http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/state/14907728.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jspPosted on Mon, Jun. 26, 2006
Black leaders plan to protest against Christian conservativesJULIA GLICK
Associated PressDALLAS - Prominent black leaders said Monday they will organize against Christian conservatives they say have used gay marriage and abortion to distract from larger moral issues such as the war, voting rights, affirmative action and poverty.
The Revs. Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Joseph Lowery and hundreds of black leaders from around the country are focusing on mobilizing black voters for the fall elections. They kicked off a three-day black clergy conference Monday in Dallas.
"There are no gay people coming to our churches asking to get married, but there are plenty of people coming with problems voting or their sons in jail," Sharpton said. "I am not going to sit here silently and let these leaders distort our church with these issues."
Sharpton said tours are planned of swing states starting in July to bring out black voters and push Democrats to take a tougher stand on social justice issues.
Jackson said the mid-term elections, which will determine hundreds of congressional seats and the the governors of dozens of states, are a "fight for America's soul" as the gap between rich and poor grows in this country.
If Democrats fail to address concerns, Sharpton said he has not ruled out a run for president in 2008.
A spokesman for evangelical conservatives accused Sharpton of stereotyping Christian conservatives, many of whom agree with black churchgoers on key issues.
"Let's not play off each other in ways that are based on stereotypes," said the Rev. Richard Cizik of the National Association of Evangelicals.
But Monday's remarks underscore a growing chasm between the largely white Christian conservatives who helped make opposition to gay marriage and abortion Republican priorities and religious blacks, who tend to be socially conservative but politically progressive, said Melissa Harris Lacewell, a political science professor at the University of Chicago.
She said Republicans are unlikely to win over many black voters this election with their positions on gay marriage, abortion and prayer in school. But those issues could well keep religious blacks away from the polls, she added.
"The leaders know that if black people are given a choice between Jesus and the Democratic Party, they are not going to vote against Jesus," Harris Lacewell said. "These black ministers are trying to reframe the language of morality so private morality choices do not eclipse traditional social issues."
The summit comes as black leaders are pushing for Congress to renew provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act amid attacks by Southern Republicans, who disagreed with continued federal oversight of Southern states, including Texas.
The Supreme Court, meanwhile, announced this month it will take up cases examining the constitutionality of affirmative action in public schools.
A spokeswoman for the Democratic National Committee said Democrats are not taking black voters for granted.
The committee has been hiring black organizers, meeting with black leaders and speaking out on issues that concern black voters, she said.
Cizik of the 30-million-strong National Association of Evangelicals, which includes many conservative churches, cautioned black religious leaders against stereotyping Christian conservatives and further dividing white and black evangelicals.
They agree on abortion, gay marriage, and many white conservatives strongly advocate for civil rights as well, he said.
"I don't want to be cast as somehow opposed to the rights of African-Americans along lines cut out of history 30 years ago," he said. "It is a new day."
© 2006 AP Wire and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.dfw.com