Thread by @ChetPowell

HERE WE GO AGAIN🤦🏽‍♂️With #RacistInChief, #RacistTrump & #RacistGOP all still trending, MAGAts are dragging out the tired old "Democrats are the party of slavery and Republicans freed them" line. They do it every time.

Here's why it doesn't work👇 [THREAD]

Go to any "racial" topic that trended over the last few weeks; Sweden, Reparations, Barack Obama Blvd, Nathan Bedford Forrest, Dinesh, etc, and scroll through the tweets and you'll find dozens & dozens, maybe even hundreds with a variation of 'DEMs are the party of slavery!' 2/

Those using the 'DEMs are the party of slavery/Republicans freed them' rationale to *remind* black Americans why they should be loyal to the GOP are either too ignorant to understand how the ideology of the two parties has evolved, or, they assume that black Americans are. 3/

But history shows us that #BlackAmerica called out that con game DECADES ago. Before we get to that, let's first acknowledge some facts.

Whether you view Lincoln as the “Great Emancipator” (as I do) or believe as some historians do, that he was "dragged into abolition," three 4/

facts are undeniable; Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves within the *rebellious* states during the war, the 13th Amendment freed ALL slaves in America AFTER the war, and Lincoln was the first Republican president. So, YES; "Democrats are the party of slavery and 5/

Republicans freed them" is basically accurate. But using that to say that black Americans here in the 21st century should be loyal to TODAY'S Republican Party is absurd. One must first consider 154 years of historical context to understand why.

This is the condensed version. 6/

With the obvious exceptions of specific times directly associated with the implementation of new amendments to the Constitution, where citizenship or the #RightToVote were specifically addressed, there has only been one period where party affiliation among black Americans - 7/

shifted dramatically enough to be considered a sea change moment. That *moment* occurred between 1932 and 1936. WHY it happened is because of WHAT happened, and in part, about what DIDN'T happen, between Lincoln's assassination and Franklin Delano Roosevelt's SECOND election. 8/

The Great Emancipator question would not have been necessary had Lincoln been allowed to complete his 2nd term. His policies would have spoken for him, but John Wilkes Booth obviously changed everything. Lincoln's successor, Andrew Johnson (Yes, a DEM) did his best to thwart 9/

Reconstruction policies. While progress was made under Grant, Reconstruction efforts ended within a dozen years, falling far short of the hopes of black Americans. Even so, they still felt a deep sense of loyalty to the party of Lincoln. This is completely understandable for 10/

black Americans at the end of the 19th century. After being disappointed over subsequent GOP administrations, they hoped that, as America prepared to enter the 20th century, a more progressive attitude would prevail and Reconstruction-type polices would be reinstituted.
11/

Those hopes faded in 1906 with the GOP's handling of two incidents; the Brownsville Raid, where Teddy Roosevelt discharged (without honor) 167 black 'Buffalo' soldiers; and the Atlanta Race Riot, where a white mob murdered "at least" *25 blacks. 12/

*some estimates go up to 150

It was the last straw for W.E.B. Du Bois, America's 2nd most prominent black leader (behind Booker T Washington). One year earlier, he had founded the Niagara Movement, a coalition of black educators & leaders who opposed Washington's Atlanta Compromise. Du Bois began to - 13/

urge blacks to abandon the GOP. The call went mostly unheeded, but it was the first major crack in the dam. By 1910, no Republican president had come close to measuring up to the Lincoln legacy, and the number of black leaders showing signs of discontent with the GOP grew as 14/

the 1912 election approached. It didn't help that many of President Taft's policies seemed to be taking #BlackAmerica backwards rather than forward. One of the worst was his policy of not appointing anyone to federal offices "whom the local community found objectionable." 15/

This had allowed blacks to be widely excluded from federal posts in the South. And it wasn't just Taft that was turning away from #BlackAmerica, it was the GOP. Even so, Du Bois decided to give them another chance, but during their planning for the Republican convention, 16/

the GOP rejected Du Bois's Equal Rights plank outright. These are but two examples of many of why "significant numbers of blacks backed the Democratic party in the election of 1912." While it wasn't the sea change moment, it SHOULD have been a wake-up call for the GOP, but 17/

they ignored those signs and relied instead on the "unquestionable loyalty" of former slaves and their first-generation-voter children. It would prove to be a huge mistake.

