why are republicans so terrified of black folks?

[mopaul]

i just don't get it. they can't hide their racism, they never could.
why? one might conclude that they hate black people, but i believe it's fear. fear of black men in our government. fear of having a black president. fear of losing our assumed status as top dog on the race tree.

why do they so clumsily reach out to blacks, like at their last convention? why do they even pretend? why are they so afraid of black people up there in the white house?

[Vogon_Glory]

1. My Pet Theories Regarding The GOP and Afro-Americans

I have several theories regarding why the GOP does so poorly with blacks.

First, Afro-Americans are one constituency the GOP turned its back on and betrayed early. With the exception of Northern abolitionists and some fair-minded Midwesterners, Afro-Americans were thrown into the lurch at the end of Reconstruction in favor of political coalition-building with former Southern Democrats to stop progressive legislation. When performing betrayals, it's always easier to blame the victim.

Second, there's always been a bit of Northern racism. A lot of the 19th and 20th century anti-immigration hysteria had its roots not in Democratic Dixie, but in the Midwest. The Klan did surprisingly well in the Upper Midwest--and in places like 1920's Long Island.

Third, when the national Democratic Party started pushing civil rights legislation, some "conservatives" saw any effort to push civil rights as being "big government" and somehow infringing on property rights.

Fourth, we all know about the very successful Republican Party "Southern Strategy," when the Republicans successfully persuaded Dixiecrat reactionaries to become Republicans. Add that to what's already there, and small wonder the GOP does so poorly with Afro-Americans.

[lottie244]

22. It think it's because Afro-Americans can see right through their bull-crap

and aren't afraid of them. Like Clinton said...blacks like people who like them (like any other group).

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

2. You hit it - straight up racism

I don't think it's nearly as well thought-out as you seem to think it is though. I think they are just ignorant - period.

[mopaul]

3. I was raised to fear black people, I had to force myself not to

like when i gave up the religion i was brought up in. it was difficult to re-arrange my brain, but it did it. i learned fear of black people from my folks, in e. st. louis in the sixties. my dad supported george wallace, and considered joining the klan.

now my dad is a born again, but real, christian, who has given up his hatred and fear of black people afer much rearranging of his brain. he's a better man for it.

but the right wingers don't even try.

[ulysses]

4. fear of "the other"

It's not exclusive to Republicans, either. We're all taught the racial divide to differing degrees, whether it's intended or not. The difference is whether you realize it and what you do with that knowledge, and folks who tend toward the GOP line, in my experience, tend to not acknowledge the flaws in their thinking to begin with.

[mopaul]

5. something very primal in us i think

from way back in our early stages of development, a predisposition to fear anyone not like us. survival of the tribe perhaps, or fear of invaders and conquerors. it's very primal and it's also controllable. i've done it myself. fearing a whole group of people is just plain stupid.

if a black man or woman gives me a reason to hate them, i will.
if they don't, how can i hate them? i've never even met them!

it's all so silly and sad.

[ulysses]

6. I suspect that that's true.

If it is a primal thing, the answer has to be a conscious effort. None of us who have been raised in America can claim any kind of real purity on race, but I think all of us can contribute to a dialogue. We need to talk.

[Sweetpea]

8. I think hating someone is different from thinking they are inferior.

White supremists think blacks are culturally, socially,mentally and spiritually inferior. Black enslavement according to them is justified in the Bible. It is one thing to give up hatred but how do you convince someone to give up their divine right-entitlement when they believe, conscious or unconsciously, they are superior?

[ulysses]

10. **half-assed theory follows**

Having lived for 13 years now in the south, where white male coworkers have quite often offered me racist rants in private because they assume that I share their beliefs, I've come to the belief that the ideas about African-American inferiority are symptoms of the underlying essential fear. I don't know that you *can* erase the divine-right stuff without addressing the stuff that's usually just below the level of consciousness - trying to do so has gotten me into a lot of heated back-and-forth exchanges that, in the end, don't do much to shed any light.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

15. funny how we fear our begining...we are all "out of africa" Kush

embrass the truth

[ronabop]

7. Read more about Lincoln.

The GOP thinks blacks should have equal rights. Preferrably as far away from the US as possible. Liberia, for example.

