Blacks called to 'come home' to GOP

Editor's note: Staff reporter Julie Foster is part of the WorldNetDaily
team in Philadelphia covering the Republican convention. This is her latest
report.

By Julie Foster

© 2000, WorldNetDaily.com, Inc.

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PHILADELPHIA - Republicans are working hard to shatter their image as the
party of rich white people, and it appears to be working as minorities speak
up in support of George W. Bush and the GOP.

From entertainment to orations, minorities have a major role at the national
convention. Musical sensation and Cuban-American John Secada performs for
delegates today, and Bush is expected to deliver a speech in both English
and Spanish when he addresses the delegation tomorrow.

African-Americans are also represented at the GOP behind the podium. War
hero Gen. Colin Powell as well as Bush international affairs adviser
Condoleezza Rice - both African-Americans -- delivered their addresses to
the session Monday and Tuesday nights, respectively.

But minorities are not just represented by a few key spokespersons. Pat
Allen has the unique distinction of being the woman who leads the prayer
department for Promise Keepers, a Christian organization "dedicated to
uniting men through vital relationships to become godly influences in their
world."

"I have a grandfather who was a white man. I have a grandmother who was
part Indian and African-American. I have a mother who was half white and
half black, and white people called her "white trash," and black women hated
her," she said. "What you see is a black woman with a white grandfather.
What does that make me? It just makes me an American."

"Jesse Jackson doesn't speak for me," she emphatically announced. "I really
would rather say what God's put on my heart and not allow one particular
group to ever say what's inside of my heart for this nation."

Allen believes America is at a critical juncture with this year's
presidential election.

"I just believe that every nation has a season that it rises, and every
nation has a season that it will fall. And God help America if we do not
repent for the sins that we've allowed - the injustice, the immorality that
sits up in the White House right now - and we've got to say 'enough,' and we
've got to pray," she said.

Fred Brown, chairman of the National Black Republican Council, delivered an
electrifying speech to a rapt audience during Monday's session, in which he
proclaimed the Republican Party as the best choice for black Americans.

"It is time for black Americans to come home to the Republican Party," he
exclaimed in the tone of an energetic preacher. "It was the Republican
Party that passed constitutional amendments to ensure a place for
minorities. It was the Republican Party of Abraham Lincoln that signed the
Emancipation Proclamation freeing the slaves."

"George W. Bush," he said, "believes in hope and opportunity for all
Americans," regardless of the color of their skin.