Prometheus 6

“This is why the Jewish community has the motto, ‘Never again,’ ” Mr. Paterson said in an interview after his speech, as he rode in a car through downtown Cincinnati. “There are those who, if they had their way, would return us to an era of separate but equal.”

Paterson, at N.A.A.C.P., Warns of Racism’s Power
By JEREMY W. PETERS

CINCINNATI — David A. Paterson, in his first major speech to a national audience since becoming governor of New York, said on Thursday that even as black Americans rejoice about the possibility that Senator Barack Obama could become president, they cannot lose sight of the serious social and economic ills that plague their community and should remain mindful of the racism that still exists.

“The gap between the haves and have-nots right in our own community is wider than it has ever been before,” Mr. Paterson told a crowd of thousands at the N.A.A.C.P.’s annual convention here.