Kemp Makes Appeal to Black Voters

Returning to the inner city, GOP vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp ate grits and eggs at one of Harlem’s busiest restaurants Friday and told the jam-packed crowd that while Republicans have ignored African Americans in the past, the party has now mended its ways.

“We weren’t there with Rosa [Parks]. We weren’t there with Dr. [Martin Luther] King. We weren’t there with John Lewis when he was hit in the face with a billy club,” he said of his party’s lack of involvement in past civil rights struggles. “But we’re here today, and we have an obligation to this country and to this community to make it what this country was meant to be--a city set on a hill.”

Politicians of all stripes have paraded regularly through Sylvia’s restaurant, in the heart of one of the country’s most prominent black communities. But old-timers said they could not recall a national candidate from the GOP ever coming to Harlem.

Kemp said he and his party want to break with traditions.

The audience was stacked with black Republicans, but sprinkled with nonbelievers like Samantha Mattingly.

“They all say the same thing,” she said. “For 25 years we’ve had politicians saying the same things.”

But when Kemp had wound up his pep talk, Mattingly granted: “He talked a good talk.”

Campaign aides said Kemp’s visits to South-Central Los Angeles, the South Side of Chicago and now Harlem have a dual aim: The visits are designed to appeal to black voters but also to reassure white suburban voters who are worried about claims by Democrats that the GOP agenda will strip away the nation’s safety net.

“This shows Jack can go anywhere,” an aide said. “The Democratic fog machine keeps saying Republicans are extremists and want to hurt the poor. That’s not true. Coming here to Harlem sends a message to all voters. And, who knows, we may pick up a few votes in Harlem.”

The area’s longtime congressman, Charles B. Rangel, an unabashed Democrat, said he doubts that last point. He crashed the breakfast but minded his manners throughout. During the question-and-answer session, he questioned the Dole-Kemp economic plan without overtly slamming it.

“You can’t sell tax cuts to people who not only don’t have jobs but a lack of hope,” he said.

Kemp cut off the congressman in mid-sentence, sparking boos from listeners anxious for a little New York City-style confrontation.

“I don’t want to hear any boos,” Kemp shot back good-naturedly. “This is not the Buffalo Bills’ stadium.”

Kemp went on to say that it is the poor, especially those striving to get off welfare, who feel the greatest pinch from taxes.

Outside, Rangel let loose, drawing a distinction between Kemp and his politics, which the congressman insisted would harm the poor.

“He’s a decent guy, but he has the wrong party principles,” Rangel said. “Jack is a very nice guy in a mean-spirited party.”

Rangel downplayed the impact Kemp’s visit would have in such a Democratic stronghold.

“This has nothing to do with Harlem going Republican. That won’t happen,” he said. “It’s about Harlem being the mecca of the African American community and a guy with charm visiting it.”

While Kemp campaigned in Harlem, President Clinton was greeted with cheers and chants of “four more years” as he spoke in Orlando, Fla., to the annual meeting of the National Baptist Convention USA, which represents about 33,000 predominantly black churches.

Before an audience of about 16,000 delegates to the convention, Clinton exhorted churches to hire people who have moved off welfare, saying that no government effort alone could provide for the thousands who may be tossed off welfare rolls as a result of this year’s welfare reform legislation.

“We cannot create a jobs program big enough to solve this whole thing,” Clinton said, “but if everybody did it one by one, we could do this job.”

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Clinton said that if every church in America hired one person off welfare, “it would set an example that would require the business community to follow.”

The rest of Clinton’s appearances during the second of two days in Florida were in Republican strongholds, such as Panama City, where he ended his day. By campaigning in Republican areas, Clinton hopes to deny Dole the large vote percentages he would need to carry the state.

Clinton aides said the campaign now believes it has the Democratic faithful in line behind the president and will conduct much of his remaining travel with the same goal in mind.

GOP presidential candidate Bob Dole, meanwhile, canceled plans to visit a factory in New Jersey that once made parachutes and now makes life rafts. Campaign aides blamed the cancellation on poor weather.

Times staff writer Paul Richter in Orlando, Fla., contributed to this story.