More Context on the previous question . . .

Prominent black conservative Robert Woodson, head of the National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise, told MSNBC.com that “the Democratic Party has demonstrated a greater interest in the interests of blacks” than the GOP. But he added, “The black community, and therefore this nation, loses when blacks are married to one party. As we demonstrated in the last election, Democrats can’t win with the black vote and Republicans don’t need it to win.” “No group should be in the situation where it has no place to go politically,” Woodson said. “Right now, black America is in a dead-end street. They are just lucky that George Bush cares enough to try to change that, because I think he’s more of an American than he is a Republican.

George Woodson

-- Anonymous, February 23, 2001

Answers

It is interesting that you brought up the issue of Party allegiance. For yesterday I heard on the news that half the members of the Black Caucus are upset with the Democratic Party and feel there should be more leadership and concern for Black Americans. They also said "Black American Voters" will be re-evaluating there party alliance for the 2004 election.

-- Anonymous, February 23, 2001

I certainly hope so. Pastor Paris

-- Anonymous, February 23, 2001

Rev. Paris, I personally believe that African-Americans who support the Republican party are more likely to be in a higher income bracket than the norm and are more insulated against the disadvantages of lower income. I wish them well. I wish all the African-American conservatives well. I don't expect any empathy from them in regards to the overall social situation of the vast majority of Blacks in America as evidenced by the various social parameters. Even though God has blessed me tremendously, I don't have amnesia about others who came before me and became that bridge for me. The Democratic party has been a bridge over trouble waters for Black folks. Clarence Thomas is against affirmative action yet he was taught how to read by Black teachers who went to schools that accepted anyone with a desire to learn irrespective of their initial academic qualifications. Where would he be if he had not be the beneficiary of an affirmative action program? Did he make it to the top by himself? I know of no one who has ever done anything without the sacrifices of preceding generation. Has he like all other Black Republicans forgotten the bridge that brought them this far? Don't get mad now, I am just asking a question. The Democratic party was that bridge for Blacks for the last 4o years by providing foodstamps, medicaid, job training programs, health clinics, and yes welfare. Some people were able to survive in this country because of welfare and eventually got back in the workforce. I say we African-Americans should show allegiance and stay with that Democratic Party our bridge.

JazzMan

-- Anonymous, February 23, 2001

JazzMan's comments remind me of a quote of Pastor Floyd Flake, Allen Cathedral, Jamaica: "Welfare was meant to be a bridge... you don't build a house on a bridge."

It is true that our affiliation with the Democratic party provided some degree of forward movement during the Civil RIghts era, but I submit that someo that "support" was reactive rather than proactive. Consider the enrollment of James Meredith at Ole Miss ("Eye ont he Prize", Juan Willams).

If we are going to remember historical contributions, then let's not forget that most black clergy before 1948 were Republican. Their vantage point in the midst of Jim Crow, Reconstruction, and the transition from slavery must have offered them a valid reason for casting their lot thusly.

We should consider the true issues that remain before us: continued disenfranchisement of too many of our youth, apathy toward government in general as a result of glacial change, persistent mediocrity as a result of inadequate and substandard education, and the resulting economic disparity that fuels so many of the problems the country wants to pay attention to: crime, drugs, abortion, building prisons, etc.

Given this still significant list of structural concerns, can we m\place much hope in either party-based solution? You mention teachers who nurtured Clarence Thomas. Perhaps the time has come for us to consider what it would take to return to such a caring environment, one that strengthens our community and nurtures our children. I don't know that either party offers that.

"Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he will eat for a lifetime."

-- Anonymous, February 23, 2001

Not since my childhood have I been naive enough to blindly accept what I read, see or hear in the media as truth without carefully examining the issues First of all let me reiterate the fact that I am Black and Christian and voted a Democratic ticket. Also let me state that I would not hesitate to do so again. I did so being well fully aware that most blacks voted Republican from--Lincoln who signed the Emancipation Proclamation--Hoover,who changed the Party's direction when Roosevelt and the Democrats then seized upon this to offer hope for all. I still don't see that the trend has again been reversed.

Secondly, since the powers that be never allowed the wishes of the people to be truly know by failing to allow the votes of all the people to be counted, we shall never know who or what party won the last election. Thus, we shall never know whether the vote of Blacks, Jews,Italian American or any other group made a difference.

