“An interesting thing is happening,” said Kevin Pritchett of the Center for New Leadership, an African American political think tank, on “Hannity and Colmes.” “Blacks are becoming more conservative.”
Wait a second. Can a black man say that on national television? And is he talking about the same group of people that listen to the propped-up chairman of the NAACP – Julian Bond?
Maybe you missed the comments by the chairman of the NAACP:
Republicans appeal to the dark underside of American culture, to that minority of Americans who reject democracy and equality. They preach racial neutrality and practice racial division … their idea of reparations is to give war criminal Jefferson Davis a pardon. Their idea of equal rights is the American flag and Confederate swastika flying side by side.
It should be noted that these were merely some of the introductory comments. He went on to speak for another estimated 25 minutes after this.
Liberals have noted that Bond’s statements were not acceptable: “He should not have said it.” – Ron Daniels, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights
Even the president of Bond’s own group criticized the statements: “He has to explain why he did that. I don’t do that and I don’t believe that.” – Kweisi Mfume, president of the NAACP.
As Pritchett went on to explain:
The NAACP continues to point out how irrelevant they are to the needs of black persons today. In 2002, Republicans for the first time outspent Democrats in campaign dollars on black-owned radio. And with Generation X and younger, black voters are three times more likely to be conservative than their parents. Black people are realizing they do not need the hand of the NAACP demagogues to move forward. Blacks are becoming more conservative.
While this news can’t be good for people like Julian Bond, I think it raises a tremendous question of credibility. What happens to the power of the NAACP and other traditionally liberal civil-rights groups when their base of support no longer needs them?
As blacks are lifting themselves out of poverty, horrible educational systems and becoming congressmen, senators and CEOs of larger and larger enterprises the question becomes all that more painful.
Julian Bond’s greatest fear is not that a black would ever be prevented from being elected president due to racism. His greatest fear is that the first black president might end up being J.C. Watts or Condoleezza Rice. Julian Bond refuses to recognize that hard work and achievement brilliance are the things that got Rod Paige selected as education secretary or Colin Powell as secretary of state.
No, to Julian Bond they are sell-outs, Uncle Toms or members of the Taliban. And to call someone as accomplished as National Security Adviser Rice the equivalent of a Nazi, in essence spews ignorance that lacks facts or logic.
But it matters not to the Julian Bonds, Jesse Jacksons or Al Sharptons of this world. Their goal is not to see the success of blacks. Theirs is to see themselves become empowered as well as enriching elite liberal-interest groups that benefit homosexuals and women.
This is why activist Lawrence Guyout goes on cable television and discounts President Bush’s trip to Africa as less than sincere – simply because he did not return and make reparations the No. 1 issue of the day.
This is why the Rev. Jesse Jackson criticizes the Bush African initiatives – regardless of the fact that he is committing $15 billion to help stop the deadliest disease outbreak ever seen on the African continent.
But I think Kevin Pritchett was right.
As I read Chicago Sun-Times columnist Mary Mitchell three times a week, I see a competent and fiercely independent black female voice – who gives credit to the president when he gets it right. Mary often comments in the column about the “scorn she will face” from traditional “black leaders” for her opinions.
My former co-host in Chicago – Deborah Rowe, in her new position with WLS radio – has become one of the most articulate conservative apologists in media anywhere. And she is a black woman. (A black woman, I might add, who hated to be thought of as conservative only two years ago.) So, you see, the times are a changing.
And let’s be thankful they are.
I remember Johnny Bravo. The character that the oldest Brady son became when he got his recording contract. He was bold, obnoxious and his family hated it. Thankfully, his costumes, music and personality were never revived on the “Brady Bunch” show. Now if only the NAACP could do the same with their “JB.”
But, I am not worried. The more Bond calls Republicans “Nazis,” the more serious-minded people will dismiss his marginalized voice for the shrill absurdity that it is.