Just as Civil rights proponents geared up for another go, America found itself in another Great War, 18/

this time in Europe. The war effort obviously took precedence over other issues. Ever optimistic, black leaders hoped to renew enthusiasm for civil rights issues after WWI ended, but the Red Summer of 1919 followed👇🏽and by the mid-1920s it was evident 19/ eji.org/reports/online…

that the ideals of the Republican party had shifted and "they were more interested in cultivating lily-white Republicanism in the South than in strengthening the party's traditional ties to blacks.” The administrations of Harding & Coolidge reflected this shift. Both TALKED 20/

about "creating an interracial commission to investigate social and economic conditions among blacks," but when Congress failed to act, neither president followed through with an executive order. Coolidge and Harding also failed to act on anti-lynching legislation after first 21/

indicating they would support it, nor did either act to reverse the policy of segregation in the civil service. While these trends worried younger black Americans, most older blacks stayed loyal to the GOP. After all, Democrats had done even less for them, and although many 22/

black Americans had yet to benefit from it, the economy seemed to be roaring during the 1920s under Republican president Coolidge, and later, Hoover.

So, most black Americans did what they had been doing since Lincoln; they waited, expecting their fair share was forthcoming. 23/

But by 1929, production and wages had declined and unemployment was rising exponentially. Those factors, combined with a period of wild speculation, which left stocks in great excess of their true value, caused stocks to plummet. Measures to reassure investors failed, people 24/

panicked and the stock market crashed on Oct 29, 1929. Prior to the Crash, Black Americans had been regulated to holding America's unskilled jobs, but those entry-level, low-paying jobs vanished as whites replaced them, and as a direct result, the national unemployment rose 25/

This brings us to that sea change moment I spoke of, and it's where the Democrats-are-the-party-of-slavery/Republicans-freed-them-folks get lost.

Those using that line to defend Trump's & the GOP's RACISTS policies have omitted the last 142 years of history, including every 26/

#CivilRights victory that occurred between the end of Reconstruction (1877) and today. Whether it was out of ignorance or convenience, those omitted 142 years of history are where we find out why their favorite racism go-to defense doesn't work.

Now, to that sea change. 27/

Black Americans living in 1932 obviously had a much different historical perspective. It had only been 55 years since Reconstruction ended and many of them had actually lived through it. Some were former slaves👇🏽or the children of slaves, so their wariness in trusting or 28/

voting for FDR, or ANY Democrat, was well justified. Democrats were aware of this of course, but they also realized that 1932 was an opportune year for them to take back the presidency. Rightly or not, the perception that most Americans had was that the last two Republican 29/

administrations had, as one interviewee put it, "administrated us into a depression!" The Democrats promoted FDR as "a man of the people" who would provide "constructive leadership" & "take action" to get America out of it. As noted, the numbers of blacks who had done the 30/

previously unimaginable (crossed the party line to vote for a Democrat) had increased with each election cycle the further you got from 1877, & the percentages grew with each subsequent GOP administration. The DEMs were counting on that trend to continue but they also planned 31/

to build on the public's disaffection with the GOP. But the @DNC's most ambitious goal was to lure a significantly larger number of black voters away from the GOP, much more than the incremental percentages seen in previous elections. To accomplish this they obviously needed 32/

@DNC the support of nationally-known black leaders & black newspapers. President Hoover's own actions played right into their plan. During his political career, Hoover had NEVER spoken to a predominantly black audience or allowed himself to be photographed with blacks. In fact, it 33/

@DNC wasn't until the summer of 1932 that Hoover found time for "a hurried moment and short statement" for those attending the commencement ceremonies at Howard University. Hoover's remarks were roundly criticized in most black newspapers. WG Alexander said the speech "should be 34/

@DNC entitled 'Hoover's Hooey' or 'Apple Sauce for the Suckling Sucker.'" The Savannah (Ga) Tribune called it a campaign ploy "in the interest of political expediency." Shortly after, the DEMs scored a major coup when Robert L Vann defected from the GOP. In addition to being a 35/

