Where did the idea come from that support for a second New Deal means support for Jim Crow?

[ehrnst]

82. Nobody is claiming that the same 1930s Jim Crow laws will come back in the

Last edited Tue Sep 12, 2017, 06:00 PM - Edit history (1)

form they took the minute that the legislation is announced.....

I think we can all agree on that.

It's like the discussions of renaming a library or high school after someone that in the current day is remembered for segregation.

Nobody thinks that keeping the name will mean that students will be excluded because of color. No one would need to be re-assured of that.

People who think that those past issues have no impact on today might argue to keep the school name.

The reminders about the New Deal are in response to posts that ask, "Who on earth would be opposed to New Deal programs - because they were so popular in the 30's, that means the would likely be just as popular."

And yes, many people would wonder at job programs that would put many of the "white working class rust belt" demographic under the perview of a woman or a person of color, let alone an openly gay man or a woman in a Hijab - who was working for the government - which would *never* have been an issue in a segregated WPA workforce. Yes, the 30's had ways of keeping the racists away from all the other people who would now need to be in the mix with the white working class men. That would need some real re-working and planning.

The segregationists policies that helped to make it go more smoothly - if less effectively for POC - would not return, but as we have seen in the news, much of the racial and misogynistic feelings are still there to have to deal with.

And the hatred of "big Government" by those working class white rust belt men is way deeper than it was in the 1930's.

Pointing out the differences and similarities in the culture of then and now is a very neccessary part of the discussion.