“This is discrimination, pure and simple, the soft bigotry of low expectations. We should end it.”

George W. Bush did a public service when he coined that phrase in 1999 as a way to point out the racist roots of claims that minorities can’t be expected to achieve what “privileged’ whites do. But he was wrong to call this form of bigotry “soft.”

There is nothing soft about it. Saying that blacks can’t be expected to excel in school or get an ID to vote is as bad as burning a cross on their lawn. And yet, while Republicans are routinely described as racist, it’s Democrats who lay claim to this particular form of bigotry.

Case in point is would-be-president California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who at an event with Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens told a black audience:

“I’m like you. I’m no better than you. I’m a 960 SAT guy … You’ve never seen me read a speech because I cannot read a speech.”

Newsom later complained about “fake MAGA-manufactured outage” over his comments, and ranted on X that Fox News’ Sean Hannity “didn’t give a sh** about the President of the United States of America posting an ape video of President Obama,” and “spare me your fake f***ing outrage, Sean.”  (expletives deleted)

Well, Gavin, tell that to Cornell West, who in an X post said:

Brother Newsom could’ve taken a humanistic approach! He could’ve said, ‘I’m just like you. I was born of a woman. I’ll face loss, pain, and death just like anyone else.’ But instead, when he thinks of black people, he brings up low SAT scores. That mindset sits at the core of white supremacy—the belief that Black people are less beautiful, less moral, less intelligent! Don’t play with us like that @CAgovernor !!

The mindset West identifies still runs through the Democratic Party, long after it stopped electing Klansmen and fighting against civil rights bills.

It was Democrat Lyndon Johnson in the 1960s who reportedly said about the civil rights bill he signed, “I’ll have them n*****s voting Democratic for 200 years.” (expletive deleted)

It was Joe Biden who said in 2019 that “poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids,” and who said things like “unlike the African-American community, with notable exceptions, the Latino community is an incredibly diverse community,” and who marveled that Barack Obama “is articulate and bright and clean” for a black man.

Now we have Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer showing this white supremacist mindset when he says that the SAVE Act, which would require voters to present an ID before casting a ballot, is “Jim Crow 2.0.”

“The goal of the SAVE Act is the same,” he said. “Disenfranchising American citizens and making it harder for eligible people to vote, particularly low-income Americans and people of color.”

Right, because who can expect blacks to be able to manage the “difficult” process of getting a government ID? (Never mind that states that have already adopted voter ID laws have seen an increase in voter turnout.)

So, let’s call this what it is. Racism. Pure and simple. And let’s call Newsom and Schumer and many others in today’s Democratic Party what they are: racists.

Just because Democrats are guilty of this particular form of racism doesn’t make it any less offensive.

If anything, it’s more pernicious. Because it’s not overt. Because it treats blacks like second-class citizens, undermines self-confidence, encourages dependency, and fuels a grievance mentality.

And because Democrats use this particular form of racism the same way LBJ did –  to keep themselves in power.

— Written by the I&I Editorial Board