Letter From Dr Frances Rice, National Black Republican Association

Lt Colonel Frances Rice (now retired)


I am always happy to support black conservatives who buck the trend to express a different point of view. Such is the case with Dr Frances Rice, head of the National Black Republican Association. Like so many other black conservatives, she is constantly attacked, this time by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

Below is Dr Rice's letter, which I received by email from the NBRA:


THE MEDIA IS AT IT AGAIN!

Press Release
For information contact: Frances Rice at 1-866-905-6701

As one pundit said: "Dogs don't bark at parked cars". A New York Times Company newspaper, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune (SHT), has struck again and published a second a hit piece on me, this time with our grassroots organization, the National Black Republican Association (NBRA) also in the crosshairs.

The first time the SHT attacked me was during the 2004 election. SHT editors worked in concert with the MoveOn.org crowd, operatives for the John Kerry for president campaign and leaders of the Sarasota County Democratic Party to deny me my freedom of speech and have my name removed from the "Vote in Honor of a Vet" program instituted by the Sarasota Supervisor of Elections. An investigation by the Sarasota Veterans Commissions concluded on August 3, 2004 that my freedom of speech had been denied due to "pressure placed on the Supervisor of Elections by the Herald-Tribune and others with a stated political agenda" when my statement in response to a question on the application to participate in the program was removed. The question was: "Why do you think it is important for young people to register to vote?" My response was: "The future of our country depends upon our young people being involved politically as well-informed voters. Our youth must be prepared to evaluate candidates by the content of their policies, not merely the label of their party. This is the only way we can be assured that all of our future elected leaders will embody the values that have made this nation great – lower taxes, limited government, strong national defense, faith in God, and equal opportunities for all."

In this most recent assault on me by the SHT, the reporters had the temerity to demonstrate that the real motivation for trying to denigrate me and the NBRA is a fear that our efforts will "foil the nomination of the first black presidential candidate, Barack Obama…" By their fawning coverage of Obama, the liberal press is functioning as a de facto 527 organization for Obama.

The SHT was so intent on trashing me and the NBRA that they did not even bother to get the basic facts straight. For instance, the SHT wrote that our "Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Republican" billboard in South Carolina was put up in 2006. In fact, our first MLK billboard was put up in Orangeburg, South Carolina on March 20, 2008. The SHT wrote that the Palm Beach County Republican Party donated $20,000 to the NBRA. In fact, the Palm Beach County Republican Party has donated no money to the NBRA. The SHT wrote that the initial NBRA board was only eight members and that all board members, except three of us, resigned. In fact, there were 13 initial, interim board members, and only six resigned for a variety of reasons, including one who resigned due to family problems. The SHT depicts the NBRA as being operated with no support and no respect for differing opinions. In fact, our Executive Committee, in recognition of the differences of opinions of our NBRA leaders around the country, established our NBRA State Delegate program that provides autonomy for our 53-member grassroots board of advisors. All of the NBRA State Delegates are listed on our website and participate in teleconferences with our Executive Committee. We have over 18,000 E-mail addresses of our members, donors and supporters in our E-mail data base who receive our E-Newsletter and provide daily feedback on our educational campaign. The SHT could not even get my height correct. I am 5 feet 6 inches tall, not "just over 5 feet tall."

In a sad attempt to cast our grassroots effort as somehow "illegal", the newspaper failed to mention that our application to the IRS included a clear statement of our intent to provide educational materials for economic and political empowerment of the people in our community. The IRS approved our request and granted 501(c) (4) status to the NBRA as a political educational organization that, according to IRS rules, may advocate "a particular position or point of view." A 2007 decision by the US Supreme Court has affirmed that groups, such as the NBRA, have the right to exercise our freedom of speech (see docket number 06-969).

Our fundraising efforts have followed two tracks. From our beginning in 2005 until today, we have raised money for the NBRA with direct appeals to our supporters. This effort led to our obtaining over 1,000 NBRA members from 2005 until 2007. Since the start of our MLK billboard campaign in Mach 2008, we have increased our membership to over 2,500. Our donor and member lists are maintained separately.

In 2006, we began raising money for our affiliated 527 with the idea in mind of assisting black Republicans with getting elected to political office. We engaged the services of BMW Direct, but that fundraising effort proved to be more expensive and less productive than we had believed, so we terminated that fundraising campaign.

Donations directly to the NBRA have been used wisely to accomplish the following in just three years. We sponsored two Grassroots Campaign Training sessions conducted by professional trainers, one in Orlando, Florida and one in Washington, DC. We were co-sponsors of three CPAC Conferences in DC, the largest gathering of conservatives in the nation. This is the first time that any black Republican organization has been CPAC co-sponsors and helped to set the national agenda for the conservative movement. We hosted two Awards Banquets where we paid homage to our grassroots activists who toil in the political trenches with little or no recognition. We published four editions of our magazine, The Black Republican, and distributed the magazines to average black Americans around the country. Our magazine includes not only facts about the history of civil rights, but also practical advice on how to become economically successful. We have produced and aired multiple video and radio ads designed to enlighten our fellow community members about issues of importance to black Americans so that they may make informed choices when they go to the polls to vote. We maintain our website that is proving to be very popular. For instance, in 2006, we received over one million hits on our website. In 2007, we again received over one million hits on our website. In just the first six months of 2008 alone, we have had nearly two million hits on our website. Our forthcoming Annual Black Republican Forum in New York City will address the issues that affect the lives of average black Americans and will be televised around the country. Not bad for an all-volunteer, three-year old grassroots group.

Incredibly, in the same article, the SHT presented two contradictory positions by two professors about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who was a Republican as was affirmed by his niece, Dr. Alveda C. King, in an article and a video that are posted on our website home page.

The question becomes, if the NBRA is so ineffective, why did the SHT spend so much time and effort to destroy us? "Dogs do not bark at parked cars."

Oh, by the way, my mother said to tell everyone hello, and she is still a Republican. She also sent us another donation and encourages all of our supporters to donate to the NBRA!

Frances Rice

The article by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune may be found at:

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080803/ARTICLE/808030351/2055&title=Leader_of_black_Republicans_sparks_a_backlash