Nadira Hira (below) arrives at Detroit's Cobo Center exhausted but determined; (bottom) George W Bush wows the crowd,
Our writel Nadira Hira,went in
search ol a President out of touch
with Black America. What she found both shocked and awed her
us BY NADIRA A. HIRA In the world of presidential politics, the word ourcan be a candidate's best weapon. From promises
to support our communities to anecdotal instructions on raising our children, only the most qmical-and some might say the most sawy-citizen can turn away when a would-be leader of the free world puts himself right there in the glammatical trenches with us. Of course, no one employed this principle with more success than former President Bill Clin-
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ton. And his reward, at least from Black America, has been unabashed love and acceptance. We welcomed him in our churches, chuckled at his saxophonic stylings, and didn't disagree when Toni Morrison called him "our first Black President." But the Clinton era was one of relative peace and mainstream economic success, which allowed us and our issues a comfortable spot at the fore. In the post-9/11 United States, though, political attention has been focused on warding off terrorism and stimulating the economy, and our issues have faded. This has left many of us wondering, .Is this President pagingi ang attention to our concerns? To find out, in fuly I headed to the 2004 National Urban teague Conference in Detroit. President Bush had tumed down the invitation to appear at the annual NAACP convention for the fourth time in a row (the first president to refuse the invitation since Warren G. Harding), but in the next week amounced that he had accepted one from the Urban league. I tried for a week to finagle an interview with President Bush at the event, to no avail. So I went gUerrilla-re$stering for press credentials and catching a redeye from New York to nab the lTesident without the benefit of a scheduled interview. And when it was over-after I had spent a whole morning waiting to be underwhelmed-I found myself in the throes of a painful admiration for the ever-affable "Dubya." lcorurrruurD oN NEXT PAGEI EssENcE 191 tL.2oo4
"Bush had
Bro Bush? Mv expectations weren't terribly higlr. I was all too
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tin$yourhatinthering.;E....ffiDespite.theBushadministration'sa4uable "H!*"' rererring*'li,TT:_1y'yi ffff:"TT1Tf,,:T;l.f,trffi'riffi Fair, president and CEO of the Urban l€ague -^-r attention' -r !- rapt ^%-*i^h
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Audience members sit in
for the NUL His $fts are concentrated in the of Greater Miami; r<*"-" pronouns, his all-purpose smirk, his ability of use ma4;ins-inhis had a no one at the time But sharpton. Rev. and of Detroit; gesticulating to a room of hundreds as he migltt name, and everyone was part of the club. And it was impossible to control a crowd, Bush exited to applause, as trifrat buddies. room of dorm piece to a of not to laugh, not to stake claim to one's own small The audience trickled out, shocked him. seen as I've ever umphant criticize. to impossible quipping. It felt almost camaraderie and
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And similarly unaisaitalte was the president's early reasser- into a kind of stupor, I think, by the President's oQert handling. Fiveweekslater,theBushcampofferedupanothersurprise:the that speech," he said, "whether or not I would object to a prayer. I said, responses to the questions I had E-mailed aJter being assured surprise was no What President. get the with face time I wouldir't t}rat.' " I appreciate prayer, and i{bsolutely not. All of us need gave the NUL,with Now if there,s one person that conservatives and Black peo- were ttre ansurers: more of the same rhetoriche (For interview questions. the complete ple can a€i^ree on, it's the tord. And in a moment of brilliance, little relationship to the he finds particular value what I asked when Lefore potitics had even made its way into the conversation that visit essence.com.) rePresident's the community, the urban president from in courtin$votes one the tightened had already tied and morning, the had he "inhow to mention wide enough fur and mnged sponse Black America. and him between undeniable bond In the ensuing speech, president Bush did what he ought to stitutedanationalinitiativetoexpandandcoordinatetheAMBER do. Without getting into the kinds of details that might do him Alert networK which notifies the public about child abductions." more harm ttran gtod, he stressed the gains made d.uring his whatdoesthathavetodowiththepowerof theurbanvotingbloc? have administration, oqganizing his points undlr one theme: "Progless I appreciated the effort from the President's camp, but I could progtess for all Americans." That, done without the doublespeak and non sequiturs' for African-Americans, "nd Even so, I'm struck by one last epiphany which $ves me resaid the hesident, "requires goodichools," "depends on more citrespect for the Bush machine' The President's NUL apnewed and "depends izens 1iving the dream of owning their own home,' pearance could have been just another stop on the urban camlaw," the before and equality righis pr6tection of civil on full .*orrg oth".r. These aren't debatable points. But despite what- paign fiail, but the controversy heightened anticipation for the not mean ever links the president drew, the vocabulary of his speech un- speech. The reluctant enthusiasm he received might Bush the George moming, that but for term, the long in much derscoredpreciselywhathasbeenatissueformanyAfrican-Amertranalmost promised land that picture gave of a us a preacher the talk, he talks Though administration. icans throughoulhis at least in a broad sense, our country's leader has been unwilling scends criticism, and he all but called it our America' tr Nadira A. Hira is a wribr living in New York GiV. to tackle the specific issues of the Black community.
tion of his commitment to faith. ,,They asked me before the
EssENcE 192 LL.2oo4