Nick Cannon recently went viral for discussing his conservative views and praising Donald Trump. In an episode of his YouTube show Big Drive, he interviewed Trump supporter Amber Rose. Rose said, “Democrats don’t care about Black people.”
“I agree with you 100 percent,” Cannon responded. “People don’t know that Democrats are the party of the KKK. People don’t know that Republicans are the party that freed the slaves.” While partially true, these talking points don’t tell the whole story.
The KKK was formed to terrorize free Black folks after the Civil War. The organization received strong backing from Southern Democrats. It was also popular with the Republican Party, and by the 1920s, membership was evenly split between the two parties, according to The Washington Post.
President Abraham Lincoln, a Republican, issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which helped abolish slavery. Historians have long proved that neither of today’s political parties reflects its 19th-century roots. Things changed in the 1930s when President Franklin D. Roosevelt, a Democrat, signed New Deal legislation into law. And they changed even more in the1960s, with the signing of the Civil Rights Act. Democrats became more progressive while Republicans became more conservative, for instance, by supporting Ronald Reagan’s “tough on crime” agenda, which disproportionately harmed us. The parties of the late 20th century had nothing in common with their 19th-century forebears.
All skinfolk ain’t kinfolk, and anti-Black misinformation is rampant online. Do your own research, and don’t take anything an influencer says at face value.