It began in Houston when leaders of the national NAACP took George W. Bush to task for his civil rights record -- or lack thereof. Bush was chastised for, among other things, his failure to meet with the nation’s largest most influential civil rights group or, closer to home, the Congressional Black Caucus.
The following week, the National Urban League, even less political than the NAACP, criticized the Republican Party because of its lack of diversity. (The sole Black member of Congress, J.C. Watts, is leaving.) A report presented by the Urban League said, that the GOP has demonstrated a “lack of commitment to include Blacks among its ranks of elected officeholders.” Now, the Rainbow Coalition/PUSH is holding its national convention in Chicago.
And a variety of speakers, most notably the organization’s head, the Rev. Jesse Jackson is once again criticizing Bush’s treatment of and regard for African-Americans. “The Bush administration has utterly failed the country in civil rights,” Jackson said. “Despite public outcry for election reform and campaign financing, Bush has offered no leadership. ... He has appointed anti-civil rights judges and key staff at the Department of Education and Justice and elsewhere.”
Jackson and others who spoke in Chicago also sounded a theme that is become more familiar: that the coming November elections will be especially important. Because of the failure to count the votes of many African-Americans during the 2000 presidential contest, particularly in Florida, Jackson and others are calling for record turnouts to offset ballots that are likely to be illegally discounted yet again. Jackson also told convention attendees that the Election of 2000 will never be forgotten.

“We who honor the right to vote will not get over having our votes discounted, miscounted and undercounted,” Jackson said. He added that Rainbow/PUSH is working closely with the NAACP to register more minorities to vote during this fall’s election. Others who were equally critical of the Bush records on minority and women’s rights were Kwesi Mfume of the NAACP, Al Sharpton and Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women.
But not all the criticism was aimed toward Bush. Clarence Thomas took a well-deserved hit, too. Wade Henderson, executive director of the Civil Rights Leadership Conference, said that although most African-Americans claim to be dedicated to civil rights, “some in this room were not opposed” to the appointment of Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court 10 years ago.”
Many people were saying, “Oh, my God. We’ve got to have a brother on the court,”’ Henderson said. “But when you think about the threats to civil rights, think about Justice Thomas,” he chastised them. Not even September 11 has been able to spare Bush from the wrath of African- Americans wronged.