[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 17]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 23074-23075]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               FOLLOW BLACK VOTERS TO NATIONAL SALVATION

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. MAJOR R. OWENS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, October 18, 2005

  Mr. OWENS. Mr. Speaker, the recently reported unprecedented two 
percent approval rating of President Bush's overall performance shows 
that the wisdom of African American voters is escalating. To save our 
republic, mainstream American voters should follow this enlightened 
leadership. The smoke and mirrors, Disney World fantasy of Bush 
policies is hypnotizing only two percent of the Black voters. This 
emperor has no clothes on and we'll all catch pneumonia if we follow 
him. Where, in domestic or international history, has any group reached 
more insightful political conclusions and made more sophisticated 
democratic choices?
  In the street language of my youth, the ``trick bags'' and ``okie 
doke'' of every day living causes a lot of suffering in Black 
communities. Forced to be perpetual victims African

[[Page 23075]]

Americans have developed a greater immunity to the glitter of the phony 
and the fraudulent. Lessons like New Orleans are not forgotten after 
the media grows weary of spotlighting the truth. Blacks understand why 
Bush and the American majority that elected him refused to acknowledge 
the heroism of the thousands who spent several nights smothering under 
a blanket of heat and darkness in the dome and the convention center. 
To make the world understand better the credit these evacuees deserve 
for not going mad under those conditions, every basketball game this 
season should begin with a few minutes of silence after all of the 
lights in the arena have been shut off.
  ``Shoot to kill'' was the earliest and strongest clear message to 
emerge ftom the babbling public officials responsible for the New 
Orleans debacle. Branding the hero victims as undesirable, provided the 
perfect setup for their later mistreatment by a ``reformed'' FEMA. The 
presidential executive order suspending the Davis-Bacon law and the 
nullification of all affirmative action regulations sent further 
messages informing the storm wracked Blacks that they had been 
permanently profiled as unworthy of the regular protections and 
benefits of their government.
  Ninety-eight percent of Blacks understand what most Americans refuse 
to acknowledge: That the truly dangerous and costly corruption was not 
exposed by the looting of the New Orleans supermarkets. No, the 
massive, systematic no bidding contract process now underway on the 
Gulf Coast for Halliburton and other Bush crony entrepreneurs is crime 
running rampant. Third World citizens are not the only populations 
endangered by the corrupt behavior of their leaders. Decision making, 
driven by the criminal upward distribution of wealth by our greedy 
Republican rulers has made America a nation at great risk.
  Massacres from General Nathan Bedford Forrest at Fort Pillow, to New 
York's ``Black Monday,'' to the Charleston, South Carolina and the 
Tulsa, Oklahoma violent Black community destructions combined with the 
petty racism of everyday life; all of this never ending pressure has 
probably permanently altered the group political consciousness DNA of 
African-Americans. The new 98 percent disapproval rate for George Bush 
is a high point for a trend of consistent African-American voting for 
Presidents. Why can't more gullible mainstream Americans acquire 
similar insights? Why does the average American still want a President 
that they can feel comfortable with schmoozing over a beer in a bar? 
African-Americans want a President who through his policies will 
guarantee that they can afford to purchase that bottle of beer.
  Using a label that is meant to be a demeaning slur, the media 
frequently refers to Blacks as ``bread and butter voters''. But in 
truth most voters are concerned first about economic issues. Certainly, 
the most influential and richest Republicans are concerned about tax 
cuts, insider trading opportunities, no bid contracts, earmarked 
legislative favors, etc. Concern for individual or group economic well-
being is an appropriate position. But it is the obsession with 
maximizing advantages and the perks of ``white privilege'' that creates 
the venomous political poison threatening the survival of American 
democracy as it should be.
  African Americans see a White House regime which maximizes already 
excessive ``white privileges'' at their expense. To force taxes lower 
the privileged have abandoned urban public schools all over America. 
The revenue starved New Orleans has produced the worst school system in 
America. The lack of arrangements for the transport of the poor out of 
the flood was just one of many examples of deadly public sector 
neglect. Is it absurd to ask the question; are we the only developed 
nation without a publicly financed universal health care program 
because whites don't want to see minorities getting more free services?
  Is it possible that this drop of the President's approval among 
African Americans rating to two percent will become a bonus for the 
Republican Southern strategy advocates who have been recently 
overshadowed by moderate ``apologizing'' Republicans? Will there be a 
new right-wing battle cry to just write off the African American vote? 
This 98 percent disapproval rate is a landmark in polling statistics. 
Democrats must monitor the fallout diligently.

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