Green Party's Black Caucus: Bush
Administration
Talk Of An Election Delay Shows Risk Of
Another
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The
Green Party's Black
Caucus responded sharply
to reports that the Bush
Administration has
discussed postponing the
November election in the
event of a terrorist
"The recent news that
Homeland Security Director
Tom Ridge is mulling such
a delay should alarm
all those who were
outraged at the manipulation
of the 2000 national
election," said Diane White,
corresponding secretary
of the Black Caucus and
former mayoral candidate
in Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania, where she
received 17.5% of the
vote. "African Americans
are especially
concerned that Bush might
come up with ways to
engineer the 2004
election, since 65,000 of our
votes were obstructed or
invalidated by
Republican officials in
Florida and possibly
other states in 2000.
The use of electronic
voting machines will make
the 2004 election even
more vulnerable to
tampering."
Black Caucus members
warned that the Bush
Administration is
exploiting legitimate fears
about terrorism, and
noted that elections were
not delayed by national
emergencies in the past,
including the Civil War
and both World Wars.
"It's another transparent
attempt to bamboozle
and frighten the American
people into allowing
Bush to continue to drive
this country off a
cliff," said Michele
Tingling-Clemmons, co-chair
of the Black Caucus and a
candidate for City
Council (Ward 7) in
Washington, D.C. "The
President must not
believe his own misquote --
'you can't fool me
twice.'"
Black Caucus members have
been intensely critical
of Bush policies,
including the invasion and
"Administration policies
are closing veterans'
hospitals, delaying
treatment for severe injuries
suffered in the invasion,
distorting the numbers
of war wounded and dead,
even proposing to
curtail death benefits
for military families,"
said Sundiata Tellem, a
Dallas, Texas Green and
co-chair of the Black
Caucus. "Meanwhile,
Halliburton is reaping
obscene profits from sole
source military
contracts. Bush talks out of
both sides of his mouth
-- crippling our valiant
fighting men and women by
pocketing the resources
we vote to support them
at the front, while at
home, our communities are
being ravaged and
attacked on all fronts,
in education, health
care, housing,
employment, and social services."
"Bush policies have
proven to be the greatest
threat to domestic
security that we currently
face," said Rick
Tingling-Clemmons, Black Caucus
representative to the
Green Party and a Vietnam
veteran. "Bush has done
more to terrorize U.S.
citizens than any other
group. Meanwhile, our
community is
disproportionately dying at the
front, as we have in
every U.S. war, facing the
same poverty draft I did
in the 1960s."
The Black Caucus achieved
accreditation with the
Green Party of the United
States just before the
party's 2004 national
convention in June at which
David Cobb and Pat
LaMarche were nominated as
Green candidates for the
White House.
"We're working to expose
the lies and the
machinations of this
administration and to make
sure that the people know
not to be tricked again
into giving up the
election," said Michele
Tingling-Clemmons. "We
also can't ignore the
refusal of Democratic
Senators to stand up in
support of the Black
Congressional Caucus's
challenge to Bush's
fraudulent victory in early
2001. A manipulated
election is both a civil
rights crisis and a
breakdown of democracy."
The Green Party of the
United States
1700 Connecticut Avenue
NW, Suite 404
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
http://www.usgreens.org/gpblackcaucus/
