Recently a question was asked about African Americans being drawn into the Democratic party that used to enslave them. (Monday letter, “U.S. also the one to end it.”) The answer; in 1964 Lyndon Johnson, the Democratic president at the time, pushed through the Civil Rights Act of 1964 guaranteeing equal protection of the law to all citizens. This legislation, along with the Voting Rights Act, promised fair treatment for African Americans who had suffered legal discrimination before that time. The real question then is why did the former Southern Democrats known as “Dixiecrats” switch from the Democratic party to the Republican party?
Lloyd Brodniak
Everett
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