NAACP leader criticizes election

President Kweisi Mfume said irregularities in presidential balloting affirm the state's and nation's racial divisions.

By SHELBY OPPEL

© St. Petersburg Times, published January 11, 2001

TALLAHASSEE -- Dr. Martin Luther King's dream of equal rights has yet to come true and the most recent proof is in Florida, said Kweisi Mfume, president of the NAACP, in a speech Wednesday to Florida State University students.

Mfume was the keynote speaker at a celebration of the late civil rights leader's birthday, which is Monday. He praised King's legacy but said allegations of voting rights violations in minority communities during the Florida presidential election prove that the "freedom fight" is not over yet.

"We are not yet indivisible, and nowhere can it be said in our lifetimes that we have practiced liberty and justice for all," Mfume said. "We need only to look at Florida."

Mfume's visit coincided with a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday in Miami by the NAACP and other civil rights groups against Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris that seeks court-ordered changes to prevent voting irregularities in future elections.

Earlier this week, a task force appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush met for the first time to discuss proposed reforms. And the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is in Tallahassee today and Friday to take testimony from Bush, Harris and others to determine whether any Floridians' voting rights were denied.

University officials said Mfume accepted the invitation to speak before the Nov. 7 election and the subsequent controversy. But Mfume, a Democrat and former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, didn't miss the opportunity to blast federal justice officials and the Democratic Party for not paying proper attention to minority voters' concerns.

Once, he said, the Justice Department "had a face."

"It was Ramsey Clark. It was Bobby Kennedy," former attorney generals who Mfume said sought out violations of civil rights and worked to remedy them.

In contrast, the current justice department has ignored complaints of problems in Florida, which "has turned it to the 'Just-Ice' department -- just cold responses, just cold temperatures," Mfume said.

After his speech, Mfume told reporters that the Democratic Party, too, had disappointed blacks by not responding to their concerns more quickly.

Black support shouldn't be taken for granted, Mfume warned. Before the Great Depression, many blacks were registered Republicans but changed parties during Democratic President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal administration, he said. They could change again.

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