@DNC highly respected attorney, Vann was editor of the Pittsburgh Courier, one of the most widely read black newspapers in America. What's more, he had been a leader in the GOP's "Colored Division" and had taken a major role in every presidential campaign of the 1920s. But Vann's 36/

@DNC dissatisfaction with the GOP's civil rights record had been growing, and by 1932 he was ready to give the Democrats a chance. In September he gave a speech entitled "The Patriot and the Partisan" where he gave his reasoning for leaving the Republican party, and why others 37/

@DNC should follow suit. Vann argued that once the GOP "had built itself to the point of security" it had turned its back on #BlackAmerica. Many black leaders agreed with Vann, including J. Max Barber, who said it was time for the black voter to "take his chance with the unknown." 38/

@DNC Yet even with the GOP's dismal civil rights record after 1877 and the burden of the Depression, most black voters still felt an obligation to the Party of Lincoln, as well as a fear of Democrats. Black newspapers split as some supported FDR & others cautioned readers against 39/

@DNC switching parties. "Sensible folk do not swap horses in the middle of a stream," the Louisville Leader warned. Similar metaphors appeared in the Richmond Planet, Dayton Forum, Oklahoma Eagle, Cleveland Gazette & other black newspapers. However, the Chicago Defender was not 40/

@DNC pleased with either party & likened the choice of voting for Republicans or Democrats as being "between the Devil and the deep blue sea." For all those reasons, Democrats did not get the black voter percentages they had hoped for, but FDR obviously still won the election. 41/

@DNC In the end, it wasn't FDR's #CivilRights policies that brought black voters to the Democratic party. In fact, Roosevelt avoided ANY racial issues because, as he explained to NAACP Ex Sec, Walter White, "I've got to get legislation passed to save America. The Southerners are 42/

@DNC chairmen or occupy strategic places on most of the Senate and House committees" and "they will block every bill I ask Congress to pass to keep America from collapsing. I just can't take that risk." As a sign of the times, Walter White accepted FDR's reasoning, as did most 43/

@DNC black leaders. They had given the Republican party 55 years after Reconstruction ended and had ended up with nothing to show for it. They were willing to give FDR at least one term. As the Philadelphia Tribune put it, "If any group needs a 'New Deal' it is black Americans." 44/

@DNC The signs of positive change literally began on Inauguration Day. As the Chicago Defender noted, "There were more blacks than ever before in the inaugural parade, an honor guard of black Boy Scouts, well-known blacks readily visible in the audience and countless other 45/

@DNC evidences of honor being paid the Race [sic]." The new trend of black inclusion continued; "Another notable difference was the frequency and the variety of roles in which blacks came to the White House." Shortly after taking residence, Eleanor Roosevelt trimmed the domestic 46/

@DNC staff due to the economic crisis. "She discharged the white employees, but kept the Negroes," perhaps because she reasoned (correctly) that whites could find work easier than blacks during the Depression. entertainers. And it wasn't just 'the help' or entertainers. When FDR 47/

@DNC invited his Harvard classmates to the White House (which occurred several times), black men and their wives were included, something that was unheard of previously. The Roosevelts also made frequent public appearances before black audiences, including in the South. Acts like 48/

@DNC these showed that, though FDR avoided confrontation with Southern members of Congress over most racial issues, he sometimes tested them. During stops at Fisk University in Nashville, and Atlanta University, crowds of blacks numbering 25,000 & 20,000 turned out, respectively. 49/

@DNC And no First Lady had ever been as active as Eleanor Roosevelt was, let alone interacted with blacks. #BlackAmerica was instantly drawn to her. As NY attorney, Percy E. Sutton, put it, "When you're on the outside, just being spoken to is substantive rather than symbolic." 50/

@DNC The First Couple's actions prompted the Afro-American newspaper to editorialize that the Roosevelts were setting "an example of interracial behavior that was unprecedented in recent memory." FDR was temporarily given a de facto pass on pushing any #CivilRights legislation. 51/

@DNC "There was overwhelming agreement among most blacks that economic problems were even more pressing [than racial concerns] The struggle to survive took precedence over the struggle for equality. And in the struggle to survive, many New Deal programs made a critical difference." 52

@DNC Blacks were included in all of FDR's New Deal programs, the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, Civilian Conservation Corp, Federal Emergency Relief Administration and National Recovery Administration, but the one that benefited them the most was the Public Works 53/

@DNC Administration (PWA), headed by Harold Ickes. Ickes implemented a PWA policy prohibiting discrimination on the basis of color or religion.

