Ronald Reagan RIP! and One Other Thing

I plan on writing a more substantive post tomorrow, but right now while I'm watching Jon Stewart show clips of the recent Republican debates, I wonder . . . do Republicans not know or not care how little African Americans think of Reagan? Why do they keep touting themselves as Reagan Reincarnate?

Yeah, that's how you attract minority voters away from the Democrats.

Note to people who do care, here's why just about 85-90% of African Americans support the Democrats: even when they say something racially insensitive, which it seems even the most well-meaning white Americans do, Dems don't hold up an enemy of the Civil Rights Movement as some sort of icon.

Here's some readings from Tim Wise and Bob Herbert for ya.

May the Gipper rest in peace. Please, Republicans, let him rest.

And while I'm at it, let me take a moment to explain why any white person needs to be very careful and accurate when describing the relationship between MLK's dream (may the dream live on) and LBJ's signing the civil rights acts. America has a hateful habit of either dismissing or disempowers African Americans' historical achievements and efforts. For example, my history teacher told us slavery wasn't all that bad; after all, there weren't a whole lot of rebellions. He didn't mention that the geography and demographics of the South didn't lend themselves to rebellions, and there were a few, not to mention the Underground Railroad. He didn't mention the numerous rebellions on Jamaica or how Haiti's independence affected the peculiar institution.

Then, he credited Abe Lincoln and several white abolitionists for setting the slaves free. Although, according to him, the Civil War was not about slavery and to suggest otherwise was historical revisionism. We talked about Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, and Frederick Douglass, of course. Nat Turner was mentioned but made to sound evil for having killed "innocent" white women and children.

And that's just about slavery.

Now, to be sure, MLK's dream would not have come true had LBJ not signed the legislation. However, that's only half the story. JFK's (I'm loving these initials!) death kinda pressured him into it. Having the world watch Southerners brutalized innocent Americans, however darker complected, pressured him into. PostWWII, the world saw America as extremely hypocritical for fighting for "freedom and the spread of democracy" while allowing virtual apartheid in the South. That also forced LBJ's hand. So to give the impression, even if mistakenly, that MLK dreamed, but LBJ acted, not only continues the racist habit of disempowering Black activism, it also minimizes the roll of one of the only two African Americans who seem to get credit for anything Civil Rights related - MLK and Rosa Parks.

Yeah, African Americans were going to jump all over that, Bob Johnson notwithstanding. It's not because we're overly sensitive; it's because we're sick of being written out of history!!

Now, I dare not say the Clintons are racist. I'm not sure one way or the other anymore. And before you try to run down their list good deeds towards the Black community, let me remind you that not even Abe Lincoln thought the Negroes deserved full equality. So, I'm not sure. But if Hillary Clinton really wants to get out of this, during the next debate, which may not be tomorrow if Dennis Kucinich isn't included (way to go, Kucinich!), she needs to stress that LBJ and MLK needed each other. . . . Or, on the other hand, Barack Obama, why don't you stress that symbiosis?