A former presidential campaign manager was the keynote speaker at the African American Male Congress Convocation Ceremony at Hendricks Chapel Sunday afternoon.

Donna Brazile, chair of the Democratic National Committee’s Voting Rights Institute and former campaign manager for Al Gore’s 2000 presidential campaign, was the first woman to deliver the keynote speech at an AAMC convocation.

‘She’s a female political powerhouse,’ said Travis Mason, president of the AAMC and Student Association.

In her speech, Brazile encouraged members of the AAMC to go into public service.

‘There’s a drought in our leadership,’ Brazile said. ‘So it’s important that we form and that we nurture leaders at the time that our country is facing too many crises.’

Mason said he was glad Brazile encouraged the AAMC to enter public service.

‘The message to become a public servant stood out to me,’ he said.

In the interest of ending the ‘leadership drought,’ Brazile said she voted for Howard Dean to become chairman of the DNC Saturday.

‘I cast my ballot for (former) governor Dean because I thought that he would be able to provide leadership for a party that is out of power,’ Brazile said.

The AAMC was challenged to solve some of the problems facing black people today. According to Brazile, black people are three times more likely to live in poverty than white people and are five times more likely to die of AIDS, diabetes or heart failure. Brazile also said black people are seven times more likely to serve time in prison than white people, eight times more likely to live their entire lives without health insurance and ten times more likely to become victims of crime or violence.

‘We cannot just sit back on the past achievements of our great civil rights leaders and hope and pray that things will just better when someone else does something and stands up,’ Brazile said. ‘It requires that you personally take an interest in what’s happening around you. It requires that you prepare yourself for a future struggle – a future where you have to fight in order to achieve economic freedom and justice.’

Brazile’s challenge resonated with members of AAMC, said Rotimi Paul, vice president of AAMC.

‘One of the best things she could have done is to challenge us,’ Paul said. ‘I felt she was speaking directly to me.’

Brazile shared many of her political views during her speech. She criticized NASA’s Mars exploration efforts and praised President George W. Bush for pledging support for AIDS research.

‘I think the President has – at least in his first month – has reached out to African Americans,’ Brazile said in an interview after her speech.

Brazile was critical of other aspects of Bush’s policy, however.

‘We cannot continue to spend our entire federal budget on the mechanics of war,’ Brazile said.

Brazile shared stories of her own upbringing during her speech. Brazile said she grew up in poverty in the South as one of nine children. Her mother was a maid and her father was a janitor. Her humble upbringings, however, did not deter her from participating in society, Brazile said. At one time, Brazile had twelve businesses because she said she wanted to work her way out of poverty.

‘At times in my youth I was the most unpopular kid around because I made other kids uncomfortable,’ Brazile said. ‘I told them they couldn’t grow up standing on a street corner and smoke away and drink liquor while their parents worked and struggled and sacrificed.’

Following her speech, Brazile sold and signed copies of her book, ‘Cooking with Grease.’

The AAMC received praise from Brazile following her speech, concerning the AAMC’s goal of promoting black leadership in the community.

‘I think there should be an institute on every campus,’ Brazile said. ‘I’m going to start planting seeds.’

Published on February 13, 2005 at 12:00 pm