Following release of a 1971 audio recording of then- California Gov. Ronald "St. Ronnie of Hollywood" Reagan making a racist comment to President Richard "I'm Not A Crook" Nixon about African delegates to the U.N., at least one newspaper from Reagan's home state has weighed in on a long, vicious strain of white supremacy in the Republican Party:
In the shocking conversation, first revealed by The Atlantic, Reagan refers to African delegates to the United Nations as “monkeys” and says “they’re still uncomfortable wearing shoes.” Nixon guffaws.
The two men – one a governor of California, one a president from California – were upset that the African delegates had voted to recognize the People’s Republic of China. So, in response to this political disagreement, two of the most powerful men in the world resorted to racist invective. Nixon, recounting his conversation with Reagan to a White House staffer, referred to the African delegates as “cannibals.”
President Donald Trump’s increasingly racist rhetoric has stunned political observers, yet he’s simply playing to a constituency that was cultivated over decades by people like Nixon and Reagan. They may have operated on a more subtle level, saving the worst of their bigotry for private conversations instead of declaring it in tweets. Yet the core principle remains the same: racism. (our emphasis)The link embedded in the editorial provides the audio recording of Reagan's racist remarks and Nixon's approving reaction. Please read the entire editorial for the historical references demonstrating the Republican Party's following a racist agenda from the "Southern Strategy" to Trump's white nationalism. Here's The Atlantic's transcription of the Reagan remarks:
“Last night, I tell you, to watch that thing on television as I did,” Reagan said. “Yeah,” Nixon interjected. Reagan forged ahead with his complaint: “To see those, those monkeys from those African countries—damn them, they’re still uncomfortable wearing shoes!”The Sacramento Bee is right: the core principle of the Republican Party is racism. If you support them, you support that.
