So much for the Hope and Change proclaimed from the campaign mountain top. The fireworks of America transcending race have fizzled because try, try as some folks believe the government should do and try, try as it may government cannot legislate people’s hearts and minds.

Oh my, it’s getting a little hot standing in the desert heat of articulating why one is a Democrat or why one is not a Republican. This is when many will pray for the winds to return, to roar like never before, so the gate can slam, again and again and again…the clapping sound of the broken lock is reassuring.

Reassuring because it’s easier to live as one always has, surrounded by the comfort of familiarity, than to forge into uncharted territory with self-determined Hope staring down the fear when making a personal Change. Reassuring because it’s easier to abdicate thinking for oneself and deciding to stand alone in exchange for going along with the crowd. Reassuring because it’s easier being the bully than the one being bullied on the figurative political playground, for within the black minority is a black majority who gives not a second thought to treating the black Republican minority as prejudicially and cruelly as they can because…well, because they can. The black majority practices equal opportunity name-calling (or worse) and never mind they would be the first to cry foul if they were treated the way they treat Republicans. When the wind of racism is whipping, it’s harder to think and hear one another than when the wind dies, and there is calm.

When there is calm, blacks remember the Republican president who freed the slaves. When there is calm, blacks remember how prior to the political terrorism of the Mississippi Plan blacks were overwhelmingly Republican. And when there is calm, blacks extol and extend to others what their ancestors were denied- to be held in equal regard as a created human being and not categorized and condescended as a box to check. In the midst of the calm, when the political labels and jargon are stripped away and people are honest with their personal beliefs, it becomes evident both parties have done good and both parties have done bad. Both parties are made up of flawed people striving to be a part of governing our country as set by the Constitution, and both parties open their doors to who ever desires to enter.

Political discourse and dissent is expected when we exercise our right to assemble with our chosen political party, but racial venom and accusation exacted based on disagreement regarding principle and policy is reserved for a time gone by, right? Simply disagreeing with someone doesn’t equate him to being anything or anyone but someone who disagrees with someone. The challenge is to square our political walk with our personal talk. Are you ready to stop checking the boxes which so neatly stereotype? Is America ready to start discriminating based on character- holding accountable hearts and minds? You choose to affiliate based on…what?
Well, that’s the question. Take a breath. Survey the land. In the quiet of the calm…why are you a Democrat?

By: Cynthia Shaffer
Cultural and Political Blogger

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5 COMMENTS

  1. THANK YOU! I’ve been preaching the “stereotype” politics for years! Not as well written as this, but the same principles. I wonder how many minority groups out there know the klan (KKK) was started in Mississippi. They weren’t started to hate blacks? They were organized to discourage blacks and whites from voting Republican. When I ask people, when was the first civil rights act passed? Many recall Martin Luther King’s March. But in fact, on April 19, 1866, (God I hope my date is right) an overwhelmingly Republican Congress voted for civil rights. Then came the Klan’s influence and the Republicans lost the votes and the Democrats vetoed the act. This part of history isn’t taught in our schools. Sad if you ask me. Great read Cyn! Keep’em commingle!

  3. Simply awesome. And I agree with Lee. Your writing is a breath of fresh air. I am a fan 🙂

  4. Lee, I’m not able to fully corroborate the series of events you list, but I offer the following:

    1) The KKK started in TN.

    2) It is widely accepted that the first iteration of the KKK was in response to the political climate of the time (mid 1865 – late 1870); Reconstruction and the Republican Party. Yes, they committed political terrorism to suppress the Republican vote among both blacks and whites. They eventually succeeded.

    3) WOW! I did not know about the Civil Rights Act of 1866. Cursory research shows it was enacted April 9, 1866. It was first put to a vote in 1865. It passed but President Andrew Johnson (D) vetoed it. It passed again in 1866 and President Johnson vetoed it again, but that time the veto was overridden by the Republican Congress. IL Senator Lyman Trumbull (R) sponsored the Act.

    (Maybe the 19th comes from the 4th anniversary of The District of Columbia Emancipation Act, passed on April 19, 1862?)

    4) I’ve been researching on and off to get a handle on ‘why I believe what I believe’. I cannot tell you how doing this research has really opened my eyes. They say education is wasted on the young– I can really identify with that sentiment! I’m learning so much more now than when I was being formally educated! :o)

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