Yes. This is true. Democrats were the racist party. In the 1930s. Then, a crazy thing started happened in the late 1940s, where the GOP and Democrats switched platforms. It was weird. It was odd. It saw Democrat's embrace civil rights and equality, while the GOP started to court the southerners who were violently opposed to that idea. They started using the
Southern Strategy, while southern Democrats (even Dixie-crats) became Republicans. How do you think anti-segregationist
Strom Thurmond became a GOP Senator??? Why did a former
KKK Grand Wizard attempt to be a GOP Congressman??? There are literally hundreds of politicians at the state and federal level in the South that left the Democratic party to join the GOP -- expressly because they were against civil rights and wanted segregation and Jim Crow laws.
So, yes, the Democratic party has a horrible history on race relations - 60+ years ago. Today, the GOP continues to attract white supremacists and Klan members. This is such a pathetic attempt at a "gotcha" response that it is almost comical.