by Herman Cain
. . . to separate (school children) solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone. . . . Whatever may have been the extent of psychological knowledge at the time of Plessy v. Ferguson, this finding is amply supported by modern authority. Any language in Plessy v. Ferguson to this finding is rejected. We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of "separate but equal" has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.
The glaring omission in the Brown opinion is that Warren did not cite Justice Harlan's dissenting opinion from Plessy. Warren could have written that Brown overruled Plessy strictly on the basis of the Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause, thereby validating Harlan's argument that the Constitution is colorblind. Instead, with its decision in Brown, the USSC still refused to support the Fourteenth Amendment based on a strict reading of its language.
Warren's court was certainly correct in overturning the Plessy decision. His broad, liberal justification, however, laid the groundwork for future court rulings and laws that viewed citizens not as equal individuals, but as members of various racial groups in need of special protections.
Indeed, Congress passed a number of landmark laws in the years following the Brown decision that addressed many of the inequities and discriminations racial minorities faced. The Civil Rights Act of 1957, passed during the Eisenhower administration, established the Civil Rights Section of the U.S. Justice Department and allowed federal prosecutors to obtain court injunctions against individuals who interfered with others' voting rights.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964, passed during President Lyndon Johnson's administration, prohibited discrimination in public facilities, in government, in employment, and created the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission. The act made it illegal to compel racial segregation in schools, housing, or in hiring practices.
The act not only opened many doors for Blacks and other racial minorities, it also provided the impetus for the feminist movement and later programs such as affirmative action. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was of course controversial at the time of its passage, and many Southern Democrats in Congress opposed it. Its passage, however, brought the nation closer to the Founders' vision of "equal protection of the laws" for all citizens.
Unfortunately, President Johnson was not content with legislation that, to him, merely made discriminatory practices illegal and sought to treat all citizens equally regardless of race or ethnicity. In his 1965 commencement address at Howard University, Johnson permanently muddied the waters of race relations and treatment of racial minorities by the courts, the law, and government and private institutions. In the section of his remarks titled "Freedom Is Not Enough," President Johnson stated,
It is not enough just to open the gates of opportunity. All our citizens must have the ability to walk through those gates. This is the next and the more profound stage of the battle for civil rights. We seek not just freedom but opportunity. We seek not just legal equity but human ability, not just equality as a right and a theory but equality as a fact and equality as a result. To this end equal opportunity is essential, but not enough.
President Johnson went on to say, "Perhaps most important--its influence radiating to every part of life--is the breakdown of the Negro family structure. For this, most of all, White America must accept responsibility."
With his speech to Howard University, and the affirmative action and quota laws that were subsequently passed, Blacks were no longer viewed as individuals in the eyes of federal and state courts, nor in the eyes of Congress, nor in the eyes of the White Democrat elites, nor in the eyes of the soon-to-emerge, self-appointed Black leaders.
The question central to an examination of the opinions in Plessy and Brown, of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1964, and of President Johnson's Howard University commencement speech is "Do Constitutional rights and guarantees belong to classes and races, or to individuals?" Chief Justice Warren stated in his opinion in Brown that the intentions of the Founding Fathers "are inconclusive." Yet the language of the Fourteenth Amendment could not be clearer. What part of "No state shall . . . deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws" did Warren and others not understand? Our Founding Founders knew a nation that viewed and treated its citizens as individuals would be constrained from dividing them and treating them inequitably. The emergence of Black groupthink is the unfortunate product of our courts and laws treating Blacks as a monolithic group instead of as individual citizens.
Another factor responsible for perpetuating Black groupthink was the subsequent emergence of the so-called Black leaders who successfully convinced the majority of Blacks that their economic prosperity and survival was dependent upon their support of the Democratic Party and its liberal economic and social policy agendas. The so-called Black leaders are activists like Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and Joseph Lowery, along with NAACP Chairman Julian Bond and numerous Black elected officials across the country. These "leaders" have for decades preached to the Black electorate the myth that their prospects for success are wholly contingent on Blacks voting as a bloc for Democrat candidates, regardless of the candidates' race, and on their active support for liberal policies. I refer to these individuals as the "so-called Black leaders" because I do not in my lifetime recall an election in which Blacks got together to select our leaders. Nor do I recall anyone appointing them leaders of all Blacks. The last time I checked, I am a citizen of the United States, and the Black citizens have not seceded from the Union.
The so-called Black leaders rose to prominence in the political arena due to their activism in the 1960s on behalf of the civil rights and voting rights struggles. Many were schooled under the tutelage of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. No one can deny them the honor in fighting for and securing basic civil and voting rights for all citizens. Unfortunately, many of those, like Jesse Jackson and Joseph Lowery, who fought so long and hard to achieve a society and system of laws blind to the color of one's skin, have fought even harder in the years since to keep Blacks on the Democrat plantation and make race a key component of discussion on virtually all political issues.
