[NOTE: This series of historical research articles include commentary from Pastor Walter Hoye of California. This is not a political article, although it discusses political issues and agendas.]
UnExpected Outcomes: In the abortion debate, is there a "Conflict of Interest" within the Black community and among her leaders?
"In 1960, [Democratic] Senator John F. Kennedy defeated sitting [Republican] Vice President Richard Nixon in the bid to become President. The Black vote swung the tide!"
— Alveda King, Niece Of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 1
Why Black America Votes Democratic
"Nearly all (95%) Black voters cast their ballot for Democrat Barack Obama. Among Latino voters, 67% voted for Obama while 31% voted for Republican John McCain. Among Asian voters, 62% supported Obama and 35% voted for McCain. In contrast, white voters supported McCain (55%) over Obama (43%)." — Pew Research Center Publications 2
The first Black man to vote in America was Thomas Mundy Peterson.
He was a member of St. Peter's Episcopal Church and is buried in its graveyard.
Mr. Peterson voted in the Perth Amboy mayoral election on March 31, 1870, one day after adoption of the 15th Amendment to the United States Constitution. 3
The 15th Amendment was the final of three (3) post-war Civil Rights amendments and the first ever constitutional expansion of voting rights that recognized Black Americans.
It is important here to note that of the 56 Democrats in Congress at that time, NOT A SINGLE ONE voted for the 15th Amendment. 4
Ever wonder why Black America votes Democratic?
Ever wonder why Black America votes for the party founded by the Ku Klux Klan?
Every wonder why Black America votes for a party that authored "Black Codes" (i.e., "Jim Crow" legislation) making it illegal for Black Americans to hold office, own property, travel without permission, serve on juries, marry interracially, vote and own weapons?
Ever wonder why Black America votes for a party that vigorously opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965?
This Was The Last Straw For The Republican Party
"It wasn't until Harry Truman garnered 77 percent of the Black vote in 1948 that a majority of Blacks reported that they thought of themselves as Democrats. Earlier that year Truman had issued an order desegregating the armed services and an executive order setting up regulations against racial bias in federal employment." — Brooks Jackson, FactChecked.Org 5
Here's the story. Please listen to Alveda King in her own words:
"My grandfather, Dr. Martin Luther King, Sr., or Daddy King, was a Republican and father of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who was a Republican. Daddy King influenced a reported 100,000 Black voters to cast previously Republican votes for Senator Kennedy even though Kennedy had voted against the 1957 Civil Rights Law. Mrs. King had appealed to Kennedy and Nixon to help her husband, and Nixon who had voted for the 1957 Civil Rights Law did not respond.
"At the urging of his advisors, Kennedy made a politically calculated phone call to Mrs. King, who was pregnant at the time, bringing the attention of the nation to Dr. King's plight. Moved by Mrs. King's gratitude for Senator Kennedy's intervention, Daddy King was very grateful to Senator Kennedy for his assistance in rescuing Dr. King, Jr. from a life threatening jail encounter. This experience led to a Black exodus from the Republican Party.
"Thus, this one simple act of gratitude caused Black America to quickly forget that the Republican Party was birthed in America as the anti-slavery party to end the scourge of slavery and combat the terror of racism and segregation.
"[Black Americans] quickly forgot that the Democratic Party was the party of the Ku Klux Klan. Banished from memory was the fact that the Democratic Party fought to keep Blacks in slavery and in 1894 overturned the civil rights laws of the 1860's that had been passed by Republicans, after the Republicans also amended the Constitution to grant Blacks freedom, citizenship and the right to vote.
"Forgotten was the fact that it was the Republicans who started the HBCU's [Historically Black Colleges and Universities] and the NAACP to stop the Democrats from lynching Blacks.
"Into the dust bin of history was tossed the fact that it was the Republicans led by Republican Senator Everett Dirksen who pushed to pass the civil rights laws in 1957, 1960, 1964, 1965 and 1968.
