Mitt Romney's Long, Troubled History With the NAACP

"Corporations Are People My Friends"

The GOP presidential candidate spoke to the nation's oldest civil rights organization on Wednesday. Here's what you need to know about their relationship.

—By Adam Serwer

| Wed Jul. 11, 2012 3:00 AM PDT

 

UPDATE: Romney was booed during his speech as he promised to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

 

Mitt Romney deserves a bit of credit for his decision to address the NAACP on Wednesday, given that he's running against Barack Obama, the most visible symbol of the NAACP's success. Conservatives generally view the group as a excessively partisan. But given Romney's antagonistic relationship with the local NAACP chapter when he was governor of Massachusetts, he may receive a particularly unpleasant reception.
Leonard Alkins, the former head of the Boston NAACP, has few fond memories of Romney's tenure. "There was no relationship between the NAACP in Boston and Gov. Mitt Romney and his administration," Alkins says. "The only time that the NAACP had any interaction with the administration and the governor was to protest when he eliminated the affirmative action office."

In one of his early acts as governor, Romney dumped the state's office of affirmative action and replaced it with the office of diversity and equal opportunity. In doing so, he invalidated a half-dozen executive orders establishing affirmative action policies for women, minorities, veterans, and people with disabilities; diversity training programs; and equal-opportunity standards for state contractors. Romney's executive order replaced all of this with what was essentially a broad—and, Alkins says, "toothless"—commitment to "diversity."  READ MORE
 

Florida shooting highlights folly of “amateur hour”

George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin/ AP Photo

Read more here: http://blog.thenewstribune.com/bluebyline/2012/03/21/florida-shooting-highlights-folly-of-amateur-hour/#storylink=cpy

Post by Brian O'Neill on March 21, 2012 at 6:25 pm

The alleged shooting death of a Florida youth by a citizen watch volunteer has officially crossed over from tragedy to spectacle.

Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-0ld African-American, was reportedly shot after being confronted by Robert Zimmerman, an armed resident voluntarily patrolling the gated community in Sanford. Zimmerman said he shot Martin in self-defense, but the 911 tape and excerpts from Martin’s last phone conversation suggest otherwise.

As a result, Sanford, a suburb of Orlando, is currently hosting an armada of civil rights tourists, including the NAACP, the ACLU, the National of Islam and the Justice Department’s Office of Civil Rights. The swelling numbers have also attracted hordes of media as well as local and state policitians. It may not be Disney, but it is a circus.

Nevertheless, many fair questions are being asked of this shooting: Was race an issue? Was self-defense involved? Was the new Florida “Stand Your Ground” law a factor? Was Zimmerman acting in the capacity of law enforcement?

The answers may be frustrating for a while, because it may be difficult to prove racist motivations in Zimmerman’s actions, even if such exist. And without eye-witnesses,  we may never know exactly how the last few seconds of Trayvon Martin’s life played out. As for Florida’s 2005 law, its stated purpose permits residents to use deadly force if a person “reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm…or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.” That standard contains no language capable of stretching to cover the unreasonable situation of shooting a person without such reasonable fear.

So what do we know? We know that Zimmerman, a volunteer on neighborhood watch, was not acting as a police officer.   READ MORE

Read more here: http://blog.thenewstribune.com/bluebyline/2012/03/21/florida-shooting-highlights-folly-of-amateur-hour/#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://blog.thenewstribune.com/bluebyline/2012/03/21/florida-shooting-highlights-folly-of-amateur-The alleged shooting death of a Florida youth by a citizen watch volunteer has officially crossed over from tragedy to spectacle.

Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-0ld African-American, was reportedly shot after being confronted by Robert Zimmerman, an armed resident voluntarily patrolling the gated community in Sanford. Zimmerman said he shot Martin in self-defense, but the 911 tape and excerpts from Martin’s last phone conversation suggest otherwise.
As a result, Sanford, a suburb of Orlando, is currently hosting an armada of civil rights tourists, including the NAACP, the ACLU, the National of Islam and the Justice Department’s Office of Civil Rights. The swelling numbers have also attracted hordes of media as well as local and state policitians. It may not be Disney, but it is a circus.
Nevertheless, many fair questions are being asked of this shooting: Was race an issue? Was self-defense involved? Was the new Florida “Stand Your Ground” law a factor? Was Zimmerman acting in the capacity of law enforcement?
The answers may be frustrating for a while, because it may be difficult to prove racist motivations in Zimmerman’s actions, even if such exist. And without eye-witnesses,  we may never know exactly how the last few seconds of Trayvon Martin’s life played out. As for Florida’s 2005 law, its stated purpose permits residents to use deadly force if a person “reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm…or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.” That standard contains no language capable of stretching to cover the unreasonable situation of shooting a person without such reasonable fear.
So what do we know? We know that Zimmerman, a volunteer on neighborhood watch, was not acting as a police officer.

