Reply #3: I just changed it, I got that stuff off teir PDF, I am currently going

[roseBudd]

with a scrollpane with:

Blackwell not a friend to blacks
Thursday, May 11, 2006
By Sam Fulwood III
Plain Dealer Columnist

"He appeals to blacks by being black." George Will, columnist Feb. 19, 2006

Now that Ken Blackwell has become the latest in a long line of Great Black Hopes for the GOP, I expect to hear and read plenty of ignorant comments like the one above.

It's the wishful thinking that accompanied previous Republican darlings in dark skins.

Remember the presidential chatter surrounding J.C. Watts, former Oklahoma football star-turned-conservative congressman? Nobody does any more.

Or how about Alan Keyes, the firebrand orator who attracted superstar status with the religious right? He ran for president with little notice or embrace from black voters.

Another of the Republican hopefuls was former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who was never as conservative as the GOP likes its black folks to be.

Still, Powell rose higher than almost any black Republican by making the party faithful comfortable with his non-threatening and non-demanding presence on racial issues. Powell flamed out after his ego no longer allowed him to be an unquestioning spearchucker in Mr. Bush's war.

So, now it's Blackwell's run.

He won the party's nomination for Ohio governor last week, which puts him at the head of the short list of nationally known black Republicans.

Tongues like George Will's wag about how Blackwell can, if all the stars align perfectly, become a vice presidential candidate in 2008 or the first black president in some fantasy future.

Yet black people across Ohio haven't climbed aboard his wobbly bandwagon. After he spoke at a recent meeting of black ministers in Cleveland, many left saying they wanted to know more about him.

That's revealing, because Blackwell has been involved in state politics for decades, as mayor of Cincinnati and Ohio treasurer and secretary of state.

Cleveland's black ministers aren't going to push this Trojan horse candidate on their congregations. Nor should they.

Quite frankly, Blackwell frightens me and, as I'm told, many other black people who have paid attention to what he represents.

His entire political career has been inside the cozy club of conservatives who stand in opposition to what rank-and-file black voters say they value most.

Sure, many black voters are overwhelmingly conservative on social issues like abortion and gay rights.

But pressing those buttons won't make most black voters overlook that Blackwell and his right-wing cronies want to cut taxes without regard to the violence that would do to public education, health-care and social-service programs.

Few black voters will forgive Blackwell for trying to suppress the black turnout in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections. As Ohio's Secretary of State, he served as the Republican National Committee's leading storm trooper in the state, paving the way for George Bush to seize control of the White House.

In an ironic twist, Blackwell is now asking those black voters to help him make history by becoming Ohio's first black governor.

Such a naked appeal won't hide his real character.

Black voters would be wise to recall the late Justice Thurgood Marshall Jr., who warned of Negroes who suck up to the enemies of their people.

"There's no difference between a black snake and a white snake," Marshall said. "They both bite."

To reach this Plain Dealer columnist:
[email protected], 216-999-5250