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Racist Right-wing troll Byron Donalds claims it was better for Black people during Jim Crow [1]

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Date: 2024-06-08  

So let me be blunt, Byron Donalds is a pandering dickhead. He’s clearly playing to the Conservative base with his anti-welfare (“Oh, the lazy blacks are taking our tax dollars and spending it on STEAK”) crowd.

He’s been claiming that the “Great Society” — which provided some minor financial help to poor people all over the nation — is the thing the “broke the black family” and stuff. Because sure, giving a woman with children $350 a month is exactly what is going to drive away her man.

Jesus H. Christmas.

x x YouTube Video Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) came on MSNBC with Joy Reid to defend his recently revealed comments at a Black Americans for Trump gathering that "during Jim Crow, the Black family was together" and former President Lyndon Johnson and welfare programs destroyed those family values. It didn't go well for him. "The stuff that comes up about Jim Crow, and twisting my words saying I was being nostalgic or Jim Crow was good for Black people, that's all political spin. It's a lie," said Donalds, a close ally of former President Donald Trump and a shortlister for his vice presidential running mate. "It's gaslighting and that's truly unfortunate."

Yeah, but you were who brought up “Jim Crow” pal - it’s only natural that people take what you were saying in the context of Jim Crow!!

"Here's the challenge, Congressman," said Reid. "You started out talking about your family, talking about your mom, talking about being raised. And you on your own brought up Jim Crow. In fact, you said Jim Crow three times for emphasis. It wasn't the media or the Democrats or gaslighters who brought up Jim Crow. It was you. You brought up Jim Crow. So why did you use Jim Crow specifically as your reference? You did that, no one else did that, you did it."

Bojemoi!

Reposted from Dark Skies on the Horizon Yes, he’s the one who brought up “Jim Crow” — even though he wasn’t actually talking about the process of Jim Crow or advocating for it in any way. He was criticizing and attacking the “Great Society” and Welfare programs as being the cause of the “destruction of the black family.”

"I did," admitted Donalds. "We were having a conversation, just talking, Black people in Philadelphia. But if you're going to use the chronological timeline of America before the Great Society and Lyndon Johnson's time period, you had, unfortunately, the Jim Crow era in America. During that time period, the marriage rates of Black Americans was significantly higher than any other time since then in American history. So it is a divergence if you're talking about marriage rates in the Black community."

Which, by the way - is bullshit.

First off, he couldn’t come up with another phrase to describe that period? He couldn’t say “during the pre-Civil Rights era?” He couldn’t say “Before the Great Society?” I think he specifically chose to say “Jim Crow” because he wanted to salve the wounded egos of White people who are tired of being blamed for the condition of black people in this nation. He was dog-whistling with that shit.

But let’s push on.

After a bit more back and forth, Donalds reiterated, "I want to be clear, higher in the Jim Crow era to mean that I think Jim Crow was great, that's a lie. That is gaslighting. I would never say such a thing, which is why the Jim Crow era— "You brought it up," interjected Reid. "You brought it up. You're the one who brought it up. Let's get one more question ... the poverty rate during Jim Crow was 55.1 percent. More than half of families were impoverished. You also said, during Jim Crow, more Black people were not just conservative, Black people have always been conservative-minded but Black people voted conservatively. Black people weren't allowed to vote at all during Jim Crow." "First of all, there were areas in the United States where Black people did vote," said Donalds. "Last question, and then I'm going to let you go. One more question," said Reid. "During Jim Crow, could your family have existed? You are in an interracial marriage. Your wife, and a white conservative activist. Could your family have existed at all during Jim Crow?" "No, it could not, and we all know that," said Donalds. "That's why I'm blessed to live in America today, as opposed to America during that time. But we cannot ignore the realities of not having fathers in homes. That is important to our Black people today and all people today as we move forward toward a better America."

Jim Crow wasn’t a national program - it was implemented State by State, like Slavery. So yeah, some black people could vote at the time - but not in the places that they really needed to vote.

Donalds is also, of course, oblique referring to the Reagan-pushed narrative of the “Black Welfare Queen” who has multiple “baby daddies” and is collecting multiple sets of benefits using false IDs and names. Of course, the woman that Reagan was actually talking about was committing fraud, and also she was White.

In the popular imagination, the stereotype of the "welfare queen" is thoroughly raced — she's an indolent black woman, living off the largesse of taxpayers. The term is seen by many as a dogwhistle, a way to play on racial anxieties without summoning them directly. Taylor's own racial reality is much harder to pin down, however. Born Martha Miller, she was listed as white in the 1930 Census, just like everyone else in her family. But she had darker skin and darker hair. People who knew her family told Levin that she had Native American ancestry. One of her husbands, who was black, said she could look like an Asian woman at times. Another earlier husband and ostensible father to some of her children was white, and during that marriage she gave birth to kids who alternately appeared black, unmistakably white, or racially ambiguous. At times she posed as a Jewish woman. In one photo, she has long, blonde hair.

So that entire idea is even more bullshit.

Anyway…

The point of a poverty program is to reduce poverty. If the poverty rate before the Great Society was 55%, well it has been decreased to 11.5% today — so that’s an unqualified WIN. If you break it down by race, it’s like this:

Overall Poverty Rate: 11.4% (37.2 million people) ...

African American Poverty Rate: 19.5% (8.5 million people) ...

