Today, July 15, 2004, Presidential Candidate John Forbes Kennedy spoke before the NAACP, or the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. It would have been an everyday occurrence in the campaign trail, but this stood out to me.
What happened exactly?
My understanding is that Kerry declared that President Bush is dividing America by race and wealth. I suppose the NAACP is having a big problem with the race issue and that’s what this segment of the speech was geared toward: the NAACP‘s stance on race which, from the name, we can easily infer.
I suppose I have to be fair by saying that President Bush was invited to attend the meeting and speak. However, President Bush refused. In fact, President Bush hasn’t spoken to the NAACP since 2000 when the group ran an ad saying President Bush was unsympathetic to the dragging death of James Byrd. But, who can blame him? This ad seems to me to be an example of Ad Hominid (no pun intended) - the ad seems to say that because Bush didn’t visit Jasper (where the murder too place) he is unsympathetic to the cause as a whole and that President Bush is a racist. The ad ignored that Bush issued a statement condemning the act.
Because President Bush hasn’t spoken to the Group since he has distanced himself from the NAACP’s agenda of affirmative action and (more than) equal rights for colored people. I say, “Good for him.” Why can’t the white man have an organization for his advancement? In 1998 the population of blacks in America was around 18%, Whites at 80%, and ‘other’ at 2%. If people don’t take steps to prevent (more than) equal rights there is no telling how the minority could control the majority.
The NAACP must be racist, right? After all they help the “colored” people, not everyone. If that’s not racist I don’t know what is.
This is my proposal: We, the white men, should make an organization that will fight for our rights. I guess we could call it the Association for the Advancement of White People. But I guess we can’t do that because that would be labeled as racist.
I suppose the whole quagmire could be compared to one of my favorite quotes from George Orwell’s Animal Farm: “All animals are equal but some are more equal than others.” The Minority needs to have the same standing as the majority; not superior.