"Removed from memory are the facts that it was Republican President Dwight Eisenhower who sent troops to Arkansas to desegregate schools, established the Civil Rights Commission in 1958, and appointed Chief Justice Early Warren to the U.S. Supreme Court which resulted in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision ending school segregation.
"Meanwhile Democrats in Congress were still fighting to prevent the passage of new civil rights laws that would overturn those discriminatory Black Codes and Jim Crow laws that had been enacted by Democrats in the South.
"There would have been no law for President Lyndon Johnson to sign in 1964 had it not been for the Republicans breaking the Democrats' filibuster of the law and pushing to have that landmark legislation enacted. No one batted an eye when President Kennedy opposed the 1963 March on Washington by Dr. King.
"Hardly a ripple of protest was uttered when President Kennedy, through his brother Attorney General Robert Kennedy, had Dr. King wiretapped and investigated on suspicion of being a Communist. Little attention was paid to the fact that it was a Democrat, Public Safety Commissioner Eugene "Bull" Conner, who in 1963 turned dogs and fire hoses on Dr. King and other civil rights protestors.
"No one noted that it was a Democrat, Georgia Governor Lester Maddox, who waved ax handles to stop Blacks from patronizing his restaurant. Nor was heed paid to the fact that it was a Democrat, Alabama Governor George Wallace, who stood in front of the Alabama schoolhouse in 1963 and thundered: 'Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.'
"None of those racist Democrats became Republicans. During this time of turmoil, completely forgotten was the fact that it was Democrat Arkansas Governor Orville Faubus who in 1954 had blocked desegregation of a Littl
e Rock public school. To their eternal shame, the chief opponents of the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act were Democrats Senators Sam Ervin, Albert Gore, Sr. and Robert Byrd, a former Klansman.
"All of the racist Democrats that Dr. King was fighting remained Democrats until the day they died. How can anyone today think that Dr. King, my uncle, would have joined the party of the [Ku Klux Klan]?
"There is a law of unexpected outcomes.
"Who could have predicted that the Black exodus from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party in the 1960's would have also ushered in decades of destruction which continue to plague our communities today?" 6
Cost-Benefit Analysis
"Cost-benefit rule imputes little value to democratic processes of decision making, preferring calculation to consent as the basis of public choice. It ascribes no special importance to the ideals of democratic freedom and justice, reserving ideal status instead for the purportedly objective and efficient decision. Ultimately it is right reason, not democratic participation or values, that is cherished and nourished under cost-benefit government." — John Bryne, Confronting Values in Policy Analysis: The Politics of Criteria 7
Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) or Benefit-Cost Analysis (BCA), is a numbers game for calculating and comparing benefits and costs of a project, policy or decision. There is but a single purpose for either CBA or BCA:
To determine if the investment required by a project, policy or decision outweighs its perceived benefit.
Today, as I look at the political landscape, I wonder if the Republican National Committee (RNC) has performed its own CBA or BCA and determined that the cost of winning the Black vote outweighs the benefit of having the Black vote?
"I can easily see the Democratic Party's nominal investment in the Black community paying large dividends today.
"I can easily see Margaret Sanger's hate filled, racially motivated and eugenic minded investment in her Negro Project paying large dividends today.
"I can easily see Planned Parenthood's cheap, sleazy and illegitimate investment in Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s legacy by awarding Dr. King the Margaret Sanger award in 1966 paying large dividends today. I can easily see President Barack Hussein Obama's 100% approval rating from Planned Parenthood paying large dividends today. 8
Election Day, Tuesday, November 6, 2012 is seven (7) months and eighteen (18) days away from today and what's not easy for me to see … is the Republican Party's response to the Democratic Party's investment in Black America.
Or am I just blind to the obvious?
Brothers, we really need to talk.
References:
01. Alveda King, "A Covenant With Life: Reclaiming MLK's Legacy", National Black Republican Association, The Black Republican, Fall|Winter 2008-2009 (http://bit.ly/y9EnCz).
