Politics with Tabitha, Jun 9, 2024
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Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post showcases a vlog by "Politics with Tabitha" about Congressman Byron Donalds (Republican- Florida) getting disrespectful with MSNBC host Rev. Al Sharpton while Donalds tried to defend his comments about Jim Crow and Black families.
This post includes an excerpt of a newspaper article about Byron Donalds' comments and a portion of the transcript of this showcase vlog. A few comments from this vlog's discussion thread are also included in this post.
The content of this post is presented for political and socio-cultural purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Politics with Tabitha for this vlog and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
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Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/06/what-check-yourself-before-you-wreck.html for a closely related pancocojams post entitled "What "Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself" Means And Hakeem Jeffries' Statement About Byron Donalds' "Jim Crow & The Black Family" Remarks".
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ARTICLE EXCERPT
From https://www.yahoo.com/news/byron-donalds-implied-black-people-154840769.html "Byron Donalds implied Black people were better off under Jim Crow. So we checked." by Michael Harriot, Fri, June 7, 2024 at 11:48 AM EDT
“During Jim Crow, the Black family was together,” Donalds explained to the crowd at the white-owned business in one of the “whitest and most conservative” parts of the city where Donalds and his GOP colleagues unsuccessfully asked elections officials to toss out Black voters’ ballots. “During Jim Crow, more Black people were not just conservative — Black people have always been conservative-minded — but more Black people voted conservatively. And then H.E.W., Lyndon Johnson — you go down that road, and now we are where we are.”
Pressed by CNN host Abby Phillip on Wednesday, James Crow Jr. doubled down on his remarks. “All I was doing was referring to the time periods,” the American apartheid advocate explained. “Frankly, what that is, is about the empirical fact that before the Great Society before Lyndon Johnson’s policies, there was more Black families united. The marriage rate in Black America was significantly higher before the Great Society. The period of time that coincides with that, obviously, is the Jim Crow era.”
What was Jim Crow?
After the 1876 presidential election, 15 white men gathered in a room to figure out a solution to the first Stop the Steal Movement.
Known as the Wormley Agreement or the Compromise of 1877, five Supreme Court justices, five senators and five representatives awarded the presidency to Rutherford B. Hayes in exchange for ending the Reconstruction Era. The concessions included a specific accommodation that the federal government would stop forcing former confederate states to recognize the constitutional rights of Black citizens. Legislatures in Northern and Southern states immediately created a series of racially discriminatory policies that became known as Jim Crow laws.
For 100 years — from the end of race-based slavery until the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 – every Black person in America lived under this constitutionally enforced, government-approved system of white supremacy. Because of Jim Crow, the Black codes created after emancipation were now the law of the land. Segregated schools were mandatory under Jim Crow. Under Jim Crow, it was perfectly fine to disenfranchise Black voters and ban non-white people from living wherever they wanted. Jim Crow excluded Black taxpayers from using facilities built and maintained with their tax dollars.
And according to Byron Donalds, Black people thrived.
Were Black voters more conservative?
Most Black people couldn’t vote under Jim Crow. According to the U.S. census data, between 1880 and 1960, the majority of Black Americans lived in the South. Specifically, they lived in states that disenfranchised African-American voters, which is why the Civil Rights Act of 1964’s preclearance requirement banned these states from changing their voting laws without permission from the Department of Justice. It is literally impossible to know what the majority of Black Americans wanted under Jim Crow if they couldn’t vote.
Even if one counted the votes of the Black people who did vote, there was never a moment in the history of this country when the majority of Black voters supported conservative politics. Shortly after the Civil War, Southern Republicans started the anti-Black Lily White movement to prevent Black voters from gaining control of the party. Meanwhile, conservative Democrats didn’t even allow Black people to attend the party’s conventions in an official capacity until 1924. Although a majority of Black voters supported Franklin Roosevelt’s presidential campaign, it wasn’t until 1948 that most Black voters (77%) considered themselves Democrats. By then, white voters had fled the Democratic Party, precisely because the party was no longer conservative.
So, when Donalds said, “Black people voted more conservatively during Jim Crow,” either he was lying or he didn’t know what he was talking about.
Did Black families fare better?
First, let’s look at wealth.
In 1900, white households had about nine times the wealth of Black households. This disparity in wealth essentially remained unchanged throughout the Jim Crow, according to “The Wealth of Two Nations: The U.S. Racial Wealth Gap, 1860-2020. In 2022, the average white family had $100 for every $15 held by Black households. And while the Black-white employment gap began during the Great Depression, which coincided with Jim Crow, this still doesn’t tell the complete story.
Under Jim Crow, tax dollars from Black families were used to fund segregated education systems that increased the generational wealth of white families. Take Jim Crow South Carolina, for instance, where Black citizens made up 48.9% of the population in 1940. Because the state constitution made integrated schools illegal, Black K-12 schools were worth an estimated $12.9 million while white schools were worth nearly five times that number."...
