Black Activists Rally for Kerry in Northern Virginia (Washington Post)

[diamond14]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57263-2004Oct23.html

Black Activists Rally for Kerry in Northern Virginia
Event's Organizers Hope State's Voters Will Halt Republican Dominance

By Steven Ginsberg
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, October 24, 2004; Page C07

After nearly two hours of hobnobbing, sampling gourmet dishes and listening to reasoned speeches, the group of several hundred African American Democrats charged into a chant that got right to the point of their get-together yesterday: "Hey, ho! Bush has got to go!"

The cry expressed the feelings seemingly of everyone at a rally sponsored by the Virginia Congressional Black Caucus in Alexandria. Whether they were college students, Democratic Party leaders or residents and politicians from Northern Virginia, the crowd was united in its desire to elect Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.) president and to work as hard as possible the next nine days to make that happen.

President Bush "is like a bug on the floor who needs to be stepped on and squashed," Alexandria resident Vannessa Anderson said, explaining why she has been pounding on doors, passing out pamphlets and trying to sway neighbors to oppose the president. "He's not interested in low-income people, and he doesn't recognize minorities."

African Americans who attended the rally at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center cited jobs, health care, the Iraq war and sensitivity to minority issues as their main concerns.

Davon Gray, a former candidate for state and local office from Prince William County, said Kerry's support among Virginians is "surprising. This is not always a state that would be friendly to a Massachusetts senator, but people are just ticked off with what's going on with the war and the economy."

[NVMojo]

1. This is a good sign...

[diamond14]

2. it feels like the major civil rights movement....so many people are

STANDING UP to boot bush* out.....


we're excited here in Virginia...we're leading another REVOLUTION...

[leftchick]

3. well this just can't be true....

tweety said over and over this AM how badly JK is doing with women and the Black vote! :eyes:

Thanks for all of your great upbeat "Kerry Takes VA" posts Amen! I believe it too!!!

:)

[cprise]

4. See? Democrats can do better in the south

...than using a "southern strategy" that makes them feel seperate from the rest of America.

Appeal to the good in people wherever you go.

[Melodybe]

5. Yeah cause black folks love it when the pres refuses to meet the NAACP

Sorry this junk about black people for Bush is bull shit, the black ministers that are preaching for Bush have been bought off.

Why do you think Sharpton made a point to say. "Mr. Bush, our vote is not for sale!"

[diamond14]

6. 20 % of Virginia's population is BLACK !!!! and this time....

they are organizing at the HILTON HOTEL !!!!


OUR newly-elected Mayor of Alexandria, VA is Bill Euille....a Black man, a millionaire, a Democrat, the FIRST Black Mayor of Alexandria in the entire long and sordid history of a very old American City.....

Bill was born in the public HOUSING PROJECTS (slums) of Alexandria...he was selected for "Affirmative Action" by the Catholic Church and sent to school "up North".....and unlike clarence thomas, Bill came back to his hometown and started a construction business to make it better...he was a BIG time beneficiary of AFFIRMATIVE ACTION from the Federal Government, which he acknowledges and hopes to bring such opportunities to other economically-challenged people, both black, white, and everyone...and Bill has given back to OUR community time and time again...now OUR Mayor....

It makes me proud to have Bill Euille speak at the HILTON HOTEL to rally Black voters in Virginia....these are middle and upper class Black Virginians, who are ready to give back to their communities, and bring back the American dream for all.....

Go Virginia....stomp out those criminals....OUR Diversity is OUR STRENGTH !!!!

[renegade000]

7. wow, i wasn't aware alexandria had housing projects

where are they?

[TroubleMan]

8. You've never been to Alexandria?

or were you joking?

Maybe you've only seen Old Town.

[Southpaw Bookworm]

9. Some are within Old Town

Or rather, were. They're in the process of being torn down so that the city can build more multimillion dollar condos. Those are near the north end of OT south of Washington around Oronoco. There are also some off off West Street near Queen. And of course, the neighborhoods along Route 1 just before you leave OT going north toward Potomac Yards. Meanwhile, a lot of elderly are being priced out of their OT rowhouses (purchased when it was still the "bad" part of town before the gentrification of the 1970s) by the tax rates.

[diamond14]

10. there are low-income public housing projects all over

Alexandria today....Section 8 and other low-income housing, and some housing projects funded by the Catholic Church....years back, there were "housing projects" built for BLACK people in the worst parts of old town Alexandria....the parts that flooded all the time from the Potomac River nearby...

here's a link for you to use, you can find all the low-income housing projects in Alexandria today....
http://ci.alexandria.va.us/


but if you want to look at Alexandria during the time of Bill Euille's childhood and education years...here is a good link to the HISTORY that includes the 1950's and 1960's experiences of Black people in Alexandria, Virginia...it's shameful...some of the low-income housing projects in OLD town Alexandria have now been 'gentrified' and remodeled....Virginia refused to integrate public schools until 1964 !!!!

Bonds to Education: Alexandria's Black Public Education, 1800-1965
http://oha.ci.alexandria.va.us/bhrc/bh-bonds.html