Let's look to Bush's record opposing runs against affirmative action and early education programs for minorities. He was on the front lines against equal opportunity admissions to colleges in Texas and supported the racists in California who crafted Proposition 209 and passed it, thus denying admission to college to Black and Latino students in record numbers. No room for late bloomers -- or kids stunted by poverty in Texas or California. lets move on to Bush having sold his home in Texas with a deed which forbade the buyers both to sell to any "Negro" family and to allow Blacks to even live in their home except as servants.
Bush's talk about reaching out to black voters was nothing more than a collection of lies. That was clear when Bush refused to do any interviews with the African American news media during the campaign, and this incommunicado policy with the black press is still in effect to this day. A dozen years ago, in the first year of his father's administration, Bush's father did a one-on-one interview with Ed Gordon of Black Entertainment Television News. In April of 2000 and in May of this year, Jeb Bush appeared on Black Entertainment Television News' Sunday Morning Discussion Program, Lead Story. Yet DUH-bya would not avail himself to any black media, a charge not addressed by any member of the GOP, and a question that has been dodged by black Republicans. Here are the examples of the refusals:
1. Black Entertainment Television News extended an open invitation to both Bush and Gore to appear on their network for a one-on-one interview. Gore accepted not just one interview, but two interviews with B.E.T., both with then BET Tonight host Tavis Smiley, now with ABC and NPR. Bush refused repeated requests for a one-on-one interview with B.E.T. during the election, and continues that refusal to this day. Black Republicans have chosen to duck this question or to deny that Bush refused the invitations, and white Republicans either deny it or defend the decision by charging that BET is a biased liberal network that would have trashed Bush unfairly. If that's true, then why did Jeb Bush, former RNC Chair Jim Nicholson and current RNC Chair Jim Gilmore, along with many black Republicans, come on B.E.T. News, B.E.T. Tonight, and B.E.T.'s Lead Story, if the network is so biased against Bush and the Republicans? Smiley himself said that he and others on B.E.T. repeatedly asked Bush to come on their news programs, and the answer was always NO.
2. Tom Joyner, a popular African American radio talk show host of The Tom Joyner Morning Show, also extended invitations to Bush and Gore to appear on his show and take questions from listeners. Gore accepted the invitation and took questions from black listeners. Bush refused to appear on the show, not giving any reason that we know of for the refusal. On a related matter, Gore accepted an invitiation to appeae on Chicago's leading African American radio station WVON AM-1450 and took questions from listeners, while Bush refused an invitation from the station. Clifford Kelly, one of the station's radio hosts, pointed this fact out a week before the election on CNN's Talkback Live during a debate with his right wing Negro counterpart Armstrong Williams, host of "The Right Side". Williams said nothing in response to Kelly's statement.
NNPA Hot Stories Desk, from BlackPressUSA.COM, reported by Hazel Trice Edney, NNPA Washington Correspondent-On May 29, 2001. RNC Chair Gilmore defended Bush's incommunicado policy towards the black press when he said through one of his RNC press aides that his office would not recognize the existence of the Richmond Free Press, the largest African American newspaper in Virginia. Then Gilmore reversed himself when he got blasted for his stance by the state chairman of the Virginia Democratic Party. The aide said her remarks were not policy statements, and Gilmore denied this was his policy. There was no condemnation of Gilmore's actions by Bush or any other Republican, and black Republicans, from within the administration to the outside, at the local, state, and national levels, did not say one condemnatory word against Gilmore, probably because most black Republicans have refused interviews with the black press, themselves, on occasion. --GREATTC, 7/5/01
Did Bush Know About Bob Jones' Racist Policies? Towards the end of the South Carolina campaign, reports had George W. Bush saying he did not know about Bob Jones University's racist policies until sometime after he went there and gave his speech. That would make Bush the only candidate not aware of the school's racist policies, an unlinkely event, particularly since Bob Jones' president trashed his father in highly-publicized statements not many years ago and we are often reminded of Junior's obsessive loyality to his family. Since Dubya is now willing to say he is against such policies, the implication is that he would not have gone to Bob Jones or, at the very least, he would have said something negative about the policies if he had known. Yet, last Wednesday the AP's Ron Fournier reported that Bush knew about these policies in advance of his speech. In fact, he was warned about the consequences of giving a speech at racist Bob Jones and he went anyway. Fournier: "He visited Bob Jones University, a hotbed of South Carolina conservatism. Some advisers urged him not to go, fearing the institution's segregationist history would become a general election campaign issue – along with other recent efforts to tack to the right." Bush's response through spokesperson Mindy Tucker implied votes were more important than both family loyalty and anti-racist principles: ""From our point of view, this is a place where there are a lot of South Carolina conservative voters." If Bush were to disavow advance knowledge of Bob Jones' racist policies in less conservative states, let's hope that he'll be reminded of Fournier's AP report in order to set the record straight. --Politex, 2/20/00
