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[[Picture of Benjamin L. Hooks]]
Benjamin L. Hooks, 
Executive Director

[[NAACP Logo]]
NAACP

March 6, 1985

Mr. Mel Patrick
Mel Pat Associates, Inc.
2225 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10037

Dear Mr. Patrick:

  The President of the United States recently blamed a handful of national black leaders, including myself, for his low rating among black Americans.

  In a sense, this ploy is analogous to the story of the king who blamed the messenger for bringing him the bad news. 

  The brutal fact is that the circumstances of one-third of all black Americans are approaching disastrous proportions. After decades of slow but steady progress, our black citizens have experienced marked deterioration in their living levels.

  Yet the disapproval of most black Americans for the President and his Administration is not based on economic and social plight alone. Forget for a moment the fact that one of every five black adults cannot find a job-three times the rate of white adults. Forget that at least half of black youngsters are unemployed. Ignore, if you will, the U.S. Government's own Census Department figures that some 40 million Americans now live at or below the poverty levels-an increase of six million during Mr. Reagan's first term-and that most of these are minorities. Put aside the disporportionate federal cuts of social and economic programs upon which so many disadvantaged Americans, including a majority of the black populace, had depended for survival. Indeed, pay no attention to the sheer struggle which two of every black Americans confronts daily to stay alive in this society. 

  If you are able to ignore all of these facts, then ponder for a moment the consistent hostility exemplified by the President over the past four years towards the spectrum of traditional [[italized]] civil rights advances which preceded him. One of his Administration's first acts after taking office was to propose tax deductible status for private schools which discriminated against blacks. That was followed by the President's forceful opposition to the extension of the Voting Rights Act, which assures that all Americans can exercise the franchise. Thereafter, the President's Justice Department radically altered the course of twenty years and four previous presidents of both [[italized]] major parties by going to federal court to oppose civil rights laws, decisions and practices in housing, jobs, school desegregation and affirmative action in general. The President regularly sent out signals during his first four years that his Administration would undo the progress of the past when it came to civil rights and that minorities would no longer be helped by the White House. His appeals to conservative white voters were rewarded in November. At the same time, nine of ten black voters rejected him. 
 
  These black voters were not manipulated by Ben Hooks or other national civil rights leaders. They read the same
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