It's what Lincoln stood for, and it's been a party plank ever since.

As far as the motivation goes, racism has some pretty bizarre origins. Fear of others destabilizing one's own happiness is big. Republicans are all about blaming others for things people fear and suffer for, so, blame anybody but themselves...

-Bop

[wurzel]

9. Almost every one is a "racist".

The difference is whether you are proud or ashamed of it.

[porphyrian]

13. See Avenue Q

There's a song in there that says everyone's a little bit racist, and if we'd just admit that and lighten up a bit about it, we could all get along. I think there's something to that.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

17. i am NOT a racist. my folkes taught their 10 children how to live and love

...and i was raised in the south in the 50s & 60s....i lived the civil rights movement....i got kicked off the bus almost daily for getting up and giving up my seat to afro americans who were exausted after cleaning white peoples houses all day and had to ride an hour standing on a hot sweltering bus...i love my mother and father

[Hubert Flottz]

11. The same reason they hate poor people!

Sick people, slick people, old people, anyone who is not making money for them, Sane people, educated people! If they can't USE you, then By The Gawds they'll abuse you!

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[truthspeaker]

20. You find accusing Republicans of racism disgusting? Why?

Are you saying there is not a strong racist element in Republican politics? If so, that's an incredible assertion.

[diamond14]

33. this may well be another set-up...like the one that was written for the

Wall Street Journal on Monday, using DU discussion board...started on DU to bash Kerry, bash Democrats, bash MoveON, bash the FRENCH.....and wrote about Kerry's campaign committing the felony of using their campaign office to register voters....


here's the thread....the now proven bait-and-trap technique...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1974581


Monday, July 12, 2004
9th article...called "Great Moments in Democracy"....written for the Wall Street Journal here on DU...
http://www.opinionjournal.com/best/?id=110005343

[Hubert Flottz]

37. So what do we do now, shut up?

Because of a Reich Wing Propaganda organ?

This would be a good thread for them to highlight! If they are that stupid!

[diamond14]

41. never !!!! we do what was done on Monday.....

the only problem was that the perp's post was the ONLY one that made it to the WSJ, and was attributed to DU HATE SITE...

the perp is still here, and IMO, there are others following suit, because that worked so well.....

not sure how to approach this NEW tactic, but certainly open to ideas...at least more DUers can be made aware that the WSJ Reich wing propaganda machine has people here...maybe even paying them to post articles for their current topics (in the most recent case, the FRENCH)...

[Hubert Flottz]

44. They've been here all along!

And on every other dem board that amounts to anything! The rogues are so shaken by what they see unfolding, that they are coming unglued! If DU is the big story at WSJ, then the country is in a worse mess than even I thought! The main thang is not to panic! War really is hell! The fleas and ticks can taste defeat! Whyever would the GOPers think anyone would HATE any of them?

[Hubert Flottz]

21. The truth might set you free!

And that's the last thing the GOP wants is REAL Freedom!

[ElsewheresDaughter]

19. Hubert Flottz... amen

[diamond14]

31. reTHUGlicans BELIEVE that those who cannot help them make $$$$

should DIE and DIE quickly, so as not to drain THEIR money....

it's the essence of 'compassionate conservatism'....which is better called 'cheap-labor conservative'....'cheap labor' gives millionaire reTHUGlicans more profit...and of course, the cheapest labor is SLAVERY....just work them to DEATH....children, old people, injured people, sick people, diseased people are just providing cheap labor for bush* and his minions, so they are KILLED by cutting all social services and medications....no insulin means DEATH...200,000 people with diabetes were KILLED last year under bush* policies....where's the outrage? 18,000 homeless men, women, and children lay homeless in DC....60% are OUR Veterans, many are women with dependent children....