Read more here: http://blog.thenewstribune.com/bluebyline/2012/03/21/florida-shooting-highlights-folly-of-amateur-hour/#storylink=cpyThe alleged shooting death of a Florida youth by a citizen watch volunteer has officially crossed over from tragedy to spectacle.
Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-0ld African-American, was reportedly shot after being confronted by Robert Zimmerman, an armed resident voluntarily patrolling the gated community in Sanford. Zimmerman said he shot Martin in self-defense, but the 911 tape and excerpts from Martin’s last phone conversation suggest otherwise.
As a result, Sanford, a suburb of Orlando, is currently hosting an armada of civil rights tourists, including the NAACP, the ACLU, the National of Islam and the Justice Department’s Office of Civil Rights. The swelling numbers have also attracted hordes of media as well as local and state policitians. It may not be Disney, but it is a circus.
Nevertheless, many fair questions are being asked of this shooting: Was race an issue? Was self-defense involved? Was the new Florida “Stand Your Ground” law a factor? Was Zimmerman acting in the capacity of law enforcement?
The answers may be frustrating for a while, because it may be difficult to prove racist motivations in Zimmerman’s actions, even if such exist. And without eye-witnesses,  we may never know exactly how the last few seconds of Trayvon Martin’s life played out. As for Florida’s 2005 law, its stated purpose permits residents to use deadly force if a person “reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm…or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.” That standard contains no language capable of stretching to cover the unreasonable situation of shooting a person without such reasonable fear.
So what do we know? We know that Zimmerman, a volunteer on neighborhood watch, was not acting as a police officer.

Read more here: http://blog.thenewstribune.com/bluebyline/2012/03/21/florida-shooting-highlights-folly-of-amateur-hour/#storylink=cpyThe alleged shooting death of a Florida youth by a citizen watch volunteer has officially crossed over from tragedy to spectacle.
Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-0ld African-American, was reportedly shot after being confronted by Robert Zimmerman, an armed resident voluntarily patrolling the gated community in Sanford. Zimmerman said he shot Martin in self-defense, but the 911 tape and excerpts from Martin’s last phone conversation suggest otherwise.
As a result, Sanford, a suburb of Orlando, is currently hosting an armada of civil rights tourists, including the NAACP, the ACLU, the National of Islam and the Justice Department’s Office of Civil Rights. The swelling numbers have also attracted hordes of media as well as local and state policitians. It may not be Disney, but it is a circus.
Nevertheless, many fair questions are being asked of this shooting: Was race an issue? Was self-defense involved? Was the new Florida “Stand Your Ground” law a factor? Was Zimmerman acting in the capacity of law enforcement?
The answers may be frustrating for a while, because it may be difficult to prove racist motivations in Zimmerman’s actions, even if such exist. And without eye-witnesses,  we may never know exactly how the last few seconds of Trayvon Martin’s life played out. As for Florida’s 2005 law, its stated purpose permits residents to use deadly force if a person “reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm…or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.” That standard contains no language capable of stretching to cover the unreasonable situation of shooting a person without such reasonable fear.
So what do we know? We know that Zimmerman, a volunteer on neighborhood watch, was not acting as a police officer.

Read more here: http://blog.thenewstribune.com/bluebyline/2012/03/21/florida-shooting-highlights-folly-of-amateur-hour/#storylink=cpyThe alleged shooting death of a Florida youth by a citizen watch volunteer has officially crossed over from tragedy to spectacle.
Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-0ld African-American, was reportedly shot after being confronted by Robert Zimmerman, an armed resident voluntarily patrolling the gated community in Sanford. Zimmerman said he shot Martin in self-defense, but the 911 tape and excerpts from Martin’s last phone conversation suggest otherwise.
As a result, Sanford, a suburb of Orlando, is currently hosting an armada of civil rights tourists, including the NAACP, the ACLU, the National of Islam and the Justice Department’s Office of Civil Rights. The swelling numbers have also attracted hordes of media as well as local and state policitians. It may not be Disney, but it is a circus.
Nevertheless, many fair questions are being asked of this shooting: Was race an issue? Was self-defense involved? Was the new Florida “Stand Your Ground” law a factor? Was Zimmerman acting in the capacity of law enforcement?
The answers may be frustrating for a while, because it may be difficult to prove racist motivations in Zimmerman’s actions, even if such exist. And without eye-witnesses,  we may never know exactly how the last few seconds of Trayvon Martin’s life played out. As for Florida’s 2005 law, its stated purpose permits residents to use deadly force if a person “reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm…or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.” That standard contains no language capable of stretching to cover the unreasonable situation of shooting a person without such reasonable fear.
So what do we know? We know that Zimmerman, a volunteer on neighborhood watch, was not acting as a police officer.

