Petition to Barack Hussein Obama for a Proclamation of Apology for the Democratic Party's 150-year History of Racism
We, black American citizens of the United States and the National Black Republican Association, declare and assert:
WHEREAS,
the healing of wounds begins with an apology, and the Democratic Party
has never apologized for their horrific atrocities and racist practices
against black Americans during the past 150 years, nor held accountable
for the residual impact that those atrocities and practices are having
on us today,
WHEREAS,
as a result of the 1898 Wilmington Race Riot Commission Report of May
31, 2006, the North Carolina Democratic Party issued a unanimous
apology on January 20, 2007 for the Democratic Party's 1898 murderous
rampage against blacks,
WHEREAS,
inner-city minister Rev. Wayne Perryman wrote a book, "Unfounded
Loyalty: An In-depth Look Into The Love Affair Between Blacks and
Democrats", and filed a lawsuit against the Democratic Party on
December 10, 2004, but, after admitting their history of racism under
oath in court, the Democrats refused to apologize,
WHEREAS,
history shows that the Democratic Party through its racist agenda and
"States' Rights" claim to own slaves, sought to protect and preserve
the institution of slavery from 1792 to 1865, thus enslaving millions
of African Americans, while the Republican Party was started in 1854 as
the anti-slavery party, fought to free blacks from slavery and
championed civil rights for blacks,
WHEREAS,
the Democratic Party enacted fugitive slave laws to keep blacks from
escaping from plantations; instigated the 1856 Dred Scott decision
which legally classified blacks as property; passed the Missouri
Compromise to spread slavery into 50% of the new Northern states; and
passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act designed to spread slavery into all of
the new states,
WHEREAS,
the Democratic Party in the South formed the Confederacy, seceded from
the Union and fought a Civil War (1861 to 1865) to expand slavery where
over 600,000 citizens were killed, including many thousand blacks,
WHEREAS,
starting in 1861, anti-Civil War Democrats in the North were called
"copperheads" like the poisonous snake because they (a) wanted to
appease the South and accept a negotiated peace that would have
resulted in an independent Confederacy where blacks were kept in
slavery, and (b) showed their deep opposition to the Civil War draft by
taking their anger out on blacks, murdering and maiming blacks in
virtually every Northern state,
WHEREAS,
anti-Civil War Democrats in New York engaged in "Four Days of Terror"
against the city's black population from July 13-16, 1863, and the
anti-Civil War chant of the Democrats, as reported by one Pennsylvania
newspaper, was: "Willing to fight for Uncle Sam", but not "for Uncle
Sambo,"
WHEREAS,
the anti-Civil War Democrats verbally attacked Republican President
Abraham Lincoln because he wanted to free the slaves through war and
grant blacks civil rights, and drafted Northern men into the army to
fight and die to make his Emancipation Proclamation a reality – a
Proclamation that became the source of the Juneteenth celebrations that
occur in black communities today,
WHEREAS,
after the Civil War, the Republican Party (a) pushed to amend the
Constitution to grant blacks freedom (13th Amendment), citizenship
(14th Amendment) and the right to vote (15th Amendment); (b) passed the
Civil Rights Acts of 1866 and 1875; and (c) designed Reconstruction, a
ten-year period of unprecedented political power for African Americans,
WHEREAS,
anti-civil rights Democrat Andrew Johnson became president when
Republican President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, and after the
Civil War, the Democratic Party fought to end Reconstruction and deny
blacks the promised "40 acres and a mule;" fought to overturn all civil
rights legislation from the 1860's to the 1960's; and passed repressive
legislation including the Black Codes and Jim Crow laws,
WHEREAS,
the book "A Short History of Reconstruction" by the renowned historian,
Dr. Eric Foner, revealed that: (a) the Ku Klux Klan was founded in 1866
by Democrats as a Tennessee social club; (b) the Ku Klux Klan became a
military force serving the interests of the Democratic Party, the
planter class, and all those who desired the restoration of white
