Conspicuous by their absence: Black leaders in the GOP
Before the resignation of Secretary of State Colin Powell and FCC Chairman Michael Powell, his son, and before the disgrace of pundit Armstrong Williams, all of the prominent Black Republicans in this country could literally fit in a phone booth. The long list of the Bush administration’s Black personnel is now even shorter, exposing another troubling sign: how few “trustworthy” Blacks there are in positions of influence within the GOP. For example, a National Urban League official said recently that he hopes Claude Allen—President Bush’s newly-appointed Domestic Policy Advisor—will be responsive to Black leaders and willing to discuss a range of social issues that impact Black Americans. Mr. Bush nominated Mr. Allen, a conservative who is against abortion rights, for abstinence until marriage, and holds strong views about gay men and lesbians to the federal appeals court in 2003, but his confirmation was never voted on. The President recently named Mr. Allen to the sensitive White House post, but some Blacks in his native Virginia question his views on race. At a meeting about Virginia’s controversial Confederate Heritage Month a few years ago when he was on the staff of Gov. James Gilmore, Mr. Allen presented an NAACP leader a painting of Confederate Army Commander Robert E. Lee. Responsible Blacks—or any Blacks for that matter—are conspicuous by their absence from prominent leadership positions in the Republican Party, aren’t they? [more]