America's Voting History

Oppressor: the exercise of ones authority or power in a burdensome, cruel, or unjust manner.

The United States of America has been a divided country for centuries, so when listening to news correspondents speak about the history of this country I often hear, "this is not America" or "this isn't the Republican party of the Reagan years", and "we need to get back to the principles on which this country was founded." 

Really? The principles? What country have they been living in?

The United States of America that I've come to now know, has an extended history of assassinating our extraordinary leaders for extending a helping hand to the oppressed. 

Leaders like our 16th President Abraham Lincoln, our 35th President John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy's brother Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Civil Rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Civil Rights activist Medgar Evers; not to mention the countless lynchings and murders left untold. Yet America still has a reputation of being the best and most powerful country in the world.

"Of course he wants to vote for the Democratic ticket" "You're as free as air. ain't you?, say you are, or I'll blow yer black head off!" (Blacks seeking protection of the law from KKK efforts to keep African-Americans from voting in free elections.)  

~Harper's Weekly political cartoon, October 21, 1876 Politics, Government, Elections. 

This country couldn't have been much better in the past as some say, especially when so many people weren't factored into this "better" past history. 

Abraham Lincoln abolished slavery in 1865, giving African Americans the right to vote; literacy tests, poll taxes, hiding the locations of the polls, economic pressures, threats of physical violence, and other strategies were conducted to suppress the African American vote. 

Thanks to the pressure of Civil Rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., non-discrimination at the polls received public attention when the Federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 was written into law by our 36th president, Lyndon B. Johnson. 

Women didn't earn the right to vote until the year 1920, and is now written into law as the 19th amendment. White women attained the right to vote first, and eventually African American women would also receive the same right. 

Asian Pacific Americans didn't vote in large numbers until 1965; Mexican Americans didn't receive the right to vote until 1975; Native Americans didn't truly become citizens until 1924, although they are the original founders (Indigenous people) of American soil. 

These race of people all have one important thing in common; when trying to exercise their right to vote they were often met with violence and intimidation and were even subjected to rules that not all men had to follow. 

As President Obama stated, "America is a place where if you work hard enough, you can make it." 

This I do believe however, it would be simpler to attain life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, if there were not a constant "oppressor" unjustly and cruelly working to demise the American people at every turn. 

So the next time a news correspondent speaks nonchalantly about the "good ole days", I can only hope that they clarify what days they're talking about because as you can see the "good ole days" weren't very good for many. We've come a long way indeed, but there is more work to be done.

Our ancestor's struggle to vote should propel us all to emulate their actions. Their sacrifices to make a better place for future generations, our generation, should never be taken lightly. 

We must make them proud by consistently exercising the one right that truly made them American citizens and what binds us altogether as Americans; the right to vote. Vote like your lives depend on it because guess what? It does!

2012 LA
 
Register to voter here.

What Made Conservative Southern Democrats Become Republicans?

Conservative Southern Democrats resided in Americas deep South during the 18th and 19th century. This party was pro-slavery and opposed the anti-slavery views of the Republican and Northern Democratic parties. 

The mission of the Conservative Southern Democrats was to dismantle the Republican agenda that supported the freeing of slaves, in which they wanted to coerce Northern Democrats and White Southerners, to not work hand in hand with the freed labor. 

The Republican party pressed for national civil rights, political rights, and equal protection under the laws for newly freed slaves; laws of the 13th amendment, the 14th amendment, and the 15th amendment.

During the Reconstruction Era, which was put in place by Washington Northern Republicans to reconstruct the Southern states and society as a whole; many educated blacks returned to the South for Reconstruction and even held positions of political power. 

White Southerners however detested this new way of life and decided to take power into their own hands, which gave way to the rise of secret white supremacy groups such as the White League, the Red Shirts, and the Ku Klux Klan (seen above). These vigilante groups wanted the South to totally secede from Northern America as a whole.

Slavery was abolished in 1865 after the Civil War took place, and by the early 1870's the Ku Klux Klan (who often uses religious views to justify their violent actions) intimidated, terrorized, and even assassinated Republicans, Yankees (Northern liberals), and freed slaves in order to suppress the vote. 

