On Sunday, the Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz accused Republicans of wanting “to literally drag us all the way back to Jim Crow laws” by instituting photo ID laws for voting. She later admitted that she should not have used the Jim Crow analogy, but she persisted in her claim that Republicans want to disenfranchise minorities.
Why does this bother me? Because I am a Republican, and I am not a racist. I want minorities to feel comfortable in our party. I want them to know that we also stand for civil rights. The Republican Party has a rich history of fighting for civil rights.
In 1954 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that school segregation is unconstitutional (Brown v. Board of Education). On September 2, 1957, Governor Orval Faubus (D) deployed the Arkansas National Guard to prevent nine black students from attending Central High School. President Eisenhower (R) sent the 101st Airborne to protect the African-American students.
Eisenhower’s Attorney General, Herbert Brownell, proposed the Civil Rights Act of 1957. Senator Strom Thurmond (D) filibustered it, setting the record for the longest speech by a single congressman (24 hours and 18 minutes). The Southern Democrats insisted on compromises that left the act practically powerless. See "Herbert Brownell, GOP civil rights hero".
Wasserman Schultz said, “Photo I.D. laws, we think, are very similar to a poll tax.” Does she remember what ended the poll taxes? The 24th Amendment, voted for by 91% of Congressional Republicans and only 71% of Democrats ("Black Voting Rights").
Even the Civil Rights Act of 1964 needed the help of Republicans. The Democrats had a large majority in Congress, but only 198 of the 315 Democrats supported the bill. President Lyndon B. Johnson (D) needed 269 votes to pass it. He worked with Republicans to get the act through Congress.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 used the original wording of Eisenhower’s Civil Rights Act. Eighteen Senators voted against the Voting Rights Act. Seventeen were Democrats ("Black Voting Rights").
I don’t want to get into a fight about which party did more for civil rights. But I also don’t want people to assume I don’t care about the poor, oppressed and minorities because I vote Republican.
Republicans care. They just don’t talk about it enough. How many people know of President George W. Bush’s work to treat and prevent AIDS in Africa? To fight malaria in Africa? To help underdeveloped African countries? He carefully structured his programs to provide accountability and incentives for real improvement ("Bush Has Quietly Tripled Aid to Africa").
Concerning No Child Left Behind (NCLB), Bush said, ‘These reforms express my deep belief in our public schools and their mission to build the mind and character of every child, from every background, in every part of America.” Bush wanted to help minority students through accountability and local control.
Many say Bush failed. Thomas Sowell, an African-American author and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, disagrees. He pointed out that less than five years after NCLB, young black students had significantly narrowed the gap between themselves and white students. Older minority students did not improve, which affected the overall statistics ("Does the No Child Left Behind Act help black students?")
We could debate Bush’s education policy. We should debate it. Let’s quit accusing each other of not caring about minorities. We all care. We just disagree on methods. I’m looking forward to a healthy discussion about policy and methods in this coming election year. But, please, no name-calling.
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