Freedom Fund Banquet speakers praise NAACP

CAMPAIGN 2009

The chairmen of the Democratic and Republican national committees spoke last night to more than 200 people at an event held by the Chesterfield County chapter of the NAACP.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, spoke first during the 24th Annual Freedom Fund Banquet, giving a speech that praised the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People but focused largely on touting President Barack Obama's work in office.

Michael Steele, a former lieutenant governor of Maryland and the first black chairman of the Republican National Committee, was the keynote speaker at the event at the Holiday Inn Select Koger South in Chesterfield.

Steele discussed the successes of black Americans, those who are famous and those who are virtually unknown -- all of those who demonstrate that all Americans are equal.

The story of black Americans, Steele said, "is the story of men and women who remained always faithful and passed onto the next generation a story of devotion -- not just to self, but to family and community, God and country."

But, he said, "As far as we've come since 1963, the amount of progress that has been made, while impressive, leaves us empty in the face of incarceration rates, unemployment rates, dropout rates, AIDS-infection rates, and the general rate of poverty . . . for African-Americans."

Kaine praised the NAACP for supporting his efforts to restore voting rights to thousands of people and expand pre-kindergarten education to more low-income Virginia children.

He said Chesterfield historically has been one of the state's toughest localities for Democrats to get votes, but that is changing. Last year, Obama got 46 percent of the vote in Chesterfield, the best performance by a Democratic presidential candidate in the county since 1948, Kaine said.

"I want to celebrate what you helped do -- which was turn Virginia blue for the first time in 44 years and send my friend . . . Barack Obama to the White House as the first African-American president in the history of this nation," Kaine said.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate R. Creigh Deeds is trying to build on that momentum, Kaine said.

Kaine praised efforts by Obama to improve the ailing American economy and to pass health-care reform. Kaine also noted that Obama appointed the first Hispanic to the Supreme Court.

"Right now, people are whipping up opposition to the president speaking to the nation's schoolchildren," Kaine said to applause, as he depicted Republicans as being against "virtually anything, and especially anything that this president proposes."

School systems in the Richmond area have been jockeying to decide whether to show Tuesday's daytime presidential address by Obama. Chesterfield has joined Hanover and Powhatan counties in deciding not to show the speech.

U. Omarh Rajah, a Chesterfield School Board member who attended last night's banquet, said the school system is not showing the president's address because it falls during lunchtime and would cause a "logistic nightmare" on the first day of school. Recordings of the address will be available to teachers and principals to use later.

"This is not a political or racial issue in any way or form," said Rajah, a self-described conservative who said he is the first black to be elected to the School Board.

Of Kaine's speech, Rajah said he wished it had focused less on Kaine's political opinions and more on the history of the NAACP, as Steele's did.

Steele also emphasized the partnership of the RNC and the NAACP but said both groups should do more to work together. And he praised Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell, who also attended the event. Deeds was in the Hampton Roads area yesterday.

The banquet was held as the national NAACP celebrates its 100th anniversary and during a pivotal state election year.

Virginia and New Jersey are the only two states holding elections for governor this year. In November, Virginia voters will also elect a lieutenant governor, a state attorney general and all 100 members of the House of Delegates.

Many see the elections as a referendum on Kaine's term as governor and Obama's first year in office.

Contact Reed Williams at (804) 649-6332 or .