This violence spread throughout the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, and North Carolina, with Conservative Southern Democrats fiercely trying to regain what they felt Washington took away from them -- their livelihood. 

President Abraham Lincoln who originally abolished slavery and set-out to give all freed slaves their own land as an investment opportunity, was met with death threats until his assassination on Good Friday, April 14, 1865.

During the Presidential election of 1876 Samuel J. Tilden, Democratic Governor of New York, was basically ousted out of the election due to a corrupt bargain that Rutherford B. Hayes, Republican Governor of Ohio, was willing to accept. 

Reportedly, Hayes garnered enough votes to become the new president but he would only receive those votes, if he agreed to remove all federal troops from the remaining Southern states that were still held under power by Washington; Louisiana, South Carolina, and Florida. 

These states were important to Conservative Southern Democrats, because it would allow them to exercise their fear tactics on civilians in order to reclaim the South. 

Radical Republican Rutherford B. Hayes, won the presidency by exerting corrupt actions on behalf of the Conservative Southern Democrats, and the Reconstruction Era came to an abrupt end with the Ku Klux Klan members burning down black owned businesses, black owned homes, and disrupting what blacks thought was the new beginning of freedom. Southern whites succeeded in winning their bout in making black people second class citizens once again.

The more political officials in Washington were willing to work with Conservative Southern Democrats, the more radical Congress grew until extreme radicals began to attain more power and control over certain states and policies. 

So we have Conservative Southern Democrats who considered themselves 'The Ruling Elite', Northern Democrats who were more liberal, radical Republicans who considered themselves 'Men of free enterprise and industrialization', and liberal Republicans who also believed in free enterprise -- but was staunchly opposed to governmental corruption. 

The last Democratic president to ever attain 100 percent of the white vote was, Lyndon B. Johnson. After President Johnson worked with Civil Rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which outlawed most forms of racial segregation, the Conservative Southern Democrats left the Democratic party and moved over to the radical Republican party. 

President Johnson achieved what President John F. Kennedy tried to carry out during his presidency, which was to pass the Civil Rights Act. Unfortunately, President Kennedy was assassinated before the Civil Rights bill made it through passage. 

President Johnson also passed the Voting Rights Act, which outlawed discrimination in voting. After Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, he anticipated violent attacks from the radical right would ensue. He was right; and after the murder took place of civil rights activist Viola Liuzzo, Johnson announced on television the arrests of four Ku Klux Klansmen who carried out the crime.  

He denounced the Klan as a "hooded society of bigots" and warned them to "return to a decent society before it's to late."

Radical Republican President Richard Nixon secured the presidency after Lyndon B. Johnson; then came Democratic President Jimmy Carter who was succeeded by Republican President Ronald Reagan; then came Republican President George H.W. Bush who was succeeded by Democratic President William Clinton; then came George W. Bush who catapulted America into a second great depression and who was succeeded by our nation's first black President, Barack Hussein Obama.

In 2012 the Democratic party is geared towards 100 percent of Americans, the Republican party is geared towards the wealthiest 2% of Americans, and the Independent party is more in line with democratic values. (click chart above to see current 2012 wealth gap)

Over the decades the tug of war battle for money and power between the parties have resulted in tremendous prosperity for 2 percent of Americans, which now leaves a huge wealth gap between the middle class, the poor, and the uber rich. 

The middle class and the poor are currently fighting for equality, human rights, and civil rights all over again.  

Radical Republicans seem to have a history of using brutal force and cruel actions to get what they want from The White House, and after amassing so much wealth and power over the previous decades; the use of bullying tactics to control the American people is nothing short of Southern politics. 

Is this why our current president has been disrespected more than any president in presidential history? Is this why Attorney General Holder, is being held in contempt by Republicans because he's protecting the American vote? And is this why the war on women's reproductive rights and the war on the poor, is being exercised at such an extreme measure? 

It would indeed appear that all of this is being carried out by the radical right wing, as an outrageous attempt to stop the reelection of President Obama. 

