Tale of Two Conventions One Black One White. Only 36 of the 2,380 delegates seated at RNC are Black by: aappundit Thu Sep 04, 2008 at 04:06:13 AM EDT

Republican Party Still Segregated (and its not because black are not in the Republican party- we are excluded from the state party machine). I like a number of black bloggers had the opportunity to attend the Democratic National Convention last week in Denver. I also had the opportunity to watch the Republican National Convention last night. Talk about tales of two conventions. At the Democratic National convention in was a sea of black folks, from all walks of life, people with disabilities, rich, economically challenged and the middle class. Candidly, thought I was at a NAACP, or Urban League convention there was so many black folks. At the Republic Convention that I watched last night, all I viewed was a sea of white faces. Blogger Shay of the blog, Booker Rising, reported about this earlier in the week. Watching the RNC Convention really made me remember segregation. The Washington Post has a great article on how "Republican organizers conceived of this convention as a means to inspire, but some African American Republicans have found the Xcel Energy Center depressing this week. Everywhere they look, they see evidence of what they consider one of their party's biggest shortcomings. As the country rapidly diversifies, Republicans are presenting a convention that is almost entirely white. Only 36 of the 2,380 delegates seated on the convention floor are black, the lowest number since the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies began tracking diversity at political conventions 40 years ago. Each night, the overwhelmingly white audience watches a series of white politicians step to the lectern -- a visual reminder that no black Republican has served as a governor, U.S. senator or U.S. House member in the past six years. "It's hard to look around and not get frustrated," said Michael S. Steele, a black Republican and former lieutenant governor of Maryland. "You almost have to think, 'Wait. How did it come to this?' Read More HERE I guess I'm not alone on this issue, Oliver Willis, Jack and Jill Politics,   NPR, and others are covering this issue as well.

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