How the ‘Democratic plantation’ became one of conservatives’ favorite slurs (Goes to the Washington Post, more at the link).

The article traces the use of the slur, research showing Republicans using the slur as far back as 1964 (as in the same year as the Civil Rights Act).

Historian Leah Wright Rigueur, author of “The Loneliness of the Black Republican,” noted that black Republicans criticized the plantation politics of the Democratic Party as early as 1964, inspiring white conservatives to occasionally deploy the phrase to critique liberals. They spread the plantation trope throughout print media in the 1970s and 1980s, eventually helping it gain mainstream attention in the 1990s.

Author and political pundit Armstrong Williams was arguably the most powerful purveyor of the phrase, promoting the notion that the Democratic Party had betrayed black voters for three decades. But the plantation trope was appropriated by others, including a local white columnist and radio host in Denver named Mike Rosen; the Log Cabin Republicans, a conservative LGBT organization; and Louis Farrakhan, who notoriously leveled “fierce jabs” against Bill Clinton in 1996. He claimed the Democratic Party’s leaders failed black Americans and that anyone inclined to support Clinton were “slaves sold out to the Democratic plantation.” Unlike black conservatives, Farrakhan’s solution was a third-party candidate who could deliver on campaign promises through their exclusive commitment to black voters’ collective interests.