearing up a paper and the caption was "the job should have been yours." In Tennessee in a senatorial election, a skimply clad white woman was shown on a TV ad saying "call me Harold." Harold, being the African-American candidate thereby stoking the fear of African-American men and white women.
@lydapierce,
If a 45% Hispanic voting population can't run and elect an Hispanic candidate at large, it's because they don't want to, or at least don't want to badly enough to go through the tiresome motions of fielding a candidate, registering to vote, going to the polls, and voting. There is simply nothing preventing their doing so if that is what they truly want.
Racial bias is a complicated universal human trait. You can see it in every culture even where everyone is of the same color but of a different ethnic group. Its more pronounced here because of the history of slavery in this country and ironically the freedom of expression in this country! Not withstanding the fact that slavery existed throughout the world in human history even among African societies!
While most Republicans are honest and not filled with racial bias, there are many who oppose all remnants of affirmative action and the like. There are many in both parties who object vehemently to helping any segment of the population who SEEMs to consume a larger part of government assistance......even if the assistance is directed at children and disabled. And there is the Libertarian strain of people, mostly those in the Republican party, who object to anything that seems to override states' rights or encourages collective action - Rand followers, the individualist-at-all-costs types, those who do not believe they have been helped by others in society.
The modern Democrat party from Truman on has in fact been very active in passing legislation and executive orders which benefit minorities of all types. This goes from integrating the military in the 1940's to voting rights to integration of schools to affirmative action to encouraging GLB rights to opposing voter suppression.
BUT, as long as any discrimination remains, the job is not finished.
By the way, Booker T. Washington passed away in 1915 ...... the gentleman's opinions are interesting from a historical perspective and might even seem predictive; but they are hardly true observations of either party or society in the year 2012.
Thanks for this discussion. If you have another program on this closer to the election, which I hope you will, please try to find experts on the history of race in our party system. Political scientists Michael Dawson or Hanes Walton could address these issues. Historians of the U.S. South, such as Jacqueline Dowd Hall, William Chafe, or Tim Tyson would also be able to address the causes of the racial realignment of southern politics, from Reconstruction to the Civil Rights and Voting Rights acts, to the rise of GOP campaign consultant Lee Atwater's use of racially-coded language (crime, welfare, taxes) to mobilize white racial resentment.
Honest?Abe wrote: "By the way, Booker T. Washington passed away in 1915 ...... the gentleman's opinions are interesting from a historical perspective and might even seem predictive; but they are hardly true observations of either party or society in the year 2012."
Especially when you don't like what he said!
How would you dismiss Thomas Sowell?
"The assumption that spending more of the taxpayers’ money will make things better has survived all kinds of evidence that it has made things worse. The black family—which survived slavery, discrimination, poverty, wars and depressions—began to come apart as the federal government moved in with its well-financed programs to “help.” "
"If you have always believed that everyone should play by the same rules and be judged by the same standards, that would have gotten you labeled a radical 60 years ago, a liberal 30 years ago and a racist today."
Quotation of Thomas Sowell