I’ve been following the Charleston massacre and its aftermath on TV and in the print media, and I’ve been amazed at the capitulation by Republicans on the Confederate Flag issue. They’ve generally tried their damnedest to steer clear of making negative comments about the Civil War era flag. When they were forced to discuss the topic in front of a general audience, they stuck to the party line, saying it’s a symbol of the valiant struggle of their ancestors and a symbol of regional pride that has nothing to do with slavery or racism. Now all of a sudden, these same politicians, normally so careful about protecting their right flank, are saying, “Take the flag down from public buildings and off of license plates. It’s a divisive symbol of racism and hate.”
Why have they given in? No question, they would have preferred to maintain the status quo. Sending dog whistles to racists has been part of the Republican Southern Strategy since the passage of Civil Rights legislation. Why was this event so powerful that it made the walls of resistance come tumbling down so quickly and dramatically? To try and answer that question for myself, I posed a few hypotheticals.
What if Dylann Roof, a raging racist who wrapped himself in the Confederate Flag, had attacked an NAACP gathering at a meeting hall down the street from Emanuel AME Church and killed nine people — upstanding black Charleston citizens similar to those killed in the church? Here’s what we would have heard from conservative media. “There’s no excuse for what Dylann Roof did, but you can understand some of his anger, given the track record of the NAACP over the years.” Then they’d be off to the races, trotting out video of statements made by NAACP leaders at rallies and chewing over some of the positions the organization has taken over the years. That’s the classic strategy when faced with difficult truths. Divert and confuse. Soon Roof would be pushed to the background, and the NAACP would be front and center. “Is the NAACP a radical hate group, maybe even a racist organization?” And Republican leaders would breathe a sigh of relief. Dodged another bullet. Another political crisis averted.
Or what if Roof shot up an adult evening class in African American Studies being held in a classroom a few blocks away? “There’s no excuse for what Dylann Root did, but those classes teach their students to hate all whites for what went on decades and centuries ago. If they taught balanced history lessons and promoted racial harmony rather than anger . . .” Then away they’d go, galloping down that well worn “angry black man” race track one more time.
But what can anyone say to condemn the people who were massacred by Root? They were devout Christians sitting in church studying the Bible. It’s straight out of the “This is what more black people should be like” conservative playbook. There’s no narrative they can use to steer the story away from the horrible, racist-fueled massacre and toward the dead or the church. Conservative politicians wrung their hands in dismay. “We can’t divert. We can’t confuse. We don’t have a prayer.” So one by one, the former defenders of the Confederate Flag had to concede that, yes, it’s a symbol of racism and hatred that divides the nation, and yes, it should be removed from state capitols and other governmental spaces. They didn’t have a realistic choice.
There may still be a Plan B waiting in the wings that will mean they won’t have to actually change much. Will the legislatures have the votes to take down the flags? In South Carolina, it takes a two-thirds majority, a very high hurdle in a Republican-dominated legislature. Are Republicans hoping the passage of time and maybe a few more shark attacks will make the topic of the Confederate Flag fade to the background? Time will tell. But whatever happens to the flag, it’s pretty clear, the Southern Strategy has been injured — not fatally, to be sure, but injured nonetheless.
This article appears in Jun 18-24, 2015.
Wow, David Safier. This is a new low. You’re a gross excuse for a human being.
The black panthers are a racist group, there is no call to ban their flag.
“Here’s what we would have heard from conservative media.”
If you don’t have a story, just make it up, especially if you can call all those who are different than you or disagree racists.
The author is an immature bigot.
Louis Farrakhan: ‘We Need to Put the American Flag Down’
C’mon progressives. Light up those race wars. Your leader has spoken, time for the ‘struggle’. Join Obama, Sharpton, Bill Ayers, Jeremiah Wright, Raul Grijalva and take down this country, your chance is at hand, because after all, that’s what it’s all about.