"Next to Eleanor Roosevelt, he became widely regarded as the best friend that blacks had in the new administration." 54/

@DNC As they watched the Roosevelts' interaction with other black Americans, and as more & more found jobs, even those with a lifelong political allegiance to the GOP began to question whether that loyalty was misplaced. By the summer of 1936, they were willing to take a chance. 55/

@DNC In a Gallup poll that August, an astounding 69% of black voters said they would vote for FDR. The Republican party's panicked response was two-fold. They attacked FDR's New Deal as they reminded #BlackAmerica that they were free to vote only because of "the party of Lincoln." 56/

@DNC St. Louis attorney, Joseph L. McLemore, wasn't having it. He castigated Republicans for their “oratorical pilgrimages to the tomb of Lincoln” during elections and said, “The American people expect you to discuss the issues of the campaign; instead you discuss history.” 57/

@DNC The Baltimore Afro-American put it more bluntly; “ABRAHAM LINCOLN IS NOT A CANDIDATE IN THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN.” When the final votes were tallied, FDR had won the largest overall popular vote in American history and it was evident that #BlackAmerica had switched parties. 58/

@DNC The black voter percentages in 1936 far exceeded what DEMs had hoped for in '32. FDR pulled from 60% to 250% more in black neighborhoods nationwide than in '32. This was the *moment* that #BlackAmerica switched from being Republicans to Democrats. As the economic situation 59/

@DNC improved for most blacks, their focus turned back to #CivilRights, but then conflict erupted in Europe & Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.

I firmly believe that FDR would have followed through with major #CivilRights legislation after WWII ended, but like Lincoln, Roosevelt never 60/

@DNC got the chance. What we DO know is that FDR's successor, Henry Truman, gave black Americans their first civil rights victories in 73 years. But just as FDR had done, Truman had to set #CivilRights issues aside as he dealt with, first, the war, and then, post-war issues. 61/

@DNC After establishing the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan, Truman signed THREE Executive Orders that dealt with racial discrimination. The 1st made it illegal to discriminate against persons applying for civil service positions based on race. The 2nd banned segregation in the 62/

@DNC armed forces, & the 3rd created the Committee on Government Contract Compliance, which ensured defense contractors did not discriminate because of race. But even as it celebrated those victories, the Chicago Defender headlines reminded Americans that they had more work to do. 63/

@DNC MAGAts frequently use Strom Thurmond as an example of a racist Democrat, but once again, they've got it wrong. Strom Thurman was NOT a Democrat in 1948 when he shouted “there’s not enough troops in the army to force the Southern people to break down segregation and admit the 64/

@DNC nigra [sic] race into our theaters, into our swimming pools, into our homes, into our churches.” Thurmond had left the Democratic party in protest over Truman's #CivilRights agenda; the executive orders, a proposed creation of a permanent Fair Employment Practices Commission 65/

@DNC the elimination of state poll taxes (a tool used to keep poor blacks & whites from voting) and his support of federal anti-lynching laws. In fact, Thurmond ran (as a Dixiecrat) AGAINST Truman, the Democrat, in 1948. Truman won the election & Thurmond subsequently switched 66/

@DNC parties. Contrary to MAGA talking points, out of Strom Thurmond's nearly 50 years in the senate, the first 8 were as a Democrat, but for the rest, he was a REPUBLICAN. And he died a Republican.

The GOP regained the presidency with Dwight Eisenhower's victory. To his credit, 67/

@DNC Ike followed through with Truman's desegregation of the Armed Forces. Ike also enacted the #CivilRights Acts of 1957 & 1960, establishing a permanent civil rights office inside the DOJ, and a Civil Rights Commission to hear testimony about abuses of voting rights. And in 68/

@DNC 1957, when Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus refused to obey a court order to integrate public schools, Eisenhower placed the Arkansas National Guard under federal control and sent in the 101st Airborne to escort & protect 9 black students' entry to Little Rock Central High School. 69/

@DNC But, unlike Truman, Eisenhower did not support anti-lynching legislation.

