Free Republic

The NAACP in Lee County, Florida wants to picket the county over a portrait of General Robert E. Lee that hangs in the commission chambers because they deem displaying Lee's image to be racist. "It's a symbol of racism and division," Lee County NAACP President James Muwakkil said. According to Fox 4, "Muwakkil sent a letter to Lee County commissioners in early July, asking them to take down the portrait, but they voted to keep it up." On Sunday, Muwakkil fired off an email saying, "General Lee did not believe blacks should hold any positions in government." Muwakkil is reportedly...

Even as he faces a 16-count federal indictment on charges that include racketeering and soliciting bribes, Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) may be down, but he isn’t out. At least not yet. Devoid of virtually any influence in Congress and with his campaign treasury almost empty, Jefferson may still have a path to victory in the Democratic primary next month. By virtue of his high name identification and a small cadre of die-hard supporters, he is hoping to win enough votes in the crowded Oct. 4 primary to head into a runoff. And his likely runoff opponent is the only white...

Shelby Steele is on C-Span

For the past 50 years, black voters have sworn a loyalty oath to the Democratic Party. That's all changing now. According to a recent opinion poll by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, young black Americans are breaking from traditional voting patterns on issues no less pervasive than Social Security, educational quality, vouchers and federalism. The study also indicated that, over the last two years, support for the Democratic Party has dropped 11 percent amongst black voters. During that same period, black support for the Republican Party has more than doubled, from 4 percent to 10 percent. Though...

The electoral defeat of Rep. Cynthia McKinney signals the end of any "special relationship" between African Americans and mainstream organized American Jewry. Plenty of Blacks will make themselves available to tell these mainstream Jewish organizations differently, but the end has come, nonetheless. (Note my language, carefully: I did not say that we have reached the end of any relationship with "the Jews." I did not make blanket reference to "Jews" in general. "Mainstream" refers to the powerful, established, politically directed institutions that claim to speak for Jewish American concerns. They are well known, and require no listing in this brief...

I came out to help Cynthia because she spoke truth to power. She was a correct, courageous and principled voice for women, consumers and minorities, for education, human rights and civil liberties, for a sane, accountable and even-handed foreign policy. Cynthia was unbought, unbossed, and unbowed. Although the nearest edge of her district was 35 miles from my home north of the city, this was just plain important. The Right had declared its intention to oust her, had raised and bankrolled a black puppet candidate. As a five-term incumbent, the race was McKinney's to lose. Despite the avalanche of outside...

Events of the past year have demonstrated that the Black political movement is vulnerable to surrogate candidates in electoral contests in which African Americans are a majority or near-majority. This challenge is funded and directed by the Hard Right. It is a new and ominous threat, intended to destabilize existing Black leadership and, ultimately, destroy independent Black political action. Moreover, it is clear that African Americans will be confronted by this determined strategy for the foreseeable future and with escalating intensity. The Cory Booker mayoral candidacy in Newark was both a test and herald of the Hard Right's New Black...