The so-called Black leaders want to remain atop the lofty perch of notoriety and success, but to do so they must have support from a majority of the Black electorate. The formula for maintaining their prominence and power is quite simple: Convince the White Democratic Party leaders that they can deliver a majority of votes from Blacks, and the Democratic establishment rewards them monetarily and publicly. Because the "leaders" have their entire lives invested in maintaining power and influence over the Black electorate, while at the same time reaping vast financial rewards, they seek to impose harsh and public sanctions on any African-American who dares leave or criticize their Democratic plantation.
We have all heard the terms used to vilify Black Republicans: "token Black," "Uncle Tom," "sellout," and some that cannot even be printed here. Yes, I have been called some of these labels, but I am unfazed by anyone who would deny my Constitutional and God-given right to think and decide for myself. Prominent African-Americans in President Bush's cabinet, including former Secretary of State Colin Powell, current Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and former Secretary of Education Rod Paige, as well as Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, have all been criticized simply because they worked for or were nominated by a Republican administration.
I was criticized by a so-called Black leader in 2004 for running in the Georgia Senate Primary race as a Republican (see text box on following page). I was not surprised or disturbed by the criticism. Rev. Joseph Lowery, former president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, criticized the fact that I was running as a Republican for U.S. Senate at a lunch hosted by the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials.
Lowery used the phrases "colored people" and "black people" in his speech to attack me and attempt to scare ot
her Blacks who may be conservative and Republican from leaving the Democratic plantation. He used this racially divisive language to remind Black people in the audience of the days of segregation--the days when coloreds had to eat, drink, and sleep in separate facilities. To Lowery and the other so-called Black leaders, "colored" is a derogatory term that equates conservative Blacks with the whites responsible for segregation.
It is sad that the same people who literally poured their blood, sweat, and tears into the fight for equal opportunity for all races now lead the most vociferous attacks against Blacks who dare rise to the most respected levels of government or achieve success in the business world as members of the Republican Party. It is at the same time illustrative of the fact that today's so-called Black leaders do not work to provide better futures for those they claim to represent. Rather, their goal is to control as many of the votes from the Black electorate as possible, which ensures that their positions of power and influence remain safe.
Followers of the so-called Black leaders and advocates of their social policies should take a close look at the statistics on Black economic and social performance. According to Census 2002, home ownership among Whites was 71 percent, 5 percent higher than the national rate of 66 percent. In contrast, homeownership among Blacks was 46 percent, 20 percent below the national average. At the same time, the national poverty rate was 11.7 percent. The poverty rate for Blacks, however, was 22.7 percent, while only 7.8 percent of Whites were below the poverty level.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP), the abortion ratio for Black women (503 per 1,000 live births) is three times the ratio for white women (167 per 1,000 live births), and Black women have 32 percent of all abortions while the Black population is only 12 percent of this nation. In addition, the CDCP reports that in 2002, 68.6 percent of Black children were born out of wedlock. Yes! Nearly 70 percent, and this is not a typing error.
These statistics illustrate the hollowness in forty years of promises by the so-called Black leaders that the policies of the Democratic Party would lift all Blacks from poverty and oppression. In following these pied pipers, Blacks have severely limited their opportunities for economic success because for too long they have looked at themselves as a group first and individuals second.
Not all prominent Black leaders have followed the negative and divisive groupthink model employed by the likes of Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and Joseph Lowery. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whom many consider a Founding Father in the struggle to end discrimination and ensure equal opportunities for all citizens, inspired people and led with the idea that change could occur through grassroots mobilization and positive negotiation with political and business leaders. Dr. King's positive leadership created the impetus for aggressive social change and is the reason why Americans of every racial background revere him today.
Another positive leader is Washington, D.C. mayor Anthony Williams. Mayor Williams in 2003 helped initiate a system to provide more than one thousand vouchers per year to poor children in the failing Washington, D.C. public school system. The voucher system is called the "District of Columbia Opportunity Scholarship Program," and it allows students from financially troubled homes to attend private schools in the D.C. area. Mayor Williams has of course received the expected outrage and criticism from the teachers' unions and so-called Black leaders like D.C. congressional delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, but he knows that education and doing all he can to provide a better future for D.C.'s children is more important than politics.
I also must mention Andrew Young, a pioneer with Dr. King in the fight for civil rights and equal opportunities and a former mayor of Atlanta, U.S. congressman, and U.S. ambassador. Mr. Young has told me more than once, "Black people have to learn how to be bipartisan. We don't have a permanent party. We have permanent issues and interests."