the current CUTTING OF OF MEDICARE/medicaid, closing Veteran Hospitals, 40 MILLION Americans with NO Medical Insurance (people with diabetes have NO insulin, and are KILLED right in front of us, people with other diseases are KILLED in huge numbers under bush* without insurance, without medicare)....practically in front of the White House..TWO major hospitals have CLOSED under bush* in DC alone: DC General Hospital and the Women's Hospital....the average wait in ANY emergency room in the DC Metro Area is now seven hours, so you can sit there today and watch people being KILLED by bush* policies every single day...only people get medical help here have LOTS of money to seek private care (which is very good).....

bush* has destroyed the Environmental Protection Agency...creating MILLIONS more diseased children (born with teratogenic, mutagenic effects from environmental toxins), and much more environmental-toxin induced cancers...WE THE PEOPLE shoulder great burdens from these bush* policies, and try to help these people, who were injured/damaged by bush* policies....then, they are KILLED right in front of us, as bush* refuses to help them survive with decent medical care....


boot bush* ASAP
http://www.JohnKerry.com

[Hubert Flottz]

40. Now you're cookin' with gas!(Pun intended)

Same as the Old World Order did it!

[wadestock]

39. Exactly Hubert

If they can use a puppet black man to expout neoconservativism and their "formula for success"...ie....runaway capitalism....and the garbage that the poor are all being lifted up through Reaganomics....well then you have a connection that works.

[diamond14]

45. reagunomics...the "trinkle-down' reTHUGlicans policy....

exact same failed policy implemented NOW, under the bush* puppet....

even using the exact same people that failed before....MASSIVE military build-ups, draining our economy, forcing young people in rural areas with HIGH unemployment and inner-city urban areas to take the ONLY jobs available....soldier in Iraq/Afganistan....

cut off seniors from their tiny safety net of Medicare, Social Security....close Veterans hospitals, and as many other hospitals as bush* possibly can ALL OVER AMERICA to pay for the care of BUSH BILLIONAIRES....throw as many people as possible into unemployment to get full family values of broken homes, divorces, homeless, uninsured, and NO EDUCATION (most important to bush*/reagunites: NO EDUCATION for the masses).....

[enough]

12. The republican party is not "terrified" of black people.

Dissing the NAACP, and other forms of less overt racism in the party, are DELIBERATE tactics. They do it on purpose to signal to the base that "we share the same values as you." They are the party of white superiority, and they want to make sure their base knows that it is still just as true as ever.

It tells the base -- never mind Rice and Powell. Where it counts, we still support your racism and we always will. And where racism is concerned, the size of that "base" is huge.

[TexasSissy]

14. They're not afraid of them. Their base is the NASCAR dad and the

white conservative southern male. So the Repubs have pretty much given up on getting the African American vote, except for the odd man out. They do much better, apparently, appealing to the white conservative southern male. And the strategy seems to be working, I must say.

[ronabop]

28. Nascar? Heh.

I want to see the tiger woods.... of NASCAR.

That would be great.

What are southern white racists going to do? Start watching figure skating?

-Bop

[Hubert Flottz]

30. Maybe they'll let Colon Bowel drive a car!

Or "long Dong Silverado"!

I quit watching the races after Bush told them to start their engines! I was happy to hear that little E took a slap at the GOPers though!

[porphyrian]

18. The Penis Stereotype

They can't stand the idea of being forced to confront the diminutive size of their penises, and they always associate black men with the stereotype. This also causes problems as the closeted ones find themselves aroused confronting black men.

[cap]

23. yup... raping white women has always been a fear

since the days of slavery.

