Pelosi Omits Key Detail About First Black Congressman When Announcing Exhibit Honoring Him
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Whip James Clyburn omitted one key detail on Friday during the opening of an exhibit honoring former Rep. Joseph Rainey of South Carolina, the first black congressman in American history.
The exhibit, located in the United States Capitol, is named “Joseph Rainey: 150 years” and celebrates the 150th anniversary of Rainey’s swearing-in on Dec. 12, 1870, as the first African American member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
During their presentation of the exhibit, however, Pelosi and Clyburn predictably failed to mention that Rainey was a Republican.
“It is a great honor to join Whip Clyburn — a proud son of South Carolina — to announce the opening of this exhibition, celebrating the historic service and enduring impact of Congressman Joseph Rainey,” Pelosi said, according to a transcript released by her office.
“As Speaker, it has long been my priority to ensure that the halls of the United States Capitol reflect the full, vibrant and diverse portrait of American history, and this special exhibition will help finally share the story of Congressman Rainey, which has for too long and for too many gone untold.”
“As it communicates an important part of our nation’s history, this exhibition will also help inform and inspire the future — engaging the next generation of voting rights and civil rights champions.”
The Republican Party had many historic firsts when it came to minority appointments to office. Charles Curtis, the first vice president of color, Hiram Rhodes Revels, the first African-American Republican senator, and Blanche Kelso Bruce, the second African-American senator, were all Republicans as well.
“I want to thank Speaker Pelosi and the Clerk of the House, Cheryl Johnson, for having the vision to mark this 150th anniversary of Joseph Rainey’s swearing in as the first African American House member in this important way,” Clyburn added.
“History can only inform us, if we know that history. This exhibit reminds us to celebrate those whose shoulders we stand upon and to learn the lessons from the long arc of the Black experience in this august body.”
Perhaps one of the “lessons” we could learn from the “Black experience” of Joseph Rainey is that people of all races and creeds benefit from the philosophies and policies of conservatism.
Another lesson that could be learned from Rainey’s exhibit is that the black voters shouldn’t be a monolith voting for the Democratic Party.
Of course, politicians like Pelosi don’t want such lessons learned and would rather paint the Republican Party as the party of racism, with the goal being to protect that monolith.
If the 2020 election is any indication, however, the black vote is slowly shifting to the right.
During November’s presidential election, President Donald Trump made huge gains among Latino and black voters.
In fact, Trump garnered the highest percentage of black votes of any Republican presidential candidate going back to the 1990s.
Although Democrats like Pelosi love to paint Trump as a racist president representing a racist political party, he made gains with black men and women, latino men and women and white women.
According to Newsweek, when compared to his 2016 win, in 2020 Trump made gains in every single demographic except for white men.
As Democrats continue to slander conservatives as racist and cover up the fact that the Republican Party has always been the party of racial equality, their stranglehold over minority votes continues to slip.
It’s only a matter of time before they lose that advantage completely.
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