Get Whitey. Make Him Pay.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/06/25/louis-farrakhan-we-need-to-put-the-american-flag-down/
As a Native American this entire act is a non issue. Native peoples have known far more oppression and racism than the African American community. In my 30 years in the Army and the in the military in general all eo/eeo/race relations courses are focused on black relations and how to not offend that particular race of individuals. Can anyone cite anything the NAACP has done to advance the community? Have they done anything to address problems in the black community such as, teen pregnancy, drug use, high school drop out rates, black on black crime,? Anything? The Confederate flag/monument issue is a non issue, and the black community need to unite and clean itself up before whining about inanimate objects and some imagined offense.
Thank you, Markus-jim. Thank you.
If it had been a NAACP meeting one can bet the GOP elite would be singing a less than sympathetic song, but only a atheist or avowed Satanist and racist would not see this attack on blacks whose only crime was being black and praying to God as atrocious!
The author is spot on.
David, you have a little problem with history, especially the line, “Sending dog whistles to racists has been part of the Republican Southern Strategy since the passage of Civil Rights legislation.” It was the Democrats who were the party of racism in the civil rights era… The Civil Rights Act of 1964 passed with 80%+ Republican support. It was the Democrats who tried to scuttle it (including Al Gore, Sr., who voted against it).
Here’s an important reference that will point you historically in the correct direction: ‘“The degree of Republican support for the two bills actually exceeded the degree of Democratic support, and it’s also fair to say that Republicans took leading roles in both measures, even though they had far fewer seats, and thus less power, at the time,” PolitiFact said in a 2010 analysis of the GOP role in civil rights.’
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/04/10…
David your revisionist history and apparent ignorance is astounding.
Capitol Hill-A coalition of conservative political and civil rights groups staged a sit-in Monday at the offices of Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W. Va.) to protest the involvement of the Senate’s only former Ku Klux Klan member in a movie about the Civil War, and in a Congress that may be called on to examine race relations in America.
Byrd was “unavailable” when members and supporters of the African American Republican Leadership Council (AARLC) led a small group of conservative political and civil rights activists into Byrd’s Senate office Monday at lunchtime. Byrd’s press secretary, Tom Gavin, said most groups send e-mail or call rather than showing up.
David Safier is a purveyor of misinformation and hate, and it appears that the Tucson Weekly supports his views since they continue to publish his incendiary BS. This makes Tucson Weekly part of the problem. I find this offensive and damaging as it incites division and hate. Therefore, I strongly encourage people to boycott their advertisers as I plan to do myself. You gotta start somewhere…
Wow, David…
Your reasonable analysis of the right-wing republican responses to the White racist, terrorist attack in Charleston seems to have brought Tucson’s knee-jerk racists out from under their rocks…
You’ve ignited the seamy underbelly of Tucson…
Kudos to you, kudos!
And it’s “Us against Them” mentality that’s going to make the world a better place, ChetDude. Some people will never get the point.
For commenters who wish to teach me about history, you may need a bit of a history lesson on Republicans’ Southern Strategy, which I referred to in the post. Just google Republican + “Southern Strategy” to find lots of links and lots of information about the Republican push to turn southern white Democrats into Republicans by appealing to their racism. It was very effective.
The following are a few basic historical facts that every American should know.
Fact: The Republican Party was founded primarily to oppose slavery, and Republicans eventually abolished slavery. The Democratic Party fought them and tried to maintain and expand slavery. The 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery, passed in 1865 with 100% Republican support but only 23% Democrat support in congress.
Why is this indisputable fact so rarely mentioned? PBS documentaries about slavery and the Civil War barely mention it, for example. One can certainly argue that the parties have changed in 150 years (more about that below), but that does not change the historical fact that it was the Democrats who supported slavery and the Republicans who opposed it. And that indisputable fact should not be airbrushed out for fear that it will tarnish the modern Democratic Party.
Had the positions of the parties been the opposite, and the Democrats had fought the Republicans to end slavery, the historical party roles would no doubt be repeated incessantly in these documentaries. Funny how that works.
