MOORE DISRESPECTS NAACP!

Democratic candidate for Governor, Tommy Moore, has refused to attend the NAACP conference in Augusta, Georgia. This strategy is either brilliant or very stupid. I find the reasoning for his refusal troubling! Why brilliant? Well….Moore knows that he can’t win with just Democratic votes. He needs a sizeable number of Independent and Republican votes. So, he decides to piss off his “presumed” base, in hopes of “playing” the race card to excite those Whites that have no regard for the venerable organization, the NAACP. Plus, “no show” Tommy Moore needs all the free publicity he can get, (have you seen this guy on TV lately?) Senator Moore’s snub of the NAACP cast him as standing tall as a strong Anglo-Saxon male against the troublesome NAACP. Some Whites, and ironically some Blacks, will view that as a positive and give the Senator a thumps up. (Don’t hold your breath!) However…! He just angered his base! The NAACP may not represent all Black people, but perception is golden. Blacks have been more loyal to the Democratic Party than Robin to Batman. If anything, Moore should have been very accommodating, because he just can’t afford to ignore Black people.

The Republican Governor, Mark Sanford, will be at the NAACP Conference, taking heat, but sharing his ideas and goals on why South Carolina must move forward with lower taxes, more educational choices for poor parents, and reforming government, while Senator Moore will be somewhere trying to prove to some Whites that he disapproves of the NAACP as much as they do. African-Americans should be outraged that Tommy Moore is playing such an insidious game. We should reject this, especially for someone that claims to be a friend of the Black community. But now is the time for Black folks to reject the politics of fear and join the bandwagon of hope and opportunity. Our blind allegiance to the Democratic Party is costing us tremendously. Democrats don’t own the ground on equality and opportunity. Democrats “pit” Blacks against issues that members of the other party support with the hope that Blacks will be scared away. Democrats try to convince Blacks that they should continue to support a system that continues to fail their children. For example, only 6.2% of African-Americans are proficient in Math and only 3.9% are proficient in Science. The aforementioned statistics are criminal! The Governor has a plan. Where is Senator Moore’s plan? Any plan that doesn’t allow low-income parents more options in education is not a plan, but an attempt in maintaining privilege for a few at the expense of the masses.

As a Democrat and as an African-American, I’m tired of the “games” Democrats play with Blacks, especially the race game. There isn’t a candidate that deserves the Black vote if he/she is not willing to speak to Black people. It is my hope that African-Americans cast their vote based on hopes rather than on fear. After all, God and fear do not occupy the same space.

Kwame Jones "K.J."

Guest Writer