Read more here: http://blog.thenewstribune.com/bluebyline/2012/03/21/florida-shooting-highlights-folly-of-amateur-hour/#storylink=cpyThe alleged shooting death of a Florida youth by a citizen watch volunteer has officially crossed over from tragedy to spectacle.
Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-0ld African-American, was reportedly shot after being confronted by Robert Zimmerman, an armed resident voluntarily patrolling the gated community in Sanford. Zimmerman said he shot Martin in self-defense, but the 911 tape and excerpts from Martin’s last phone conversation suggest otherwise.
As a result, Sanford, a suburb of Orlando, is currently hosting an armada of civil rights tourists, including the NAACP, the ACLU, the National of Islam and the Justice Department’s Office of Civil Rights. The swelling numbers have also attracted hordes of media as well as local and state policitians. It may not be Disney, but it is a circus.
Nevertheless, many fair questions are being asked of this shooting: Was race an issue? Was self-defense involved? Was the new Florida “Stand Your Ground” law a factor? Was Zimmerman acting in the capacity of law enforcement?
The answers may be frustrating for a while, because it may be difficult to prove racist motivations in Zimmerman’s actions, even if such exist. And without eye-witnesses,  we may never know exactly how the last few seconds of Trayvon Martin’s life played out. As for Florida’s 2005 law, its stated purpose permits residents to use deadly force if a person “reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm…or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.” That standard contains no language capable of stretching to cover the unreasonable situation of shooting a person without such reasonable fear.
So what do we know? We know that Zimmerman, a volunteer on neighborhood watch, was not acting as a police officer.

Read more here: http://blog.thenewstribune.com/bluebyline/2012/03/21/florida-shooting-highlights-folly-of-amateur-hour/#storylink=cpyThe alleged shooting death of a Florida youth by a citizen watch volunteer has officially crossed over from tragedy to spectacle.
Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-0ld African-American, was reportedly shot after being confronted by Robert Zimmerman, an armed resident voluntarily patrolling the gated community in Sanford. Zimmerman said he shot Martin in self-defense, but the 911 tape and excerpts from Martin’s last phone conversation suggest otherwise.
As a result, Sanford, a suburb of Orlando, is currently hosting an armada of civil rights tourists, including the NAACP, the ACLU, the National of Islam and the Justice Department’s Office of Civil Rights. The swelling numbers have also attracted hordes of media as well as local and state policitians. It may not be Disney, but it is a circus.
Nevertheless, many fair questions are being asked of this shooting: Was race an issue? Was self-defense involved? Was the new Florida “Stand Your Ground” law a factor? Was Zimmerman acting in the capacity of law enforcement?
The answers may be frustrating for a while, because it may be difficult to prove racist motivations in Zimmerman’s actions, even if such exist. And without eye-witnesses,  we may never know exactly how the last few seconds of Trayvon Martin’s life played out. As for Florida’s 2005 law, its stated purpose permits residents to use deadly force if a person “reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm…or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.” That standard contains no language capable of stretching to cover the unreasonable situation of shooting a person without such reasonable fear.
So what do we know? We know that Zimmerman, a volunteer on neighborhood watch, was not acting as a police officer.

