Star Parker: The Audacity of Jeb Bush

In 1992, South Central Los Angeles exploded into riots after a jury acquitted four police officers standing trial about possible excessive use of force in apprehending a black man named Rodney King.

Videotape showed the officers brutally beating King.

The riots destroyed my publishing business there because businesses that were my advertisers were wrecked.

I started becoming vocal about what had driven me to start this business to begin with. My eyes had opened to the destructiveness of welfare that had been destroying my own life and was destroying the minority urban communities around me. My Christian conversion gave me the faith and power to walk away from it all, get my bachelor’s degree and start my business.

Rush Limbaugh heard my story and in early 1994 wrote about me in his Limbaugh Letter; he also talked about me on his radio show. As a result, I received over 2,000 letters and calls.

One call I received was from a man who told me his name was Jeb Bush. He said he was considering running for governor in Florida and he wanted to hear more about my thoughts about welfare, how it could be reformed, and what we should be thinking about regarding revitalizing inner city life.

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