Gary Franks: Former Gov. George Wallace was against integration. Trump is against inclusion. Two nickels or a dime?

Integration and inclusion: Though they may not be identical twins, they are still siblings.

During the era following slavery, ex-slaveholders struggled against racial mixing.

Currently, the heirs of slave owners and those with similar views are battling against racial integration.

The antithesis of inclusion is exclusion. Conversely, the opposite of integration is segregation. Former Governor of Alabama, George Wallace, famously declared, "Segregation today, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever," as he faced the entrance of the University of Alabama. He intended to stop African Americans from registering during the early 1960s.

Many Americans viewed this as extremely inappropriate. It embodied the peak of hatred and racial prejudice against Black individuals. This went completely against what is considered positive.

During the period from the late 1800s through the middle of the 1900s, the objective of the Republican Party and honorable Americans was to assimilate the formerly enslaved populace into mainstream American society. However, some members of the Democratic Party and individuals with questionable morals viewed this as entirely intolerable.

In 1865, a extremist organization known as the Ku Klux Klan came into existence. The intensity of their actions led to the resignation of its founder after only four years. This group employed domestic terror tactics resulting in numerous fatalities among African Americans until President Ulysses S. Grant collaborated with Congress to take action against them. pass the KKK Act.

This law established a federal offense for mistreating, harming, or killing African Americans. Through this statute along with measures from the Reconstruction era, African Americans began advancing in the United States.

For many previous slaveholders, such circumstances needed to cease immediately. Consequently, the year 1876 saw what could arguably be called the nation’s most fraudulent presidential election. Those against racial amalgamation aimed to install a leader who would promptly revert policies back to their historical state—particularly within the Southern states.

During that election, Ohio Governor Rutherford Hayes competed against New York Governor Samuel Tilden for the presidential position. Initially, Tilden appeared victorious on election night; however, due to various voting discrepancies, the race wasn’t conclusively awarded to him, leaving him just one electoral vote shy of winning. Following months of controversy and negotiations, Hayes ultimately emerged as the victor through an unprecedented series of events. Eventually, both sides agreed upon a compromise. The Compromise of 1877 - In which each political party received most, if not all, of what their members desired. The Republican Party aimed for the presidency, whereas the Southern Democrats sought to halt the GOP's integration initiatives in the South.

Both sides also left Tilden and Black individuals to face difficulties alone, becoming the major casualties.

Many were disappointed when the 1882 KKK Act, intended to safeguard African Americans from bodily harm, was surprisingly deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Before this, in 1877, federal troops were withdrawn from the Southern states, state sovereignty was asserted, and the era of Reconstruction came to an end.

Former white slaveholders utilized Booker T. Washington, an African American, to achieve their objectives. As one of the prominent figures among Black Americans, Washington had mastered the art of fundraising, securing substantial contributions from ex-slave owners. This financial support enabled him to found the Tuskegee Institute. In doing so, he provided these former slave holders with precisely what they desired – Atlanta Compromise , which announced to the world that "Segregated but Equal" was acceptable andIntegration was no longer necessary.

In just a few months, the Supreme Court addressed the Plessy v. Ferguson case and declared that "separate but equal" was legally binding—a principle that persisted for five decades until the landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling changed this. This verdict relegated African Americans in the U.S. to being seen as inferior citizens and rendered them almost invisible, save perhaps for what some might refer to as their role in performing work deemed 'for Blacks.'

Skip ahead to the 21st century, and essentially the same situation is occurring, but with the roles of the political parties reversed.

Rather than Washington, we have Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, an African American, who allegedly received substantial sums. of dollars in gifts With hundreds of thousands originating from descendants of slave owners, Thomas vigorously advocated for the passage of a measure that impeded the advancement of African Americans, all while endorsing the desires of those descended from slave owners as well as others who shared similar views.

After Donald Trump assumed office, he promptly halted all initiatives aimed at assisting African Americans in improving their competitiveness and integration within our society. He insisted that every organization cease "inclusive" programs.

Currently, the Trump administration is attempting to convince us that making an effort to incorporate Black individuals into society somehow disadvantages whites. This perspective mirrors precisely what previous slaveholders thought about in the 1800s.

If the past is a prologue to the future, if continued, this may not end well for America. Let us remember that period. We had the Panic of 1893 and the Depression from 1893-1898, followed by the Great Depression in the 20th Century. We had two World Wars that killed thousands of Americans, followed by two major wars – in Korea which became a stalemate and in Vietnam where we lost.

When you examine America several years following Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s passing through the end of the 20th century, you encounter an entirely distinct nation. Efforts toward integration aimed to merge Black Americans and all citizens into one large "melting pot" offering equal chances for everyone. This era witnessed substantial growth in collective wealth across the board. The decades of the '70s, '80s, and '90s might be remembered as a time of unprecedented peace and affluence within American annals.

Moreover, let me add that white people have not experienced suffering in this context.

The nation did not experience social or political division. We didn’t engage in any wars or prolonged military engagements lasting more than several weeks. The Cold War concluded victoriously for us against the Soviet Union without any shots exchanged; nobody contemplated an invasion of our territory. Congress managed to accomplish most of its duties effectively, such as achieving a balanced federal budget. National debt levels remained manageable. We faced no significant challengers to our global supremacy, leveraging organizations like the Peace Corps and similar initiatives to foster goodwill among less-developed countries that genuinely valued our support.

Great Americans and all institutions should rise up to protect America – because the ideals championed by Wallace, the progeny of slave owners, and similar individuals ought not to dominate.

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Gary Franks completed three terms as a congressman representing Connecticut’s 5th District. He became the first African American conservative to be elected to Congress and also marked the first time an African American Republican had been sent to the House in almost six decades. Host: We Speak Frankly podcast www.garyfranksphilanthropy.org .

©2025 Gary Franks. Dispersed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.