A former Republican activist said Mr. Bush's first appearance before a powerful black group since the Urban League's 2001 convention demands the president speak on affirmative action, which he denounced in January.
"He has to explain the position that he took on the University of Michigan case, which has since been rejected by the Supreme Court," said Faye Anderson, a New York-based communications consultant.
"When you skip these, it is always a missed opportunity" she said, referring to the president's refusal to meet with the Congressional Black Caucus and other left-leaning minority organizations.
| Faye Anderson comments in Steve Miller's Washington Times article "3 Democrats risk black vote"
One hundred years after W.E.B. DuBois' prediction that "the problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line," race still matters. With the changing demographics, however, America's racial dilemma will involve color lines in the 21st century. California, for instance, is now a "majority minority" state. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the state's white population is 49.9 percent; Latinos and blacks represent 31.8 percent and 6.7 percent, respectively, of the population, with the rest of the majority made up of other minorities.
That said, the 20th-century black-white paradigm was an underlying theme of the 2000 election. The reason: The battleground states where the presidential race was likely won or lost are states where black voters can determine the outcome. In contrast, Latinos are concentrated in five states: California, Florida, Illinois, New York and Texas. With the exception of Florida, no serious campaign was mounted in those states because they were presumed to be safe in either the Bush or Gore column.
Faye Anderson's Nov. 10, 2000, op-ed "Media Misplay the Black Vote"
posted in articles on July 24, 2003 3:18 PM | t (0)
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