Fact: During the Civil War era, the “Radical Republicans” were given that name because they wanted to not only end slavery but also to endow the freed slaves with full citizenship, equality, and rights.
Googling anything is fallacious! It is controlled by Democrats who are so far ingrained with their ideology that they spend millions and allow their talents to work for the liberal ideology of segmentation, politburo like big lies—read Obama/Reid/Clinton all lawyer-liars and Pelosi/CBC/Sharpton.
Safier continues his pathetic attempts ate revisionism and destruction of honest dialogue!
Ignore him as worthless.
Commenter Martin above is technically correct about percentages of Repubs who passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 but he obfuscates the real point.
From a CNN article; “What you might not know about the 1964 Civil Rights Act”
“When you account for geography…, 90% of lawmakers from states that were in the Union during the Civil War supported the bill compared with less than 10% of lawmakers from states that were in the Confederacy….Democrats still played a key role in getting the law passed. It was also Democrats who helped usher the bill through the House, Senate, and ultimately a Democratic president who signed it into law,”
Whether the party of the South was mostly Democratic 50 years ago or mostly Republican today…the common denominator for (most of) them is indeed racism.
The 14th Amendment, giving full citizenship to freed slaves, passed in 1868 with 94% Republican support and 0% Democrat support in congress. The 15th Amendment, giving freed slaves the right to vote, passed in 1870 with 100% Republican support and 0% Democrat support in congress.
What is the real point here?
W. above is another obfuscator. When the Republican Party started pre-Civil War it was anti-slavery and more progressive vs. the Democrats, (Lincoln being the first Republican President). Over time the Republican and Democratic platforms switched roles to what they are today. Attempting to equate the parties from the mid 1800’s to now is obtuse nonsense.
In true Alinsky style, subversives must accuse the opposition of doing exactly what they are doing so as to take ownership of the issue.
When it comes to ignoring actual facts, no one can hold a candle to the liberals.
Up is down, in is out, left is right and wrong is right.
Have you ever heard of a Fulbright Scholar?
Democrat President Bill Clinton’s mentor was U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright, an Arkansas Democrat and a supporter of racial segregation.
Democrat President Bill Clinton interned for J. William Fulbright in 1966-67.
Democrat Senator J. William Fulbright signed the Southern Manifesto opposing the Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education decision.
Democrat Senator J. William Fulbright joined with the Dixiecrats in filibustering the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1964.
Democrat Senator J. William Fulbright voted against the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
Southern Democrats opposed desegregation and integration.
Well isn’t this cozy?
http://us.fulbrightonline.org/about/types-of-grants/fulbright-clinton-fellowships
When you take down the flag take Fulbright and the Clintons with it.
It’s the only fair thing to do.
I’m curious, did history stop at 1965? Most of what I’m reading in defense of Republicans dates from before then. Maybe it’s what Bruce Springsteen sung about: Glory Days. “Yeah, remember those days when lots of us Republicans were on the right side of civil rights and lots of Democrats were on the wrong side? Good times.”
I’m not hearing much from commenters about Republicans’ fighting for the rights of minority groups of any kind over the past half century, or Democrats working to suppress rights of minorities.
Thanks for moving up 100 years David. The Democrats now own the minorities lock stock and barrel.
Well almost:
http://thelastcivilright.org/2012/08/19/the-democrat-party-vs-the-republican-party-who-is-the-true-champion-of-the-ending-slavery-the-civil-rights-movement-and-the-black-community/
She documents exactly how the democrats contorted themselves to win elections.
“If you can’t redistrict them fool them.”
Hey Safier – You honestly believe that Democrats have been fighting FOR minorities since 1965? You’re confusing pandering for votes with any actual action that would better their lot in life. Democrats, along with jokers like Sharpton, Jackson, et. al. are nothing more than wolves in sheep”s clothing…the new Massas who keep their voters agitated, misinformed, and distracted by shiny promises that never quite pan out into reality in order to get their votes and keep themselves in power.
