Democrats vs. Republicans: What actually happened to Black people?

People keep asking the same question:

Which party has done more for Black people — Democrats or Republicans?

That question is too simple.

The better question is:

What did each party actually do, and did it help Black people, hurt Black people, or produce mixed results?

That is where the receipts matter.

1935 — SOCIAL SECURITY ACT

President Franklin D. Roosevelt — Democrat

Social Security eventually became one of the most important federal programs for Black seniors and families.

But when the program began, agricultural and domestic workers were excluded from old-age insurance coverage. Those occupations included roughly 65% of employed Black Americans at the time.

Impact: MIXED

The long-term program became enormously important, but Black workers were disproportionately excluded from the original system.

1948 — MILITARY DESEGREGATION

President Harry Truman — Democrat

Truman ordered equality of treatment and opportunity in the United States Armed Forces.

Impact: HELPED

It ended the federal policy supporting a segregated military and expanded opportunities for Black servicemembers.

1957 — LITTLE ROCK

President Dwight Eisenhower — Republican

When Arkansas resisted school integration, Eisenhower used federal authority and sent troops to enforce desegregation and protect the Little Rock Nine.

Impact: HELPED

The federal government demonstrated that states could not simply ignore court-ordered integration.

1957 — CIVIL RIGHTS ACT

President Dwight Eisenhower — Republican

The Eisenhower administration supported the first major federal civil-rights legislation since Reconstruction.

The law created the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

Impact: HELPED

The law was weaker than many civil-rights advocates wanted, but it reestablished a federal role in protecting voting rights.

1964 — CIVIL RIGHTS ACT

President Lyndon Johnson — Democrat

Johnson pushed and signed the Civil Rights Act, but the congressional record is important.

To break the Senate filibuster, 44 Democrats and 27 Republicans voted yes.

Twenty-one Democrats and six Republicans voted no.

Many of the strongest opponents were Southern Democrats.

Impact: MAJOR HELP

The law attacked racial discrimination in employment, public accommodations and other areas of American life.

This was not simply a Democratic achievement or a Republican achievement.

It was the result of the civil-rights movement, political pressure and a bipartisan congressional coalition.

1965 — VOTING RIGHTS ACT

President Lyndon Johnson — Democrat

The Voting Rights Act attacked literacy tests and other barriers that had prevented large numbers of Black Americans from voting.

Impact: MAJOR HELP

Federal authority was finally used aggressively to protect Black voting rights.

1968 — FAIR HOUSING ACT

President Lyndon Johnson — Democrat

The law prohibited major forms of racial discrimination in housing.

Impact: HELPED

But passing a law against discrimination did not automatically repair generations of redlining, segregation and lost Black homeownership opportunities.

Stopping discrimination and repairing the damage caused by discrimination are two different things.

1969–1970s — AFFIRMATIVE ACTION AND THE PHILADELPHIA PLAN

President Richard Nixon — Republican

The Nixon administration expanded federal affirmative-action requirements designed to increase minority participation in federally funded construction work.

Impact: HELPED

It opened employment opportunities in industries where Black workers had historically faced discrimination.

That receipt belongs on the Republican side of the record.

1986 — ANTI-DRUG ABUSE ACT

President Ronald Reagan — Republican

Congressional support — Bipartisan

The law helped create the infamous 100-to-1 federal sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine.

Five grams of crack cocaine could trigger the same federal mandatory sentence as 500 grams of powder cocaine.

Black defendants became disproportionately affected by federal crack sentencing.

Impact: SERIOUS DAMAGE

But this cannot honestly be placed entirely on Republicans.

Democrats in Congress also supported the legislation.

Bipartisan damage is still damage.

1994 — CRIME BILL

President Bill Clinton — Democrat

Congressional support — Bipartisan

The law funded approximately 100,000 police officers, crime-prevention programs and protections including the Violence Against Women Act.

It also provided billions of dollars for prisons and encouraged tougher sentencing policies.

Mass incarceration was already rising before 1994, so the crime bill did not create the entire problem.

But it contributed to the expansion of the incarceration system.

Black communities were disproportionately affected by that system.

Impact: MIXED, WITH SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE

Again, this was a Democratic president with bipartisan congressional support.

2010 — FAIR SENTENCING ACT

President Barack Obama — Democrat

Congressional support — Bipartisan

The law reduced the crack-versus-powder cocaine sentencing disparity from 100-to-1 to 18-to-1.

Impact: HELPED

It reduced an unequal sentencing structure that had disproportionately affected Black defendants.

But it did not completely eliminate the disparity.

2018 — FIRST STEP ACT

President Donald Trump — Republican

Congressional support — Bipartisan

The First Step Act changed federal sentencing and prison policies and allowed some people sentenced under the old crack laws to seek retroactive relief.

Impact: HELPED

Black prisoners were among those who benefited because Black defendants had been disproportionately affected by the previous crack sentencing system.

That receipt belongs on Trump's record and on the bipartisan congressional coalition that passed the legislation.

So what does the record actually show?

Democrats have supported policies that helped Black Americans.

Republicans have supported policies that helped Black Americans.

Democrats have supported policies that damaged Black communities.

Republicans have supported policies that damaged Black communities.

And some of the greatest progress — and some of the greatest damage — came through bipartisan government action.

That is why Black Wall should not stop at asking:

Which party did more for Black people?

We should ask:

What did you promise?

What did you actually do?

Who voted for it?

Who voted against it?

How much money was spent?

What happened afterward?

Did Black employment improve?

Did Black homeownership improve?

Did Black wealth improve?

Did Black business ownership improve?

Did Black incarceration increase or decrease?

Did Black voting participation increase?

Did Black communities gain measurable opportunity?

And finally:

DID IT HELP US?

DID IT HURT US?

WAS THE RESULT MIXED?

OR IS THERE NOT ENOUGH EVIDENCE TO KNOW?

That should be the standard.

Not:

“He's a Democrat.”

Not:

“He's a Republican.”

Not:

“They said they support the Black community.”

Show us the legislation.

Show us the votes.

Show us the money.

Show us the numbers before.

Show us the numbers after.

Then:

SHOW US THE RECEIPT.

A community cannot improve what it refuses to measure.