Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) attempted to whitewash the history of the filibuster this week by claiming that it’s not a racist tool and never has been, only for historians to crush him with facts.
McConnell has been desperate to keep the filibuster intact, even going so far as to threaten “chaos” and revenge by Republicans if Democrats were to scrap the odious rule that is found nowhere in the Constitution and has been used for decades by conservatives to obstruct bills in the Senate.
On Tuesday, McConnell once again defended the filibuster by telling reporters that the filibuster does not have a racist history and claimed that historians agree with him.
“It has no racial history at all. None. So, there’s no dispute among historians about that,” he declared.
Here’s the video via Twitter:
Mitch McConnell: The filibuster has “no racial history at all. None. There’s no dispute among historians.”
(This is exceedingly untrue.)pic.twitter.com/8K44VydQNl
— The Recount (@therecount) March 23, 2021
The truth, however, is that historians overwhelmingly agree that the filibuster is racist and they spoke out in force to counter McConnell’s lies.
Historian of the 20th century South here. I dispute Mitch’s statement. The filibuster has a ton of “racial history.” https://t.co/XpPwAaP3rT
— Chuck Westmoreland (@chwestmo7) March 23, 2021
Strom Thurmond disagrees. On the other hand, though, if he can stand there and lie and have credulous reporters repeat his words verbatim, why not just say whatever he feels like? https://t.co/ZqQOOf0DhY
— Patrick Wyman (@Patrick_Wyman) March 23, 2021
Maybe one or two (or a thousand) historians might disagree with the contention that the U.S. Senate filibuster has “no racial history at all.”
— Michael Beschloss (@BeschlossDC) March 23, 2021
Other historians even provided examples.
Thoughtful piece from @seanwilentz Senate Filibuster: Why It Has to Go – Rolling Stone https://t.co/Npzi6VBTAj
— Jon Meacham (@jmeacham) March 17, 2021
Great question. McConnell’s answer is false. His office is trying to clean it up but he said what he said. For more than a century the filibuster was widely understood to be primarily dedicated to maintaining white supremacy and blocking civil rights. Here’s Russell in 1949. https://t.co/A5GLiPDzbg pic.twitter.com/BRAfQrFV5c
— Adam Jentleson 🎈 (@AJentleson) March 23, 2021
Filibuster against civil rights bill, 1874
Filibuster against civil rights bill, 1875
Filibuster against a pension for a black official, 1906
Filibuster against confirmation of a black official, 1909 pic.twitter.com/FGBIGvARkQ
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) March 23, 2021
Filibuster against anti-lynching bill, 1921
Filibuster against anti-lynching bill, 1922
Filibuster against anti-lynching bill, 1925
Filibuster against monument to black WWI veterans, 1926 pic.twitter.com/YZMOdFS4xI
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) March 23, 2021
Filibuster against anti-lynching bill, 1935
Filibuster against anti-lynching bill, 1938
Filibuster against bill targeting racial discrimination in employment, 1945
Filibuster against Truman’s civil rights proposals, 1948 pic.twitter.com/mZ1fkZNqWa
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) March 23, 2021
Filibuster against Truman’s civil rights proposals, 1949
Filibuster against Truman’s civil rights proposals, 1950
Filibuster against measures to fight housing discrimination, 1954
Filibuster against civil rights bill, 1957 pic.twitter.com/frFtx708BQ
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) March 23, 2021
Filibuster against civil rights bill, 1960
Filibuster against civil rights bill, 1962
Filibuster against civil rights bill, 1963
Filibuster against civil rights bill, 1964 pic.twitter.com/JhnQATwIWQ
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) March 23, 2021
Filibuster against civil rights bill, 1966
Filibuster against civil rights bill, 1968
Filibuster against bill targeting employment discrimination, 1972
Filibuster against civil rights bill, 1976 pic.twitter.com/rPEMHQ6W4b
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) March 23, 2021
As an amateur historian, I strongly concur. The filibuster has been a tool used by racist conservative lawmakers for over 150 years now to obstruct legislation, Cabinet nominees, and other Senate business that moves the country forward, especially if the legislation benefits people of color. Republicans dubiously used the filibuster to obstruct Democrats from 2009 through 2016 in a scheme to sabotage former President Barack Obama, the first African-American president in our country’s history. Now they want to do the same to President Joe Biden’s agenda of popular policies.
The filibuster is indisputably racist and should be ended. The fact that McConnell is lying about it to protect it is all you need to know about just how ridiculous, extreme, and bigoted the filibuster is and has been.
Featured Image: Screenshot