Sunday, July 18, 2004

Pouting Bush Shuns the NAACP for Fourth Straight Year

George W. Bush proves once again that he is a man of the people, a President who strives to embrace all of the American people, no matter their color or political affiliation, unless of course if you call him names, then all bets are off. This is the basis for George W. Bush’s refusal to speak at the recent annual convention of the NAACP in Philadelphia. Bush, speaking of the NAACP leadership recently told reporter,
“[y]ou've heard the rhetoric and the names they've called me."


Excuse me, but aren’t you an adult Mr. Bush? Don’t you claim to be a leader? Are these the actions of an effective leader? Is this the way the President of an increasingly multicultural nation should act? Refusing to speak in front of the NAACP because Chairman Julian Bond rightly has called for your ouster is to summarily dismiss the thoughts—and votes—of some 500,000 NAACP members nationwide, and millions more (black & white, Asian & Latino) who support their cause.

The White House in a bid to prove a how gullible the American people are, at first attributed Bush's decision not to accept the invitation to speak at the NAACP annual convention to a scheduling conflict. Only later did Bush confirm what we all already know: that the leadership of the NAACP has little love for Bush because of his policies and track record to date on civil rights. Then candidate Bush’s visit to the openly racist campus of Bob Jones University during the election campaign of 2000; the Bush Administration’s announced support of the litigants in the Michigan Law School reverse discrimination case on Martin Luther King’s birthday, and a host of other questionable actions certainly do nothing to endear him to Black Americans as a whole. And his refusal to even meet with the Congressional Black Caucus speaks volumes about his stance on the Black American leadership in Congress. Message: you Congressional Black Caucus) don’t matter, your causes are not mine, nor my bases to embrace or consider, and the people you represent don’t matter!

Granted some of the things that Julian Bond and President of the NAACP Mr. Kweisi Mfume have been harsh, but were they deserved, are they the truth, and did they need to be said? I say yes, but of course each American will have to make up their own mind based on the Principles this nation is supposed to hold dear, you know, liberty and justice for all.

In his defense Mr. Mfume told reporters that,
“he has reached out to Bush numerous times in hopes of meeting with him…[t]he president never wrote me back," he stated. "I always got a letter from someone else in the White House stating his schedule did not permit such a meeting and they would get back with me ... and they never did.”


But Bush has continually stated that the Republican Party is the Party of inclusion, not exclusion. So why miss a chance to spread the love to the members of the nation’s foremost civil rights organization and let action speak louder then mere words? The message sent by Bush is undeniably clear: you (Black Americans) don’t matter, and the people you represent don’t matter, I don’t need your vote; you are insignificant, once again second class citizens whose core concerns need not be addressed by my administration.

Thank you Mr. Bush; you have further solidified my position in opposition of you and your Party of inclusion. We have no use for each other.