NAACP exhorts voters to oust Bush

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Registered: 03-18-2000
NAACP exhorts voters to oust Bush
109
Mon, 07-12-2004 - 4:06pm
Group condemns education, economic policies.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/07/12/naacp.convention.ap/index.html


NAACP chairman Julian Bond urged members of the nation's oldest civil rights organization to increase voter turnout to oust President Bush, and condemned the administration's policies on education, the economy and the war in Iraq.


"They preach racial neutrality and practice racial division," Bond said Sunday night in the 95th annual convention's keynote address. "They've tried to patch the leaky economy and every other domestic problem with duct tape and plastic sheets. They write a new constitution of Iraq and they ignore the Constitution here at home."


Volunteers with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People have been working on voter drives in black communities across the country, registering more than 100,000 so far in 11 key states, including Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and New Mexico, Bond said.


Bond, a leader in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee during the 1960s civil rights movement and a Georgia legislator for 20 years, became chairman of the NAACP in 1998.


Leaders of the Baltimore-based group are upset that President Bush has no plans to attend the convention. Bush spoke at the 2000 NAACP convention when he was a candidate but has declined invitations to speak in each year of his presidency, making him the first president since the 1930s to skip it, officials said.


Democratic challenger John Kerry has accepted an invitation to speak Thursday on the final day of the convention, the group said.


Bond said that 50 years after Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision on school desegregation, and 40 years after the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, schools remain segregated based on income, and racism still exists in many forms.


Minority children still face inequality in school spending and are being disproportionately hurt by the accountability aims of Bush's No Child Left Behind Act, he said.


"On our present course, we are formalizing two school systems: one filled with middle-class children, most of them white, and the other filled with low-income minorities," Bond said.

cl-Libraone~

 


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iVillage Member
Registered: 05-18-2004
Fri, 07-16-2004 - 10:38am
The wealthy will always have benefits that the non-wealthy don't.

And ya know what...If I donated large amounts of money, I'd my kid better get accepted SATs and grades site unseen. Every other student benefits from a wealthy contributor so that person's child should certainly be allowed to attend the school.

So because schools show favoritism because of wealthy benefactors we offset that by promoting racist programs? Makes sense to me....


iVillage Member
Registered: 04-05-2004
Fri, 07-16-2004 - 10:43am
The NAACP is an embarrassment. They do not exist to advance the goals of all of us, only those of us who are "colored" to view the world through liberal eyes. I am embarrassed that they claim to speak for me.

My brothers and sisters have done better under this administration than under any other. If we would stop and look at the facts instead of falling for the "dog and pony show" from the liberal NAACP we would see that (among other things) more black families own their own homes now than ever before.

I am sick to death with the politics of the NAACP. Legally they should lose their tax exempt status based on the fact that they are not allowed to associate themselves with either political party.

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-05-2004
Fri, 07-16-2004 - 10:52am
You don't understand this issue at all. Black children are not told that they "need extra help to be equal to another race" let me assure you. For many years we were *excluded* from the process *based* upon our race. Most employers, colleges, etc. would weigh two applicants and choose the white applicant based upon his race. It didn't matter if the person of color was more qualified or not.

It is so easy for white people to look at this and say it's not fair. Of course it's not fair from your POV. You have no fear of being held back due to the color of you skin. I think it may not be totally fair, but it is *more fair* that the way it was before.

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-05-2004
Fri, 07-16-2004 - 10:58am
In a perfect world that would be a valid argument. The world is not perfect, and unfortunately in far too many cases people's racist views infiltrate the selection process when they have no guidelines to the contrary.
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-18-2004
Fri, 07-16-2004 - 11:06am
"Black children are not told that they "need extra help to be equal to another race" let me assure you."

That is exactly what AA does. It says "you are black, they are white, in order to compete with the whites, you need this help". What a bunch of bunk.

"It didn't matter if the person of color was more qualified or not."

It still doesn't, it is just now the white person won't get hired simply because he/she is white. You can NOT fix injustices by creating new ones.

"It is so easy for white people to look at this and say it's not fair."

It isn't fair to everyone involved. It isn't fair to the black applicant because it cheapens their accomplishments. It isn't fair to the white applicant because it invalidates their accomplishments. It promotes racial inequality and promotes ill feelings among the races.

"You have no fear of being held back due to the color of you skin. "

"We" do now.

"I think it may not be totally fair, but it is *more fair* that the way it was before."

Not it isn't, it's just different discrimination.

AA may have been useful in forcing the break in the mindset of not hiring blacks but it is now much more of a detriment than a help.

Cry about discrimination and then discriminate. Hmmm....what's that word...oh yea Hypocrite. (Not you personally, the whole AA movement)

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-05-2004
Fri, 07-16-2004 - 11:07am
Unbelievable. Of course white students aren't making excuses that their failures are due to the fact that they are white! Do you know how ridiculous that sounds? White people have never been faced with discrimination based on their skin color! Why would they use this excuse??? I am sure that they can come up with other excuses, though.

People who become failures are the people who make excuses, no matter the color of their skin.

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-18-2004
Fri, 07-16-2004 - 11:12am
"In a perfect world that would be a valid argument. The world is not perfect, and unfortunately in far too many cases people's racist views infiltrate the selection process when they have no guidelines to the contrary."

Let's assume Frank (a black man) applies for a job at Joe's Auto shop. Now Joe is a racist. Joe doesn't want to hire Frank because he is black. Frank happens to be a great mechanic. Joe is forced to because of AA and employement laws. Frank gets hired but is treated poorly but not enough so to form a lawsuit. Frank eventually quits and takes a job at Bob's Auto shop where he is wanted and is successful.

A. Would you really want to work for Joe just because he is forced to hire you?

B. If you were treated fine, would you want to help Joe make more money off of your talent?

C Wouldn't you rather just go work for a company that supports you because you are talented?

The intention of all these laws are admirable, AA included, but they are just fatally flawed.

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-05-2004
Fri, 07-16-2004 - 11:20am
You act as if Affirmative Action were for the MAJORITY not the MINORITY. Affirmative Action is not the huge threat to you that you are imagining. High achieving white children aren't ALL held back, and if a few of them do not get selected into a certain school or job, there is always another one that will accept them. They don't have to worry about being not selected bassed upon racial prejudices. Pre-Affirmative Action we, ALL OF US (a small number of people compared to the majority) were almost ALWAYS held back.

I think you are getting worked up over an issue that doesn't matter that much to you if you look at the broad scope of things, but matters in a HUGE way to me overall.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Fri, 07-16-2004 - 11:24am

What if Joe's Auto shop is the only one in town?


My advice to Frank could get a Government business loan for minorities & open his own auto shop.

cl-Libraone~

 


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iVillage Member
Registered: 04-05-2004
Fri, 07-16-2004 - 11:40am
If I based my happiness or success upon never associating with racists I would be wearing a flour sack today. (I wouldn't be posting on this board, either, lol).

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