Editorial: ‘Democratic plantation’?

Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2004 | 8:54 a.m.

Last week Clark County Commissioner Lynette Boggs McDonald, a Republican who is in a tough fight to hold onto her seat this election, told Sun reporter Launce Rake that she regretted she once was a Democrat. "From my perspective, there is one last plantation in America and it's called the Democratic Party," she said. The remarks by Boggs McDonald, who is black, were immediately denounced by Democrats. She responded by saying that her comments should be put into context, that they were directed against the modern Democratic Party, which "takes African-American voters for granted."

To truly put Boggs McDonald's incendiary remarks into context, however, some history is required. Since the World War II-era, it has been the Democratic Party that has fought hardest for civil rights protections, and the party continues today to share the concerns that the overwhelming majority of blacks have, including on key economic issues. Let's not forget that it was a Democratic president, Harry Truman, who desegregated the U.S. military. Truman's strong civil rights policies so angered many Southern Democrats that they left the party. In 1948 they fielded their own presidential candidate, Dixiecrat Strom Thurmond, to run against Truman. It was another Democratic president, Lyndon Johnson, who used all his might to push through monumental civil rights legislation. These victories included the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act o f 1965 and passage of legislation in 1968 that banned housing discrimination, something all too common throughout the count! ry at the time.

Many Southern Democrats were upset by these new civil rights protections in the '60s, and Republicans were more than happy to capitalize, playing the race card to bring more whites into their party. This caused a realignment in American politics, making it difficult for Democrats to carry Southern states in presidential elections. This shift in voting behavior also resulted in Republicans making big gains in Congress, where today both houses are controlled by the GOP. Boggs McDonald's "plantation" remarks also should be put into the context of this year's presidential election, as other Republicans have made similar comments. The national Republican Party also has begun an advertising campaign saying that the Democratic Party has taken black voters for granted -- a laughable claim in light of the evidence to the contrary.

If the Democrats had wanted to play it safe politically, they wouldn't have struggled to enact civil rights protections in the first place, nor would they have continued to support the protections against Republican attempts to weaken them to this day. In light of this track record, it's not surprising why Democratic candidates have done well with black voters -- and why it's so offensive for Boggs McDonald to suggest that black Democrats aren't smart enough to escape the "last plantation." The Democratic Party has had the political courage to do the right thing and fight for equal rights that have opened the door to economic and political advancement for Boggs McDonald and so many other minorities -- opportunities once unthinkable in a country stained by slavery.