Biden, San Francisco Dems Silent on Party Apology, Reparations for Slavery - The American Spectator | USA News and Politics
Biden, San Francisco Dems Silent on Party Apology, Reparations for Slavery
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As the old Dana Carvey Church Lady used to say on Saturday Night Live: “How conveeeeeeeeeeenient!”

Much is being made of San Francisco’s look at reparations. Here’s a CNN headline:

San Francisco leaders show early support for $5 million reparation payments for eligible Black residents

CNN reports this:

CNN  — A one-time payment of $5 million to each eligible Black resident is among recommendations unanimously accepted by San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors as part of a draft plan by a panel proposing reparations.

The move Tuesday was an intermediate step, with a final report that includes board feedback due in June, the San Francisco African American Reparations Advisory Committee said, and the board set to meet again on the issue in September.

San Francisco’s ABC7 reported this of Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom:

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — With his signature, Governor Newsom historically made California the first state in the country studying and developing proposals for potential reparations.

‘”I like the spirit of what you guys are saying… this is not just about California,” Newsom said as he signed the legislation. “This is about making an impact, a dent across the rest of the country.”

This story also says this:

But Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, who authored the California legislation, says it’s deeper than that.

“Even though those who live today are not the actual slave holders,” Weber explains, “they benefited from the resources of their forefathers, they benefited from racism, they benefited from having white privilege in this country. And the wealth that they have amassed was on the backs, on the discrimination on the backs of African Americans.”

Then there was this story in the Hill:

Biden signs executive order to address racial inequity

Hmmm. Notice anything missing here? Like a mention of the governor’s, the assemblywoman’s, and the president’s political party? That would be the Democratic Party.

A reminder made in this space before: The Democratic Party was founded by slave owners. And as I have noted before:

  • The first six Democratic Party platforms from 1840–1860 supported slavery. Upon winning national office, they refused to abolish slavery. When Republican President Abraham Lincoln pushed for passage by Congress of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the Constitution? The 13th abolishing slavery, the 14th giving blacks due process, and the 15th providing the right to vote? Democrats in Congress opposed all three, which passed over their objections.
  • Strangely missing in this discussion by Biden, Newsom, and Assemblywoman Weber is the number of Democratic Party platforms that either supported segregation outright or were silent on the subject. There were 20, from 1868–1948.
  • The 1868 Democratic National Convention adopted this as its slogan: “This is a white man’s country. Let a white man rule.”
  • There is no reference by Biden, Newsom, or even the black Assemblywoman Weber that it was their party that created “Jim Crow” as in “Jim Crow laws” — the laws that established segregation. Nor is there reference to the role Democrats played in creating them. These laws segregated public schools, public transportation, restaurants, restrooms, and public places in general (everything from water coolers to beaches).
  • There is no apology from Biden as party leader for the fact that Democrats opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1866. It was passed by the Republican Congress over the veto of Democratic President Andrew Johnson. The law was designed to provide blacks with the right to own private property, sign contracts, sue, and serve as witnesses in a legal proceeding. The law was passed over the objections of Biden’s party by a Republican Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses Grant. The law prohibited racial discrimination in public places and public accommodations.

On and on and on goes this carved-in-stone history of the Democratic Party’s blatant, horrific racism. To this day, there has been no apology for its use of the Klan as what historians call the party’s “terrorist” arm.

With all of that and oh so much more on the record, it is more than curious that Joe Biden — today’s leader of the Democratic Party — has not had the party issue an apology to black Americans.

And it certainly is more than curious that there is no effort by Gov. Newsom and Assemblywoman Weber to call for reparations to be paid by the California and national Democratic parties. It is their party, after all, that supported slavery and segregation. And if that isn’t bad enough, in today’s world, they — with President Biden — are staunch supporters of the son of segregation known as “identity politics” — which requires judging each American his or her by race.

The more things change, the more Democrat Party leaders stay the same.

Imagine that.

Jeffrey Lord
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Jeffrey Lord, a contributing editor to The American Spectator, is a former aide to Ronald Reagan and Jack Kemp. An author and former CNN commentator, he writes from Pennsylvania at jlpa1@aol.com. His new book, Swamp Wars: Donald Trump and The New American Populism vs. The Old Order, is now out from Bombardier Books.
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