NEW YORK -- Evangelist Pat Robertson Thursday officially kicked off his campaign for the Repubican presidential nomination in one of the nation's largest black communities, declaring his concern for 'people in the inner city' to a mostly white crowd of supporters.
His speech from a platform in front a brownstone building in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn where he lived when he first joined the southern Baptist ministry, was proceeded by a crescendo of gospel music and an introduction from former pro football linebacker Rosie Grier.
'I came here to show that I care about the people in the inner city,' Robertson said, declaring his candidacy with his wife, Dede, standing by his side.
'I want an America where there's hope for the black people, for the Hispanic people, for the women.'
Robertson was greeted by cheers from some 75 supporters, mostly white, who sat on folding chairs set up on the tidy street.
But others watched with scorn, anger or bewilderment registered on their faces. Among them were some 40 Robertson opponents, also mostly white, who shouted 'Pat go home!' and 'Bigot!' as he spoke.
Following the New York stop on the first official day of the campaign, Robertson moved his campaign to New Hampshire and Texas.
Later Thursday in Manchester, N.H., Robertson said he was unruffled by the New York hecklers.
'The group that was doing the heckling down there,' he said, 'was apparently a gay-lesbian group from what I understand. Any group that would heckle the Star Spangled Banner ... I don't really have any problem about them heckling me.'
Robertson, who surrendered his multimillion-dollar evangelical broadcast empire to run for president, sounded familiar themes in decrying the nation's high divorce rate and high drop-out rates among high school students.
'We must support the family,' he said, and also declared, 'Every person in America has a right to an education, to dignity and to a job.'
Some supporters hoisted placards announcing 'Robertson for God and country,' while opponents, calling themselves 'The Moral Resistance,' jeered as the candidate spoke.
Earlier Thursday in Virginia Beach, Va., staff members of the Christian Broadcasting Network gave Robertson an emotional send-off. His son, Tim, presented a petition listing people vowing to pray for him every day.
'I don't know if presidential candidates are supposed to get teary-eyed,' Robertson said. 'You couldn't have given me a better present in all the world.' From his platform in Brooklyn, Robertson looked out over well-cared for brownstone buildings, some rehabilitated with gaslights outside -- testimony to a rejuvenation effort in the depressed community where many buildings have long been abandoned.
Community residents stood on the sidelines while Robertson spoke and when he left the platform some of them showed their scorn.
'It's outrageous,' said resident Alphonso Jennings. 'He lived here about six months. That's not enough time to know the neighborhood or do anything. He's to the right of Ronald Reagan. What the hell is he doing here?'
The Rev. Herbert Daughtry, a minister active in the campaigns of the Rev. Jesse Jackson and in the civil rights movement of the 1960s, said Robertson's stance on issues including apartheid in South Africa was in direct opposition to the views of most residents of black inner-city communities.
'The attempt to use this area to kick off his campaign is chicanery,' he said. 'What's dangerous about Robertson is he takes right-wing politics and wraps it in the cloak of religion.'
Rep. Major Owens, who represents the area in Congress, was even more blunt in his assessment.
'I consider him a menace,' the liberal Democrat said. 'This is a political stunt (when) there's really no affinity or concern for the issues important to the black community.'
Educated as a lawyer at Yale University, Robertson moved to Brooklyn when he underwent a religious conversion in the late 1950s.
He said conversations with God led him to sell the family's belongings, donate money to Korean orphans and move his wife and three small children into the then rat-infested brownstone parsonage next to a brothel in Bedford-Stuyvesant.
