December 25, 2001
Blacks Who Voted Against Bush Offer Support to Him in Wartime
By KEVIN SACK
JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Dec. 19 — Steven Price, the proprietor of the Wise Choice Barber Shop on Jacksonville's north side, was none too happy with George W. Bush this time last year. In this city's heavily black and Democratic neighborhoods, like the one where Mr. Price wields his trimmer, one of every five votes was thrown out because of confusion over the ballot, and folks here were street- marching mad.
It was, in the eyes of Mr. Price and many other African-Americans, an outrageous disenfranchisement of black voters in a state where Mr. Bush won the thinnest of majorities and, as a result, the presidency. "I thought he was a crook, that he bought the election," Mr. Price said. "I just thought it was fixed."
But listen to Mr. Price now, as he assesses Mr. Bush's performance since the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Not only does he approve wholeheartedly of the war in Afghanistan, he also has no qualms about the civil liberties implications of the government's antiterrorism measures, including the Bush administration's interrogation of Middle Easterners and its possible use of military tribunals to try terrorism suspects.
"I think he's handled the situation properly and he's showing that he's a strong president," Mr. Price, 31, said on a quiet afternoon in his shop. "I don't even look at him now as having bought the presidency. I just look at him as president."
[http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/25/national/25BLAC.html]
Carl
_________________________________________________________________ Join the world’s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com