On MSNBC’s Tuesday coverage of the Democratic National Convention, Texas Democratic Rep. Shelia Jackson Lee warned that social and civil rights could be denied for “promises” of economic rights if Mitt Romney defeats President Barack Obama in November.
“The sacrifice of Dr. Martin Luther King is well embedded in African-American voters throughout the nation,” Jackson Lee said from the DNC in Charlotte, N.C. “We don’t want to go back to our social and civil rights being denied for promises about our economic rights.”
“We realize President Obama is standing with us on economic rights — education, Pell grants which will be cut by the Romney administration, Medicare which will be cut by the Romney administration, unemployment insurance which is necessary for those trying to get a job will be cut by the Romney administration, and investment in infrastructure which will be cut by the Romney administration,” she said.
“African-American voters are not monolithic — they don’t think this one way. They think holistically,” she added.
Jackson Lee also predicted that North Carolina and New Mexico will land in the Democrats’ column this November.
“I believe the enthusiasm level are rise and rise and rise and North Carolina will be in the column along with New Mexico,” she said. “This is going to be a vote for going forward and not going backward.”