by Askia Muhammad
White House Correspondent

WASHINGTON�Retired Gen. Colin Powell, the nominee for secretary of state, has a message for Black America: "My message to African American voters is that it was a tough fought election. We now have a president-elect and I hope all Americans will get behind President-elect Bush and help him to do the very best job he can for the country."

He made that remark exclusively to The Final Call in brief comments after the conclusion of a treaty signing ceremony held at the State Building on Dec. 19.

Mr. Powell, a board member of Howard University, attended the Diversity Treaty signing ceremony between outgoing Secretary of State Madeline K. Albright and Howard�s President Patrick Swygert. The treaty represents the State Department�s commitment to diversifying the work force that represents America in the world and to partner with the university to recruit students of the historically Black college to work in foreign service for the State Department.

Currently, 25 percent of the Foreign Service workforce are women. There are 505 Blacks and 390 Hispanics among the total 8,971 employed, according to the State Department.

Moderated by the Foreign Service�s Director General Marc Grossman, the ceremony, in addition to Ms. Albright and Mr. Swygert, included ranking congressional leader Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.). The General�s presence at the signing was not scheduled and came about as a result of his meeting the same morning with Howard board members.

"When I asked the staff to please see if the new appointee to the great job of secretary of state could be available for this, the office said to me, �No.� His people said it would be awkward for him to be participating in something like this," Mr. Rangel said, alluding to the fact that some felt the presence of both Ms. Albright and Mr. Powell at this forum may be intimidating for one or the other.

In her remarks, Ms. Albright�the first woman to serve as secretary of state�pleaded for strong policy toward Africa, but did not elaborate on what that policy should be, only to say that she knows Mr. Powell shares her view.

"I have to say that policy on Africa is not optional. We really have to have a strong policy in Africa and General Powell agrees with me," Ms. Albright said. Gen. Powell offered no comments during the program.

"We are absolutely delighted for this opportunity to continue the relationship with the State Department, more specifically with the Foreign Service," President Swygert told the audience. He thanked Ms. Albright and Mr. Rangel for their consistency over the years for making this initiative a reality.

Speaking with The Final Call at the program�s conclusion, Mr. Rangel said that Gen. Powell�s appointment as secretary of state is only a first step to the myriad of accomplishments necessary to make the George W. Bush administration beneficial to Blacks.

"The good side here is that they know they have an African American, former general, no nonsense (person) that is the Secretary. That means if you want to get on his right side, you better be doing the right thing. That would mean giving opportunity to African Americans to get into the system, to get training within the system, to be promoted and become ambassadors and secretaries," he said.

There is no limit, he said, to what can be done, "but you have to get your foot in the door � this is nothing more than getting a foot in the door," Mr. Rangel concluded.

When asked what plans he had to sway Black support for the Bush administration, Mr. Powell said, "I think I�ll wait until I become the Secretary before I start announcing plans."