ESPN host: Black people should vote for GOP

Stephen A. Smith says that black voters in the U.S. should vote for the GOP in the next election.

[AnthonyBrianLogan]

I'm black and I never vote Democrat. And I did not grow up rich or anywhere near rich. I'm a regular guy out here trying to make it in this cold world.  I see that Democrat policies have not helped the black community at all, if anything, their policies have attributed to our regression. 

[jaimetonche]

'democrats talk to black folk every 4 years....' Charles Barkley

[macbeth]

Pretty sure Kanye said this months ago and was dragged through the mud for it.

[royryland]

This is so refreshing to hear someone from CNN standing up for what's been said time after time ...The DEMOCRATS could give a şhit about the black people!

[doylekennedyusaf]

When you think about racial equality and civil rights, which political party comes to mind? The Republicans? Or, the Democrats? Most people would probably say the Democrats. But this answer is incorrect.
Since its founding in 1829, the Democratic Party has fought against every major civil rights initiative, and has a long history of discrimination.
The Democratic Party defended slavery, started the Civil War, opposed Reconstruction, founded the Ku Klux Klan, imposed segregation, perpetrated lynchings, and fought against the civil rights acts of the 1950s and 1960s.
In contrast, the Republican Party was founded in 1854 as an anti-slavery party. Its mission was to stop the spread of slavery into the new western territories with the aim of abolishing it entirely. This effort, however, was dealt a major blow by the Supreme Court. In the 1857 case Dred Scott v. Sandford, the court ruled that slaves aren’t citizens; they’re property. The seven justices who voted in favor of slavery? All Democrats. The two justices who dissented? Both Republicans.
The slavery question was, of course, ultimately resolved by a bloody civil war. The commander- in-chief during that war was the first Republican President, Abraham Lincoln – the man who freed the slaves.
Six days after the Confederate army surrendered, John Wilkes Booth, a Democrat, assassinated President Lincoln. Lincoln’s vice president, a Democrat named Andrew Johnson, assumed the presidency. But Johnson adamantly opposed Lincoln’s plan to integrate the newly freed slaves into the South’s economic and social order.
Johnson and the Democratic Party were unified in their opposition to the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery; the 14th Amendment, which gave blacks citizenship; and the 15th Amendment, which gave blacks the vote. All three passed only because of universal Republican support.
During the era of Reconstruction, federal troops stationed in the south helped secure rights for the newly freed slaves. Hundreds of black men were elected to southern state legislatures as Republicans, and 22 black Republicans served in the US Congress by 1900. The Democrats did not elect a black man to Congress until 1935. But after Reconstruction ended, when the federal troops went home, Democrats roared back
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into power in the South. They quickly reestablished white supremacy across the region with measures like black codes – laws that restricted the ability of blacks to own property and run businesses. And they imposed poll taxes and literacy tests, used to subvert the black citizen’s right to vote.
And how was all of this enforced? By terror -- much of it instigated by the Ku Klux Klan, founded by a Democrat, Nathan Bedford Forrest.
As historian Eric Foner - himself a Democrat - notes:
“In effect, the Klan was a military force serving the interests of the Democratic Party.”
President Woodrow Wilson, a Democrat, shared many views with the Klan. He re-segregated many federal agencies, and even screened the first movie ever played at the White House - the racist film “The Birth of a Nation, ” originally entitled “The Clansman.”
A few decades later, the only serious congressional opposition to the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 came from Democrats.
Eighty percent of Republicans in Congress supported the bill. Less than 70 percent of Democrats did. Democratic senators filibustered the bill for 75 days, until Republicans mustered the few extra votes needed to break the logjam.
And when all of their efforts to enslave blacks, keep them enslaved, and then keep them from voting had failed, the Democrats came up with a new strategy: If black people are going to vote, they might as well vote for Democrats. As President Lyndon Johnson was purported to have said about the Civil Rights Act, “I’ll have them voting Democrat for two hundred years.”
So now, the Democratic Party prospers on the votes of the very people it has spent much of its history oppressing.
Democrats falsely claim that the Republican Party is the villain, when in reality it’s the failed policies of the Democratic Party that have kept blacks down. Massive government welfare has decimated the black family. Opposition to school choice has kept them trapped in failing schools. Politically correct policing has left black neighborhoods defenseless against violent crime.
So, when you think about racial equality and civil rights, which political party should come to mind?
I’m Carol Swain, professor of political science and law at Vanderbilt University, for Prager University. Once upon a time, every student of history – and that meant pretty much everyone with a high school education – knew this: The Democratic Party was the party of slavery and Jim Crow, and the Republican Party was the party of emancipation and racial integration.
Democrats were the Confederacy and Republicans were the Union. Jim Crow Democrats were dominant in the South and socially tolerant Republicans were dominant in the North.
But then, in the 1960s and 70s, everything supposedly flipped: suddenly the Republicans became the racists and the Democrats became the champions of civil rights.
Fabricated by left-leaning academic elites and journalists, the story went like this: Republicans couldn’t win a national election by appealing to the better nature of the country; they could only win by appealing to the worst. Attributed to Richard Nixon, the media’s all-purpose bad guy, this came to be known as “The Southern Strategy.”
It was very simple. Win elections by winning the South. And to win the South, appeal to racists. So, the Republicans, the party of Lincoln, were to now be labeled the party of rednecks.
But this story of the two parties switching identities is a myth. In fact, it’s three myths wrapped into one false narrative.
Let’s take a brief look at each myth in turn.
Myth Number One: In order to be competitive in the South, Republicans started to pander to white racists in the 1960s.
Fact: Republicans actually became competitive in the South as early as 1928, when Republican Herbert Hoover won over 47 percent of the South’s popular vote against Democrat Al Smith. In 1952, Republican President Dwight Eisenhower won the southern states of Tennessee, Florida and Virginia. And in 1956, he picked up Louisiana, Kentucky and West Virginia, too. And that was after he supported the Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education that desegregated public schools; and after he sent the 101st Airborne to Little Rock Central High School to enforce integration.
Myth Number Two: Southern Democrats, angry with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, switched parties.
Fact: Of the 21 Democratic senators who opposed the Civil Rights Act, just one became a
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Republican. The other 20 continued to be elected as Democrats, or were replaced by other Democrats. On average, those 20 seats didn’t go Republican for another two-and-a-half decades.
Myth Number Three: Since the implementation of the Southern Strategy, the Republicans have dominated the South.
Fact: Richard Nixon, the man who is often credited with creating the Southern Strategy, lost the Deep South in 1968. In contrast, Democrat Jimmy Carter nearly swept the region in 1976 - 12 years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964. And in 1992, over 28 years later, Democrat Bill Clinton won Georgia, Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia. The truth is, Republicans didn’t hold a majority of southern congressional seats until 1994, 30 years after the Civil Rights Act.
As Kevin Williamson of the National Review writes: “If southern rednecks ditched the Democrats because of a civil-rights law passed in 1964, it is strange that they waited until the late 1980s and early 1990s to do so. They say things move slower in the south -- but not that slow.”
So, what really happened? Why does the South now vote overwhelmingly Republican? Because the South itself has changed. Its values have changed. The racism that once defined it, doesn’t anymore. Its values today are conservative ones: pro-life, pro-gun, and pro-small government.
And here’s the proof: Southern whites are far more likely to vote for a black conservative, like Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, than a white liberal.
In short, history has moved on. Like other regions of the country, the South votes values, not skin color. The myth of the Southern Strategy is just the Democrats’ excuse for losing the South, and yet another way to smear Republicans with the label “racist.”
Don’t buy it.
I’m Carol Swain, professor of political science and law at Vanderbilt University, for Prager

