Strong Words

From a great American, who happens to be of African descent: Secretary Rod Paige in the Wall Street Journal (posted this weekend on the free site). Naked Partisans

I have a message for the NAACP's Julian Bond and Kweisi Mfume, who have accused black conservatives of being the "puppets" of white people, unable to think for ourselves: You do not own, and you are not the arbiters of, African-American authenticity.

I am a lifelong member of the NAACP. I have a great respect for the organization. Its historical leaders, all visionary thinkers, have been responsible for helping to advance the struggle of African-Americans over the past century, making our nation a more equitable and race-blind society. Sadly, the current NAACP leadership has managed to take a proud, effective organization in a totally new direction: naked partisan politics, pure and simple.

Its days are numbered. As that right-wing wacko Juan Williams has observed, younger African-Americans are not making the mistake of blind allegiance to a single party.

When this monolith breaks up, the Democrats will need to actually have ideas. Maybe hook up with the Libertarians?

Posted by jk at July 19, 2004 09:00 AM