John F Kennedy was a vocal #CivilRights supporter during his campaign and his first notable action occurred while still a candidate, after he learned that MLK had been arrested in Georgia, Kennedy 70/

@DNC called Coretta King himself, and then had brother Bobby call the Ga governor to obtain King's release. However, JFK was reluctant to address #CivilRights on a broad scale after taking office. He did appoint a number of blacks to federal positions, including Thurgood Marshall 71/

@DNC to the U.S. Court of Appeals, and he notably talked about racism in his first SOTU, but "by not addressing civil rights publicly and comprehensively, Kennedy was forced to address racial incidents on a case-by-case basis, often after they had escalated to violence." Three 72/

@DNC obvious examples were: 1. The attack on the Freedom Riders in Alabama, where Klansmen & a like-minded mob slashed the tires of the bus when it stopped, firebombed it as it tried to get away and beat the Freedom Riders with clubs as they fled the fire. 73/ smithsonianmag.com/videos/categor…

@DNC 2. The 15-hour riot that occurred at the University of Mississippi when James Meredith attempted to register. Two people were killed, six US Marshals were shot & 206 more marshals & National Guardsmen were wounded, as well as hundreds of rioters, before elements of the U.S. 74/

@DNC Army from the 503rd & 716th Battalions arrived and order was restored.

3. On May 3, 1963, "PUBLIC SAFETY" Commissioner Bull Conner ordered the police to use dogs, and firemen to use high-pressure fire hoses to stop protesters (including children) in Birmingham, Alabama. 75/

@DNC Bull Conner's expectation was that his use of brutal force would stop the current protest as well as quell similar protests from occurring in the future. What Conner did NOT expect was how #BlackAmerica JFK & America would respond after graphic videos appeared on all three TV 76/

@DNC news networks, and disturbing photos plastered the front page of newspapers across America. Instead of intimidating #BlackAmerica as he had hoped, Bull Conner's racist acts of brutality had the opposite effect. It galvanized them to stand up to him. And instead of preserving, 77/

@DNC or even delaying segregation, merchants agreed to desegregate their fitting rooms within THREE DAYS after demonstrations ended, 'Whites Only' signs would be removed from restrooms and drinking fountains within 30 days, and lunch counters would be desegregated within 60 days. 78/

@DNC Birmingham was also the tipping point for Kennedy. He had been reactive on civil rights issues up until then, but he became proactive after. The following month JFK spoke directly to America and made #CivilRights both a moral & Constitutional issue.👇🏽79/

@DNC As with Lincoln & FDR, we'll never know what Kennedy might have accomplished by completing another term, but we know his successor, Lyndon Johnson shocked fellow Southerners when, during his first major speech after being sworn in, he spoke to America via a joint session of 80/

@DNC Congress, vowing to continue Kennedy's dreams, "above all, a dream of equal rights for all Americans, whatever their race or color." Johnson outmaneuvered Southern members of Congress' attempts to block the bill & passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 81/

@DNC But the Civil Rights Act did NOT address the voter suppression directed against #BlackAmerica. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee had already been organizing & protesting in Selma, Al since 1962, but MLK amped-up the effort in 1965. On February 4, LBJ made a public 82/

@DNC statement supporting him. Two weeks later, in neighboring Perry County, Alabama state trooper James Fowler shot 27 year-old Jimmie Lee Jackson, a deacon of the St. James Baptist Church as he protected his mother from being beaten by police and troopers. He died 8 days later. 83/

@DNC Immediately after meeting with LBJ on March 5 1965, MLK announced a plan for a massive march from Selma to Montgomery. KKK members arrived the next day to protest the march. The day after, Alabama troopers attacked SNCC protesters (@repjohnlewis) at the Edmund Pettus Bridge. 84/

@DNC @repjohnlewis Daily protests continued over the next two weeks. On March 15, 1965, Johnson gave, in my opinion, the most eloquent and impassioned speech of his political career👇🏽to another joint session of Congress, where he made his case for the Voter Rights Act. 85/

