No Mitt for the NABJ.

There is a large segment of folks in the majority population who do not believe that there should be separate organizations for black folks. I hear it all the time:Why do blacks have black entertainment television, a black coaches association,and a Ms. Black America pageant? There is always an association for black_______[fill in the blank]

Well there happens to be a National Association of Black Journalist and Mitt and his crew probably fall into that segment of the majority population that I mentioned above.

"The Republican National Committee and the putative GOP standard-bearer, Mitt Romney, have ceded the National Association of Black Journalists convention to the Democrats, rejecting invitations to send speakers or panelists that the Democrats eagerly accepted.

Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. addressed the convention Wednesday on its opening night, delivering his campaign's talking points. A Friday afternoon session, "A Working Journalist's Guide: Obama Administration Insiders You Need to Know," featured four press contacts in the Obama administration.
Additionally, at least three representatives from the Obama reelection campaign were available to discuss the state of the campaign, also on Friday afternoon.
"We reached out consistently and vigorously to the Romney campaign asking that he appear," Sonya Ross, a Washington editor at the Associated Press who chairs the NABJ's Political Journalism Task Force, told Journal-isms.

"We also made overtures to the Republican National Committee. We wanted to make sure we reached both political parties to ask them to participate. The DNC," she said, referring to the Democratic National Committee, "came to us and asked us, 'Can we be there?' . . . We got no such overtures from the Republican National Committee.

"If the Republican National Committee wants to come tonight or Saturday or Sunday, we would love to see them."

The absence of Republican representatives, even as audience members, was evident in a Friday morning session, "Covering Race in the 2012 Elections," moderated by Jesse Washington, Associated Press writer on race and ethnicity. Panelists were Kevin Merida, national editor at the Washington Post, and Michelle Jaconi, executive producer of CNN's Cross Platform Programming Unit." [More]

I keep warning you Negroes about segregating yourselves. Certain people believe that it's un-American, and they will not pander to you. There will be no Sister Souljah moment from Mitt when it comes to this type of stuff. The base does not want him visiting you self segregating Negroes and he will always honor their wishes. You Negroes are not going to vote fo him anyway, so why piss off the folks who will?

I wonder what Mitt will do if he becomes president? Maybe his wife will take up one of those Negro causes like urban poverty.

Still, all is not lost. From the looks of things old reliable, the NAACP, might still get a visit from Mitt.

"Republicans have captured the white vote in every presidential election since 1972, and during the recent primary season, GOP candidates were criticized for their failure to reach out to African Americans.

Still, some GOP hopefuls have courted African Americans if only to appeal to white independents who believe that a president should be accessible to all segments of society.

And while the campaign turned down NABJ, it announced that the candidate would address the NAACP convention in Houston, which runs July 7-12."

Mitt, wear cotton. It will be hot in Houston come July.

 

  

Mr. Grenell's reality check.

I remember back in the day when I was a youngster trying to work my way into the A-merry-can political scene. I wasn't so much of an ideologue back then. My mind was pretty much still open to new ideas and ways of doing things politically.

So when a friend of mine, who happens to be one of those rare black republicans, (Shout out to GG!) asked me if I wanted to go to their convention in New Orleans, I hesitated at first but still went for it.

Folks, I am here to tell you that there is a reason why the republican tent is so small. Trust me when I tell you that they kind of like it that way. I will give you that this was the late eighties, but still, if looks could kill I wouldn't be here today. I don't care how much progress wingnuts claim they have made, you will never catch my black ass at such an event again. Ever!

Anyway I gave you that little vignette because I want to talk about  Richard Grenell for a minute. Mr. Grenell is one of these guys who believes that he can fit into that republican tent even though he is openly Gay. Sadly for Richard, he is under the illusion that just because he thinks like they do the [right] wingnuts will accept him. They will not. I saw that up close and personal as a black man walking around the Louisiana Superdome in 1988.

"Richard Grenell, whom Mitt Romney chose last month as his presidential campaign’s national security and foreign policy spokesman, stepped down from his post Tuesday, suggesting that the conservative backlash over his sexuality prevented him from being effective in his role.

In a statement provided to The Washington Post, Grenell, who is openly gay, said: “While I welcomed the challenge to confront President Obama’s foreign policy failures and weak leadership on the world stage, my ability to speak clearly and forcefully on the issues has been greatly diminished by the hyper-partisan discussion of personal issues that sometimes comes from a presidential campaign.” He added: “I want to thank Governor Romney for his belief in me and my abilities and his clear message to me that being openly gay was a non-issue for him and his team.” [Source]

Richard, don't blame the fact that you are getting the business for being Gay from your wingnut friends on the "presidential campaign". You might want to take a look at the people who are attacking you, personally. They are not liberals or democrats; they are your ideological soul-mates who are right there under the tent with you, and they want you out.

Remember that old joke that us black folks like to tell about a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders? Well you belong with us chickens.





         

   

The republican candidates and the three letters you will never hear them say. (MLK)

Tomorrow is the day we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's life here in A-merry-ca. I will wait to hear all the republican candidates for president give us a nice speech about King's contribution to our great republic while they are on the campaign trail. I will wait, but I doubt if I will hear it.

Republicans are running against Barack Obama, and contrary to what you might hear them say in thirty second sound bites, they are not trying to unite the country; they are trying to unite their base. They cannot do that by acknowledging those other people who have voted by a huge majority for the man their base despises and fears.

Sometimes it's subtle, and sometimes it's not. And, sometimes, as in the case of Flipper, the silence speaks volumes.

"In the last few months, the Republican Party has spoken to many ideas. Many of them very important to the GOP. They speak freely on the economy, foreign policy, education and government spending. What they do not talk about very often, is their plan on how to unify an America so much more diverse than what the founding fathers created. They steadily evade any deep discussions on race (unless it is in direct proportion to a cost they don’t approve of).
For many this is frustrating. For others it is proof of their bigotry. But as one New York Times article says, it may be all by design. Especially for Mitt Romney:

Of course, I’m not talking about a strict count of melanin density. I’m referring to the countless subtle and not-so-subtle ways he telegraphs to a certain type of voter that he is the cultural alternative to America’s first black president. It is a whiteness grounded in a retro vision of the country, one of white picket fences and stay-at-home moms and fathers unashamed of working hard for corporate America." [Source]

Mitt Romney knows what he is doing. His constant talk of making A-merry-ca great again, and going back to what it used to be pushes all the right buttons on all the right people.

"In this way, whether he means to or not, Mr. Romney connects with a central evangelic fantasy: that the Barack Obama years, far from being the way forward, are in fact a historical aberration, a tear in the white space-time continuum. And let’s be clear: Mr. Obama’s election was not destiny, but a fluke."

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would have been 83 today, and I am pretty sure that if he were alive the republican candidates for president and the folks who support them would be spinning history to put him in quite a different light than we see him in now. (Martyrdom will do that to you.)

I give the American Civil Liberties Union credit for monitoring how we deal with the issue of race in the upcoming elections, and of course there are no surprises in their study:

Many of the candidates invoke the concept of “states’ rights” in the 10th Amendment to support efforts to undermine Constitutional rights, such as access to the ballot, as well as contraception and reproductive rights.

Paul has not adequately answered deeply disturbing questions about racist comments in newsletters published under his name in the ‘80s and ‘90s.

Gingrich continues to make veiled racist references to “food stamp recipients” and ending poverty by putting kids to work in poor “urban” areas. And Santorum said he didn’t want to “make black people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money.”

Martin Luther King Jr. said “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” For too many of the presidential candidates, the arc is broken."

"And the church said, 'Amen!'"