So the Democrats think they have the black vote nipped in the bud for the umpteenth time? Think again.

On Saturday, Oct. 16, Kerry gave a speech at a high school in the small town of Xenia, outside Dayton. Nearby is Wilberforce University — the oldest private historically black institution of higher learning, whose president is former Rep. Floyd Flake (D-Queens).

A rally, mainly of students from Wilberforce and its sister school, Central State University, was staged at the Wilberforce campus. Organizers were led to believe that if there were at least 100 people, Kerry’s motorcade would make a quick stop.

Eventually 150 students and supporters — including congressional candidate Kara Anastasio — gathered for four hours on a cold (rainy and snowy) Ohio day.

And the Kerry caravan drove right on by. All the long-suffering got from the candidate was a clenched “victory” fist out the window.

According to Shavon Ray, president of Wilberforce’s NAACP, the students were devastated — with comments such as “This is why I don’t vote.”

Ray told the local NAACP chapter the affair was a “slap in the face.”

After the incident — and Ray’s criticism — made the local paper, the Democratic Party sent one Ken Miller to Wilberforce to meet with Ray. He offered 50 tickets — and 8 VIP tickets — to a Kerry event in Dayton.

Ray declined what she saw as “hush tickets.” Taking seriously the idea that the NAACP is supposed to be non-partisan, Ray turned the tickets over to Wilberforce’s student government.

Next, Miller offered to have Rev. Al Sharpton stop by as a speaker. That annoyed Ray even more: “We don’t want a black face to speak to black students.”

The final straw was when Miller said Sharpton would be sent to speak to Central State University — along with X-rated rapper Foxy Brown.

When Ray reminded Miller that they didn’t want anything to do with Sharpton, Miller allegedly responded, “What do you want — Kerry to lose the f—ing race? We got you Al Sharpton. What more do you want?”

For Shavon Ray, it was simple: “The [campaign] could have just offered an apology and shared their sympathy to our school.”

Perhaps Kerry shouldn’t be held responsible for mistakes and intemperate behavior of the local Democratic organization. But Ray, fairly enough, says, “If you can’t handle this situation — which is minor — how are you going to handle the type of situations a president faces?”

She adds: “This is not acceptable. You can’t bypass us like we don’t even matter, like you have our vote pocketed and you don’t.”

“If people were thinking of voting for [Kerry], he could have lost it right there.”

Someday, black Democrats will put their feet down and express their outrage at being repeatedly taken for granted by the DNC. After the snubbing of the late Maynard Jackson for the party chairmanship, as well as the party’s unwillingness to back former New York gubernatorial candidate Carl McCall, it makes me wonder why nobody has thrown up their hands and said “Enough!”.

(link via Ramblings’ Journal)