The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was enacted on July 2, so C-SPAN’s?Washington Journal?recently decided to allow viewers to offer opinions on the 50th anniversary of the iconic civil rights legislation. Somewhat predictably, some callers had skewed views on history, economics, poverty, and crime. It ranges from “Democrats are the real racists, look at history and ignore the present!” to “there isn’t a war on women. Look how awesome white men are, look at everything we’ve done!”
In a clip posted on?Mediaite,?Roy from Fort Mill, South Carolina says,
Yes, I just want to make a comment that it was the Democrat party that was the party of segregation and they’re the ones that enforced those Jim Crow laws. It was the governor, George Wallace, Democrat, that stood in the doorway so that African-American girl couldn’t go to school. And it was Republican Eisenhower that called in the National Guard so that people can go to school. So the Democratic Party has really been the party that has held black people down. And that’s basically all I wanted to say.
It’s true. Southern Democrats — or Dixiecrats — were racists that attempted to block equality. We also used to be at war with Great Britain. Things change, and so do parties — those same demographics are now Republican. In fact, the Civil Rights Act was part of the catalyst for that. The Democratic Party supported slavery during the Civil War and segregation for a century afterward, but by the middle of the 20th century that had changed.?Republican?Richard Nixon took advantage of disillusioned and racist whites and made use of the Southern Strategy, bringing them over to the Republican side. There is something ironic in a modern white racist using the anniversary of the Civil Rights Act to talk about how racist Democrats are when it was that piece of legislation that partially helped draw the party lines where they are today, with most racists on the Republican side.
Here’s a short video of some of the comments made, thanks to?Talking Points Memo:
The first caller in the video seems to be confused about something. We?do?talk about Irish and Italian discrimination. In history classes, because it’s part of history. Just because you don’t understand racism still exists doesn’t mean that others don’t live it every day — and that’s why we talk about black discrimination. It’s still happening. Your inability to see that probably has something to do with the fact that you’re part of it, by talking about the nonexistent issue of oppressed whites on the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act.
The most notable, in my opinion, was Danny from Ohio:
I think there is a war on white men in this country from liberal white women that claim there is a war against women. No country has ever created more things for the betterment of mankind’s living than the Caucasian race that came from Europe and I’m sick and tired ? as an octogenarian ? hearing all this bad-mouthing of white people. Where else would people in America of color or any other race want to go to live, other than America? And I think it’s time for white men to start standing up because there’s all kinds of groups for other races. And I think it’s time for white pride. We have built this country ? Irish, Italians, Germans, Irish, wherever they have come from, from Europe. No country in the world has produced what the white man has produced for every culture and race in America.
Fact check, buddy. White people didn’t build this nation alone. We did it on the backs of the nameless enslaved; from the start our economy depended on exploitation and criminal maltreatment of enslaved peoples. We stole the land after disease ravaged the tribes living on it and took slaves from another continent to work it for us. You cannot speak of the history of our nation without speaking of that. You cannot speak of white accomplishment without speaking of white exploitation. I do not feel personal shame for my racial history, as a Caucasian; I was born in 1993. I played no part and had no hand in it, and the crimes of my ancestors are not my own. That does not render me incapable of recognizing simple facts, like the fact that loss of power does not translate to oppression.
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I’m a millennial with an attitude, and I’m tired of a left wing that has stopped being willing to rise up and fight for the rights of the people. In my short career, I’ve published hundreds of articles on many topics. You can follow me on Google Plus, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, or?Instagram.
