Simply put: Because the party that was once crucial in the emancipation of African Americans, has turned into one that promotes hate, lies, and intolerance.
During the 1860’s, when Lincoln was President, the Republican party was considered the liberal party that was against slavery. Blacks mostly voted Republican after the Civil War and through the early part of the 20th century, not surprisingly, since Lincoln was Republican and the white segregationist politicians who governed Southern states in those days were Democrats who didn’t want anything to do with Blacks. From then on Blacks continued to stick with the party that promoted their causes in the United States.
The tide began to turn much later when Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt got 71 percent of the black vote for president in 1936 after meeting with black leaders to push for specific programs that helped regain the grounds lost, due to four centuries of servitude in the United State. Then Harry Truman grabbed 77 percent of the black vote in 1948, thanks to his issuing an order of desegregation to the armed services and an executive order setting up regulations against racial bias in federal employment.
John F. Kennedy used the civil rights movement to define the Democratic party as a liberal party for decades to come. Kennedy began pushing for the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 and after he was killed, Lyndon B. Johnson pushed it through.
Johnson then got 94 percent of the black vote that year, then, a record for any presidential election. The following year he signed the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Ever since, no Republican presidential candidate has gotten more than 15 percent of the black vote.
Members of the Black GOP like to harp on the fact that Martin Luther King Jr. was a Republican. But on April 4, 1968 Reverend Dr. King, at 39, was shot and killed in Memphis Tennessee, while supporting striking sanitation workers. You could best believe that today, Dr. King would be considered–just as he was in the 60’s thru the changing attitude of the Republican Party–as a dangerous troublemaker by the GOP. Today, King would have joined the ranks of union protesters in Wisconsin and other states whose Republican governors look to dismantle union bargaining rights across the country.
Democrats have done a lot more for blacks in the last 50 years or so, while Republicans have been behind every kind of intolerance, not just racism but sexism, homophobia, nativism…you name it.
African-Americans have a unique history in America not shared by any other race. To say that we have no choice and no voice in how we draw our party lines and choose our political candidates just shows how much you don’t know of our history here. Surely those who have criticized the need for government sponsored programs, assistance, and services–created in the 60’s –as “handouts” and “special favors” are now beginning to see just how much we all have benefited from a Democratic government in the face of a Republican party that seeks to take all from the ‘haves-nots’ to give to the ‘haves’.
The majority of Blacks in America have made the consensual choice to vote as Democrats. And that will continue to be the our choice as long as that party serves our causes.
Before Affirmative Action, the black family unit was intact and black unemployment was virtually zero. If paying an entire race of people off in the form of food stamps and welfare is your idea of serving those people, you are sick.
Because Marxism works. The D-rats have become the party of free stuff and divide-and-conquer.
Uncle Tom ass nigga!
Spin! Just like the liberals to rewrite history. FACT! Lincoln freed the slaves, he was a Republican. The Southern Democrats wanted to keep the slaves on the Plantation and the liberals still want this! The KKK was started by Southern Democrats who were furious that Lincoln won the Civil War to free the slaves! They murdered Blacks and Republicans. The uninformed Blacks of today want to believe the rewritten history instead of the truth, it is a travesty. Robert Byrd, the long time Democratic Senator from VA was a member of the KKK, he held a high office at one time, but it was kept hush, hush! I suggest you read up on the real history. I went to college before the Civil Rights movement and learned the true history of the U.S. not the fabricated one that the far left professors, the Communist and this fake POTUS, the Arab/Muslim want you to believe. There are plenty of highly intelligent and wonderful Black members of the Republican Party that know the truth. I campaigned for Herman Cain until Axelrod, BO's thug, falsely ruined his reputation, all proven to be untrue, so this usurper, this ineligible, inept, incompetent dictator could be assured to run without competition from a real Black man! You should be ashamed at your ignorance on the history of the Civil War.
Nuff said.
Secured profits and benefits for the few don't appear to be comparable to the human rights and fair wages that has emerged as the Democratic Platform in terms of popularity. Why aren't Republicans Democrats is the real question of2012?
Boy there's a lot of fantasy on this comment thread. Tea Party "Patriots" continue to display utter nonsense and label it "history".
Though EZ Kool, it's also good to remember that in many parts of the country, the Republican Party was for the black vote as late as the early depression.
From http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=16500
an article by Ms.Frances Rice – Chairman of the National Black Republican Association.
I copied and pasted some points she made that contradict yours.
Re Truman desegregating military.
Much is made of Democrat President Harry Truman's issuing an Executive Order in 1948 to desegregate the military. Not mentioned is the fact that it was Eisenhower who actually took action to effectively end segregation in the military.
