Black Conservatives Take On Rice's Liberal Democratic Opposition
by Chad Groening and Jody Brown
January 27, 2005
(AgapePress) - Thirteen members of the U.S. Senate are being accused of being prejudiced against successful American minorities who happen to be conservative. Their accuser says that prejudice is obvious because they voted against the confirmation of Condoleezza Rice as President Bush's new Secretary of State.After a confirmation process that included criticism from liberal Senate Democrats, Condoleezza Rice -- the president's National Security Advisor during his first term -- was confirmed on Wednesday (January 26) as Secretary of State on an 85-13 vote. She succeeds Colin Powell and becomes the first minority woman ever to hold the position.
Twelve of the 13 voting against Rice were Democrats. They include Barbara Boxer (California), Robert Byrd (West Virginia), Ted Kennedy and John Kerry (Massachusetts), and Frank Lautenberg (New Jersey). Independent James Jeffords of Vermont joined those opposed to Rice's confirmation. Their criticism focused primarily on Rice's role in planning the war in Iraq and explaining the threat posed by ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. But one prominent black conservative leader says he is outraged by the attacks on Rice during her confirmation process.
Jesse Lee Peterson is founder and president of the Los Angeles-based Brotherhood Organization of a New Destiny (BOND). He says it is outrageous that Senator Robert Byrd, an ex-Ku Klux Klansman, accused the Bush confidant of lying and incompetence.
"I believe that Robert Byrd still represents the Klansmen in his heart," Peterson says. "He may not be a member of the organization, but in his heart he's clearly racist toward black Americans who try to succeed. I remember when he used the 'n-word' three times on a nationally televised show."
In Peterson's opinion, liberal Democrats are racist toward African Americans. "They want to keep [blacks] on the Democratic plantation," he says. "They want to be the ones to provide for black folks -- they want to give them welfare and Affirmative Action. They don't believe that blacks are capable of doing it on their own or working hard." Peterson is also on record as saying that liberals believe blacks "should all think and vote the same."
That attitude, he says, can be clearly seen "now coming through Senator Byrd, John Kerry, [Ted] Kennedy, as well as Barbara Boxer."
But Peterson is also critical of Republicans for doing so little to counter the attacks from that group of senators. "I cannot believe that we didn't have a loud outcry from white, conservative Republicans in this country about what is happening to Dr. Rice," he says.
Peterson's concerns about Rice's treatment were voiced by other prominent African Americans as well. According to a Cybercast News report, former Atlanta mayor and U.S. congressman Andrew Young stated prior to the final vote on Rice that the country needed a "strong, wise secretary of state with a bipartisan mandate." Young stated that Rice deserved bipartisan support from the Senate, and that her confirmation needed to be a "strong, civil process that gives her the mandate to lead America's foreign policy in a very, very troubled world."
And C. Delores Tucker, chair of the National Congress of Black Women, stated she did not know why the Senate was debating the confirmation of a woman whose qualifications speak for themselves. Tucker said she fears the attacks to which Rice was subjected may diminish the influence she could have overseas as Secretary of State.
"How could she say that she supports democracy, when a democracy does not support a woman that they know is more qualified than any other we have had in this position?" Tucker wondered in the Cybercast report. Tucker said she is convinced that Rice is better qualified to be Secretary of State than "possibly 80 percent" of the individuals who have previously held that job.
