Black Politicians Denounce Bush's Affirmative Action Plan

ORLANDO, Fla. -- (AP) -- Black politicians said Monday they are outraged by
 Gov. Jeb Bush's order to end affirmative action and minority set-asides, and urged
 minority voters to strike back at the polls.

 Voters should not retaliate at just Bush, said Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Fla., but also
 at his brother, Republican presidential frontrunner George W. Bush.

 ``His brother is running, and we're going to deal with his brother,'' she said after a
 news conference with state and local officials.

 A spokesman for the Bush presidential campaign in Austin, Texas, could not be
 reached for comment.

 Mrs. Brown has written letters to President Clinton and the secretaries of the
 federal departments of education, labor and transportation, urging them to
 pressure Bush to delay implementing the order.

 ``When Gov. Bush ran for governor in 1994 and a reporter asked him what he was
 going to do for African-Americans, he said nothing,'' Ms. Brown said. ``Well, he
 has made good on his promise to do nothing for African-Americans, Hispanics,
 Native Americans, Haitian-Americans, women and all other minorities in the state
 of Florida.''

 Gov. Jeb Bush's executive order, signed last week, bars racial set-asides and
 quotas in state contracting decisions, and wipes out race and ethnicity as factors
 in Florida university admissions.

 The Republican governor said his program ``transcended'' affirmative action and
 would unite Floridians.

 The plan also guarantees state university admission to the top 20 percent of the
 state's high school seniors, proposes adding $20 million to the state's financial
 aid budget and makes it easier for minority businesses to be certified to work
 across the state.

 ``The governor has proposed the Florida initiative in the hopes it can unite
 Floridians in diversity and fairness,'' Bush spokesman Justin Sayfie said Monday.

 Another attempt to end affirmative action in Florida is being conducted through a
 ballot initiative. California businessman Ward Connerly said he will continue his
 effort despite Bush's order.

 ``The conservatism we see now is not just to stop affirmative action but to turn
 back the clock,'' Orlando City Commissioner Ernest Page said.

 The black politicians said they were not only disturbed by Bush's order but the
 way it was enacted -- without any kind of debate or public discussion.

 ``This may be an image of where this country is headed if we get the wrong
 person elected president,'' said Homer Hartage, another Orange County
 commissioner.
 

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Carl Gutiérrez-Jones
Department of English
University of California, Santa Barbara
e-mail: carlgj@humanitas.ucsb.edu