@DNC @repjohnlewis On March 25, 1965, the same night that MLK Jr. gave his "How Long, Not Long" speech, Viola Liuzzo, a 39 year-old white mother of five from Detroit, was shot & killed by Klansmen as she drove to Montgomery to pick up a carload of marchers. One of the Klansmen in the car was 86/

@DNC @repjohnlewis Gary Rowe, an FBI informant, who immediately provided details of the murder & names👇🏽of the Klansmen. As a result, LBJ appeared on national TV to announce the arrests in less than 24 hours, becoming the first president to arrest & prosecute members of the Klan since Grant. 87/

@DNC @repjohnlewis The Voter Rights Act passed the Senate by a vote of 77 to 19 on May 26, 1965, and, after debating the bill for over a month, the House of Representatives passed the bill by a vote of 333 to 85 on July 9th, and President Johnson signed the Voter Rights Act on August 6, 1965. 88/

@DNC @repjohnlewis But Johnson wasn't done with #CivilRights. He appointed Robert Weaver to run @HUDgov, which made him the first black cabinet secretary of any presidential administration, and he nominated civil rights attorney Thurgood Marshall to be the first African-American to the SCOTUS. 89/

@DNC @repjohnlewis @HUDgov LBJ also passed the Fair Housing Act, the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, and Higher Education Act of 1965, which focused on funding for lower income students, including grants, work-study money & government loans. 90/

@DNC @repjohnlewis @HUDgov As part of his War On Poverty, LBJ pushed legislation that created programs such as Head Start, food stamps, Work Study, Medicare, Medicare, and Economic Opportunity Act. As a direct result, the percentage of Americans living below the poverty line dropped from 23% to 12%. 91/

@DNC @repjohnlewis @HUDgov As we know, LBJ's albatross was the Vietnam War and he did not seek another term. Enter Richard Nixon.

To call Nixon's #CivilRights record 'dismal' would be an understatement. He had two basic "accomplishments;" a halfhearted task force that worked with local leaders to 92/

@DNC @repjohnlewis @HUDgov determine how to integrate local schools, and a modified version of LBJ's EO11246, that became known as the Philadelphia Plan; an affirmative action program to integrate building construction trade unions through mandatory goals for nonwhite hiring on federal contracts. 93/

@DNC @repjohnlewis @HUDgov If Nixon's #CivilRights record was dismal, Gerald Ford's was practically nonexistent. He did appoint William Coleman as the 1st black Secretary of Transportation, and despite calls from Dixiecrats to scrap the Voting Rights Act, he asked Congress to extend it for five years, 94/

@DNC @repjohnlewis @HUDgov As the '76 election neared, Ford feared that he had lost the black vote. He had. 4 out of 5 black voters backed Jimmy Carter, helping him win the largest percentage of the popular vote of a non-incumbent since Ike. @NadraKareem sums up Carter's record👇🏽 95
thoughtco.com/president-jimm…

@DNC @repjohnlewis @HUDgov @NadraKareem Reagan managed to do worse on #CivilRights than Nixon & Ford. He did sign legislation establishing a federal holiday for MLK, but he did so with reservations, and black leaders criticized his inadequate enforcement of existing laws & sometimes accused him of undermining 96/

@DNC @repjohnlewis @HUDgov @NadraKareem legislation. A major grass-roots campaign forced Reagan to abandon his plan to ease the Voting Rights Act & shamed him into extending it by 25 years. He also vetoed the Civil Rights Restoration Act, citing the old "state's rights" concern, but it was overridden by Congress. 97/

@DNC @repjohnlewis @HUDgov @NadraKareem George HW Bush did little better than Reagan on #CivilRights. He vetoed the job-discrimination protection Civil Rights Act of 1990, but later approved a watered-down version. His popularity with black voters worsened when he awarded the Medal of Freedom to Strom Thurmond, 98/

@DNC @repjohnlewis @HUDgov @NadraKareem and likely contributed to black voters helping to elect Bill Clinton in '92. Clinton picked up where LBJ had left off, challenging Americans to have a "great and unprecedented conversation on race." His goal to assist working families was similar to FDR's in many respects. 99/

