A good reason for blacks to shun GOP

The article, "Democrats have long political history of hoodwinking blacks." by Walter E. Williams (June 7) is a classic example of "truthiness" used to sway opinion.

In this case, Williams has told no lies; everything he has said about the deplorable treatment of blacks by Democrats is true. What he has not done is to tell the whole truth by including modern history.

Indeed, it was Southern Democrats who enacted and enforced Jim Crow laws for a century after the Civil War, who marched with the KKK, who fought the Civil Rights movement tooth and nail. But, it was those same Dixiecrats who became convinced during President Nixon's "Southern Strategy" to become Republicans. For decades now, the South has been solidly Republican.

It is the Republican Party, today, that enacts laws purportedly aimed at protecting against voter fraud (a nonexistent problem) when, in fact, the goal is to limit access to the polls for groups thought to prefer the Democratic Party. In other words, the goal is to degrade those groups to second class citizenship. Was that not the goal of Jim Crow laws?

Williams concludes, "none of what I've said should be taken as an argument that blacks should rush to become Republicans." The part of the story that was not included in his article (modern history) is a perfect reason for blacks to shun the GOP.

Donald G. Westlake

Wheaton