THE NAACP OPPOSES GAIL NORTON'S NOMINATION FOR SECRETARY OF INTERIOR

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) will work with environmentalists to oppose the nomination of Gail Norton to be Secretary of the Interior because of her position regarding the Confederacy, her opposition to minority scholarships and affirmative action.

Julian Bond, chairman, the NAACP National Board of Directors, said:

"We oppose Gail Norton's nomination to be Secretary of the Interior. Even though there was no controlling precedent, she eagerly went out of her way to construct an argument against minority scholarships in Colorado. As Attorney General, she refused to defend Colorado's efforts to increase diversity in contracting.

"She exhibited a wanton insensitivity toward slavery and its descendants when she bemoaned the Confederacy's defeat as a loss of states' rights, and equated slavery with "bad facts." She authored legislation and led a crusade to end fairness in her state's efforts for justice.

"Just as she surely will not be hugging trees, her record strongly suggests she will not embrace efforts to correct and end environmental racism, which ravages so many communities of color.

"This nomination threatens to divide, not unite, Americans. Like defeated Senator John Ashcroft, she occupies the radical fringe of American opinion and should not be confirmed. In casting their votes on these and other nominees, Senators of both parties should know their votes would be remembered. They cannot celebrate Martin Luther King's dream one day and destroy it the next."

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