MEMO:

To: Mitt Romney Campaign Staff

From: Shelley Wynter

Mitt Romney is going to speak at the NAACP 103^rd Annual Convention on Wednesday. This is the speech I would give him if I were on his team. By the way, it can be bought for use if you see fit.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Jealous, Mr Bond, Board members of the NAACP, members and friends. Thank you for allowing me to speak to you today. At this point speech-makers usually will suggest a pun, joke or quip to “loosen” the audience. However, the conditions on the ground in many of your communities would make it unseemly for me to make jokes at this juncture in our history. As you all know, unemployment in the African American is double that of the rest of the country. Real unemployment is 3 times the level of the national number and for black males aged 18-25 it is nearing 45%. Wages are down, Prices are higher. Crime is up around the country and in Chicago more young people have been killed by violence than the total number killed in Afghanistan this year.  Afghanistan is a war zone. People are expected to die in a war zone not in an American city at such alarming rates. Schools around the country are being put on probation and kids are dropping out at a higher rate than ever before.

However, you all know these numbers. Thanks to organizations like the NAACP and the Urban League, these numbers are the very reasons these organizations exist. They are the reasons you are all here.

Many pundits will tell you (I heard this on MSNBC, yes I listen) that I am here to speak to white independents and swing voters, NOT to you. I am here to let white swing voters know that I am not a divider. I am uniter. I am here to show that I am not a far right conservative.

Well, besides being insulting to you. And clearly whoever says this is actually saying  that you have no minds of your own and cannot make a voting decision based on nothing more than color of skin . I do not believe that. So before I get into what I will accomplish for the Black community if I am elected, let me ask the first question of the night of you.

I hear on many occasions “What will the republicans do for black people” or a variation that goes like this “What will Mitt Romney do for you” or “What have the Republicans done for Black people”. These are the questions that many of the leaders in this room are asking. These are the questions that pastors are asking. These are the questions that African American media outlets are asking. Well, before I answer these questions. Let me ask you a question and it is the question that should be asked: What have the Democrats done for you? This is the fundamental question that has to be asked of the African American voter. Over the last 50 years, no other group has been as loyal a voting bloc to one party than the African American has been to the Democratic party. Every election whether its local or national or local dog catcher, African American voters will vote for the Democrat. So to ask me or the Republican what we or I will do for you. You first have to ask what have you received in return for such loyalty. Now the stats I read at the start of my speech, these stats read like statistics from the early 60s. These statistics are the very reasons why the civil rights Act and voting rights act were fought for by the NAACP, Urban League, SCLC and many millions of others-Black and White. It was the notion and right that a free people would be able to elect representation that better reflected their values and morals. I would not think that Goodman, Cheney and Schwerner died for people to get into office at any level, watch their community go down the drain of bad schools, high crime and high unemployment yet stay in office for a lifetime.

A right to vote is the right to demand results. A right to vote is the right to select EFFECTIVE leadership. Leadership not tied to big banks or big corporations and kept in place by money. But leadership that is effective. What does it mean to be in office, put there with the help of millions of feet pounding the pavement for votes and then do nothing for 20 years? Or ten years? Or several terms?  It does not. So the question you have to ask yourself is “Have I gotten a return, as an African American voter of the Democratic party, anything for my vote”? Do I have good schools in my community? Or has the democratic party in a bow to the teachers union and its money shot down school choice?

Is crime high due to unemployment? Or has the Democratic party made taxes so high on businesses that a small business is unable to open in my neighborhood

Are opportunities in my community given to a select few insiders? As it was when billions of Empowerment zone money came into urban areas 20 years ago?

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is only after you answer this question, can you honestly ask me or the republican party what they will do for you. However, if you really want to know, I will answer your question. Before I do however, it is interesting to me that many in African American community are letting President Obama off the hook. If when I ask you what he has done for you as an African American voter, the answer invariably is “He is not the President of Black people”. Well, that reasoning seems to say to me if he does not have to do anything, why should I?

But I am a united not a divider. So let me answer your question.

I will, when elected, lower taxes for every American especially the African American. You see as many of your organizations will say-African Americans make lees than their white counterparts. So how is it you pay the same in tax rates. Taxes that are supposed to pay for good schools. Taxes that pay for good and safe transportation. Taxes that are supposed to go for helping your kids NOT locking them up. Lower taxes are my pledge.

I will continue Race to the top with one caveat-Charter Schools will be given 3 times more money than public schools. Money to be used to build, expand and modernize. Money that will not be earmarked for administrative needs but for student needs. I will NOT in any block any efforts to expand charter schools. I will start by cutting spending in the Education Department and returning that money savings to the states for school choice.

Lastly, I will make a public/private partnership within the Federal government for infrastructure. Any contractor will have to hire a certain percentage of non college graduates with technical. You see I understand that not everyone can go to college, NOT because they do not want to because of costs or family backgrounds. So technical skills will be given a high priority.

This is what I will do for the African American community. Ask yourself again, Is you community better off after 50 years of voting exclusively for one party? If it not, please consider an alternative.”