[Hubert Flottz]

24. The GOPers love the blacks in Iraq!

Or anywhere there is a WAR to fight! But then when the black Veteran comes back home and tries to go vote he runs into a roadblock! How many VETERAN'S votes did Jeb throw in the trash?

[vetwife]

25. Not only is it about blacks, its about domination of any minority

but it is so hypocritical. Look at Strom Thurmond. They like to use anyone, but especially the blacks because they were legal slaves at one time. If a person does not fit into their status quo, does not share their bigotry, if they are defensless and poor, they want dominiation. Its not about fear, its about hatred. The true fact of the matter, the black people and the native americans have been light years ahead of the truth of endurance, environment, and down right smarts over the white man. That type knowledge angers the whites, therefore breeds ignorance. Some pass it down from the pulpits and the generations. Its not just the GOP, the old Dixiecrats were full of this bigotry.

[playahata1]

26. And Repukes LOVE black ATHLETES.

As long as black men can dunk a basketball, hit a baseball, throw a football 70 yards in the air, and beat the hell out of someone (preferrably other black men) in the boxing ring, they are all right. OFF THE FIELD, stay the hell away from us, Repukes say, or we'll throw you UNDER THE JAIL.

ORRIN HATCH is one of the leaders in the fight to posthumously pardon Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight champ. Johnson was convicted in 1913 of violating the Mann Act -- interstate transportation of women for purposes of prostitution -- because he was consorting with white women. Will Hatch do the same for blacks who are/were NOT athletes? I don't think so.

Oh, yeah... Didn't MICHAEL JORDAN once say, "Republicans wear sneakers, too?"

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040713/ap_on_sp_bo_ne/box_jack_johnson_pardon

[Orsino]

27. Bush/Powell Ticket?

With the stench of decay from Cheney's shorts growing more repugnant daily, will he develop sudden "health problems" in the next month or two? If so, will tiny freeper heads explode when McCain accepts the number two (aptly named, considering its current occupant) spot?

Or will a major party finally take that terrifying step towards a show of ethnic balance, and will Powell be named as prospective veep? For some reason, Colin "I'm not reading this; this is bulls--t" Powell is still widely perceived as having a shred of integrity, and what a coup for the GOP this would be!

It would be a horrifying joke, were the Republican Party to beat the Dems to the finish line--again--and field an African-American on their ticket, even as Powell and Rice made a bit of history a few years ago. As matters stand, Kerry and Edwards can probably count on near-unanimous African-American support, but if the R's steal a march by running Powell, the Democrats will richly deserve the beating they will take.

It wouldn't matter, would it, that Powell's and Rice's actions have had absolutely nothing to do with the concerns of most African-Americans, and that they are seen by the GOP as tame "house n-----s"? The symbolism of a Powell vice-presidency would be too powerful for voters to ignore, and the GOP would make as much political hay as possible from their empty gesture.

I don't know if the GOP can muster the courage to betray their base with such a move, but Powell is the only potential candidate I see making a difference for them in November. It would peg the irony meter, but it could result in another four tragic years of BushCo.

And it would free Cheney to have all the secret meetings his cold, black heart could desire.

[DivinBreuvage]

34. Perhaps they will try it, but now it would be just another

transparent, desperate ploy that could blow up in their faces. I should think Powell's reputation is pretty well shot by now with a goodly number of people: not only because of his own lackluster performance, but because the administration itself constantly made him look like a sap by undercutting him and saying Powell's point of view on issues wasn't their point of view.

For every new vote Powell could bring, he'll cost a vote from the burning cross camp. They won't vote for Kerry, they'll just stay home.

Then again, the media could start flooding the airwaves with the message that "Colin Powerful" is brave, honorable, wise, competent, brilliant, the greatest and most effective Secretary of State in American history, etc. etc., with a corresponding impression on the silly-putty mind of the masses. All they need to do is make the election close enough for them to steal it. So perhaps you are right after all.