02. Mark Hugo Lopez, Associate Director, Pew Hispanic Center, Paul Taylor, Executive Vice President, Pew Research Center, "Dissecting the 2008 Electorate: Most Diverse in U.S. History", April 30, 2009 (http://bit.ly/HouQS).
03. Ralph Ginzburg, "Perth Amboy Church Is 302 and Counting", Published: February 15, 1987 (http://nyti.ms/FPumy5).
04. David Barton, "Setting the Record Straight: American History in Black & White" page 68 (http://bit.ly/hd0JOh).
05. Brooks Jackson, "Blacks and the Democratic Party", Posted on April 18th, 2008 (http://bit.ly/moaOf7).
06. Alveda King, "A Covenant With Life: Reclaiming MLK's Legacy", National Black Republican Association, The Black Republican, Fall|Winter 2008-2009 (http://bit.ly/y9EnCz).
07. John Bryne, "Policy Analysis and the Administrative State: The Political Economy of Cost-Benefit Analysis in Confronting Values in Policy Analysis: The Politics of Criteria", Frank Fischer and John Forester, eds., Sage Publications, Newbury Park, 1987, p. 82 (http://1.usa.gov/xTUXeD).
08. Sharon Hughes, "Is Abortion Still Important in Campaigns? — Obama Boasted He Had A 100-Percent Approval Rating From Planned Parenthood", Published: 07 30, 2008 (http://bit.ly/FPrNvh).
Unexpected Outcomes, Part 3
'Why I Will Not Vote The Democratic Ticket' (1880)
"The existing [Republican] administration is the representative of conspiracy only, and its claim of right to surround the ballot-boxes with troops and deputy marshals, to intimidate and obstruct the election, and the unprecedented use of the veto to maintain its corrupt and despotic powers, insult the people and imperil their institutions." — Democratic Party Platform of 1880, Plank No. 6. 2
The United States Presidential Election of 1880 marked the end of the Reconstruction Era (1865-1877). 3,4 James A. Garfield from Ohio was the Republican Party's candidate and Union General Winfield Scott Hancock, a decorated Civil War hero, was the Democratic Party's candidate.
While the 1880 election provided little to no fireworks in terms of pressing issues of its day, the Democratic Party's strategy of using a Civil War hero at the battle of Gettysburg to further their disenfranchisement designs to keep Black Americans from voting in the "Solid Democratic South" clearly stands out. 5
Designs such as "violence," "fraud," "literacy test", "poll taxes," "White only primaries," "gerrymandering," "ballot box stuffing," "restrictive registration practices," and "stripping duly elected officials of their powers" were effectively employed by the "Solid Democratic South" when the last of the 20,000 United States federal troops needed to enforce the Reconstruction Acts were withdrawn from the "Solid Democratic South." 6,7,8
Because Hancock was a Democrat who fought to preserve the Union but not to end slavery or see Black Americans protected by the United States Constitution, 9 a handbill that emphasized the differences between the Republicans and the Democrats entitled: "Why I Will Not Vote The Democratic Ticket" was issued to remind voters why they should not vote Democratic in the 1880 election. 10
Today such language would be considered "politically incorrect," however, in 1880 these facts were widely known and fresh in everyone's memory.
Nevertheless, the strategy was brilliant, using a candidate that "appeared" to represent the victorious North and the interests of the disenfranchised slaves in the South, dramatically diluted the Republican Party's voter base.
Even though Hancock lost the election, he lost by less than 2,000 popular votes in what is to date the smallest popular vote victory for a United States President in American history. 11
Click here to read the Chicago Times' Sunday, November 7th review of the 1880 Presidential election entitled: "The Democratic Party's Downfall: The Curse of Slavery and of the Session Rebellion Pursuing it to its Grave."
— Oh, how far have the mighty fallen!
Why I Will Not Vote The Democratic Ticket (2012)
"The Negro cannot win … if he is willing to sell the future of his children for his personal and immediate comfort and safety." — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. ("The Living King", Ebony, Vol. 41, No. 3, January 1986, Page 63.)
