August 28, 2013: Absent from the speaker line-up at the Let Freedom Ring event commemorating the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington was the nation’s only black Senator, Tim Scott (R-SC). African-American leaders who did receive an invitation to speak included Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), Martin Luther King III, MSNBC host Al Sharpton, and movie stars Jamie Foxx, Oprah Winfrey and Forest Whitaker. Hmmm. Wonder why.
2 comments:
“This was truly a bipartisan outreach effort,” said a spokesperson for the event in an email statement to CQ Roll Call. “All members of congress were invited to attend and the Republican leadership was invited to speak. Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s office was very helpful in trying to find someone to speak at the event. Making this commemoration bi-partisan was especially important to members of the King family, too.”
(http://blogs.rollcall.com/goppers/boehner-cantor-turned-down-chance-to-speak-at-march-anniversary/
Reported by ABD News:
Republican Party officials reached out to organizers of this week’s March on Washington commemoration with a series of suggestions for possible GOP speakers, but several of the people they recommended were never contacted with invitations to speak, according to Republican National Committee officials.
Miscommunication and lack of coordination appear to have played a role in at least some of the invites not going out to Republican office-holders. Event organizers say they assumed Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., couldn’t attend, based on a failure to RSVP to an earlier, more general invitation. But his office says he was never actually invited to speak, and he may have been able to attend if he was formally invited.
Post a Comment