Read more here: http://blog.thenewstribune.com/bluebyline/2012/03/21/florida-shooting-highlights-folly-of-amateur-hour/#storylink=cpyThe alleged shooting death of a Florida youth by a citizen watch volunteer has officially crossed over from tragedy to spectacle.
Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-0ld African-American, was reportedly shot after being confronted by Robert Zimmerman, an armed resident voluntarily patrolling the gated community in Sanford. Zimmerman said he shot Martin in self-defense, but the 911 tape and excerpts from Martin’s last phone conversation suggest otherwise.
As a result, Sanford, a suburb of Orlando, is currently hosting an armada of civil rights tourists, including the NAACP, the ACLU, the National of Islam and the Justice Department’s Office of Civil Rights. The swelling numbers have also attracted hordes of media as well as local and state policitians. It may not be Disney, but it is a circus.
Nevertheless, many fair questions are being asked of this shooting: Was race an issue? Was self-defense involved? Was the new Florida “Stand Your Ground” law a factor? Was Zimmerman acting in the capacity of law enforcement?
The answers may be frustrating for a while, because it may be difficult to prove racist motivations in Zimmerman’s actions, even if such exist. And without eye-witnesses,  we may never know exactly how the last few seconds of Trayvon Martin’s life played out. As for Florida’s 2005 law, its stated purpose permits residents to use deadly force if a person “reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm…or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.” That standard contains no language capable of stretching to cover the unreasonable situation of shooting a person without such reasonable fear.
So what do we know? We know that Zimmerman, a volunteer on neighborhood watch, was not acting as a police officer.

Read more here: http://blog.thenewstribune.com/bluebyline/2012/03/21/florida-shooting-highlights-folly-of-amateur-hour/#storylink=cpyThe alleged shooting death of a Florida youth by a citizen watch volunteer has officially crossed over from tragedy to spectacle.
Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-0ld African-American, was reportedly shot after being confronted by Robert Zimmerman, an armed resident voluntarily patrolling the gated community in Sanford. Zimmerman said he shot Martin in self-defense, but the 911 tape and excerpts from Martin’s last phone conversation suggest otherwise.
As a result, Sanford, a suburb of Orlando, is currently hosting an armada of civil rights tourists, including the NAACP, the ACLU, the National of Islam and the Justice Department’s Office of Civil Rights. The swelling numbers have also attracted hordes of media as well as local and state policitians. It may not be Disney, but it is a circus.
Nevertheless, many fair questions are being asked of this shooting: Was race an issue? Was self-defense involved? Was the new Florida “Stand Your Ground” law a factor? Was Zimmerman acting in the capacity of law enforcement?
The answers may be frustrating for a while, because it may be difficult to prove racist motivations in Zimmerman’s actions, even if such exist. And without eye-witnesses,  we may never know exactly how the last few seconds of Trayvon Martin’s life played out. As for Florida’s 2005 law, its stated purpose permits residents to use deadly force if a person “reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm…or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.” That standard contains no language capable of stretching to cover the unreasonable situation of shooting a person without such reasonable fear.
So what do we know? We know that Zimmerman, a volunteer on neighborhood watch, was not acting as a police officer.

Read more here: http://blog.thenewstribune.com/bluebyline/2012/03/21/florida-shooting-highlights-folly-of-amateur-hour/#storylink=cpyThe alleged shooting death of a Florida youth by a citizen watch volunteer has officially crossed over from tragedy to spectacle.
Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-0ld African-American, was reportedly shot after being confronted by Robert Zimmerman, an armed resident voluntarily patrolling the gated community in Sanford. Zimmerman said he shot Martin in self-defense, but the 911 tape and excerpts from Martin’s last phone conversation suggest otherwise.
As a result, Sanford, a suburb of Orlando, is currently hosting an armada of civil rights tourists, including the NAACP, the ACLU, the National of Islam and the Justice Department’s Office of Civil Rights. The swelling numbers have also attracted hordes of media as well as local and state policitians. It may not be Disney, but it is a circus.
Nevertheless, many fair questions are being asked of this shooting: Was race an issue? Was self-defense involved? Was the new Florida “Stand Your Ground” law a factor? Was Zimmerman acting in the capacity of law enforcement?
The answers may be frustrating for a while, because it may be difficult to prove racist motivations in Zimmerman’s actions, even if such exist. And without eye-witnesses,  we may never know exactly how the last few seconds of Trayvon Martin’s life played out. As for Florida’s 2005 law, its stated purpose permits residents to use deadly force if a person “reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm…or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.” That standard contains no language capable of stretching to cover the unreasonable situation of shooting a person without such reasonable fear.
So what do we know? We know that Zimmerman, a volunteer on neighborhood watch, was not acting as a police officer.