Just as the Democratic Party platforms of 1856, 1860 and 1868 defended chattel slavery, supported the Fugitive Slave Law, the Dred Scott decision and the Homer Plessy decision, declared that the Civil Rights laws of the Congress were "unconstitutional, revolutionary, and void" and charged that "instead of restoring the Union, it [the Republican Party] has, so far as in its power, dissolved it, and subjected ten States, in time of profound peace, to military despotism and Negro supremacy," the Democratic Party platform today continues to corrupt the clear conscience of biblical constructs. 12
The 2008 Democratic National Platform ("Renewing America's Promise"), strongly and unequivocally supports abortion on demand (with taxpayer dollars) and same-sex marriage. 13
Today, abortion has terminated the lives of over fifty (50) million children in the womb of their own mothers.
According to Dennis M. Howard, the total number of abortions in the United States between 1967 and 2011 is 54,900,000 or more than the population of the seventy-two (72) largest cities in the United States (54,899,885). 14
In Black America, abortion is the number one (1) cause of death and its impact is genocidal.
According to La Verne Tolbert, Ph.D., of the over fifty (50) million lives lost to abortion on demand, over twenty (20) million have been Black American babies. 15
According to the latest report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and keeping in mind that the CDC's report legally excludes the numbers from California (the state that performs the largest number of abortions in the country), Maryland, and New Hampshire, Black Women accounted for 40.2% of all abortions in the United States of America. 16
The fertility rate of 2.110 represents "replacement level" fertility for a population under current mortality conditions (assuming no net immigration).
Fertility rates below two children define a population decreasing in size and growing older. Some demographers have even expressed concern that due to demographic inertia, a very low fertility rate could become irreversible. According to the United States Census Bureau's Statistical Abstract of the United States (a report given to the United States Senate and Congress), in 2003 Black America dropped below the replacement level of 2.110 (again). 17
At the very least, this is a "wake up" call for a population whose fertility rate was 124.7 in 1966. 18
No, I Will Not Vote The Democratic Ticket! Why I Will Not Vote Party Above Principle
"We made up our minds that the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution were themselves null and void; that the acts of Congress *** were null and void; that oaths required by such laws were null and void." — Benjamin Ryan Tillman, (Democrat from South Carolina) from Senator Tillman's speech in the United States Senate, March 23, 1900, A Republican Text-Book For Colored Voters (Cover Page) 19
"Hon. W. Bourke Cochran, of New York, a leading Northern Democrat, has emphasized the above expression of Senator Tillman by advocating a repeal of the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution. Thus the Democratic Party North and South is joining hands to disfranchise the Negro." — A Republican Text-Book For Colored Voters (Cover Page) 20
David Barton, Founder and President of WallBuilders once said: "… no one from any background — whether political, religious, or racial — should ever love any political party above principle. Although history is clear that there have been major differences in how political parties treated Black Americans, neither party is completely blameless in all of its actions — nor have all the leaders in a party always been good, or always been bad." 21
I wholeheartedly agree.
Today, neither the Democratic nor Republican Party is worthy of my vote.
Today we vote for the "lesser of two evils" believing one isn't as bad as the other and therefore should be chosen over the one that is the greater threat.
Gone are the days where our "two-party system" represented the clear line between good and evil. Today both parties have embraced the practice of "Party above Principle." Today both parties participate in "Partisan Politics" that only serve their personal proclivities. Today both parties have broken their "Contract with America" (CWA) 22 and we the people have sacrificed our vote to the god of "Political Expediency."
This all ends here. Join me in saying …
I Will Not Vote Party Above Principle!
