[lbo-talk] The Million Worker March: Black People Did Not Get theVote By Voting

[Nathan Newman]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Brad Mayer" <gaikokugo at fusionbb.net>
-No, African-Americans got the vote in the South because 1) they struggled
-for it in the South, and 2) the Repubs of that time saw an opportunity to
-break into the Dems' "Solid South".  When they started getting "uppity" in
-the North in the 1960's, they were met with bloody repression.

Of course struggle in the south was needed for getting civil rights bills
passed.  But who the hell was MLK and SNCC appealing to when they forced
confrontations with Bull Connor et al and exposed the brutality of Jim
Crow?  They sure didn't get votes from southern politicians and no one,
including the GOP, was trying to get votes in the South by voting for civil
rights.

The goal was getting votes in the North, where blacks were an increasingly
important voting bloc.   And yes, when they pushed for more militant
demands in the North, they got hit with repression, even as black
politicians began getting elected in record numbers and successively
stronger civil rights laws were passed (1968, 1982, 1991).

Nathan Newman