Posted on 07/15/2004 9:12:12 AM PDT by nypokerface
WASHINGTON (AP) - Rod Paige, the nation's first black education secretary, condemned NAACP leaders Thursday for saying some black groups are fronts for white conservatives.
"You do not own, and you are not the arbiters of, African-American authenticity," said Paige, who rose from segregated Mississippi to become President Bush's education chief.
Paige's comments, in a Wall Street Journal column titled "Naked Partisans," appeared on the same day Bush's challenger, Democrat John Kerry, was speaking at the annual convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Philadelphia. Bush is at odds with the NAACP and has not spoken to the civil rights group since his 2000 campaign.
Paige took aim at two NAACP leaders, chairman Julian Bond and president Kweisi Mfume, for what he called "hateful and untruthful rhetoric about Republicans and President Bush." At the convention, NAACP officials have described some black organizations as mouthpieces of white conservatives and have said Bush's education law disproportionately hurts minorities.
The No Child Left Behind law of 2001, Paige said, is dedicated to closing the learning gap between blacks and whites and giving school choice to poor and minority students. Paige said he is a lifelong NAACP member, yet now sees the organization betraying its origins.
"The civil-rights movement has historically been multicultural, and many of its founders, including those who established the NAACP, were in fact white," Paige said. "I long for the day when our nation's education policy will not be grist for the partisan mill - when we can work together, black and white, rich and poor, for the sake of our children." ^--
Today's Wall Street Journal has a great column by Paige about this. The GOP should make sure it is sent to every black newspaper and opinion maker in the country.
It is unfortunate that blacks listen to poverty pimps like Jackson and Sharpton, Bond and Mfume. If they are interested in success, they should be listening to the Clarence Thomas', Paige's, J.C. Watts, Alan Keyes, Dr. Walter Williams, Condi Rice and others that have made something with their life, instead of the whining scum at the NAACP.
The Jackson/Sharpton/Maxine Waters/ morons have done more to keep blacks under bondage than any white organization.
What a shame.
Blessings, Bobo
"If they are interested in success, they should be listening to the Clarence Thomas', Paige's, J.C. Watts, Alan Keyes, Dr. Walter Williams, Condi Rice and others that have made something with their life, instead of the whining scum at the NAACP."
Here in Ga, we have Herman Cain running for the US senate. He has tough climb, but if he could get into the senate, that would be awesome.
Is there any way the article can be posted here.
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