Still clueless after all these years

Tue, 15 Feb 2005 21:14:00 +0000

President Bush was roundly criticized during his first term for rarely meeting with African-American leaders and civil rights groups. But as part of an apparent New Year's resolution to reach out to blacks in his second term, Bush met with the 43 members of the Congressional Black Caucus late last month. With this gesture, Bush surely hoped to begin luring more blacks into the Republican Party. Bush got 11 percent of the black vote in 2004, 2 percent more than supported him in 2000, but John Kerry still received 10 million more African-American votes than Bush did.

For caucus members, the Oval Office meeting was an opportunity to present their legislative agenda to the president -- an agenda that centers on eliminating disparities in healthcare, education, economic opportunity and justice. Instead of healing old wounds, however, the meeting went awry when the discussion turned to the topic of voting rights. In an episode that got a lot of play in the black press, if not the mainstream media, Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., asked the president a question that seemed like a no-brainer: "Do we have your support in extending and strengthening the 1965 Voting Rights Act when it comes up for renewal in 2007?"

Father knows best

Mon, 23 Aug 2004 22:00:00 +0000

For two centuries, prominent African-Americans have regularly chastised black parents who fail to make education a top priority. Growing up, I listened to such complaints all the time. So when I first heard the remarks Bill Cosby made at the NAACP and Rainbow PUSH Coalition national conventions this summer, I thought, Amen ... and big deal. There was nothing terribly new in Cosby's comments. Yet his biting words provoked a firestorm of controversy that continues to burn -- and I'm tired of it.

The misrepresentation of Cosby's remarks by news reporters and commentators who should know better continues into the present. The Associated Press headlined one story: "Bill Cosby Has More Harsh Words for the Black Community," and characterized his remarks as a "tirade." Equally offensive was BET staff writer James Hill's headline "Bill Cosby Takes Black Folks to the Cleaners." Even progressive writer and syndicated columnist Earl Ofari Hutchison referred to Cosby's comments as a "demoralizing ... headline-grabbing yarn."

Salon.com > Karin L. Stanford

Still clueless after all these years

Father knows best