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EXCERPT FROM THE "POLITICS WITH TABITHA" TRANSCRIPT
This is an excerpt from the auto-generated transcript of this vlog.
This excerpt starts at the beginning of this vlog and includes no time stamps. I added punctuation, capitalization, and corrected spelling errors. I also identified which of several people were speaking the statements that are quoted in this excerpt.
Corrections are welcome.
"Hey guys. Okay so I just got to show you something because I feel some kind of way about it and uh let me see if you do too.
Um, Congressman Byron Donalds, the Florida Congressman, uh has been making the rounds particularly to Black hosted programs. He went on Abby Phillip. He went on The Reidout um to defend his comments in Philadelphia before a gathering of Black Magas uh, in which he, you know, smoked a cigar had a cocktail and waxed on about Jim Crow which he mentioned three times in order to say that, you know, during Jim Crow the black family was together. I mean they were in deep poverty and facing apartheid and lynching and couldn't vote at all. But, you know, they were together and somehow
managed to vote conservatively which couldn't happen because Jim Crow...
You know the comments I'm talking about..."
[Byron Donalds]
"See during Jim Crow, during Jim Crow the Black family was
[Someone in that room says "That's right".]
During Jim Crow more Black people were not just conservative- cuz Black people always have been conservative minded- but more Black people voted conservatively and then H.E.W. Lyndon Johnson and then you go down that road and now we are where we are"...
[Politics with Tabitha]
"So he's, you know, been making the rounds because he's just been getting cooked roasted by everyone from, you know, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, to the NAACP, to Cherylyn Eiffel, to Nicole Hannah Jones. Michael Harriet took him to school on the Grio. He's just been getting fired up by everybody... just roasted mercilessly because of what he said>
What he said was so offensive that just, you know, everybody's been taking him down for it. But, um, I want you to listen to his self-defense on Politics Nation hosted by uh the Reverend Al Sharpton. Take a look...
[Rev. Al Sharpton]
"We're going to talk about the era congressman. And you named a race based law then you cannot take race out of the fact.
Jim Crow was a law against black people. You weren't just talking about the era of Dwight Eisenhower and and and Harry Truman. You named Jim Crow. There's only one way you could deal with Jim Crow and that's by race/
I mean look, look. You and I have mutual friends. People say you're a straight shooter. I.. I.. we may disagree on politics. I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt. But look, you were born in Brooklyn. You went down into the South, went to Florida State [university]. You have an interracial marriage. You [are] a congressman of a district that's not a Black District. I mean how can you even live with yourself acting like Jim Crow was a good era or better era for Blacks?
What happened to you?"
[Byron Donalds]
"Okay, that's real cute. That's real cute. I did not say that.
I'm not..That's against me because right now you're lying about what I said.
I did say Jim Crow. I did Rev. ...
That's not to say that it was better. I never said that. Those words never came out of my mouth.
When are you going to get that through your skull and everybody else's skull?
I never said that and the difference between me and what you said.
[Rev. Al Sharpton]
"You said it was better for us."
[Byron Donalds]
"I'm not going to let Crow bring [?] lying. Look at my words okay."
[Politics with Tabitha]
"Now first of all, Rev. Al can handle himself and defend himself. He does not need me to do that. Let me just be clear. And he did that. He handled it very well and handled it, you know, handled Byron Donald's elevated tone quite well. But, um, hang on a second. Who you talking to, Congressman?
First of all, you are speaking to a man -Reverend Al Sharpton- who was born during Jim Crow. He was born in 1954 okay. Um and who came up in the King movement as just a kid. He started off like 9 years old. As a nine-year-old kid preacher when Dr King was alive and active. And then came up under the Reverend Jesse Jackson who was an aid to Dr King. So this is a man who in New York fought the northern version of Jim Crow in which black people were subjected to not only relentless police brutality but also citizen brutality. We're talking about regular citizens -white citizens feeling free to kill, chase down and kill, chase into traffic and murder Black folk...
[...]
Okay, we're talking about the Central Park 5 situation. We're talking about you name it. Reverend was fighting the northern version of Jim Crow as a civil rights leader. So Congressman, you are speaking to not just an elder but a civil rights leader in our community disrespectfully and in that heated tone on His show. You came into His house and spoke that way.
He [Byron Donalds] called him a liar. He told him he needs to get it through his skull...
Bro, who you talking to?!
It could not be clearer that Byron Donalds does not represent a majority Black district because no black politician could get reelected in a majority Black district speaking to an elder and a civil rights leader the way he did disrespectfully like that."
[...]
..."the first time he was on the Reidout he sat next to me and I wanted to get to know
him a little bit. I asked him some questions about himself. I know that Byron [is] from Brooklyn. [He] was born in East Flatbush where I was. He has a Jamaican mama who he talked about in that video as well his single mom is Jamaican. My..my late great mom was from Guyana so I know how he was raised I know his Jamaican mama does not approve of him speaking to an elder and a civil rights leader that way he did cannot be possible. And he is so lucky he doesn't represent a majority Black district because there wouldn't be a reelection like that.
