Bush calls for end of racism

[sOKaLiBoY]

Bush calls for end of racism

Wednesday, February 9, 2005 Posted: 9:54 AM EST (1454 GMT)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush, whose relationship with black lawmakers has been strained over the last four years, told black leaders Tuesday that the United States can not carry freedom abroad while holding "the baggage of bigotry" at home.

Bush welcomed black leaders to the East Room of the White House to celebrate black history month.

"Success of freedom on the home front is critical to its success in foreign lands," Bush said. "As I said in my inaugural address, we cannot carry the message of freedom and the baggage of bigotry at the same time."

Bush noted legislation he signed in 2003 to create the National Museum of African American History and Culture within the Smithsonian Institution. The president and his wife, Laura, made a contribution, for an undisclosed amount, to construction of the museum.

"It's important that our children know that there was a time in their nation's history when one in every seven human beings was the property of another," he said, adding that bigotry and discrimination did not end with slavery.

"Americans were still barred by law from hotels and restaurants, made to drink from separate water fountains, forced to sit in the back of a bus -- all because of the color of their skin. We need to teach them about the heroes of the civil rights movement, who by their courage and dignity forced America to confront the central defect of our founding."

Those who attended the event included Dorothy Height, 92, who spent 30 years as the president of the National Council of Negro Women; members of the original Tuskegee Airmen, a group of minority pilots who excelled in the era of Jim Crow; Frederick Douglas IV, great-great-grandson of the famed abolitionist, and actress Cicely Tyson.

Last month, Bush met with the Congressional Black Caucus, which asked Bush to adopt its agenda for closing racial disparities.

Bush has met three times with the caucus since taking office.


http://www.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/....ap/index.html

[hooligan]

3 times in 4 years, that's a track record. Bush also called for the end of terrorism, but look at where that got us.

[Shuriken]

As much as I disagree with George W. Bush on so many other issues — and as much as I would prefer to see him out of office — I'm glad that racial diversity seems to be on his radar. He may be opposed to affirmative action, but he still seems to support affirmative action's goals. In other words, we may disagree on how to get where we need to go, but we both seem to agree on the need to get there.

Furthermore, Bush's belief in diversity seems sincere. Although I do not like them as office holders, Condoleezza Rice and Alberto Gonzalez reflect Bush's apparently genuine belief in pushing more people of color beyond the glass ceiling. I just wish that I approved of these people's actions once they got there.

I still think that Bush's best moment as president was when he rushed to a Washington-area mosque after 9/11 to say, among a gathering of Muslim religious leaders, that Islam isn't America's enemy. I only wish that his subsequent actions didn't undermine this.

Otherwise, Bush makes me sick. But, hey, I'm trying to be positive here. I'm also trying to be more than an anti-Bush nay-sayer on this forum.

[Faithless]

I guess he's come along ways from his days at Andover and his proud displays of the Confederate Flag:

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0926-04.htm

...
This pseudo-macho scion of a prominent political family took every advantage of class privilege that got him to third base under the delusion that he had hit a triple. At Andover, Yale and Harvard business school, this swaggering mediocrity nestled at the bottom of every class, perplexed by achievers not of his class, to say nothing of his race. At Andover, Bush reportedly sported on his wall a Confederate flag that might have repelled Andover's two blacks, and perhaps the one Puerto Rican, in its class of 290.
...

.
And he has no problems with other States flying it.

http://www.issues2000.org/George_W__...vil_Rights.htm

Leave decisions on flying Confederate flag to the states
Q: At the South Carolina state capitol building, the Confederate flag flies with the state flag and the US flag. Does the flag offend you personally? A: I believe the people of SC can figure out what to do with this flag issue. I don’t believe it’s the role of someone from outside SC to come into this state and tell the people of SC what to do [about] the flag. Q: As an American citizen, do you have a visceral reaction? A: As an American citizen, I trust the people of SC to make the decision for SC.
Source: Republican Debate in West Columbia, SC Jan 7, 2000

[Chu Chi]

Are you sure Bush called for an end to racism?

I did not see the word [racism] in the article.

I saw words like:

bigotry

discrimination

slavery...

I did not see the word RACISM.


" "As I said in my inaugural address, we cannot carry the message of freedom and the baggage of bigotry at the same time."

