With an Eye on the White House, Senator George Allen Reaches Out to Black Voters by Proposing Increased Funding for HBCUs

Senator George Allen of Virginia is up for reelection this year. He is a heavy favorite. But Senator Allen is also rumored to be contemplating a run for the presidency in 2008. Allen knows that if he can attract only a small percentage of black voters he will increase his chances of winning reelection and maybe the White House.

But Allen has a lot of work to do. In his photograph for his high school yearbook, Allen is seen wearing a Confederate flag pin on his lapel. Before becoming governor of Virginia, Allen displayed a Confederate flag in a cabin near his home. And he once displayed a noose in his office. Allen claimed that the noose was in honor of the Old West, not the Jim Crow South.

In an appeal to black voters in Virginia and the nation as a whole, Allen is now proposing a congressional resolution that would offer an apology to African Americans for the institution of slavery in this country. Allen is on record as opposing reparations for slavery but he believes one way to make amends is to increase funding for the nation’s historically black colleges and universities. Allen proposes that the nation invest in upgrades of the technology infrastructure at HBCUs.

Copyright © 2006. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.