supremacy; and (c) the Ku Klux Klan spread into other Southern states,
launching a ‘reign of terror‘ against Republican leaders, black and
white,
WHEREAS,
the book "A Short History of Reconstruction" by Dr. Eric Foner exposed
the facts that: (a) the Hayes-Tilden Compromise of 1877 was an attempt
by Republicans to get the Democrats to stop lynching Republicans, black
and white, and respect the rights of blacks; and (b) contrary to
legend, President Rutherford Hayes did not remove the last federal
troops from the South, but merely ordered federal troops surrounding
the South Carolina and Louisiana statehouses to return to their
barracks,
WHEREAS,
after taking control of Congress in the late 1800's, the Democratic
Party passed the Repeal Act of 1894 that overturned civil rights
legislation passed by the Republicans, including the Civil Rights Acts
of 1866 and 1875,
WHEREAS,
the Democratic Party supported the "Plessy v. Ferguson" decision in
1896 that established the "separate but equal" segregation doctrine,
WHEREAS,
historical documents show that: (a) in an effort to stop the Democrats
from lynching and denying civil rights to blacks, the NAACP was founded
on Republican President Abraham Lincoln's 100th birthday, February 12,
1909, by white Republicans Oswald Garrison Villard, Mary White Ovington
and William English Walling; and (b) the first black general secretary
of the NAACP was black Republican James Weldon Johnson who became the
general secretary of the NAACP in 1920 and, in 1900, wrote the song,
"Lift Every Voice," known as the "Black National Anthem" in
collaboration with his brother, John Rosamond Johnson,
WHEREAS,
after Democrat President Woodrow was elected in 1912 and while Congress
was controlled by the Democrats, black American civil employees where
pushed out of federal government jobs, and the greatest number of bills
proposing racial segregation and discrimination were introduced than
had ever been proposed in our nation's history,
WHEREAS,
even though Democrat President Franklin D. Roosevelt received the vote
of many black Americans due to his "New Deal," he banned black American
newspapers from the military because he was convinced the newspapers
were communists and rejected anti-lynching laws pushed by Republicans,
as well as efforts by Republicans to establish a permanent Civil Rights
Commission that did not get established until 1958 under Republican
President Dwight Eisenhower,
WHEREAS,
Democrat President Harry Truman not only rejected Republican efforts to
enact anti-lynching laws and establish a permanent Civil Rights
Commission, but also failed to enforce his 1948 Executive Order
designed to desegregate the military, an order that was not effectively
enforced until Republican President Dwight Eisenhower was elected,
WHEREAS,
with the party slogan: "Segregation Forever!," the Dixiecrats, who were
Democrats, (a) formed the States' Rights Democratic Party for the
presidential election of 1948; (b) remained Democrats for all local
elections and all subsequent national elections; and (c) did not all
migrate to the Republican Party as Democrats today falsely claim, but
instead those racist Democrats died Democrats and had declared that
they would rather vote for a "yellow dog" than a Republican because the
Republican Party was known as the party for blacks,
WHEREAS,
during the civil rights era of the 1960's, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr., who was a Republican, was fighting the Democrats including:
(a) Democrat Georgia Governor Lester Maddox who famously brandished ax
handles to prevent blacks from patronizing his restaurant; (b) Democrat
Public Safety Commissioner Eugene "Bull" Connor in Birmingham who let
loose vicious dogs and turned fire hoses on black civil rights
demonstrators; and (c) Democrat Alabama Governor George Wallace who
stood in front of the Alabama schoolhouse in 1963 and thundered:
"Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever,"
WHEREAS,
the Democratic Party supported the Topeka, Kansas school board in the
"Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka", Kansas (a 1954 Supreme
Court decision by Chief Justice Earl Warren who was appointed by
Republican President Dwight Eisenhower) which declared that the
"separate but equal" doctrine violated the 14th Amendment and ended
school segregation,
WHEREAS,
