The Economist: on Civil Rights

George W. Bush: Guaranteed TX college racial preference for top 10% of class

guaranteed a place at a state college or university for the top 10% of every high school graduating class
pushed for school vouchers in Texas
appointed Mexican-Americans to senior positions in his two campaigns for governor.

Source: The Economist, "Issues 2000" special Sep 30, 2000

Jeff Sessions: 1986: Denied confirmation as federal judge

Expect Democrats to bring up Sessions's history of allegedly racist comments as a federal prosecutor in Alabama--comments which saw him denied confirmation as a federal judge in the 1980s. The nomination sent news outlets scrambling to their archives to dig out transcripts of those fateful Senate judiciary committee hearings from 1986. Senators heard a Justice Department official testify that Sessions, then US Attorney for the Southern district of Alabama, had suggested that a prominent white civil rights lawyer might justly be called "a disgrace to his race" for representing black clients. Under questioning Sessions said that he did not recall making that comment, and could not understand why he would have made it, but did not deny his colleague's account. Source: The Economist on 2017 Trump transition/confirmation hearings Nov 18, 2016

Jeff Sessions: 1986: Called NAACP a "pinko" organization that hates whites

Sessions' nomination sent news outlets scrambling to their archives to dig out transcripts of those fateful Senate judiciary committee hearings from 1986. Asked whether he had called the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, a civil rights group, a "pinko" organisation that hates white people, Sessions told his Senate inquisitors: "I am loose with my tongue on occasion, and I may have said something similar to that." He did deny the account of a black federal prosecutor who testified that Sessions called him "boy" and chided him to be careful how he spoke to "white folks". Twenty years later Sessions is in a position to avenge that humiliation. Source: The Economist on 2017 Trump transition/confirmation hearings Nov 18, 2016

The above quotations are from Columns and news articles in The Economist magazine. Click here for definitions & background information on Civil Rights. Click here for other issues (main summary page).
*2024 Presidential contenders on Civil Rights:*
	*Candidates for President & Vice-President:* V.P.Kamala Harris (D-CA) Robert F. Kennedy Jr.(I-CA) Chase Oliver(L-GA) Dr.Jill Stein(D-MA) Former Pres.Donald Trump(R-FL) Sen.J.D.Vance(R-OH) Gov.Tim Walz(D-MN) Dr.Cornel West(I-NJ)	*2024 presidential primary contenders:* Pres.Joe_Biden(D-DE) N.D.Gov.Doug Burgum(R) N.J.Gov.Chris_Christie(R) Fla.Gov.Ron_DeSantis(R) S.C.Gov.Nikki_Haley(R) Ark.Gov.Asa_Hutchinson(R) Former V.P.Mike Pence(R-IN) U.S.Rep.Dean_Phillips(D-MN) Vivek_Ramaswamy(R-OH) S.C.Sen.Tim_Scott(R)
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