To the Editor:

It has come to my attention over many years that racism follows particular political beliefs and party platforms. The summation of my personal inquiries of people I have met throughout my life leave me with the following conclusions.

Social issues benefitting the lower class and minorities are generally rejected by conservatives and consequently the Republican Party is not largely supported by these groups. Republicans in the future will fail to attract the demographic and new young voters as the face of America becomes more diverse.

The current overwhelming number of older white voters will eventually not dominate the conversations that promote prejudice and racism in some families. Minorities at times also practice prejudice and racism within their families and communities. I have witnessed both.

Racism is often passed from generation to generation by families wrongly blaming their shortcomings on others. My own grandparents, whom I loved dearly, made racist statements.

Having grown up with a good education in the 1960s and ’70s I was taught to understand what was wrong with my grandparents’ words regarding people who were different. I thought about why my grandparents had formed these attitudes and considered where they were from, Schoharie County.

What were the overwhelming political leanings of the family? They were farmers and probably had very little contact in rural America with minorities of the early 20th Century. When they were displaced from those farming communities, to the city life of downtown Albany because of economic hardships, they resented the change and the lifestyles of inner-city minorities.

My grandparents and nine children now had to live alongside city-dwelling minorities. Country folk did not generally respect people who left life on the land for life in the city and the evils associated with it.

I think my grandparents began to blame the conditions and shortcomings of their new home in the city on the minorities that lived amongst them. They Lifted themselves above the minorities by merely pointing out that being white made them superior and that their social status would eventually improve if they could just remove the influences of the existing lower classes.

Being white was the one thing that they could hold on to that made them feel superior to their black neighbors, even when they exhibited no different social behaviors other than to alienate each other. It is human nature to blame others for the consequences of our choices.

Sometimes others do interfere in our lives, but this generally cannot be attributed to race. Political party affiliations are very telling!

I am a Democrat. Not because I believe in all that the Democratic Party believes — I don’t! I am a Democrat because, more than Republicans, they believe in helping the down trodden, the working class, and people who are honestly in need of assistance.

I disagree with Democrats on many issues but my belief is guided by the religious philosophy I was taught in my youth: “Do unto others as you would have done unto you!”

The Republican Party has, for me, never fit into this philosophy as well as the Democrats. This is not to say that they never do anything nice for the downtrodden and lower classes. I’m saying that the Republicans are more often unsympathetic to the needy and older people of our country that Democrats.

The Republicans would rather spend more money on defense even though it may not be needed, than increase spending on our elderly and veterans.

As for the conversation about racism, I have concluded that Republicans are not racist, but racists are almost always Republicans or Conservatives. Ask yourself why that is. What is it that attracts a racist to the Republican Party?

Don’t try to insist my line of reasoning is unqualified. This is why the Republican Party will ultimately fail to lead a country comprised of people who are diverse. Because at the core of their party’s beliefs, they are separatists, both economically and socially, often only compromising these beliefs when pressed into a corner that reveals the shortcomings of their ethics or if it threatens the growth of personal financial gain.

I believe the Republican Party does not support racism but it provokes it — just ask a racist!

Timothy J. Albright

Meadowdale