in 1954, Democrat Arkansas Governor Orville Faubus tried to prevent the
desegregation of a Little Rock public school, resulting in Republican
President Dwight Eisenhower sending federal troops to prevent violence
and enforce a court order desegregating the Little Rock school,
WHEREAS,
Democratic President John F. Kennedy was not a civil rights advocate
because he: (a) voted against the 1957 Civil Rights Law (that was
pushed by Republican President Dwight Eisenhower); (b) opposed the 1963
March on Washington by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (that was organized
by black Republican A. Phillip Randolph); (c) authorized the FBI
(supervised by his brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy) to wiretap
and investigate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on suspicion of being a
communist in order to undermine that Civil Rights leader; (d) was later
criticized by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for ignoring civil rights
issues; and (e) only grudgingly agreed to make a telephone call to get
Dr. King, Jr. out of the Birmingham jail after members of the King
family requested Kennedy's help,
WHEREAS,
after the nearly 100 years of opposition to civil rights laws by
Democrats, Republican Senator Barry Goldwater, who voted for the 1957
Civil Rights Act and ran for president against Lyndon Johnson in 1964,
was unfairly criticized by hypocritical Democrats because Goldwater was
opposed to only portions of the 1964 Civil Rights Act that he believed
was an unconstitutional expansion of federal powers,
WHEREAS,
Democrat President Lyndon Johnson could not have achieved passage of
civil rights legislation without the support of Republicans due to the
strong opposition of Democrats, and in his 4,500-word State of the
Union Address delivered on January 4, 1965, Johnson mentioned scores of
topics for federal action, but only thirty five words were devoted to
civil rights and not one word about voting rights,
WHEREAS,
it was Republican Senator Everett Dirksen from Illinois, not Democrat
President Lyndon Johnson, who was key to the passage of the 1964 Civil
Rights Act, and Dirksen was also instrumental to the enactment of civil
rights legislation in 1957 and 1960, as well as the Voting Rights Act
of 1965 and the Civil Rights Act of 1968 which prohibited
discrimination in housing,
WHEREAS,
the chief opponents of the 1964 Civil Rights Act were Democrat Senators
Sam Ervin, Albert Gore, Sr. and Robert Byrd of West Virginia, a former
"Keagle" in the Ku Klux Klan, who made a 14-hour filibuster speech in
the Senate in June 1964 in an unsuccessful effort to block passage of
the 1964 Civil Rights Act,
WHEREAS,
because Republican Senator Everett successfully fought to pass civil
rights laws in the face of strong opposition to civil rights laws by
the Democrats, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. hailed Senator Dirksen's
"able and courageous leadership;" and "The Chicago Defender," the
largest black-owned daily at that time, praised Senator Dirksen "for
the grand manner of his generalship behind the passage of the best
civil rights measures that have ever been enacted into law since
Reconstruction,"
WHEREAS,
the statement by Democrat President Lyndon Johnson about losing the
South after passage of the 1964 civil rights law was not made out of a
concern that racist Democrats would suddenly join the Republican Party
that was fighting for the civil rights of blacks, but instead, was an
expression of fear that the racist Democrats would again form a third
party, such as the short-lived States' Rights Democratic Party,
WHEREAS, after Democrat President Lyndon Johnson expressed his concern that the racist Democrats in the South would be lost after
the passage of the 1964 civil rights laws, Johnson's concern came true
when Alabama's Democrat Governor George C. Wallace in 1968 started the
American Independent Party that attracted other racist candidates,
including Democrat Atlanta Mayor Lester Maddox,
WHEREAS,
in March of 1968, while referring to the fact that Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. left Memphis, Tennessee after riots broke out where a
teenager was killed, Democrat Senator Robert Byrd called Dr. King a
"trouble-maker" who starts trouble, but runs like a coward after
trouble is ignited, which motivated Dr. King to return to Memphis a few
