Posted on 09/09/2004 5:26:59 PM PDT by Theodore R.
HUD secretary booed at Baptist convention
By JANET McCONNAUGHEY Associated Press writer
NEW ORLEANS -- The nation's largest black church group interrupted President Bush's housing secretary with sustained boos when he said Thursday that the Republican Party is committed to helping blacks. Alphonso Jackson, who is black, appeared at the annual meeting of the National Baptist Convention USA a few hours before Democratic presidential hopeful John Kerry was scheduled.
"Kerry's not going to say anything about what's better about his party -- he's going to make an emotional speech and blame the Republican Party," Jackson predicted.
As such things go, the demonstration against him was restrained. Nobody yelled. There was certainly no obscenity from the 1,000 or so Baptists.
A few of the men in dark suits and women in bright dresses, most of them middle-aged or elderly, laughed derisively at Jackson's comment. Then a quiet chorus of boos started, and went on about a minute. When it showed no signs of ending, the parliamentarian, Arkansas Court of Appeals Judge Wendell Griffen, stepped to the podium.
"My brothers and my sisters, let us allow ourselves to be the people of dignity that we are," he said.
"We need not agree," he continued, to scattered, quiet amens. "But we need not be disagreeable." The same people said amen again.
The National Baptist Convention USA has 7.5 million members. About 30,000 were registered for the convention, but only about 1,000 were in the hall for the speech.
Jackson, who has been criticized for cutting the Section 8 rent subsidy program, told the group that Bush is "is committed to the basic principal that everyone should have a chance to achieve their dreams."
Although only 9 percent of the blacks who voted in 1996 supported Bush, it was he, not former President Bill Clinton, who signed the bill which made Martin Luther King's birthday a national holiday, and opened the National Museum of African-American History and Culture, Jackson said.
The audience, which had given him a polite patter of applause when he was introduced, sat quietly for most of the speech, including Jackson's statement that Bush has made home ownership for all Americans a central theme of his administration.
Jackson also told how his father, stricken by cancer, rejected a social worker's statement that he was entitled to welfare and food stamps as well as Social Security and Social Security supplemental payments.
"My father said, `I'm only entitled to two of those, because I've already paid for them,'" Jackson recounted.
Then he said, "The Republican Party is committed to helping African Americans," and the boos began.
"He's said enough already," one man muttered.
Jackson spoke only briefly after the boos, recounting party history since Abraham Lincoln, but told The Associated Press that he had not cut the speech short.
He also said he had expected boos.
"I am pleasantly pleased that I didn't get more," he said. "I have spoken in churches where I got called names."
"The so-called black leadership -- Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Julian Bonds -- creates and continues black victimization," he said.
And, he said, the National Baptist Convention USA is made up mostly of older people who are set in their ways.
"Young black audiences less than 45 years old pay great attention to what I am saying. They're more interested in economics than emotions," he said. "What you saw today is a typical emotional response."
Stupid is as stupid does.
All they're interested in is "gimme, gimme, gimme." You can never convince these people, it's a waste of time.
Sad.
Another national organization that has been co-opted by the "victocrats".
Alphonso Jackson. This cannot be the guy who was in my law school. Going to google this one.
Well, it is AP, but this has the ring of truth...
"He received his law degree from Washington University School of Law."
By golly, it is the very same Al Jackson.
Speaking to these groups is a mug's game.
We have much, much better things to do with our time.
Generally speaking, most blacks will not listen to
Republicans. This organization has shown that it is
not interested in other points of view, let alone in
enforcing minimal standards of respect for speakers.
Those who expect to be addressed as a race, rather than
as individual AMERICANS, are not worth the effort.
So as not to offend the PC cabal on Free Republic I shall refrain from my standard Ebonic's post.
Sadly, too many politically-active blacks are afraid to think for themselves. They are like sheep - the black sheep of the democratic party.
Sad situation.
Hindu scripture frequently teaches that ignorance is the cause of man’s bondage. These black Baptists could learn something from the Hindu faith.
1996? Bush-Clinton??, MLK Holiday???
Could somebody explain this. Was he mixing Texas with US Federal history?
If 30,000 were registered for the convention in New Orleans, but only about 1,000 were in the hall for the speech, where would the other 29,000 be ?
Screw 'em.
He spoke at Hiram College commencement here in Ohio on May 15 and got a standing ovation.
These people wouldn't vote for Bush even if he budgeted $1 trillion for HUD.
BTTT
What do you expect ,from welfare nation.
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