The Discerning Texan
All that is necessary for evil to triumph, is for good men to do nothing.
-- Edmund Burke
-- Edmund Burke
Thursday, July 15, 2004
African-American leader rips NAACP
I cannot tell you how impressed I am with Rod Paige. Bush’s Secretary of Education completely turned around a really bad situation in the Houston Independent School District, and since taking over as SecEd, he has spearheaded long needed changes in standards that will create a new generation of children who will actually learn the basics, rather than just being passed on due to pressures from the NEA to lighten their members’ workload. Oh, and he happens to be an African American.
Now Mr. Paige has spoken to that farce of a "non-profit, non-partisan" organization known as the NAACP: we have known for some time now that the only “colored people” that the NAACP seeks to advance are Liberal Democrats. Conservatives like Clarence Thomas, Tom Sowell, Walter Williams, Condi Rice, even Colin Powell...they need not apply. This is what makes Rod Paige’s op-ed on the NAACP today especially juicy. The piece was published in today’s Wall Street Journal, and it is priceless. Some selected quotes:
“I have a message for the NAACP's Julian Bond and Kweisi Mfume, who have accused black conservatives of being the "puppets" of white people, unable to think for ourselves: You do not own, and you are not the arbiters of, African-American authenticity.
I am a lifelong member of the NAACP. I have a great respect for the organization. Its historical leaders, all visionary thinkers, have been responsible for helping to advance the struggle of African Americans over the past century, making our nation a more equitable and race-blind society. Sadly, the current NAACP leadership has managed to take a proud, effective organization in a totally new direction: naked partisan politics, pure and simple.
The corrosive rhetoric espoused by the NAACP may make headlines and get out the vote in some quarters, but it is counterproductive, damaging and a betrayal of the organization's own origins. I would think our community would be better off looking toward the future, helping our children live up to their potential. The civil-rights movement has historically been multicultural, and many of its founders, including those who established the NAACP, were in fact white. I long for the day when our nation's education policy will not be grist for the partisan mill -- when we can work together, black and white, rich and poor, for the sake of our children and for their future.”
Amen that...
Now Mr. Paige has spoken to that farce of a "non-profit, non-partisan" organization known as the NAACP: we have known for some time now that the only “colored people” that the NAACP seeks to advance are Liberal Democrats. Conservatives like Clarence Thomas, Tom Sowell, Walter Williams, Condi Rice, even Colin Powell...they need not apply. This is what makes Rod Paige’s op-ed on the NAACP today especially juicy. The piece was published in today’s Wall Street Journal, and it is priceless. Some selected quotes:
“I have a message for the NAACP's Julian Bond and Kweisi Mfume, who have accused black conservatives of being the "puppets" of white people, unable to think for ourselves: You do not own, and you are not the arbiters of, African-American authenticity.
I am a lifelong member of the NAACP. I have a great respect for the organization. Its historical leaders, all visionary thinkers, have been responsible for helping to advance the struggle of African Americans over the past century, making our nation a more equitable and race-blind society. Sadly, the current NAACP leadership has managed to take a proud, effective organization in a totally new direction: naked partisan politics, pure and simple.
The corrosive rhetoric espoused by the NAACP may make headlines and get out the vote in some quarters, but it is counterproductive, damaging and a betrayal of the organization's own origins. I would think our community would be better off looking toward the future, helping our children live up to their potential. The civil-rights movement has historically been multicultural, and many of its founders, including those who established the NAACP, were in fact white. I long for the day when our nation's education policy will not be grist for the partisan mill -- when we can work together, black and white, rich and poor, for the sake of our children and for their future.”
Amen that...
