The Soft Bigotry of Historical Amnesia

Democrats abandoned segregation but never entirely abandoned paternalism.

Brian C. Joondeph | June 1, 2026

For decades, Democrats and their media allies have aggressively branded Republicans as the party of racism.

Support voter ID? Racist.

Oppose affirmative action? Racist.

Criticize DEI programs? Racist.

Advocate merit over quotas? Racist.

The accusation is so persistent that many Americans simply accept it as fact without asking a simple question:

Which political party actually built the system of racial segregation in America?

The answer is remarkably clear.

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Jim Crow laws were Democrat initiatives. Poll taxes were enacted by Democrats. Segregation was defended by Democrat governors, mayors, sheriffs, and legislators throughout the South.

The Ku Klux Klan was founded by Democrats and operated for decades as the violent enforcement arm of Democrat political power in the post-Civil War South.

Bull Connor, the Birmingham official who unleashed police dogs and fire hoses on civil rights protesters, was a Democrat.

George Wallace, who famously declared “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever,” was a Democrat.

Robert Byrd, a former KKK recruiter who later became one of the Senate’s most influential Democrats, served until 2010 and was praised by many Democrat leaders upon his death. His career is a reminder that the historical links between the Democratic Party and racial politics are not ancient history from the nineteenth century.

It was a Republican president, Abraham Lincoln, who fought a war to end slavery.

These are not disputed facts. They are history.

The question is not whether these things happened. The question is why so many Americans have forgotten them.

Modern Democrats speak as though Republicans created segregation while Democrats spent........

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