Rick Dean
Registered
5
http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/local/9135836.htm
NAACP chairman rips GOP, Bush for anti-black policies
By Chris Brennan
brennac@phillynews.com
AT ONE point last night, NAACP Chairman Julian Bond said his organization has always been non-partisan, but that doesn't mean we're non-critical.
That point came 18 pages into a 30-page speech that Bond used as an indictment for 50 years of Republican politics and policies on education, employment and war.
Starting with the 50th anniversary of Brown vs. The Board Of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling to des
gregate public schools, Bond said Republican presidents have battered back advances made in that cause during Democratic administrations.
The 1964 Civil Rights Act, he said, marked the start of Repub
licans using race to win elections.
By playing the race card in election after election, they've appealed to the dark underside of American culture, to the minority of Americans who reject democracy and equality, Bond boomed.
Moving back and forth between history and today's news, Bond spoke of angry voters ready for regime change here at home.
He called Iraq an unwise war, a crass obstruction of the truth.
The war's defenders have tried to stifle political debate --if you oppose the war, they say, you don't support our troops, Bond exclaimed. That's nonsense. If it was up to us, every man and woman stationed in Iraq would be safely at home with their loved ones right now.
President Bush addressed the NAACP during the 2000 campaign but has declined to speak ag
ain to the group, including this week at its 95th annual convention at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.
Last week, Bush visited Pennsylvania and said he does not have a relationship with t
he n
ation's larges
t civil rights organization, in part because it's members have called him names.
U.S. Sen. John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, will address the group on Thursday.
That's not to say that Democrats got a free pass last night.
Too often, they're not an opposition; they're an amen corner, Bond said. When one party is shameless, the other party cannot afford to be spineless.
But Bond, a professor at American University and the University of Virginia who has led the NAACP since 1998, then quickly contrasted the presidential race as two widely disparate views of who we are and what we believe.
Republicans, Bond claimed, want to serve special interests, curtail civil rights, despoil the environment and give religion veto power over scienc
e.
Democrats, on the other hand, seek to expand democracy and allow all to control it, he said.
Bond's speech was preceded by welcoming remarks by Gov. Rendell and U.S. Sen. A
rlen Spe
cter. B
oth left the stage before Bond started speaking.
Specter, who leaned heavily on Bush for support in a narrow primary victory in April, was warmly received by the crowd, prompting NAACP vice chairwoman Roslyn Brock to suggest:
Maybe he should run for the presidency of the United States. He came to address us.
Mayor Street and former U.S. Rep. William H. Gray III, pastor at Bright Hope Baptist Church in North Philadelphia, also spoke before Bond and remained on the stage during the speech, often nodding in approval.
Bond drew more applause when he described how the Congressional Black Caucus sought an investigation into suppression of black votes in the 2000 presidential election, as portrayed in Michael Moore's documentary, Fahrenheit 9/11.
The convention will show the
film, which rips into Bush for that election and the war in Iraq, for free at 6 p.m. tomorrow.
http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/local/9135836.htm
NAACP chairman rips GOP, Bush for anti-black policies
By Chris Brennan
brennac@phillynews.com
AT ONE point last night, NAACP Chairman Julian Bond said his organization has always been non-partisan, but that doesn't mean we're non-critical.
That point came 18 pages into a 30-page speech that Bond used as an indictment for 50 years of Republican politics and policies on education, employment and war.
Starting with the 50th anniversary of Brown vs. The Board Of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling to des
gregate public schools, Bond said Republican presidents have battered back advances made in that cause during Democratic administrations.
The 1964 Civil Rights Act, he said, marked the start of Repub
licans using race to win elections.
By playing the race card in election after election, they've appealed to the dark underside of American culture, to the minority of Americans who reject democracy and equality, Bond boomed.
Moving back and forth between history and today's news, Bond spoke of angry voters ready for regime change here at home.
He called Iraq an unwise war, a crass obstruction of the truth.
The war's defenders have tried to stifle political debate --if you oppose the war, they say, you don't support our troops, Bond exclaimed. That's nonsense. If it was up to us, every man and woman stationed in Iraq would be safely at home with their loved ones right now.
President Bush addressed the NAACP during the 2000 campaign but has declined to speak ag
ain to the group, including this week at its 95th annual convention at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.
Last week, Bush visited Pennsylvania and said he does not have a relationship with t
he n
ation's larges
t civil rights organization, in part because it's members have called him names.
U.S. Sen. John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, will address the group on Thursday.
That's not to say that Democrats got a free pass last night.
Too often, they're not an opposition; they're an amen corner, Bond said. When one party is shameless, the other party cannot afford to be spineless.
But Bond, a professor at American University and the University of Virginia who has led the NAACP since 1998, then quickly contrasted the presidential race as two widely disparate views of who we are and what we believe.
Republicans, Bond claimed, want to serve special interests, curtail civil rights, despoil the environment and give religion veto power over scienc
e.
Democrats, on the other hand, seek to expand democracy and allow all to control it, he said.
Bond's speech was preceded by welcoming remarks by Gov. Rendell and U.S. Sen. A
rlen Spe
cter. B
oth left the stage before Bond started speaking.
Specter, who leaned heavily on Bush for support in a narrow primary victory in April, was warmly received by the crowd, prompting NAACP vice chairwoman Roslyn Brock to suggest:
Maybe he should run for the presidency of the United States. He came to address us.
Mayor Street and former U.S. Rep. William H. Gray III, pastor at Bright Hope Baptist Church in North Philadelphia, also spoke before Bond and remained on the stage during the speech, often nodding in approval.
Bond drew more applause when he described how the Congressional Black Caucus sought an investigation into suppression of black votes in the 2000 presidential election, as portrayed in Michael Moore's documentary, Fahrenheit 9/11.
The convention will show the
film, which rips into Bush for that election and the war in Iraq, for free at 6 p.m. tomorrow.
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