What he was doing was trying to show his belly to Donald Trump in hopes Donald Trump would pick him for vice president. Yeah he's going to pick you, brother, the same way they were going to pick you to be Speaker of the House. And that PR lynching Congressman from Texas admitted afterwards that they only nominated you because the Democrats nominated Hakeem Jeffries and they wanted their own Black nominee. And they did it strictly because of that, not because you were qualified.
So they gonna pick you for VP the same way they were going to pick you to be Speaker.
They had no intention of doing that. And Donald Trump has no intention either. But he [Byron Donalds] ants to show his belly to White Maga Republicans and also to join in their hatred of the Great Society, of LBJ's Great Society because how dare an American president put a floor under Black folk who had suffered from hundreds of years of slavery followed by 100 Years of Jim Crow?
And, by the way, those LBJ programs also put a floor under white rural folk but nobody ever
talks about that"...
-snip-
"Reidout" is the title of the weekly political series that is hosted by Joy Reid.
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SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THIS VIDEO'S DISCUSSION THREAD
Unless otherwise noted, these comments are from June 9, 2024
1.@Michelle-qy9jm
"I’m a Jamaican and I’m very ashamed and disappointed that this fool is representing us. Vote him out"
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2. @markelbrooks
"It truly saddens me how willing some folks are willing to sellout the same community that raised them. Always remember, tools are used until they’ve served their purpose. Then they are discarded for the next."
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3. @ShamikaCrouch
"Thank you! What's worse is the audience agreeing with this foolishness."
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4 @ToxcynArcade
" @markelbrooks If trying to get black families back together and to get off government assistance is selling out... man do you have problems. Probably hurts you to see a smart black man from Brooklyn make it to Congress while everyone else is still collecting EBT. Instead of upliting the community you wanna tear down anyone who makes it out the hood and play victim."
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5. @markelbrooks
"@ToxcynArcade why is the conversation always focused on black people when the same issues are found in poor white communities also. We act as if these issues are exclusively black. These same social policies aided EVERY poor demographic not just blacks. His comments in Philadelphia are ignorant of the reality at best."
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6. @bijounoir6562
"He better run all the way back to the Jim Crow era and look for his damn mind. How dare he call Rev. Al a liar and disrespect him on his own show. Disgusting!!!!
We were raised to respect our elders, and that's in every black family, in the USA, the Caribbean, or Africa. Shameful and despicable attitude!!
Bryob Donalds, you ought to be ashamed of yourself.
Just saw his last nane. There's definitely something in a name".
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7. @YOUR-WORD-IS-YOUR-BOND
"We all aren't the same people... don't clump us all together like that."
Reply
"@YOUR-WORD-IS-YOUR-BOND My apologies! My intention was not to lump all blacks as one, but I strongly believe that there are more similarities than differences. Once again, mea culpa!!!"
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Reply
9. @YOUR-WORD-IS-YOUR-BOND
" @bijounoir6562 Okay! Please research before believing that... I get what you're saying..."
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10. @cjenkins6587
"Donalds was so disrespectful and trifling."
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11. @bbrown5463
"Byron is LOST!!! LET HIM GO!!!!! JUST LET HIM GO!!!"
Reply
"EXACTLY."
Reply
13. @karoltowns8384
"Agreed. Some people are not trying to be saved. Sad but true."
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14. @lynnec6325
"Donalds needs to apologize! He was super disrespectful."
Reply
15.
"He won’t."
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Reply
16. @juanitawarren2565
"@amoijoy573 unfortunately"
Reply
17.
"he has no respect for us . He sees us as less than. Forgetting that he himself is black."
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18, @angelaraines8732
"Please stop entertaining the clownishness. Donalds is an absolute shame because under Jim Crow, his marriage would not have been possible. Americans, we deserve better"
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19. @kennethreed7913
"Congressman Donalds. My message to you is simple. Don't pitch if you can't catch!!"
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20. @rievans57
"Okay. Byron sounds like a 5 year old at a daycare."
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Reply
21. @soniapinkney1342, June 10, 2024
"Bingo !!!!"
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22. @audreyhickson7895
"Why hasn't he been on Right wing media as much as the black journalists can I call him what he is?"
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23. @keshiaperry8428
"Symone Sanders called him out for his disrespect on her show today. I agree. He was so disrespectful to Rev. Al."
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24. @limbiclove9487
"Joy just killed him softly with her voice. Thanks Tabitha. Byron better not go visit the part of Brooklyn he was born in. And Joy is right that Byron's mom would not condone the way he talked to Rev. Sharpton."
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25. @e.obrien8421
"I truly respect rev Al Sharpton,he’s done the work. He’s always been there to protect the rights of people and he will always stand up to people like Byron Donald."
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