Hispanic Poverty Rate: 17.0% (10.4 million people) ...

White Poverty Rate: 8.2% (15.9 million people) ...

Native American Poverty Rate: 23.0% (600,000 people)

So, also a Win.

But Donalds isn’t trying to pay attention to how the poverty rate is affected by poverty programs — he’s trying to make the argument that these programs were the cause of the high rate of black out-of-wedlock births, which is a completely different issue.

And yes, the out-of-wedlock rate for black women is high. What he’s not seriously addressing is why? And also, it’s growing most rapidly among White and Hispanic women.

Non-Marital Births

So did Welfare cause that to happen too? I suspect not.

Maybe something else is going on.

The first really substantive argument against Donalds’ claim is the fact that Black Fathers are generally more attentive to their families than anyone else, even if they aren’t married to the mothers of their children. So, the “out of wedlock” rate, really isn’t as important. I wrote about this issue 9 years ago in great detail.

Considering the fact that “black fatherhood” is a phrase that is almost always accompanied by the word “crisis” in U.S. society, it’s understandable that the CDC’s results seem innovative. But in reality, the new data builds upon years of research that’s concluded that hands-on parenting is similar among dads of all races. There’s plenty of scientific evidence to bust this racially-biased myth. [...] Although black fathers are more likely to live separately from their children—the statistic that’s usually trotted out to prove the parenting “crisis”—many of them remain just as involved in their kids’ lives. Pew estimates that 67 percent of black dads who don’t live with their kids see them at least once a month, compared to 59 percent of white dads and just 32 percent of Hispanic dads.

Another factor that both Reid and Donalds ignore is the fact that the School to Prison pipeline directly disrupts these families by placing their fathers in jail at an amazing rate.

An estimated 28.5% of black men, 16.0% of Hispanic men, and 4.4% of white men are expected to serve a State or Federal prison sentence.

If 30% of Black men are likely to be sent to prison — they may have a pretty difficult time maintaining a marriage, not to mention keeping a job and being able to take care of their children.

There is a cliche that Black Women are very “take charge” and won’t brook any nonsense from a man. Generally speaking, this is true. I can attest that in my own case, being born in 1963, I had a front-row seat to exactly the situation and transition that Donalds is talking about. In the case of my family, I grew up without a father because my mother divorced his alcoholic ass. He was a mean drunk with a habit of arguing with his fist. He beat her.

She decided after she became pregnant that although she was willing and able to put up with his violence on her own, she wasn’t going to put up with his being violent with her child. By the time I was born, their marriage was over.

But, she wasn’t some wilting little thing that just sat back on public benefits. She Worked. She had been working since she was 15-years-old. Part of the reason they fought was because she didn’t want to be a stay-at-home wife, she wanted to have her own job, her own money and her own car. She needed the help of two of her brothers - who moved in together with her into a house that she bought at just 26 years old with her own money — and also my grandmother who moved in with us, to take care of me in the early years.

But it was not the case that getting a few slices of government cheese were why she was a single mother. At least, that wasn’t my experience.

So besides the issue of prison, there was also the issue of domestic abuse, alcohol and drug addiction which have broken many black families.

On that issue:

Whites have greater odds than Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians for either a past-year or lifetime alcohol use disorder. Native Americans have greater odds than Whites for lifetime alcohol dependence but similar odds for lifetime alcohol abuse and past-year alcohol abuse and dependence.

And when it comes to drug addiction by race?

In terms of drug use by race, White Americans have the highest rates of drug use and abuse. This is likely due to a variety of factors, including socio-economic status, access to drugs, and cultural factors. There are a number of cultural factors that contribute to drug use among White Americans. For example, drug use is often seen as a way to rebel against authority or as a way to cope with stress and anxiety. Additionally, drug use is often glamorized in the media, which can make it seem more appealing to young people. […] African Americans have the second highest rates of drug use and abuse. Again, this is likely due to a variety of factors, including socio-economic status, access to drugs, and cultural factors. One of the cultural factors that contribute to drug use among black Americans is the negative portrayal of African Americans in the media. This portrayal can make it seem like drug use is normal or even cool.

So again, the drug addiction rate is worse for white people. Shocker. But we’re always being told about the “black junkie” aren’t we? Fake News I think.

Also, there are far more white women on WIC than black — so why aren’t their “families destroyed” too?

Enrollment for the WIC Program in April 2016 totaled 8,815,472*. Of this total, Whites accounted for 5,168,190 (58.63%), Blacks/African Americans 1,829,374 (20.75%), American Indian/Alaskan Natives 906,698 (10.29%), Multiple Race 508,750 (5.77%), Asians 317,604 (3.60%), Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders 69,882 (0.79%). The Race Not Reported category accounted for the remaining 14,974 (0.17%) of enrollment. Total Women enrolled in the WIC Program were 2,058,429 (23.35%), Infants 2,056,848 (23.33%), and Children 4,700,201 (53.32%).

Before you go blaming Welfare, WIC and SNAP for “destroying the black family" rather than saving millions of people in poverty of all races from potential malnutrition and starvation you perhaps should look at all the factors involved first.

Donalds is just trying to feed the narrative justifying tax cuts for the wealthy which have fed the wealth gap, and the right-wing lust to cut Medicare and Social Security for decades.

Don’t you know all those “government handouts” are bad for you? [Even the ones that you’ve already paid for yourself?

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