[Blue Wally]

46. Only Nixon could go to China...........

"I don't know if the GOP can muster the courage to betray their base with such a move, but Powell is the only potential candidate I see making a difference for them in November. It would peg the irony meter, but it could result in another four tragic years of BushCo."


Along the lines of "only Nixon could go to China", maybe the Republicans are the only ones who could run a black or a woman and not be punished for it at the polls. In other words, their base wouldn't object and we would have to be somewhat circumspect in criticizing the candidate to avoid losing some of our base.

[Brewman_Jax]

29. Our paper's RW op/ed writer

said that it was okay for Mr. Bush* to pass on the NAACP's annual convention because they hate him. http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/wooten/2004/071304.html">Bush doesn't owe a visit to his haters

A major constituency's organizational convention is okay to pass? What happened to compassionate conservative, or is that only while in front of a staged audience?

[vetwife]

32. I gave m serious answer now.... for my lighter take

John Ashcroft and Trent Lott. They think most black people can sing better than these two and don't forget many blacks are great dancers and well John Aschcroft thinks dancing will send you to Hell, that and cats. Heaven forbid there is a singin, dancing, , cat loving black within 100 miles of Ashcroft ! Blacks are more spiritual.....
this scares the jeebes out of those white folks !

[thebaghwan]

35. I think it is a very deep seated fear that has many roots. One, if black

people over really woke up to the fucking they have been getting there is a fear they will hold someone responsible. Two, there are a lot of black people. Three, they have shown a tendency to be violent (not my opinion but speculating on the repugs mindset) ala Watts, Detroit and L.A. They fear that black people will dispossess them.

[YNGW]

36. Just Wondering

How does what is being said here by everyone tie into what Al Sharpton said earlier this year during the debates and in his speeches?

Recall, he said that African-Americans are tired of the Democratic Party inviting them to the prom, taking them to the prom, but when they get there they leave them and go home with someone else.

So another question that could be asked is why Democrats reach out to blacks, yet leave them standing in the corner while at the dance. At least that seemed to be the picture Sharpton was drawing.

I can't say I know the answer.

[Blue Wally]

48. Because the Afro-Amer vote.............

The Afro-Amer vote is much like the "social democratic" left vote in the Democratic Party. It has nowhere else to go while the party candidates compete with the Republicans for the "Reagan Democrat" votes. The only choices that the Afro-Amer and Soc Dem constituencies have is to stay home or vote for a third party to "punish" the Democratic party (and help the GOP) or to go along with the party in the hopes that the competition for the center will be successful and they will get some of the "crumbs that drop" from the table in the Democratic administration. The "Reagan Democrats" who can go either way have psoitioned themselvs in such a way that both parties eagerly seek them out and promise them everything and even betray the party bases if necessary to win over the "swing vote". If African-Americans were the "swing vote" both sides would be ass-kissing big time.

[YNGW]

53. So every 4 years or so,.......

.....they get to buy a prom dress and then get left at the dance. It seems to me that asking why the repukes are racists is couter-productive when our own party is preceived by many Afro-Americans as treating them like "votes in the bag".

[Blue Wally]

56. yes.....

It sounds cynical, but "you go left to get nominated, then go right to get elected" is the tactic of choice for Democratic national candidates. The core constituencies of each party only count as one vote, because they have only the option of voting for you or staying home. A member of a "swing" group has two votes because he takes away a vote from the other party and adds one to your party. If the A-A vote "swung" from election to election, that constituency would have a lot more power

[Skittles]

38. I think the beginning of F911 explains that nicely

nt

[Warren DeMontague]

42. Hey...

Just because they do everything in their power to keep them from making it to the polls, doesn't mean they're "terrified" of them.

Print That, WSJ.

[wadestock]

43. One thing possibly not addressed - THEY HAVE CULTURE

Anything other than a culture of greed...particularly today's neoconservative obsessive capitalist.....represents a threat to them.