Thirdly, since our Founding Fathers were wise enough to put in place checks and balances in government, it is ludicrous to think that any President has so much power that he need show mercy on any of us because of how we did or did not vote.

Additionally, even if such power did exist there is One who is ultimately higher than any power that he--the President--will ever have, and therefore any such efforts he might exert would ultimately be in vain.

To quote an early American hymn by William Billings:

"Let tyrants shake their iron rod, And Slavery clank her galling chains; We fear them not, We trust in God; New England's God forever reigns!"

Black voters, like all the rest are intelligent enough to make their own decisions about who and what they wish to support. However history has taught some of us that our destiny lies neither in whom we support nor in who may or may not support us. We ultimately place no hope nor trust in any sitting President or government official. Our trust is in the God who delivered Daniel from the threat of lions, The Children of Israel from the hand of Pharaoh, the Patriots from George III, The children of Selma, and Birmingham and Montgomery from clubs, and dogs, and hatred, and brought again Jesus from the dead.

The One we trust FOREVER reigns!

-- Anonymous, February 23, 2001

JazzMan:

I had to answer some of your comments. I am a republician but I know what it is to be poor. Try one pair of shoes and two pairs of overalls per year for clothes, and when the souls were worn through, and the overalls worn out, we kept fixing and wearing them. (We didn't have duck tape then. At 13, I had to work cutting and selling cordwood to help support my mother, myself, and my younger sisters and brothers. We didn't have welfare and was too proud to accept what was then called "charity". I remember cutting wood to keep the family warn during the winter at 10 years of age, not able to keep up with the wood, we worked from daylight to dark, slept 4 boys in one bed and 4 girls in another in the same room; got up the naxt day and did it again. Through all of that, all except one graduated from high school, three now have college degrees, only one of us ever was sentenced to prison (he's out now), none on welfare, all are self supporting. I know what poverty is and I wouldn't change a thing. The Lord is good. Affirmative Action (AA) was good but it is time to move on. It was a bridge and to borrow from Jerryl, you don't build a house on a bridge. Welfare and AA are the same. Both will enslave the recipients. I was one of those who made it possible for Justice Thomas. He is right. It is time for AA to end. Pastor Paris

-- Anonymous, February 23, 2001

Rev. Paris, I wish that all African-Americans thought like you in regards to personal responsibility and self-reliance. Certainly, our progress as a people would be significantly improved. However, racism in this country is a formidable foe that has harmed us as a people. The effects of which, I certainly don't need to describe to you or any other African-American. Yes, we need to move on but America's policy of racism needs to move on also. Will the people in this country who discriminate against us daily in social, economic, and political policies agree to abandon their racism policies? You know it is interesting, in all the dialogues about race, I have never heard anyone confess that they discriminated against an African-American. The Republican party's policy stance against affirmative action denies that kid in the ghetto the same opportunity the middle class kid takes for granted. The middle class individual may have a host of opportunities compared to that low income kid. We hear about success stories like your own a lot but what about the same individuals in your situation who did not have success? The disproportionate number of African-Americans in prison and who are homeless are not there necessarily because they are bad. Some of these people are there as a result of America's racism which denied them opportunities that immigrants to this country get for coming here. I would like to see the Republican party take a stance against racism before I advise African-Americans to join it.

JazzMan

-- Anonymous, February 27, 2001

Dear JazzMan,

In general I don't like long answers but here goes:

1. Most black folk do think like me in regards to personal responsibility and self-reliance. They are the "silent majority" who do not speak out for fear of acceptance in the "black community". It is sterotyping for you to suggest that they do not self reliant and responsible.

2.Racism exist in three (3) states today: a. REAL - There is real racism in the US. It is against the law. More laws will not eliminate racism, it will always exist. Some are victims of this real racism. b. IMAGINED - There is racisim that exist in the minds of those who believe they are victims of racist acts. For them, it is no less real than REAL racism. They are victims who can only be helped by determining what is real and what is imagined. Sometimes pshcyological counseling is necessary to help correct this. Some will never be able to overcome this, the generation will simply have to die out. [The Children of Israel with the slave mentality was not allowed to go into the land of Canaan because they would "infect" suceeding generations with this "virus" of imagined victimhood.] So it is with us, those who are infected with victimhood must not be allowed to infect future generations. c. Last, and perhaps the most virilent form of racism is OUTRIGHT LIES. Jesse Jackson is perhaps the greatest evangelist spreading this type of racism. In Florida, during the election, Jesse and his other evangelists knew that racism had nothing to do with the outcome of the election. Both Bush and Gore wanted to be president so bad that htey would do anything to get the job. Kinky Friedman said and I agree, "The Republicians stole that election fair and square." Hd Gore been able to pull it offf, he would have stolen it "fair and square". But to the point, Jesse will lie to our people and get them to support his lies on the basis that it is all right to exaggerate the facts as long as the ends are just, and that we have been discrininated in the past and given the opportunity it will happen again. For example, the Jasper dragging case: Two men are on death row and one is doing life without parole in that case. Yet Jesse suceeding in getting the victims daughters to participate in a commerical denouncing Bush, Texas, and the entire judicial system because Bush and Texas did not support a hate crime law in Texas, the stae that leads the nation in executing criminals for capital crimes.

