Why the Republican Party became white
 

I never fully understood how the Republican Party went from being the party embraced by blacks to a party largely rejected by blacks. I understood that the Democratic Party, as the Party of immigrants, could make a good case to expand itself to being the party that best represented minorities, but why did blacks leave the Republicans who, after all, ended slavery?

Reading an article today, I came across something called the Lily White Movement, and I suspect that there are others like me who are unfamiliar with this movement. I found it quite interesting, and if you read the whole entry, you'll realize that the Democrats were in part to blame for the Republicans emphasizing their whiteness. A very cynical part of American history, but I think it helps explains the modern Republican Party and found it interesting.

Lily-White Movement - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Re: Why the Republican Party became white
 

Would not put too much stock in a Wikipedia article...

I think it is more to do with the wholesale rejection of the civil rights movement by the southern democrats and republicans in general.. that appears to be a more salient benchmark than the "Lily White" party..

When the Democrats and Republicans all flip flopped in the mid 60's... they defined their feelings on race, and there was an exodus from both parties.

Re: Why the Republican Party became white
 

Re: Why the Republican Party became white
 

My crystal ball predicts a short shelf life for certain posters..

Re: Why the Republican Party became white
 

nothing will happen...this is the political forum, anything goes

Re: Why the Republican Party became white
 

Yup, we're through the looking glass here, up is down, back is forward, Harry's derailling crap is considered useful and pertinent to the conversation and one moderator lies through his teeth all day while the other calls half the people in the USA racists on a regular basis.

Re: Why the Republican Party became white
 

Is this what you would like?

"yes your right"
"thank you, your right too"
"thank you, your wonderful"
"thank you, your wonderful too"
"thank you, Bush sucks"
"oh yes, your right"
"i love fried clams"
"thank you so do i"
"i love people that hate america"
"thank you, so do i"
"kill zimmerman"
"oh god yes, kill zimmerman"
"i love you"
"i love you too"

Harry joins the forum:
"I'm harry"
"hi harry"
"f-ck you"
"whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, mommy"

Re: Why the Republican Party became white
 

always the victim...

btw, the blatant disregard you've expressed for the Constitution and for principles that underlie our nation disqualify you from talking about others hating America

Re: Why the Republican Party became white
 

(1) Tell me which forum rule does Harry break? If you want to go after Harry, then I suggest you propose another forum rule. Nothing in the rules against proposing another rule.
(2) The moderator you call a liar may on rare occasion be mistaken, as happens to all of us. Otherwise, he relies on sources and has interpretation that you disagree with. All of that is well within the rules of the forum.
(3) The moderator who you say calls half the people in the USA racist has never done any such thing, but while you might call that accusation a lie, I will simply clarify it. The Republican Party is the natural home to (1) racists, (2) to those who see whites as a minority and want to preserve their rights, and (3) those who do not consider issues other than civil rights priority. That results in the Party being overwhelmingly white.

Had you bothered to read about the Lily White Movement, maybe you would have found it interesting from a historic perspective. The Republicans began to emphasize whites because the Democrats after the war were systematically disenfranchizing blacks at the state level, making them an irrelevant part of the Republican base. I found that interesting. You apparently chose to go off on a tangent (which some call hijacking or derailing) to launch personal attacks against Harry, PF, and me.

No one has called you a liar or a racist. There is no need for you to engage in such personal attacks.

Re: Why the Republican Party became white
 

I'm a little more skeptical of the article. Go back to the century after the Civil War and the South was solidly Democrat, so much so that the term yellow dog democrat referred to people who would....

"vote for a yellow dog before they would vote for any Republican"

Then came the Civil Right movement and the parties flipped. While many moderate Republicans voted for the legislation and helped get it passed over the objections of the Southern Democrats, those Southern Democrats morphed into Republicans, many of whom were if not hostile, at least indifferent to the interests of minorities. The Northern moderate Republicans became an endangered species as the Democratic party, especially in the north was more receptive to the interests and concerns of minorities. Obviously, I oversimplified and summarized a century and a half of politics but the Republicans of 1860-1900 were not as hostile to minorities as were Democrats of the time or some of the Republicans of today.
Sometimes, it is not willful acts but tone deafness such as Ronald Reagan kicking off his 1980 campaign in Philadelphia , Mississippi where Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman, the three Civil rights workers were abducted and murdered.