Michael Steele addresses NAACP

NEW YORK, July 15 (UPI) -- Michael Steele, the first black to head the Republican National Committee, told NAACP delegates in New York the two have missed chances to engage each other.

Steele addressed the national convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Tuesday, The Washington Post reported. The speech was part of Steele's "Freedom Tour," an effort to bring black voters into the Republican Party.

"The GOP and NAACP have very often missed real opportunities to communicate and engage each other," he said. Indeed, for the GOP and NAACP, outreach should mean more than a speech here and a pat on the back there."

Steele joked about past Republican speeches to the NAACP convention with stock phrases: "'Party of Lincoln' four or five times ... oh, and one of my favorites: 'Bull Connor was a Democrat,'" referring to the 1960s police official in Birmingham, Ala.

Steele got a friendly, although not overwhelming, reception.

"People are inclined to think he is a friend," NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous said.