[franklinadams]

To all African Americans, Vote NO for OBAMALA HARRIS 2020!

[geoycs]

Uh, no. African Americans should not vote Republican. It’s just twisted logic.

[davea]

If someone gives you money for a lifetime, they eventually feel like they can treat you any way they want.

[Ryan-ndph]

Republicans should give the black community a reason to vote for them.

[troybody]

Black people don't fk with Stephen A anymore. He is the ESPN Candace Owens.

[loafiv]

I bet they call him a "sellout" as usual. He is a 10000% right

[kevw]

Someone at CNN got fired for airing this

[stevenw]

The sad truth is that if you are waiting for a political party to make your life better, you will be waiting for the rest of your life.

[Stphenking]

As much as Stephen A acts like a big mouth clown he was spot on.

[WG-tthk]

At some point it will be good enough to be just an American without the hyphen. At that point, we WILL be a united country.

[nicholaspacker]

I completely agree with his sentiment, but I do not believe voting Republican is the answer. As he stated, I don't believe either party has our best interests in mind or is even concerned about governing in a manner that caters to our interests. Therefor, neither party should get our vote. If we have sense or foresight, we should withdraw from both parties and either become independent or form our own party. Then we should vote with solidarity for whichever party/candidate promotes our own interests, addresses our important issues and caters to our benefit, livelihood and well-being.

[kennethwang]

Historically, it makes sense that blacks vote Republican, the party that freed the slaves, instead of Democratic, the party that created the KKK and the Confederacy. However, race should not make anyone feel like they have to vote for one party or the other. People should vote for whoever they want, without the fear of being judged.

[harmanjotsingh]

Seeing people finally maturing makes me happy beyond imagination finally people coming to senses

[tiagrimsley]

At this point I am not voting Democratic or Republican. Neither party has shown true care for ALL PEOPLE. As a African American woman Democratics initially were for America including African Americans. Over time Democrats have abused their power and have not invested no real resolute to address inequality or to close the gap of America. People are often fooled by these programs that are created to "help support" families in poverty where in reality it is a plan to keep a particular group of people in their place and to hinder their ability to have opportunities of success and achievement. Then there is the Republican party who has no interest in supporting minorities or those in poverty without racial barriers and keeping those populations under their thumb. People have to wake up and realize its not about Democratic or Republican but who will lead ALL THE PEOPLE OF AMERICA in a direction of equality and opportunity.

[YonderBaton]

STEPHEN A SMITH IS A SMART MAN I LOVE HIM!