The response from one NAACP leader after Mitt Romney’s speech before the organization on Wednesday? He favors white people.
“I believe his vested interests are in white Americans,” Charlette Stoker Manning, the chairwoman of Women in NAACP, told the website BuzzFeed following the Republican candidate’s Wednesday speech in Houston.
“You cannot possibly talk about jobs for black people at the level he’s coming from. He’s talking about entrepreneurship, savings accounts — black people can barely find a way to get back and forth from work,” Manning said.
Romney was booed at several points throughout his speech — the loudest being when Romney spoke of his desire to see “Obamacare” repealed. The Republican also received applause at times throughout the speech, notably for saying he’d protect traditional marriage.
In his speech, he argued that a Romney administration would better serve African-American voters.
In a statement released Wednesday afternoon, the NAACP thanked Romney for addressing the convention but stressed they disagree with his policies.
“While we are glad that Governor Romney recognized the power of the black electorate, he laid out an agenda that was antithetical to many of our interests,” said NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous.