Dominic is a sophomore political science major and writes "Dominic's Politics" for the Daily News. His views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper. Write to Dominic at dabordenaro@bsu.edu.
If my readers haven’t figured it out yet, I’m a Democrat. I am proud to say that.
To me, being a Democrat means caring about everyone. It means loving everyone, promoting equality, fighting racism and helping those that do not have the same privileges as me. It means that I believe in science, that voting should be easier and, to some of us, that healthcare is a right.
It means I want to build bridges, not walls.
Whenever someone attacks my party, I am obligated to defend it. The attacks laid out by another columnist are misleading and wrong, and that has made me very angry. The Democratic party cannot be compared to statues, like my colleague has tried to do.
In the past, the Democratic Party was not what it is now. It fought for slavery and other injustices.
Times have changed. The party is different than it used to be, it only carries the same name.
Comparing the Democratic Party to racist statues of Confederate soldiers is not an argument, it is grasping at straws.
Here is the biggest difference between the party and these statues: statues do not change.
They are not capable of meaning anything else. They don’t move, they don’t comprise their beliefs for other people. The people they are built for are dead.
They will always be racist.
They need to be removed. Put them in museums where people can be educated. Do not glorify these racist symbols in town squares and city circles.
Instead, put up more statues of Martin Luther King Jr., Harriet Tubman or other great members of our society.
I’m not saying the Democratic Party is perfect. We’ve had our problems, even recently. We’ve made mistakes that have wreaked havoc on minorities, such as the 1994 crime bill.
It is so important to learn from these mistakes. Republicans are making it harder. More and more red states are taking talks of slavery and segregation out of textbooks.
That’s racism.
It is hypocritical to say that taking down racist statues is keeping us from learning or taking away our culture, while shielding students from the truths of our racist past.
My colleague, in his article, stated “We want to destroy confederate statues because almost 200 years ago they were racist. Fine. Less than 100 years ago, the Democratic Party was racist.”
A huge part of this is false. These statues were not erected 200 years ago, but rather about 100 years ago, and again in the 50s’ and 60’s. They are not old and they represent nothing but hate. They were put up during the Jim Crow era to idolize white supremacy and put minorities down further.
To me it is sad, immoral and un-American that anyone could defend these statues.
If we want to talk about racism today, we need to look at the modern Republican party and the Alt-right.
The Republican president employs white supremacists in his administration. And while members of the party have spoken out against white supremacy, their actions say otherwise. Whether it’s disenfranchising minority voters or stoking white resentment to garner votes, it’s all racist.
We must end the hate. Putting parties aside, it is not who we are. It cannot be who we are. We must unite together or we as a country will fail.
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