This being Black History Month, I thought I would offer my two-cents worth. One of the good things I heard about was an event that occurred a few days ago. The GOP National Committee threw a wing-ding at Howard University to recognize successful black leaders in the Republican Party and it presented them with the Trailblazer Award. Howard University is located in Washington D.C., and it received its charter from Congress in 1867. At that time it was primarily a black college. Today it's a private, nonsectarian school open to all races, with graduate schools in seven disciplines.
Its roster of former students is long and impressive, so Howard was a fitting venue for the occasion and the people it honored last week were certainly worthy of the award. They included the late Sen. Edwin Brooke from Massachusetts, a Republican and the first black man popularly elected to the U.S. Senate (in 1966). Others honored were Mia Love, newly elected representative from Utah and the first black Republican woman ever elected to Congress. Ms. Love comes from a district that is overwhelmingly white. Another award winner recognized was Tim Scott, U.S. Senator from South Carolina, the first black from the South elected to the Senate.
I was prepared to go further into detail about the accomplishments of this year's Trailblazer recipients and the honors bestowed on them at the luncheon, when my concentration was interrupted. I happened to come across a quote from that fanatical, zealous liberal Chris Mathews, and it kind of set me off. Mathews was quoted as saying on Jan. 28, "I don't know how anybody who is African American would think about voting Republican as long as Reince Priebus is running the show." I have to admit that I was taken aback because the function I was reading about the Trailblazers was being run by the same Reince Priebus. So it got me to thinking about how blacks were treated by Democrat politicians in years past; some not so long past.
Here are a couple of examples. The Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act were passed in the 1960s. Do any of you older readers remember how the votes went in Congress when these bills came up for a vote? If your memories are a little foggy let me refresh them. In the Senate the vote for the Voting Rights Act was 78 to 20, with 17 of the 20 no votes cast by Democrats, including votes from both Arkansas senators (Fulbright and McClellan) as well as from Gore of Tennessee (the former VP's daddy). The Civil Rights Act was passed with 80 percent of the Republicans supporting it, and only 63 percent of Democrats voting affirmatively.
The past is past and it's best to not dwell on it; however, it is difficult for me to figure out why Democrats have gotten solid majorities of black votes in all the presidential elections since FDR got 71 percent in 1932, and no Republican since 1994 has garnered more than 15 percent. Of course, Obama received over 90 percent of the black vote in both elections in 2008 and 2012, and shamefully he hasn't advanced the black cause one bit. As of today the black unemployment rate is double that of others at 10.3 percent vs. 5.7 percent overall, and for those 18 to 34 the rate is a shameful 15.5 percent. Throughout his entire term so far, blacks have experienced almost double the unemployment rate of the rest of the population.
According to Tavis Smiley of PBS, young blacks, across the board, score below their counterparts in graduation rates, literacy rates, and college prep rates. They are virtually locked out of employment and they fill the nations prisons in disproportionate numbers. The statistics are shocking. Only 54 percent graduate from high school and the average black 12th-grade student reads at a level of a white eighth grader. I know we and they (black Americans) can do better than that. I'm not certain how it can be done, but I know it can be done.
I opine, you decide.
-- Willie Williams is a Siloam Springs resident. He can be reached at [email protected]. The opinions expressed are those of the author.
Editorial on 02/18/2015