CNSNews.com
Friday, Dec. 15, 2000

A number of prominent black Americans believe Jackson and his supporters are seeking not fairness but personal gain and status in the Democratic Party.

Starr Parker, president of the Coalition for Urban Renewal and Education, a group that promotes "faith-based and free market solutions on issues of race and poverty," says Jackson is in the streets demonstrating because "he's getting ready to lose everything."

"He knows that the policies of George W. Bush are going to work very effectively for the underclass and the poor," said Parker. Blacks are "going to look at him and say, 'You have been lying to us,' " she said.

Kevin Martin is on the advisory council of Project 21, an initiative of the National Center for Public Policy Research that promotes black views not traditionally represented by "the nation's civil rights establishment."

"Do you think for one second Jesse Jackson is concerned about black voters? No. He's concerned about Jesse Jackson," said Martin.

"They're not out here about voters or votes being counted. They're out here about the power that is represented behind them. They know that with the Republicans in control, they have no one to give them a soap box to stand on or a microphone to parade their victims around."

Martin faults Jackson for living an elite life that's far removed from the people he claims to represent.

Anti-Choice Limousine Leftist

"I've lived here in Washington, D.C., almost all my life, and I remember when Jesse Jackson sent his son to private school, Sidwell Friends, the same school that Chelsea Clinton went to. But he's opposed to school vouchers," Martin said.

"You never hear anyone saying how, before the cameras are rolling, Jesse Jackson arrived in a limousine."

Phyllis Berry Myers, executive director at the Center for New Black Leadership, said she was dismayed by comments made by Rangel and quoted in the Associated Press on Wednesday.

"We may well be witnessing the greatest mass disenfranchisement of African-Americans since passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965," Rangel said.

"I think before you go and make a serious allegation that people are intentionally trying to put obstacles in people's way to disenfranchise, that's a very serious allegation," said Myers.

"What I see happening in Florida is all of the allegations are based primarily on anecdotal evidence; there isn't any real empirical evidence yet," said Myers, who called for "responsible individuals to really investigate and see what did go on in those counties to see whether or not there were any deliberate attempts" to discourage black voters.

"I think we may find cumulative instances where the system was overloaded because it was a presidential election year, the voter turnout was inordinately high ... particularly ... in minority communities, and there were a lot of first-time voters," she said.

Parker says any blacks who stray from the Jackson-Rangel-NAACP message are bullied. She expects probable Bush appointees Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice to receive such treatment.

'The New Good Ol' Boys Network'

"This is the new good ol' boys network. I call it bully pressure," said Parker. "If anyone tries to escape, you are ostracized. They will strip you of your credibility, your integrity. They will discredit you. They will try to take your black away from you.

"I was told this morning on a black radio station that I am no longer black. I am dark skinned! How do you intend to pull that one off?" Parker asked. "I disagree with you and I'm not black; you disagree with me, and all of a sudden it's OK."

Black leaders will respond to Powell and Rice "the same way they responded to Clarence Thomas," Parker predicted. "I think they will be extremely nasty toward them."

Parker believes that what blacks need is not political solutions but better education.

"Those Florida voters weren't disenfranchised because they had broken [voting] booths; they're disenfranchised because they can't read," she said.

"We need to take the focus for black America off of politics and roll up our sleeves, get into these communities and do what it takes to be free," she said, naming priority issues such as school choice, charitable choice and retirement choice in the Social Security system.

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