It always amazes to hear a Democrat talk about race.
President Joe Biden’s speech on the infamous 1921 Tulsa Massacre was nothing if not a Grade-A exhibit of gaslighting on race. Many of the astonishing things Biden had to say are listed below — with a following note about what he mysteriously, somehow, some way, managed to leave out.
“For much too long the history of what took place here was told in silence, cloaked in darkness. But just because history is silent, it doesn’t mean that it did not take place. And while darkness can hide much, it erases nothing, it erases nothing. Some injustices are so heinous, so horrific, so grievous they can’t be buried no matter how hard people try. And so it is here, and so it is here only, only with truth can come healing, and justice, and repair, only with truth, facing it.”
Left out: Biden was utterly silent in this speech on race about the role of his own Democratic Party in all of this. Founded by slave owners, authors of repeated platforms supporting slavery, opponents in Congress of the 13th Amendment that abolished slavery, the party was led by people who were the architects of segregation. And not a single mention of this history by ol’ Joe.
“That’s why we’re here, to shine a light, to make sure America knows the story in full.”
Left out: The story in full.
The massacre took place in 1921, at a time black veterans “who fought, volunteered, and fought and came home, and still face such prejudice. Veterans have been back a few years helping after winning the first World War.”
Left out: Those black veterans of World War I served in a military segregated by Democratic President Woodrow Wilson.
“As soon as it happened, there was a clear effort to erase it from our memory, our collective memories, from the news and everyday conversations. For a long time schools in Tulsa didn’t even teach it, let alone schools elsewhere. And most people didn’t realize that a century ago, the second Klu Klux Klan had been founded.”
Left out: The Ku Klux Klan, according to Columbia University historian Eric Foner, was “a military force serving the interests of the Democratic Party.” University of North Carolina historian Allen Trelease described the Klan as the “terrorist arm of the Democratic Party.” Three years after the Tulsa Massacre, there was a resolution at the 1924 Democratic Convention to condemn the Klan. It was defeated — by delegates who were themselves Klan members.
“If my memory is correct, there were 37 members of the House of Representatives who were open members of the Klan. There were five, if I’m not mistaken, could have been seven, I think it was five members of the United States Senate, open members of the Klan. Multiple governors who were open members of the Klan. Most people didn’t realize that a century ago, the Klan was founded just six years before the horrific destruction here in Tulsa.”
Left out: Per Wikipedia, there were 14 Klan members in the Senate and House. Only three were Republicans. Onetime Klan member Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia was eulogized at his funeral by his friend Sen. Joe Biden.
“And one of the reasons why it [the Klan] was founded was because of guys like me who are Catholic. It wasn’t about African-Americans then. It was about making sure that all those Polish, and Irish, and Italian, and Eastern European Catholics, who came to the United States after World War I would not pollute Christianity. The flames from those burning crosses torched every region of the country. Millions of white Americans belonged to the Klan, and they weren’t even embarrassed by it. They were proud of it. And that hate became embedded systematically and systemically in our laws and our culture. We do ourselves no favors by pretending none of this ever happened or doesn’t impact us today, because it does still impact us today. We can’t just choose to learn what we want to know and not what we should know. We should know the good, the bad, everything. That’s what great nations do. They come to terms with their dark sides. And we’re a great nation. The only way to build a common ground is to truly repair and to rebuild.”
Left out: Those millions were mostly Democrats.
In short? President Joe Biden went to Tulsa and whitewashed the history of his own Democratic Party. It was his party, a party that can accurately be called the Party of Race, that provided the political backdrop for the horrors of Tulsa.
What Joe Biden said in this Tulsa speech was gaslighting, pure, 100 percent historical revision. And there was no apology for it either.
What a disgrace.
