Difference between revisions of "Black problem"

Revision as of 20:50, June 25, 2019 (view source) RobSmith (Talk | contribs) ← Older edit		Revision as of 20:51, June 25, 2019 (view source) RobSmith (Talk | contribs) (→‎Origins) Newer edit →
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	==Origins==		==Origins==
−	The origins of the Democratic party party's "black problem" can be trace back to [[Lyndon Johnson]] and the 1957 and 194 Civil Rights Acts.	+	The origins of the Democratic party party's "black problem" can be trace back to [[Lyndon Johnson]] and the 1957 and 1964 Civil Rights Acts.
	===1957 Civil Rights Act===		===1957 Civil Rights Act===

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Revision as of 20:51, June 25, 2019

A Black problem in liberal Democrat rhetoric refers to a white Democratic party candidate's inability to relate to African American voters. Two examples from the 2016 presidential election and 2020 presidential election illustrate:

• John Podesta spoke of Hillary Rodham Clinton's "Eric Garner problem."^[1] Garner was a black man killed in police custody while in a choke hold in 2014. Podesta wrote, "we know we have an Eric Garner problem,"^[2] getting Blacks to vote for Hillary Clinton in light of her Superpredator comments to "bring them to heal."^[3][4]

• Mayor Pete Buttigieg was criticized by David Axelrod,^[5] Marcia Fudge, Politico,^[6] The Daily Beast and others for having a "black problem."^[7] Buttigieg attempted a "Sister Soulja moment" when he left off the 2020 campaign trail to deal with a police shooting in his hometown, telling an emotional crowd of Black Lives Matter activists, "I'm not asking for your vote."^[8] A Sister Soulja moment in liberal parkance is defined as

"a key moment when the candidate takes what at least appears to be a bold stand against certain extremes in their party" and as "a calculated denunciation of an extremist position or special interest group." Such an act of repudiation is designed to signal to centrist voters that the politician is not beholden to traditional, and sometimes unpopular, interest groups associated with the party."^[9]

Origins

The origins of the Democratic party party's "black problem" can be trace back to Lyndon Johnson and the 1957 and 1964 Civil Rights Acts.

1957 Civil Rights Act

Republican Attorney General Herbert Brownell originally proposed the Civil Rights Act of 1957. Democrat Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson had Judiciary chairman Sen. James Eastland drastically water-down the House version, removing stringent voting protection clauses.^[10][11] The bill passed 285-126 in the House with Republicans providing the majority of votes 167–19 and Democrats 118–107.^[12] It then passed 72-18 in the Senate, with Republicans again supplying the majority of votes, 43–0 and Democrats voting 29–18. Sen. John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts, who later ran for president, voted against it.^[13] It was the first federal civil rights legislation passed by the United States Congress since the Republicans passed the Civil Rights Act of 1875. Johnson told Sen. Richard Russell,

"These Negroes, they're getting pretty uppity these days and that's a problem for us since they've got something now they never had before, the political pull to back up their uppityness. Now we've got to do something about this, we've got to give them a little something, just enough to quiet them down, not enough to make a difference. For if we don't move at all, then their allies will line up against us and there'll be no way of stopping them, we'll lose the filibuster and there'll be no way of putting a brake on all sorts of wild legislation. It'll be Reconstruction all over again."^[14]

References