When I learned of the deceitful campaign tactics used in securing Thad Cochran’s victory over Tea Party candidate Chris McDaniel, I became enraged to the point of losing a good night’s sleep. My first reaction was disappointment and disbelief that a Republican senator would stoop to that level against another Republican. My anger soon turned to the black citizens of Mississippi.

The Cochran campaign along with the local Democrats, employed a campaign that sought to paint Chris McDaniel and the Tea Party as racist (nothing new for Democrats) with the intent to basically take away the rights of Black Mississippians (although there is no record of McDaniel or The Tea Party every making any such statements). Fliers were distributed with absurd claims such as: “Tea Party candidate McDaniel intends to prevent blacks from voting on Tuesday." “Mississippi cannot and will not return to a bygone era of intimidating black Mississippians from voting.” How could anyone believe such nonsense?  Have any of the black residents of Mississippi ever read The Voting Rights Act of 1965 ? No politician today would ever be taken seriously by anyone if he or she made such racist statements.

Democrat politicians have used all sorts of scare tactics about the alleged intent of the Republican Party in order to keep black Americans from straying. Because these tactics seem to be working, I have come to believe that maybe the majority of black Americans are not aware that The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was voted into law. Everything that the Democrats claim that Republicans intend to do to black Americans is outlawed in The Civil Rights Act . Are my fellow black American that uninformed that they can be so easily manipulated into thinking that their rights can be taken away by the election of one politician (i.e. McDaniel)?

 I voted in my first presidential election in 1996. Before that election, I had not taken any interest in politics, history or any other mature adult issue. Because I was in the military, I sensed that President Bill Clinton was not too fond of me and my fellow troops. That prompted me to get out a vote against him. After work, I went to my precinct and cast my vote for Mr. Dole. Later that evening, while I was in a convenient store, a group of black teenage boys came in. I heard them say that their parents told them if Bill Clinton did not get reelected, it would be the end of the black race. Another older black woman was also in the store and she agreed with the teenagers. I asked her how that was possible since the black race existed way before Bill Clinton was ever president. She didn’t have an answer to that. She also did not have an answer to what Bob Dole would do to eliminate the black race.

It infuriates me to witness how easily my fellow black Americans can be manipulated and used for political purposes and yet, receives such small if any return for their support. Maybe it is time for some of the so-called black leaders and clergy to conduct some classes on the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Christian Commentary (http://patriciascornerblog.com), or contact the author at dicksonpat@sky.com.