Fact: The term liberal came from supporters of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's 'New Deal', which under his administration tripled the number of African Americans working for the federal government. In 2012, Liberals are now considered Democrats.

Fact: The term conservative came from those opposed to President Roosevelt's 'New Deal', which were primarily Conservative Southern Democrats that are now in 2012, considered Republicans.

For more information on FDR's 'New Deal' click here.  

2012 LA

World Leaders Predict Bank Plutocracy

*"I have two great enemies, the southern army in front of me and the financial institutions, in the rear. Of the two, the one in the rear is the greatest enemy..... I see in the future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment more anxiety for the safety of my country than ever before, even in the midst of the war."  ~ 16th President Abraham Lincoln ~ written in reference to the passage of the National Banking Act of 1863 less than five months before he was assassinated in a letter to one Col. William F. Elkins, referenced in Emanuel Hertz's 1931 book, Abraham Lincoln: A New Portrait.

*"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation then by deflation, the banks and the corporations will grow up around them, will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs." ~ 3rd President Thomas Jefferson ~ The Debate Over The Recharter Of The Bank Bill, (1809)

*"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies." ~ 3rd President Thomas Jefferson ~

*"Whoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolute master of all industry and commerce." ~ 20th President James A. Garfield ~ (1831-1881)

*"When a government is dependent upon bankers for money, they and not the leaders of the government control the situation, since the hand that gives is above the hand that takes... Money has no motherland; financiers are without patriotism and without decency; their sole object is gain." ~ Napoleon Bonaparte ~ 1815

*"Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws." ~ Mayer Amschel Rothschild ~ 1790

*"Banking was conceived in iniquity and was born in sin. The Bankers own the Earth. Take it away from them, but leave them the power to create deposits, and with the flick of the pen they will create enough deposits to buy it back again. However, take it away from them, and all the great fortunes like mine will disappear, and they ought to disappear, for this would be a happier and better world to live in. But if you wish to remain the slaves of Bankers and pay the cost of your own slavery, let them continue to create deposits." ~ Sir Josiah Stamp ~ President of the Bank of England in the 1920's, the second richest man in Britain.

*"History records that the money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to maintain their control over governments by controlling money and its issuance." ~ 4th President James Madison ~

*"You are a den of vipers and thieves and I intend to rout you out, and by the eternal God, I will rout you out. If Congress has the right to issue paper money, it was given them to be used by themselves, and not to be delegated to individuals or corporations.." ~ 17th  President  Andrew Johnson ~ Address to Congress 1829

*"The division of the United States into federations of equal force was decided long before the Civil War by the high financial powers of Europe. These bankers were afraid that the US, if they remained as one block, and as one nation, would attain economic and financial independence which would upset their financial domination over the world." ~ Otto von Bismark ~ Chancellor of Germany 1876

Don't these quotes describe our current economic situation? 

Historical leaders voiced major opposition towards the banking institutions, and after enduring our present day last several years of bank fraud and corporate corruption, I'd say it makes sense to take heed to history. 

2012 LA

Malcolm X Videos: American History Back Then

Malcolm X: "Our History Was Destroyed By Slavery"


Malcolm X: "My Father Was Killed By The Ku Klux Klan"


Malcolm X: "Who Taught You To Hate Yourself?" (May 5, 1962, Los Angeles)


MALCOLM X: "22 Million Black People Don't Know The History of Their Ancestors"


MALCOLM X: "We Condemn People For Their Deeds Not Their Skin"


MALCOLM X: "The Ku Klux Klan are Cowards"


MALCOLM X: "ON THE RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS"


MALCOLM X: "OXFORD UNION DEBATE" (December 3, 1964)


MALCOLM X: "We are Africans who were kidnapped and brought to America"


MALCOLM X: "THE HOUSE NEGRO AND THE FIELD NEGRO"

Martin Luther King Jr. "I HAVE A DREAM" Speech

Ohio Landlord Puts Up "WHITE ONLY" Sign

Cincinnati landlord Jamie Hein's, violated Ohio's anti-discrimination laws after she hung a "white only" sign outside her swimming pool. 

The swim pool owner lost her appeal with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission this past Thursday, as she proclaimed that the sign was simply a "decorative antique."