Re Kennedy
Democrat President John F. Kennedy is lauded as a proponent of civil rights. However, Kennedy voted against the 1957 Civil Rights Act while he was a senator, as did Democrat Sen. Al Gore Sr. And after he became President, Kennedy was opposed to the 1963 March on Washington by Dr. King that was organized by A. Phillip Randolph, who was a black Republican. President Kennedy, through his brother Atty. Gen. Robert Kennedy, had Dr. King wiretapped and investigated by the FBI on suspicion of being a Communist in order to undermine Dr. King.
re Johnson
Johnson, in his 4,500 word State of the Union Address delivered on Jan. 4, 1965, mentioned scores of topics for federal action, but only 35 words were devoted to civil rights. He did not mention one word about voting rights. Then in 1967, showing his anger with Dr. King's protest against the Vietnam War, Johnson referred to Dr. King as "that Nigger preacher."
That blacks continue to vote Democrat is beyond me. Blacks, African American or otherwise, for the most part are a people of great faith. You can't endure the ills and evils they have without being a people of faith.
The Liberal Democrats are always attacking faith / GOD in public schools, the government, and the public square.
A majority of blacks are against gay marriage- Democrats are for it.
A majority of blacks are for school choice – Democrats oppose in favor of the teachers union. This is deliberately keeping less fortunate black (and other) children in poor and even dangerous schools. Does that still serve your purpose Nick?
Years ago, there was a lady who wanted to eliminate minorities and whit trash. She was a bitter racist. Her radical ideas were to absurd to enact via legislation so she started an organization called PLANNED PARENTHOOD. Her name was Margaret Sanger. She is a heroin and a legend in the Democrat Party.
The vast majority of Abortion clinics are in poor minority neighborhoods. They have done a great job at exterminating blacks over the last 50 years. Look it up Nick! They are KILLING blacks at a rate the KKK could only have dreamed of. More blacks have been killed by way of abortion than the top 3 or 4 leading causes of death among blacks combined! Open your eyes dumb ass. This is exactly what the Democrats have done for blacks by promoting and funding Planned Parenthood and abortion.
To suggest that the government giving blacks a welfare check, public housing, and food stamps is a favor to the black community is to IGNORE the GENERATIONS of BROKEN FAMILIES on government assistance. The Democrat party has replaced the black father with a freaking cash stipend.
You look at all the old videos of Martin Luther King..what do you see? You see black FAMILIES – WITH A FATHER PRESENT, fighting for equal rights. For the right for their child to be judged by the content of their character, rather than the color of their skin.
Black leaders like Jesse Jackson and AL Sharpton have REVERSED it and upended that dream. Now they want special benefits and programs that by all evidence has done NOTHING to help the black community thrive, flourish, and grow as individuals, families, or a people.
They have destroyed tens of MILLIONS of unborn black babies alone since Roe v Wade. The black population in this country apart from that fact would be about 25% as opposed to the 12% it is now.
That is disgusting. Martin Luther King once said, any movement that comes at the expense of our children is not worth having.
The PRICE paid by the black community is their children and the family unit.
If that still serves your purposes Nick, you have a different dream than Dr. King ever thought of.
By the way, the reason he was marching with the sanitation workers was NOT because they were unionized….it was because they were being treated differently – less pay for same work, and not getting paid days off when it rained like the white workers were getting.
I take it you were either ignorant of that or disingenuous in bringing it up. To equate that as Dr. King being pro-union is insulting to his name, his cause, and his legacy. If you knew about that, you should be ashamed.
I don't know whether to laugh or cry. You are aware that the 71% of the black vote you refer to didn't include Southern blacks, I hope. It didn't include them, because the Southern blacks were afraid that if they decided to vote that they might be lynched by….Democrats! I don't think it is a stretch to say that they would not have been voting for the Democrat nominee. Roosevelt was a disaster for black people, or if you want to be extra generous, I guess that you could say that he did nothing to help them. Those unions you are so fond of were used to keep blacks OUT under Roosevelt. Sharecroppers (blacks) got screwed over in the New Deal and on and on and on. Truman did NOT desegregrate the military. He set up a "commission" to study the "problem". Eisenhower desegregated the military. On top of that, Truman was a racist through and through. Kennedy did almost nothing for civil rights. He once proposed that America should enforce the 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution that passed nearly 100 years earlier. Whoo-hoo. Oh, and it was Kennedy that had the FBI spy on Martin Luther King. If this article is for real then please go read some history (liberal websites don't count). If it is a joke post of some kind, then I apologize for taking it seriously.
No mention of the election of 1876 and its effects?
just costructive critisism to our dear president and the American family…. with love, peace and blessings. Son of Man
I will concede this SOM: That just as our Africans ancestors have said, “It takes a village to raise a child”, so will it take “our village” to raise this President to be OUR President as well as the rest of the country’s. Hopefully, with constructive criticism, skillfully applied pressure tempered with solid support and confidence, Black folks can strike the balance. And what America does, the world will follow.
As Ezra Grant, our publisher, says: “Obama said yes WE can, not yes I can!”
Peace.