4. Confession of racism is not necessary as you said not a single person in the US believes that racism does not exist. Some who use this argument are seeking vengeance. To them God says: "Vengeance is mine, I will repay."

5. Organizations that persist in racist policies will abandon such policies when it is no longer economically feasible to continue them. Two cases come to mind, one in Alabama (Phonix City I believe), and Utah. Two women sued the Klan and won judgements that seized all of the property owned by those organizations and put them out of business.

6. AFFIRMATIVE ACTION (AA) - This policy benefits middle to upper middle class black folk and white women more than anyone else. It was needed at first, but this policy has long become noproductive. In Texas, after rejecting AA, then Govnor Bush signed legislation to allow the top 10% of each High School's graduating class to enter a State College regardless of SAT scores etc. The result was that the numbers of black students increased in our state colleges. The same is true for California after an initial decline. AA produces poor morale and lowered productivity in the workplace by causing divisions between black and white employees. White employees seee themselves as victims of AA, not because of what they have done, but because of what the fathers, grandfathers, etc. have done. They feel no guilt for the sins of their fathers and I beleive this is right.

5. Black Prison Population - I have a prison ministry. I don't have time to deal with unfair sentencing. etc. If a man is not guilty of the crime, I will use all resources available to right the wrong. However, if you do the crime, you must do the time. There may be some truth in the fact that you were disadvantaged and that may have had something to do with you entering a life of crime but you still must do the time. With limited resources, it is far more productive to forget that generation and focus on the current generation preventing them from falling into to same life of crime. Our fore fathers had far more disadvantages than us today and they did not go to criminal behavior as a result. I strongly disagrre that disadvantages lead to a life of crime. Most of the crime I read about is sombody wants what you have and not willing to work for it.

Lastly, the Republicina Party has repudiated racism in every form. The problem is making black folk believe that. Liberal democrats have demonized republicians so much that some black folk have been blinded and simply cannot see reality. For example, in the Dallas/Fort Worth Texas area and in Texas in general, there are more influential black folk than ever before, yet if you listen to the poverty pimps, blacks are being denied their rights. The mayor of Dallas and Arlington is black, the city manager's of Dallas and until his retirement of Fort Worth is Black, The director of DFW Airport was black the current deputy is black. The police chiefs of Dallas and Kaufman is black. The City Managers office in Dallas, in the last ten years has produced no less that 10 chief executives that have went on to become CEO's in business in Dallas. Make no mistake, these were not the result of AA, they won elections in predominatly white voting districts. The mayor of Crawford, Presidents new hometown is black, in a predominantly white moneyed town.. Texas is becoming a republician state and that is the result.

Nuff said Blessings

Pastor Paris

-- Anonymous, February 27, 2001

Rev. Paris, Thank you for your response to my post. However, you wounded me with your first response by stating that I stereotyped Black people. If you read my first two statements again you will see that I said " I wish that all African-Americans thought like you in regards to personal responsibility and self-reliance". I did not say most or some, I merely said all realizing that it is impossible to get any population of individuals to think exactly alike on any issue. So please,please,please, please, please (James Brown type please) don't accuse me of sterotyping my Black people who I love. Ooh! that hurt so bad when you made that comment.

JazzMan

-- Anonymous, February 27, 2001

Who do you want as allies? Who do you think the white supremists voted for? Which party do you think the KKK endorces? Who do you think the neo nazzis voted for? Which party do you think the skin heads voted for?

How far will you go to chase the almighty dollar? In who's bed will you sleep?

your brother in Christ

Vastine

-- Anonymous, March 01, 2001