Read more here: http://blog.thenewstribune.com/bluebyline/2012/03/21/florida-shooting-highlights-folly-of-amateur-hour/#storylink=cpyThe alleged shooting death of a Florida youth by a citizen watch volunteer has officially crossed over from tragedy to spectacle.
Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-0ld African-American, was reportedly shot after being confronted by Robert Zimmerman, an armed resident voluntarily patrolling the gated community in Sanford. Zimmerman said he shot Martin in self-defense, but the 911 tape and excerpts from Martin’s last phone conversation suggest otherwise.
As a result, Sanford, a suburb of Orlando, is currently hosting an armada of civil rights tourists, including the NAACP, the ACLU, the National of Islam and the Justice Department’s Office of Civil Rights. The swelling numbers have also attracted hordes of media as well as local and state policitians. It may not be Disney, but it is a circus.
Nevertheless, many fair questions are being asked of this shooting: Was race an issue? Was self-defense involved? Was the new Florida “Stand Your Ground” law a factor? Was Zimmerman acting in the capacity of law enforcement?
The answers may be frustrating for a while, because it may be difficult to prove racist motivations in Zimmerman’s actions, even if such exist. And without eye-witnesses,  we may never know exactly how the last few seconds of Trayvon Martin’s life played out. As for Florida’s 2005 law, its stated purpose permits residents to use deadly force if a person “reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm…or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.” That standard contains no language capable of stretching to cover the unreasonable situation of shooting a person without such reasonable fear.
So what do we know? We know that Zimmerman, a volunteer on neighborhood watch, was not acting as a police officer.

Read more here: http://blog.thenewstribune.com/bluebyline/2012/03/21/florida-shooting-highlights-folly-of-amateur-hour/#storylink=cpyThe alleged shooting death of a Florida youth by a citizen watch volunteer has officially crossed over from tragedy to spectacle.
Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-0ld African-American, was reportedly shot after being confronted by Robert Zimmerman, an armed resident voluntarily patrolling the gated community in Sanford. Zimmerman said he shot Martin in self-defense, but the 911 tape and excerpts from Martin’s last phone conversation suggest otherwise.
As a result, Sanford, a suburb of Orlando, is currently hosting an armada of civil rights tourists, including the NAACP, the ACLU, the National of Islam and the Justice Department’s Office of Civil Rights. The swelling numbers have also attracted hordes of media as well as local and state policitians. It may not be Disney, but it is a circus.
Nevertheless, many fair questions are being asked of this shooting: Was race an issue? Was self-defense involved? Was the new Florida “Stand Your Ground” law a factor? Was Zimmerman acting in the capacity of law enforcement?
The answers may be frustrating for a while, because it may be difficult to prove racist motivations in Zimmerman’s actions, even if such exist. And without eye-witnesses,  we may never know exactly how the last few seconds of Trayvon Martin’s life played out. As for Florida’s 2005 law, its stated purpose permits residents to use deadly force if a person “reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm…or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.” That standard contains no language capable of stretching to cover the unreasonable situation of shooting a person without such reasonable fear.
So what do we know? We know that Zimmerman, a volunteer on neighborhood watch, was not acting as a police officer.

Read more here: http://blog.thenewstribune.com/bluebyline/2012/03/21/florida-shooting-highlights-folly-of-amateur-hour/#storylink=cpyThe alleged shooting death of a Florida youth by a citizen watch volunteer has officially crossed over from tragedy to spectacle.
Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-0ld African-American, was reportedly shot after being confronted by Robert Zimmerman, an armed resident voluntarily patrolling the gated community in Sanford. Zimmerman said he shot Martin in self-defense, but the 911 tape and excerpts from Martin’s last phone conversation suggest otherwise.
As a result, Sanford, a suburb of Orlando, is currently hosting an armada of civil rights tourists, including the NAACP, the ACLU, the National of Islam and the Justice Department’s Office of Civil Rights. The swelling numbers have also attracted hordes of media as well as local and state policitians. It may not be Disney, but it is a circus.
Nevertheless, many fair questions are being asked of this shooting: Was race an issue? Was self-defense involved? Was the new Florida “Stand Your Ground” law a factor? Was Zimmerman acting in the capacity of law enforcement?
The answers may be frustrating for a while, because it may be difficult to prove racist motivations in Zimmerman’s actions, even if such exist. And without eye-witnesses,  we may never know exactly how the last few seconds of Trayvon Martin’s life played out. As for Florida’s 2005 law, its stated purpose permits residents to use deadly force if a person “reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm…or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.” That standard contains no language capable of stretching to cover the unreasonable situation of shooting a person without such reasonable fear.
So what do we know? We know that Zimmerman, a volunteer on neighborhood watch, was not acting as a police officer.

Read more here: http://blog.thenewstribune.com/bluebyline/2012/03/21/florida-shooting-highlights-folly-of-amateur-hour/#storylink=cpy

ead more here: http://blog.thenewstribune.com/bluebyline/2012/03/21/florida-shooting-highlights-folly-of-amateur-hour/#storylink=cpy