Frederick Douglass (1818-1895), a Black Republican, advisor to Abraham Lincoln, abolitionist and a minister of the Gospel speaks for me when he says:
"I have one great political idea … That idea is an old one. It is widely and generally assented to; nevertheless, it is very generally trampled upon and disregarded. The best expression of it, I have found in the Bible. It is in substance, "Righteousness exalteth a nation; [but] sin is a reproach to any people" (Proverbs 14:34). This constitutes my politics — the negative and positive of my politics, and the whole of my politics … I feel it my duty to do all in my power to infuse this idea into the public mind, that it may speedily be recognized and practiced upon by our people." 23
Congressional Representative, Robert Brown Elliott (1871-1874), a Black Republican from South Carolina speaks for me when he says:
"I am the slave of principles; I call no [political] party master … I have ever most sincerely embraced the democratic [or representative] ideal — not, indeed, as represented or professed by any party, but according to its real significance as transfigured in the Declaration of Independence and in the injunctions of Christianity." 24
As a people, we seem to have forgotten where we've come from. It's time for us to remember our p
ast, so we can clearly see our present and by the "injunctions of Christianity" chart our future.
If you believe "righteousness exalteth a nation" then come this November, take your Bible to the ballot and Vote God!
Brothers, we really need to talk.
References:
01. Eric Foner, Reconstruction: America's unfinished revolution, 1863-1877 (1988) p. 604 (http://bit.ly/HjiAwp).
02. Democratic Party Platform of 1880, Gerhard Peters — The American Presidency Project (http://bit.ly/H1IchV).
03. United States Presidential Election Of 1880, Wikipedia (http://bit.ly/H157Gt).
04. Reconstruction Era of the United States, Wikipedia (http://bit.ly/qc491K).
05. Joseph G. Dawson III, "Hancock, Winfield Scott," Handbook of Texas Online, published by the Texas State Historical Association (http://bit.ly/HmcLd7).
06. Race, Voting Rights, and Segregation Direct Disenfranchisement, Techniques of Direct Disenfranchisement, 1880-1965 (http://bit.ly/fjAW9X).
07. Solid South, Wikipedia (http://bit.ly/hGstG9).
08. Reconstruction Era of the United States, Wikipedia (http://bit.ly/qc491K).
09. David Barton, "Setting the Record Straight, American History in Black and White", pp. 96-97 (http://bit.ly/GQFbQt).
10. Ibid., p. 98 (http://bit.ly/GQFbQt).
11. United States Presidential Election Of 1880, Wikipedia (http://bit.ly/H157Gt).
12. David Barton, "Setting the Record Straight, American History in Black and White", pp. 23,56 (http://bit.ly/GQFbQt).
13. Democratic Party Platform, "Renewing America's Promise" (http://bit.ly/ayADXJ).
14. Dennis M. Howard, The Movement for a Better America, Inc. (http://bit.ly/9FPAN1).
15. La Verne Tolbert, Ph.D.,"The National Center for Family Planning Services in the HSMHA established "a meaningful federal and private partnership" by officially incorporating Planned Parenthood into the federal government under the umbrella of DHEW.", Article: "Over 20 Million Aborted: Why Planned Parenthood Targets the Inner-City" (http://bit.ly/pqOqbB).
16. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), Abortion Surveillance — United States, 2008 (http://1.usa.gov/zXJv0q).
17. U.S. National Center for Health Statistics, Vital Statistics of the United States, Table 77. (http://bit.ly/edHVu8).
18. "Table 1-1. Live Births, Birth Rates, and Fertility Rates, by Race: United States, 1909-2000." National Center for Health Statistics (http://bit.ly/GZ5N1p).
19. A Republican Text-Book For Colored Voters, editors, T.H.R. Clarke and B. McKay (http://1.usa.gov/GZ7Mmk).
20. Ibid.
21. David Barton, "Setting the Record Straight, American History in Black and White", p. 133 (http://bit.ly/GQFbQt).
22. The "Contract with America" was a document released by the United States Republican Party during the 1994 Congressional election campaign, Wikipedia (http://bit.ly/TuImt).
23. Scott C. Williamson, "The narrative life: the moral and religious thought of Frederick Douglass" (http://bit.ly/HtIFpO).
24. Carter Godwin Woodson, "Negro Orators and Their Orations," p. 505, Robert B. Elliott, Eulogy of Charles sumner, 1874.