Reuters NAACP Vows to Fight Conservative Judicial Nominees NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) -- The head of the nation's oldest civil rights
organization vowed on Monday to fight any effort by the Bush
administration to stack the U.S. Supreme Court with ''strange conservative-thinking individuals who want to
set back the hands of time.''
In his keynote address to the 92nd annual convention of the National
Association for the Advancement of Colored People , NAACP President Kweisi Mfume also lamented that political
conservatives did not generally support the issues to which his
organization was committed.
``Wouldn't it be wonderful,'' he said, ``if they understood that the
Constitution does not belong to one political party.''
``We will not sit back while they try to stack the Supreme Court and
appellate courts and federal courts with strange conservative-thinking
individuals who want to set back the hands of time. You can't do that. We
won't let you.''
Mfume's comments continued the organization's criticism of the
administration during the annual meeting. They came a day after NAACP
Chairman Julian Bond attacked President Bush 's nominees as coming from ``the Taliban wing of American
politics'' and showing a ``near canine'' devotion to the Confederacy.
Those comments drew a heated response from the White House on Monday,
with spokesman Ari Fleischer defending the ethnic diversity of the Bush appointees and
accusing Bond of going ''too far'' with his criticism.
But Mfume continued the NAACP's pressure on the administration with his
remarks to the convention on Monday, making reference to Bush's
compassionate conservative political agenda and his campaign vow to leave
no child behind.
``We've heard a lot about compassionate conservatives. Wouldn't it be
wonderful if every conservative was compassionate?'' he asked. ``I welcome
the president's words but I will welcome more his actions.''
``Don't tell me about 'leaving no child behind' if you don't first want
to pick him up,'' he added later.
Mfume said he did not understand African-American conservatives who
``say 'I got here on my own.'''
``They got here because others fought and bled for them, with the NAACP
consistently manning the front lines,'' he said. Secretary of State
``Colin Powellwasn't hatched. He's here because of your work and the work of
others who broke down the barriers in the armed forces of the United
States.''
Mfume said he would like to see conservatives commit to ending the
world-wide AIDS epidemic, to acknowledge that clean air and water are an
American birthright, to support affordable health care and a patients'
bill of rights, equal pay for equal work, a living wage and freedom of
choice for women -- all hallmarks of NAACP policies. Copyright © 2001. Reuters. All rights reserved. saved from url: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010709/ts/rights_naacp_dc_1.html
July 10, 2001
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