Fortunately, encouraging trends are emerging in the Black electorate. More and more Blacks are realizing that the road to personal economic security does not go through the Democratic Party or another big government social program. The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies found in its 2004 National Opinion Poll that more Blacks than ever are indicating a desire to support Republican candidates and identify themselves as Independent or Republican.
The statistics listed in the text box on the following page show that a significant percentage of Blacks are beginning to see past the decades-old negative perceptions about the Republican Party and the conservative political ideology. They are moving from rhetoric to reality; from groupthink to you think. Individual Blacks are questioning the logic behind continuing to believe in the same leaders, lawmakers, and policies when conditions for many Blacks have stayed the same for years or become even worse.
Due to the influence of Black churches, the political views of most Blacks are more conservative than they realize. Studies show that most Blacks are opposed to same-sex marriage, are eager to curtail the high Black abortion rate, and anxious to reform the big economic issues that have a disproportionately negative effect on Blacks. Conservative values and ideologies on social and fiscal issues are a natural home for Blacks.
Blacks can no longer look at conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as an outlier or aberration. In the recent past we have seen the rise of many successful conservative Blacks, such as the aforementioned Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, and Rod Paige, as well as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Alphonso Jackson, former FCC Chairman Michael Powell, Maryland Lt. Governor Michael Steele, Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, Texas Energy Commissioner Michael Williams, political and economic commentators Thomas Sowell, Star Parker, Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, and Walter Williams, and scores of others throughout the business world and state and local politics. The common denominator of all the aforementioned great Black Americans is that they think for themselves. That's the result of knowing the facts and understanding the history of the political parties.
In the late 1800s, Booker T. Washington, founder of Tuskegee Institute and the first Black ever to dine at the White House with the president, envisioned Black self-reliance when he stated that a Black citizen "should acquire property, own his own land, drive his own mule hitched to his own wagon, milk his own cow, raise his own crop, and keep out of debt, and when he acquired a home he became fit for a conservative citizen." Booker T. Washington's vision is for the same "Ownership Society" President Bush talks about today . . . one hundred years later.
Blacks have been told by their so-called leaders that the Republican Party is the home of "rich white guys" and that conservatism is inherently racist. Thus, the majority of Blacks over time have come to perceive all political issues through the lens of race. They see race as the root of all issues and the cause of all their problems. In reality, conservative policies are colorblind. For example, a tax code and regulatory policies that unburden small businesses, allow them to grow and hire more employees, and allow owners to pass these businesses on to their heirs benefit all small business owners regardless of race.
Of course, Blacks and the so-called Black leaders cannot shoulder all the blame for sharing the perception that the Republican Party does not speak to them or their economic and social values. The Republicans have done a poor job of reaching out to Blacks and educating them on the realities of conservative economic and social policies. The Democrats have surely taken their support among Blacks for granted, but Republicans until recently have been content to let the Democrats keep that support.
Many Republicans scratch their heads and wonder aloud why Blacks would continue to support a party that has betrayed them and taken them for granted for more than fifty years. These same Republicans should not be surprised that Blacks generally vote as a bloc, because both parties have treated Blacks as a separate bloc for more than one hundred years! The conversion of a relative minority of Blacks to the Republican Party should be seen as an example of many Blacks reaching in instead of the party reaching out.
Man
y people involved in the Republican Party leadership at the national and state levels are still tied to the good-old-boy, country club style of politics that determines which candidates will represent their party based on "Whose turn is it?" and "Who has paid their dues?" This is the perception of the Republican Party among a majority of Blacks. Whether it is the truth or not is irrelevant, just as it is irrelevant if Republicans are upset when Democrats accuse them of "cutting Social Security." Perception is reality in politics, and perception remains reality until drastic efforts in the form of long-term, strategic plans are made to educate the public on the facts.
We must remember that the majority of Blacks prior to the Great Depression primarily supported Republican candidates. Only after presidents such as Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson reached out to Blacks through their rhetoric and policy agendas did the Black electorate move steadily to the ideological left. To win back the votes and support of Blacks in large numbers, Republicans must demonstrate and properly communicate that their policies and ideology are more in line with economic and social values held by most Blacks. In the long run, facts will triumph over rhetoric. The race to win back the votes of Blacks is a marathon, not a sprint.
The third great divide in our country is the economic divide, which starts with education. Slightly more than forty years ago Congress passed, and President Johnson signed into law, the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Since that time, thousands of Blacks have attained a college education, achieved financial success, started their own businesses, and risen to the highest levels of the corporate and political arenas. The long struggle to achieve equal opportunities for success in nearly all facets of our society has reaped great rewards for all U.S. citizens. Much of Dr. King's dream of equal opportunity for all citizens to achieve success is more possible than ever before, but many Blacks have not yet seized their full potential through the education and economic systems. It starts with personal responsibility and motivation, not the government.