Like it or not , the tragedy in Charleston was immediately deflected and actively denied by Fox News commentators, many GOP Southerners and the right-wing echo chamber. And, since the political parties have been mentioned so many times in this comments’ section, I would like to copy here a position outlined last week by a lady from Sierra Vista in Cochise County:
Differences between congressional Republicans and Democrats. When a Republican is elected president, Democrats want him to succeed and the country to benefit. When a Democrat is elected president, Republicans plot how they can destroy him, even taking the country down in the process. Proof? Below are some of 500 congressional bills filibustered by Republicans, apparently because making Barack Obama a failed president was high priority, higher than jobs, national security, an improved economy, and even effective governing.
Congressional Republicans, going back to 2009, simply oppose whatever the President and the congressional Democrats propose.
H.R. 12 – Paycheck Fairness Act; H.R. 448 – Elder Abuse Victims Act; H.R. 466 – Wounded Veteran Job Security Act; H.R. 549 – National Bombing Prevention Act; H.R. 577 – Vision Care for Kids Act; H.R. 626 – Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Act; H.R. 1029 ! – Alien Smuggling and Terrorism Prevention Act; H.R. 1168 – Veterans Retraining Act; H.R. 1171 – Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program Reauthorization; H.R. 1293 – Disabled Veterans Home Improvement and Structural Alteration Grant Increase Act; S.3985 – Emergency Senior Citizens Relief Act; S.3816 – Creating American Jobs and Ending Offshoring Act; S.3369 – A bill to provide for additional disclosure requirements for corporations, labor organizations, Super PACs and other entities; S.2237 – Small Business Jobs and Tax Relief Act; S.2343 – Stop the Student Loan Interest Rate Hike Act; S.1660 – American Jobs Act of 2011; and S.3457 – Veterans Jobs Corps Act.
Congressional Republicans filibustered 500 bills, obviously a list too long to include here. The list above highlights some of the many constituencies hit by their partisan betrayal.
I wish some people would read real history books written by authors who have studied the Civil War, the 60s and the civil rights movement , and racism in the 20th century. Did you know an African-America was lynched every 4 days in the 20th Century? No party was completely blameless however it has been the Dems. who kept (and keep) moving us in the direction of more equality and justice for all.
Thank you David S. and JL Curry. I would list some books for the others to read but the ones who only want to point out what the Dems. didn’t do, wouldn’t read them . Somehow the fact that the Republicans aren’t doing anything but block any bill that fights for justice and equality gets missed.
Finally, if you should happen to read books about the Civil War and the decades following it, you would clearly know that Dems. were the more conservative party who wanted to maintain the status quo and make more territories into slave states and the Republicans who wanted to at least begin to stop the slavery by making any new territories into free states. The Republicans were the liberals in many ways. They slowly changed what they stood for in subsequent decades. I have no problem admitting I would have easily been a Republican during the Civil War and for decades after that. The title of the party is far less important than the values each party stands for or at least strives for.
I collect old books and one I am reading right now; The Negro American, A Documented Histroy {1967} is one of the best I have read on the topic in a long, long ime. It came out in the same era as; “Black Like Me” and other equally important works of that time. The latter was one of many books that formed my values while the former is providng me a much needed perspective. Other events included the “March on Washington”, the Watts riots and then the aftermath of the killing of Martin Luther King. And yet here I am, born in the South, raised on the periphery and believing what you write here David is about the same type hate as brought Mr. Room to that Church. The alternative scenarios are just as heinous as was the dragging to death of a Black man in Texas or a Mother drowning her two children and then blaming it on a Black man. Both of them received a just punishment and the same will happen with Mr. Room. I am an unabashed conservative who is repulsed by these murders as much as I am by the accusatory tone of your article. You do better writing about your vacations simply because you are working with first hand knowledge and not something you know nothing about.