@DNC @repjohnlewis @HUDgov @NadraKareem Clinton reversed restrictions on domestic and international family planning programs that had been imposed by Reagan & Bush; signed the Family & Medical Leave Act of 1993, and the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, which cut taxes for 15 million low-income families, made tax 100/

@DNC @repjohnlewis @HUDgov @NadraKareem cuts available to 90% of small businesses, raised taxes on the wealthiest 1.2% of taxpayers, and mandated that the budget be balanced over a number of years through the implementation of spending restraints. Clinton also started the State Children's Health Insurance Program. 101/

@DNC @repjohnlewis @HUDgov @NadraKareem During the election, Clinton had promised that his cabinet and White House staff would look more like America. It did. He appointed more people of color and women than any POTUS in history. In addition, Clinton was the first POTUS ever to appoint more women and minority 102/

@DNC @repjohnlewis @HUDgov @NadraKareem judges than white male judges to the federal courts. Despite the Lewinsky and Whitewater scandals, a Gallup poll taken just before Bill Clinton left office revealed that 58% of Americans said he would be remembered as either an "outstanding" or "above average" president. 103/

@DNC @repjohnlewis @HUDgov @NadraKareem George W Bush's #CivilRights record included a smattering of minority appointments, topped off with a lot of old-fashioned post-Reconstruction lip-service, but W's administration filed briefs against the selection of college applicants for purposes of diversity when it came 104/

@DNC @repjohnlewis @HUDgov @NadraKareem before SCOTUS. However, W was quick to express "appreciation" for their ruling when they upheld it. His record prompted the US Commission on Civil Rights to report in 2005, "the government fails to seriously consider race-neutral alternatives as the Constitution requires." 105/

@DNC @repjohnlewis @HUDgov @NadraKareem And then we have THIS GUY👇🏽 When it came to issues even remotely connected to race, Barack Obama epitomized the curse of "Damned if you do and damned if you don't." Whites feared the first black president was pandering to blacks & many blacks thought he wasn't doing enough. 106/

@DNC @repjohnlewis @HUDgov @NadraKareem No president since Abraham Lincoln endured such a constant barrage of hatred than Barack Obama. From Birtherism (widely propagated by Donald Trump) to questioning his Christian faith and his loyalty to America, to insults about his wife and children, to THREATS TO HIS LIFE. 107/

@DNC @repjohnlewis @HUDgov @NadraKareem That hate and disrespect even extended to the hallowed halls of Congress, where Republican @RepJoeWilson shouted "You lie!" as the president was addressing a joint session of Congress. But, Obama handled it with dignity and a resolve to not be intimidated, as he always did. 108/

@DNC @repjohnlewis @HUDgov @NadraKareem @RepJoeWilson The Republican party has not just abandoned every key principle it once claimed, it has completely reversed itself on them, ALL of them; racial equality, fiscal responsibility, the Rule of Law, family values, national security, religious freedom, Congressional oversight... 109/

@DNC @repjohnlewis @HUDgov @NadraKareem @RepJoeWilson We still say "Republican" and "GOP," but it’s only out of habit so others know who we're referring to. The "Party of Lincoln" is dead. It's gone. And in its place we now have the #PartyOfTrump. Abraham Lincoln would not be welcomed there today... nor would he want to be. 110/

@DNC @repjohnlewis @HUDgov @NadraKareem @RepJoeWilson Finally, if the "Democrats are the party of slavery/Republicans freed them" argument couldn’t win over ACTUAL. LIVING. FORMER. SLAVES, it sure as hell won't work on 21st century #BlackAmerica, especially when they are using the same Jim Crow tactics of the 1800s to 1960s👇🏽 111/

@DNC @repjohnlewis @HUDgov @NadraKareem @RepJoeWilson To be clear, this thread was intended for ignorant white folks who believe #BlackAmerica needs *reminding* where their loyalties should lie, but it should also serve as a warning for Democrats not to make the same mistakes, by taking ANY voter for granted. END

#VoteBlue🌊⚖️🇺🇸

@DNC @repjohnlewis @HUDgov @NadraKareem @RepJoeWilson

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