weeks later where he was assassinated on April 4, 1968,
WHEREAS,
Democrats expressed little, if any, concern when the racially
segregated South voted solidly for Democrats; yet unfairly deride
Republicans because of the thirty-year odyssey of the South switching
to the Republican Party that began in the 1970's with President Richard
Nixon's "Southern Strategy," which was an effort on the part of Nixon
to get fair-minded people in the South to stop voting for Democrats who
did not share their values, and who were discriminating against blacks,
WHEREAS,
Republican President Richard Nixon began enforcement of Affirmative
Action as a merit-based system to help African Americans prosper with
his 1969 Philadelphia Plan (crafted by black Republican Art Fletcher)
that set the nation's first goals and timetables, as well as his 1972
Equal Employment Opportunity Act that made merit-based Affirmative
Action programs the law of our nation, but Democrats turned Affirmative
Action into an unfair quota system;
WHEREAS,
Democrat Senator Robert Byrd who was a fierce opponent of desegregating
the military complained in one letter: "I would rather die a thousand
times and see old glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again than
see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a
throwback to the blackest specimen of the wilds,"
WHEREAS,
in the early 1970's, Democrat Senator Robert Byrd pushed to have the
Senate's main office building named after a former "Dixiecrat,"
Democrat Senator Richard Russell who was Senator Byrd's mentor and
leading opponent of ant-lynching legislation, and in 2001 Senator Byrd
was forced to apologize for using the "N-word" on television,
WHEREAS,
Democrats did not denounce Democrat Senator Christopher Dodd who
praised Senator Robert Byrd as someone who would have been "a great
senator for any moment," including the Civil War; yet Democrats
denounced Senator Trent Lott for his remarks about Senator Strom
Thurmond who was never in the Ku Klux Klan and, after he became a
Republican, defended blacks against lynching and the discriminatory
poll taxes imposed on blacks by Democrats,
WHEREAS,
Democrats today demean and discriminate against blacks including (a)
Democrat Senator Ted Kennedy who called black judicial nominees
"Neanderthals;" (b) Democrat Senator Harry Reid who slurred Supreme
Court Justice Clarence Thomas as someone who could not write good
English; (c) Joe Biden while he was a Senator who boasted that his home
state of Delaware was a slave state; (d) Democratic Party operatives
who depicted Maryland Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele on the
Internet as a "Simple Sambo;" (e) cartoonist Jeff Danziger and Pat
Oliphant who portrayed Secretary of State Dr. Condoleezza Rice as a
"stooge" and a bare foot, "Ignorant Mammy;" (f) Democratic Senator John
F. Kerry who denounced affirmative action on the floor of the Senate in
the 1990's; (g) President Bill Clinton who – following in the footsteps
of his mentor J. William Fulbright, a staunch segregationist – refused
to enforce a court-ordered affirmative action plan while president and
was himself sued for discriminating against his black employees while
he was the Governor of Arkansas; and (h) Barack Hussein Obama while he
was an Illinois State senator who provided funding for slum projects in
Chicago that kept blacks trapped in rat and roach infested housing, as
well as while he was a US senator voted against the minimum wage bill
and wrote a letter of support for former Klansman Robert Byrd that
helped that racist win re-election,
WHEREAS,
the Democratic Party's use of deception and fear to intimidate black
Americans into voting for Democrats is consistent with the Democratic
Party's heritage of racism that included sanctioning of slavery and
kukluxery – a perversion of moral sentiment among leaders
of the Democratic Party; and the Democratic Party's racist legacy bode
ill until this generation of black Americans,
NOW,
THEREFORE, for the documented atrocities and accumulated wrongs
inflicted upon black Americans, we submit this petition to the head of
the Democratic Party, Barack Hussein Obama, for a formal proclamation
of apology for the Democratic Party's 150-year history of racism.
Click here for more information about the National Black Republican Association
Recent Comments