Bush To NAACP: 'Racism Still Lingers'

President Says He Knows Many Blacks Distrust Republican Party

(CBS/AP) 
Others expressed dismay that Bush did not offer more substantive remarks about issues such as education and the economy. The unemployment rate for blacks was 9 percent in June — nearly twice the national jobless rate of 4.6 percent

"There was an amazing gap between the aspirations of his speech and the policy behind it. It was so vague," said Barbara Arnwine of the Washington-based Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

"He doesn't have enough contact with this community," said Arnwine. The group was set up in 1963, at the request of President Kennedy, to get private lawyers to provide legal services to address racial discrimination.

Mr. Bush talked about his No Child Left Behind education program, but did not mention that it has been underfunded, said Madie Robinson of Florence, S.C., a member of the NAACP national board of directors. "He raised many issues," she said, "but didn't offer solutions."

The administration's relations with the NAACP have been sketchy at best.

The organization's president, Kweisi Mfume, once described Mr. Bush's black supporters as "ventriloquists' dummies" and said the president's decision not to speak at the NAACP conventions was an insult.

The chairman, Julian Bond, urged members to oust President Bush and condemned the administration's policies on education, the economy and the war in Iraq.

In 2004, then White House press secretary Scott McClellan said NAACP leaders, through their "hostile rhetoric," have shown no interest in working with Mr. Bush.

Relations have improved under the leadership of current NAACP president, Bruce Gordon.

Gordon, who introduced President Bush at the convention, has met with him three times in the year that he has headed the civil rights group. That compares with one meeting Bush had with Mfume, Gordon's predecessor.

"Bruce is a polite guy," Mr. Bush said. "I thought what he was going to say, 'It's about time you showed up.' And I'm glad I did."

The White House denied that Mr. Bush's appearance was a way of atoning for the government's slow response to Hurricane Katrina. The Rev. Jesse Jackson and some black elected officials alleged that indifference to black suffering and racial injustice was to blame for the sluggish reaction to the disaster.

Mr. Bush said he and Gordon have had frank talks about the challenges blacks face following the hurricane.

"We found areas where we share common purpose, and we have resolved to work together in practical ways," Mr. Bush said. "I don't expect Bruce to become a Republican — and neither do you. But I do want to work with him, and that's what I'm here to talk to you about."

Toward the end of his remarks, two protesters interrupted the president, shouting inquiries about Vice President Dick Cheney and the situation in the Middle East.

"Stop being a Stepin Fetchit for Dick Cheney!" one shouted in a reference to a black actor known for stereotypical portrayals of black minstrel characters.

Bond approached the microphone, but Bush told him not to bother trying to quell the disturbance. "Don't worry," Mr. Bush told Bond. "I'm almost done."

"I know you can handle it," Bond replied.