Frist and the Marion Barry comment
"[Jim Sasser is] sending Tennessee money to Washington, to Marion Barry ... While I've been transplanting lungs and hearts to heal Tennesseans, Jim Sasser has been transplanting Tennesseans' wallets to Washington, home of Marion Barry."
... Bill Frist, 1994 campaign stump speech.
I first saw this reported at Talking Points Memo about 2 weeks ago. Today, Sam Heldman weighs in on the controversy with a perceptive comment on the period around 1994 when he had personal experience with white folks believing that the black mayor of Birmingham had to have done something wrong because blacks were incapable of governing themselves. See Sam's comments here.
I have noticed the same phenomenon over the years. I attributed it partly to the history text books we grew up using in school. These invariably pointed to Reconstruction as a corrupt period in Southern history and a period of "black rule." I often thought of doing some paper on the subject -- which would mean tracking down and reading the history text books used in the South (and maybe elsewhere) for several decades. My scholarly dedication would evaporate like the dew in the sun as I contemplated the task.
By the way, both points are exaggerated. There was little "black rule" in the South. No black was ever elected governor; I think one served briefly when the governor died or resigned in Louisiana or Mississippi. I think only South Carolina had even one house with a black majority.