Congressman Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.)
accused President Barack Obama of ignoring and disrespecting black
groups that were crucial to his winning re-election in November,
including the Congressional Black Caucus, black newspapers and
historically black colleges.
The 76-year-old lawmaker said the
Congressional Black Caucus sent a number of qualified names to the White
House as possible cabinet picks but was ignored. The Obama
administration has been criticized, particularly in recent weeks, for a
lack of diversity in key posts.
“The black caucus of Congress then sent 61 names to the White House,” Hastings told the National Newspaper Publishers Association last week. “Time went by. Not one of that 61 was selected – not one.”
Hastings said the Congressional Black
Caucus also had to pressure the Obama campaign to advertise more with
black newspapers. Of the $1 billion the campaign raised, just $1 million
was spent on black newspapers — and that was up from the initial plan
of $650,000, he said.
“If I was president of the United
States, there is no way in hell that I would raise a billion dollars and
don’t spend but a million dollars with people who probably had as much
to do with my becoming president as anybody,” Hastings charged.
He accused Obama of not spending enough
money on historically black colleges, and said it took nearly a year
before he appointed a single historically black college graduate to his
administration.
“It was nine months into the
administration before he appointed a single person, not just at the
cabinet level…none in his first nine months of his administration was
from a historically black college,” Hastings said.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/02/02/congressional-black-caucus-member-obama-disrespects-blacks/
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