Provided you give up your "black culture" and wake up to the culture of greed....then you have a home in the new republican right wing party. But it's not just Blacks in this regard....it's ANY other form of culture...particularly the notion of America developing ANY culture which might have something to do with social implications.

We don't have to agonize over why blacks have their own culture (which by the way is becoming ever popular with the youths of America)...or why it happened in the first place.

My first reaction to this question was to think of what Blacks were identified with in my neighborhood in the "old days". You know the old saying...there goes the neighborhood....but beyond that....there was a prejudice that "they didn't want to work".

Now look at where we are today....such prejudices really wouldn't make much sense since the neocons are looking anywhere for cheap labor. Also, due to the extreme wealth being dumped on those neocons in power and the upper 1% that generally follows them....the "neighborhood" argument doesn't really hold because they are so obscenely rich that they create their own rich neighborhoods. We're not really talking about an integrated suburbia anymore that matters to these people. They can ride a limo through the city with tinted windows, hop on an airplane and rise above it all.

So I think the bottom line is that the right wing neocons demand strict allegiance to striping oneself of most personal or social interests when joining the clan....

[skippysmom]

47. Some of it is out and out racism

But I think a lot of it is completely political. They try to appeal to the least common denominator -- namely, the types who still use the N word in conversation -- figuring that African Americans will go Dem in most cases.

[leesa]

49. Fear of having their women (read: property) violated

Seriously. They are just ignorant, xenophobic fools who have been indoctrinated in white supremacy. Their celebration of backwardness and ignorance has definitely put the white race in the back seat. Working in the medical industry, there are very few "white" doctors anymore, most are from other countries. They are fine doctors. Wallowing in ignorance has turned white America into an uneducated lesser class.

[CatWoman]

50. They're afraid we are going to force them to learn how to rap

eat chicken wings, and drink gallons upon gallons of malt liquor :D

[Hubert Flottz]

51. I'll vote for that!

Sounds good to me!

[supernova]

52. LOL!

This white girl loves me some Colt 45!!

CatWoman, you crack me up!

[Philostopher]

54. I don't know about terrified, Mopaul.

I just think they've determined that there are more bigots out there who hate minorities than there are voting members of the minorities. Here's my take on the whole thing.

The AA vote has never been an easy sell for the Republicans (we make a mistake thinking it's an easy sell for the Democrats, especially after the 2000 debacle, but I don't want to get off on that digression right now), but the hate vote is easy for them to achieve, since bigots also tend to hold other values near and dear to the GOP. Pandering to them that way just plays to the already energized bigotry in those working class goons who still vote for Republicans, even though it isn't in their best interests.

It's easy to appeal to a certain percentage of the population by telling them they're superior to another certain percentage of the population. Both parties do it, but the tradition of telling working class whites that African Americans are all welfare queens and want to take their tax money is an old canard that's been around since Lincoln, in some form or other. Hell, they used to run pictures in newspapers showing an ape and a black man and claim the similarities in the photos proved blacks were inferior -- the insinuation, though it wasn't always there, was that whites were superior because they didn't look as much like apes.

[sofa king]

55. Fear of Retribution.

In 1968 the Republican Party (via Richard Nixon) deliberately exploited racial tensions--and specifically fear of African-Americans--by running on a platform which has since become known as the Southern Strategy. It was and still is a plainly evident strategy of racial polarization, and it worked well, drawing most of the racially-motivated "Southern Democrats" to the Republican side.

But the strategy not only plays on fears, it creates and perpetuates fear of retribution. As recently as 1995, on the Larry King show, a caller thanked then-Senator Jesse Helms for "everything you've done to keep down the niggers." Helms telling replied, "thank you, I think."

The lines became more clearly drawn, until today it is rare to see clearly racist Democratic candidates (except when it comes to Connecticut Democrats using a similar strategy of vilifying American Indians), while Republicans must still actively coddle the troglodyte right or risk losing their disgusting single-issue loyalties.