Washington's population is 60 per cent African-American, which rendered the makeup of yesterday's lines even more jolting. In 1980, Reagan won only 12 per cent of the black vote in this country. In winning a second term in 1984, that number dropped to 9 per cent.
Just as those numbers indicate, the African-American community is not a monolith, so there was Scott Rogers, a data base administrator who left his home in Cleveland, Ohio, at 3 a.m. yesterday so he could pay homage to Reagan.
"He was the greatest president I have ever known," Rogers said. "I don't think it was a matter of colour. I was preoccupied with studying and completing college when he was president, and he pumped me up a lot with his speeches. I am an optimistic person and he was the most optimistic person we have ever had in the White House."
A couple of blocks away from the Capitol, however, security guard Samuel Nicholson said he couldn't understand "why America is cherishing this man's ass like this.
"He was a nice man ... He probably liked black people. I don't think he woke up every morning thinking how he could get black people. But I don't understand why this country is reacting this way for this man."
| That's the center of Tim Harper's Toronto Star article "Reagan era 'tough' on blacks"
posted in articles on June 11, 2004 1:45 AM | t (0)
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