Former tenant Michael Gunn brought his bi-racial daughter to a Memorial Day weekend pool party, which was also attended by twenty other guests. Gunn commented that Hein later questioned him about the "chemicals" used in his daughter's hair, while she proceeded to blame his daughter (the only non-Caucasian at the party) for making the pool water "cloudy."

Later on in the week the tenant took his daughter back to the pool, only to see a sign that read "white only" hanging on the gate. 

As part of the commissions investigation, Gunn produced copies of texts that Hein had sent to his fiancé shortly after the family moved out, blaming "grease" in his daughters hair for the cloudy condition of the pool.

After an investigation into the allegations and "informal efforts to resolve the case", the Civil Rights Commission ruled in September that Hein had violated the law. Although Hein requested an appeal after the initial findings neither she nor her attorney, showed up to the hearing on Thursday.

Jaime Heins' sign of "White Only", clearly discriminated against more than just the Black race but all races that clearly do not have white skin -- which is a lot of people.

Does this news of racism surprise you? Do you think that historical events have anything to do with the way Republicans treat President Obama? Do you think it's coincidence that the majority of Republican candidates running for president -- have had a flip flop with the race card?

For Example: 

1. Ron Paul and his defense of racist newsletters.

2. Michelle Bachman commented that,  "Black kids had it better during slavery times?"

3. Newt Gingrich wants, "poor children to become janitors."

4. Rick Perrys' secluded West Texas hunting camp coincidently titled, "Nigger head camp". 

5. Rick Santorum slipped up during a town hall meeting saying he doesn't want to make, “Black people’s lives better by giving them someone else's money."

6. Hermain Cain actually is black, so not sure if he plans to do an "uncle Tom" move? 

As of lately, Jon Huntsman and Mitt Romney have yet to slip up with the race card; do you thnk they will?

When there's a constant outcry of inequality, racism, prejudice, discrimination and racial profiling -- these cries are for real. It isn't a joke and it isn't make believe. There are real people in this world that go through this kind of degradation on a daily basis; much worse during slavery but it still lurks beneath the surfaces.

If we are ever going to attain closure to this matter, America has to have a firm discussion on race relations. We need to call out the elephant in-the-room no matter how uncomfortable the climate.

2012 LA

Elementary School Slavery Lesson Gone Wrong

When sending your child off to school don't you assume they'll be educated and protected until you return to pick them up?

In Charlotte, North Carolina, when parents returned to pick their children up from school one day, many were distraught to learn what kind of activities had taken place. 

During a lesson on a Civil War tour guide, Ian Campbell who's black himself -- instructed black students to pretend too be slaves in front of their white classmates. 

Campbell, a historian of 15 years stated, "I am very enthusiastic about getting kids to think about how people did things in 1860, 1861 -- even before that period," he said.

One parent commented that Campbell, took his enthusiasm to far when picking three black children out of a group of mostly white students, to play the role of cotton picking slaves during his hands-on history lesson. 

Allegedly, the students were made to wear bags around their necks that were used to gather "pretend" cotton. Campbell simply commented, "I was trying to be historically correct not politically correct."

President Kojo Nantambu, of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg National Association for the Advancement of Colored People disagreed with the activities while stating, 


"There is a lingering pain, a lingering bitterness, a lingering insecurity and a lingering sense of inhumanity since slavery. Because that's still there, you want to be more sensitive than politically correct or historically correct."

Campbell claims that his lessons have been conducted this way in the past, and never caused such an uproar that he's receiving to date. Moreover, the tour guide made it his business to make his opponents aware, that his future tour guides will be conducted by asking volunteers instead of hand picking the participants; this way all children can be involved. 
  
2009 LA

Black History Moment Blast From The Past

On July 15, 1822, the City of Brotherly Love decided to live up to its slogan, by officially opening its school doors to black children.

The Board of Education opened a public elementary school for black boys, in what was then the old Presbyterian Meeting house. And four years later in 1826, the Board established a public elementary school for black girls.

WooHoo! Can I get a high five for justice?!

2009 LA