LETTER: Democrats ignore their own historical problems surrounding race
Victor Joecks is spot on about the Democratic Party (June 19 column). Woodrow Wilson was a Democratic president whom modern Democrats like to conveniently forget re-segregated different federal agencies during his presidency. There was also a little racist movie called “Birth of a Nation” that Wilson had screened at the White House several times.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, also a Democrat, denied entry into the United States to Jews who fled from Nazi-controlled Europe during Adolf Hitler’s purges.
There were more racist Democratic politicians in the latter half of the 20th century: President Lyndon Johnson, who was fond of using the N-word behind closed doors; President Jimmy Carter, who loved falsely branding anyone racist who disagreed with him; and Gov. Ralph Northam, a Virginia Democrat, wore blackface while in grad school in the 1980s;
Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring, a Democrat, also has a racist past.
Systemic racism needs to be addressed immediately. When Democrats stop pointing fingers and take a look in the mirror, we can begin the conversation about where the systemic racism truly lies.