Republican tactics pander to racial prejudice

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.dailygamecock.com/viewpoints/item/4200-republican-tactics-pander-to-racial-prejudice

Monday, 16 April 2012 20:51

Former policies, current party rhetoric indicate marginalization of minorities

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 effectively cemented the Democratic Party as the party of racial progress in the minds of an overwhelming majority of African-American voters. In the years since 1964, approximately 90 percent of the African-American electorate has self-identified as Democrat. Republicans justified their opposition to the Civil Rights Act by characterizing it as the federal government overstepping its authority. The United States Constitution, however, was drafted by slave-owning politicians who, given their background, would most likely oppose any legislative progress for minorities.

Why didn’t Republicans feel the need to fix our flawed system, granting minorities rights they so clearly deserved? We may not have to speculate too much. John Ehrlichman, special counsel to former President Richard Nixon’s 1968 campaign, has some solid answers for us. The campaign strategy was, according to Ehrlichman, to “go after the racists.”

“That subliminal appeal to the anti-black voter was always present in Nixon’s statements and speeches,” Ehrlichman explained.

Republicans since Nixon have used negative racial messages and policies directed toward minorities to attract voters. Former President Ronald Regan’s “war on drugs” is a prime example. In reality, it’s a war on minorities. Let’s examine the facts: Nearly identical rates of whites and blacks admitted to using illegal drugs during a 2000 National Household Survey. Why is it that tens of thousands more African-Americans are incarcerated for drug use yearly than their equally drug-using white counterparts? Why is it that possession of one gram of crack warrants the same sentence as 18 grams of cocaine (it was 100 grams of cocaine prior to 2010)? The difference has always been racially motivated, since most of those arrested for possession of crack cocaine tend to be African-American, whereas those having powder cocaine are usually white, even as, according to studies, actual drug use remains similar between the races.