Bush's talk about reaching out to black voters was nothing more than a collection of lies. That was clear when Bush refused to do any interviews with the African American news media during the campaign, and this incommunicado policy with the black press is still in effect to this day. A dozen years ago, in the first year of his father's administration, Bush's father did a one-on-one interview with Ed Gordon of Black Entertainment Television News. In April of 2000 and in May of this year, Jeb Bush appeared on Black Entertainment Television News' Sunday Morning Discussion Program, Lead Story. Yet DUH-bya would not avail himself to any black media, a charge not addressed by any member of the GOP, and a question that has been dodged by black Republicans. Here are the examples of the refusals:
1. Black Entertainment Television News extended an open invitation to both Bush and Gore to appear on their network for a one-on-one interview. Gore accepted not just one interview, but two interviews with B.E.T., both with then BET Tonight host Tavis Smiley, now with ABC and NPR. Bush refused repeated requests for a one-on-one interview with B.E.T. during the election, and continues that refusal to this day. Black Republicans have chosen to duck this question or to deny that Bush refused the invitations, and white Republicans either deny it or defend the decision by charging that BET is a biased liberal network that would have trashed Bush unfairly. If that's true, then why did Jeb Bush, former RNC Chair Jim Nicholson and current RNC Chair Jim Gilmore, along with many black Republicans, come on B.E.T. News, B.E.T. Tonight, and B.E.T.'s Lead Story, if the network is so biased against Bush and the Republicans? Smiley himself said that he and others on B.E.T. repeatedly asked Bush to come on their news programs, and the answer was always NO.
2. Tom Joyner, a popular African American radio talk show host of The Tom Joyner Morning Show, also extended invitations to Bush and Gore to appear on his show and take questions from listeners. Gore accepted the invitation and took questions from black listeners. Bush refused to appear on the show, not giving any reason that we know of for the refusal. On a related matter, Gore accepted an invitiation to appeae on Chicago's leading African American radio station WVON AM-1450 and took questions from listeners, while Bush refused an invitation from the station. Clifford Kelly, one of the station's radio hosts, pointed this fact out a week before the election on CNN's Talkback Live during a debate with his right wing Negro counterpart Armstrong Williams, host of "The Right Side". Williams said nothing in response to Kelly's statement.
NNPA Hot Stories Desk, from BlackPressUSA.COM, reported by Hazel Trice Edney, NNPA Washington Correspondent-On May 29, 2001. RNC Chair Gilmore defended Bush's incommunicado policy towards the black press when he said through one of his RNC press aides that his office would not recognize the existence of the Richmond Free Press, the largest African American newspaper in Virginia. Then Gilmore reversed himself when he got blasted for his stance by the state chairman of the Virginia Democratic Party. The aide said her remarks were not policy statements, and Gilmore denied this was his policy. There was no condemnation of Gilmore's actions by Bush or any other Republican, and black Republicans, from within the administration to the outside, at the local, state, and national levels, did not say one condemnatory word against Gilmore, probably because most black Republicans have refused interviews with the black press, themselves, on occasion. --GREATTC, 7/5/01
Did Bush Know About Bob Jones' Racist Policies? Towards the end of the South Carolina campaign, reports had George W. Bush saying he did not know about Bob Jones University's racist policies until sometime after he went there and gave his speech. That would make Bush the only candidate not aware of the school's racist policies, an unlinkely event, particularly since Bob Jones' president trashed his father in highly-publicized statements not many years ago and we are often reminded of Junior's obsessive loyality to his family. Since Dubya is now willing to say he is against such policies, the implication is that he would not have gone to Bob Jones or, at the very least, he would have said something negative about the policies if he had known. Yet, last Wednesday the AP's Ron Fournier reported that Bush knew about these policies in advance of his speech. In fact, he was warned about the consequences of giving a speech at racist Bob Jones and he went anyway. Fournier: "He visited Bob Jones University, a hotbed of South Carolina conservatism. Some advisers urged him not to go, fearing the institution's segregationist history would become a general election campaign issue – along with other recent efforts to tack to the right." Bush's response through spokesperson Mindy Tucker implied votes were more important than both family loyalty and anti-racist principles: ""From our point of view, this is a place where there are a lot of South Carolina conservative voters." If Bush were to disavow advance knowledge of Bob Jones' racist policies in less conservative states, let's hope that he'll be reminded of Fournier's AP report in order to set the record straight. --Politex, 2/20/00