" now go get my bags nigger, Ive got freedom to spread!"

CC

[BigLew]

I love how whenever America talks about racism only black people are included. We other minorities must not have to deal with racism. You never hear about widely publicized talks for an end to racism during APIA heritage month. We just hear about chinese food and see lion dances. No mention of internment, the railroads, the exclusion act.

[yoMAMA]

Originally Posted by Shuriken

As much as I disagree with George W. Bush on so many other issues — and as much as I would prefer to see him out of office — I'm glad that racial diversity seems to be on his radar. He may be opposed to affirmative action, but he still seems to support affirmative action's goals. In other words, we may disagree on how to get where we need to go, but we both seem to agree on the need to get there.

Furthermore, Bush's belief in diversity seems sincere. Although I do not like them as office holders, Condoleezza Rice and Alberto Gonzalez reflect Bush's apparently genuine belief in pushing more people of color beyond the glass ceiling. I just wish that I approved of these people's actions once they got there.

I still think that Bush's best moment as president was when he rushed to a Washington-area mosque after 9/11 to say, among a gathering of Muslim religious leaders, that Islam isn't America's enemy. I only wish that his subsequent actions didn't undermine this.

Otherwise, Bush makes me sick. But, hey, I'm trying to be positive here. I'm also trying to be more than an anti-Bush nay-sayer on this forum.

I agree.

Originally Posted by BigLew

I love how whenever America talks about racism only black people are included. We other minorities must not have to deal with racism. You never hear about widely publicized talks for an end to racism during APIA heritage month. We just hear about chinese food and see lion dances. No mention of internment, the railroads, the exclusion act.

you see, as asian americans, we NEVER have to deal with racism.

it's just not something we have to deal with.





[sarcasm on and off]

[AliBabaIncorporated]

Great! Every true conservative knows that government action is the solution to everything! Just look at the track record:

- LBJ declared War on Poverty, established expensive government programs and bureaucracies, and now we have the highest poverty rate in our history.
- Reagan declared War on Drugs, established expensive government programs and bureaucracies, and now we have the highest drug rate usage and rate of drug-related crimes in history.
- Bush declared War on Terror, established expensive government programs and bureaucracies, and now Iraq has even more terror than before.

So, are they gonna escalate the stakes and declare war on Racism next?

[hooligan]

Originally Posted by AliBabaIncorporated

Great! Every true conservative knows that government action is the solution to everything! Just look at the track record:

- LBJ declared War on Poverty, established expensive government programs and bureaucracies, and now we have the highest poverty rate in our history.
- Reagan declared War on Drugs, established expensive government programs and bureaucracies, and now we have the highest drug rate usage and rate of drug-related crimes in history.
- Bush declared War on Terror, established expensive government programs and bureaucracies, and now Iraq has even more terror than before.

So, are they gonna escalate the stakes and declare war on Racism next?

Stop the INSANITY. Why does it have to be war? Why don't we just make love to it until it goes away?

[AliBabaIncorporated]

Originally Posted by hooligan

Stop the INSANITY. Why does it have to be war? Why don't we just make love to it until it goes away?

Great idea. I call drugs. Rest of y'all can go get busy loving poverty, terror, or racism.

[hooligan]

Originally Posted by AliBabaIncorporated

Great idea. I call drugs. Rest of y'all can go get busy loving poverty, terror, or racism.

damnit, you took the one i wanted.

[Tao]

i want to love the war on pornography...assuming there is a war..whatever, i'll love it even if there isn't.

[Chu Chi]

Originally Posted by AliBabaIncorporated

Great! Every true conservative knows that government action is the solution to everything! Just look at the track record:

- LBJ declared War on Poverty, established expensive government programs and bureaucracies, and now we have the highest poverty rate in our history.
- Reagan declared War on Drugs, established expensive government programs and bureaucracies, and now we have the highest drug rate usage and rate of drug-related crimes in history.
- Bush declared War on Terror, established expensive government programs and bureaucracies, and now Iraq has even more terror than before.

So, are they gonna escalate the stakes and declare war on Racism next?

What is your SUGGESTION for how to end racism?

CC

[Banana]

None because you can't possibly end racism.

[Faithless]

Originally Posted by Chu Chi

What is your SUGGESTION for how to end racism?

CC

A hug a day. That's all we ask.