@amy. your point is well taken. President Obama’s magnificent steady hand in the face of all that he has inherited has been just that, magnificent. I am not delusional at all. I believe that our president has THE most difficult job of all time. Only a fool would discount what another has accomplished of good. Allow me to share some clarity from the smoke screen provided for you by the circus parading as news. This is INsight from outside the box; If America is going to solve her current woes, she MUST consider the specific issues that plague a significant portion of her population. Issues that America herself had no small hand in creating and perpetuating. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link, have you forgotten that its within YOUR lifetime that blacks faced lynch mobs for daring to attend a decent school to be educated? Have you forgotten the counter intelligence programs launched in YOUR lifetime against any black individual or organization that dared to inspire the disinfranchised population? Have you forgotten that the hundreds of years of black chattel slavery made America the richest most powerful country in the world? In the game of politics, its convenient to forget. But in the world outside of the one provided by the ‘powers that be’, know this…. universal law which we are ALL under, does not forget. Guess what. We matter. WE MATTER. We are here. What would i have him do differently you ask? for starters id ask our dear brother president to stop these ludicris wars which are costing tens of billions monthly. Can you imagine what can be done to rebuild and restructure the cities of America in general and the black population in particular? Or dont we matter? The banks certainly mattered when it was time to bail their asses out. How about using the justice dept to investigate why over 50% of the prison population is black males of which the vast majority are incarcerated for drug related offenses when theres not one statistic available that doesnt tell you that white men are the overwhelming majority illegal drug users. How about using some of that military testosterone to stop the atrocities in the Sudan and across Africa? Or dont we matter? Hey, black president must be held accountable by his base, black or not. Busy or not. We matter. Son of Man
@SOM: If your expecting one Blackman to rectify an entire race’s indignation in this country for over 400 yrs in just 4 short years–a man who’s American nationality is being challenged everyday,adamantly by his political opposition, a man who stepped into two wars and a major economic recession his first day in office,a man who’s own party shows division against his policies, a nuclear disaster in Japan,major earthquakes in Haiti,the worst oil spill in the Nations history and a pervasive racism that still beats strong in the heart of this country—than I think you might be a bit delusional. I imagine the changes Obama is setting into motion are of a more tumultuous nature. Like a pebble rolling down a hill and picking up mass and size and speed as it rolls along. Jobs,Healthcare reform,education…are these not our issues? What do you propose he do differently?The ball is rolling. You wanna see it get bigger–get him into office for another 4 years.
@amy. Of course running a campaign as a “black candidate” is not only not savvy, its not right. That type of thinking is not fit for the office of the presidency. Utilizing broad, general tactics to resolve issues that are unique will not work. The economic woes for people of color are far worse than the general population and unemployment numbers for people of color are more than double that of the general population. Would the prescription for a common cold be the same as the prescription for walking pnumonia? is there a difference between an economic recession and an economic depression? The unemployment rate for blacks in the country put the black population at depression status. This needs to be addressed specifically while tending the needs of the countries economic woes in general. Your point seems to be that of an abused wife thats so used to being mis-used, mistreated and overlooked that she herself makes excuses for her abuser. The president must be held accountable to do the right thing, not just whats acceptable to whites. He himself said that he wouldnt govern to be re-elected, that he would govern to effect change. Well the Mr.President act on behalf of whats right and let those who need to catch up, catch up. You dont digress backwards, you move forwards. If having a blackman in office means we have to continue being the dirty little secret, then put Bush back in office and lets get this thing over with. Son of Man
@SOM: Well—I’d wager to think that the idea of casting your vote for a presidential candidate that pointedly addresses the “black agenda”, especially if he or she is the first Af-Am president of the the US, or any other ethnicity campaigns on any particular race’s issue is not very savvy. I think a big problem with many Blacks–like Smiley and West for instance who openly dissed Obama cuz they felt he wasn’t campaigning enough on black issues–should have had the savvy to know that white Democrats were not going to pitch in and help elect him if he had done so. And he couldn’t win with the Black vote alone, obviously. Yes, I know that white candidates do it all the time, but our POTUS is not white. And with a country that’s 15% Black, Obama had to be the adult in the room and show that he was going to be the President for All The People–as corny as that sounds. I think he’s hoping that Blacks will understand this and also understand that he knows the history leading up to him, his beautiful Black wife and kids being in the Whitehouse, and he hasn’t forgotten who and what was responsible for that. Working on a more “universal agenda” can’t help but include Blacks, right?
Please check out this video on Youtube:
“Black Intellectuals Pour Hate on Obama’s Speech!”
http://youtu.be/yzRmMESk9wk
@amyconton, yes the vast majority of black people in the United States have been loyal to the Democratic party since the days of Roosevelt. It has become quite clear that the democratic party is taking the black vote for granted. Black people in the U.S. have not shown the political savvy necessary to extract the possiblities of what America has to offer, politically & economically speaking. In this 2 party system, the black populations relationship with the Republican party is so cold that its taken for granted that the black vote will be cast for the percieved ‘lesser of two evils’ in the Democratic party. The black vote shouldnt be automatically Democrat or Republican. The black vote if political savvy were in play would be cast for the party who’s candidates addresses the “black agenda” as presented to them by the black community. Son of Man