Clinton Urges Americans to Improve Race Relations

By David Pitts
USIA Staff Writer

LITTLE ROCK, Ark., (Sept. 25) President Clinton today held open the door of Central High School as the "Little Rock Nine," who 40 years ago were denied entrance because they were African-American, walked through.

The "Little Rock Nine" were turned away from Central High in 1957 "by people who were afraid of change," Clinton noted. "America saw a very disturbing glimpse of itself." He said the country is a better place today because of what they did then. It "took a giant step closer to the idea of America," when the nine black students ultimately entered Central High, he said.

Clinton invoked South African President Nelson Mandela's example in urging reconciliation. "If Mandela could invite the people who jailed him for 27 years to his inauguration," Clinton remarked, "then each of us can seek and give forgiveness."

Clinton stressed that Americans must still strive to improve race relations. "There is still discrimination in America. It is wrong." He added: "Far too many communities are still segregated," although no longer required by law to be so.

The President said that "for the first time since the 1950s, our schools are resegregating," and that even within desegregated schools, blacks and whites too often remain with their own race. "Segregation is no longer the law, but too often segregation is the rule," he noted.

Noting the civil wars and ethnic conflicts that plague other areas of the world, Clinton said that countries tolerating "destructive separatism" will not be able "to master the challenges of the 21stcentury." He stressed that Americans have to "face the fact that we are not there yet," in terms of being a colorblind society and he criticized rollbacks in affirmative action. "We have to act. All of us have to act," he continued.

As far as leadership is concerned, the President said the national government "must guarantee," the constitutional rights of citizens affirmed by "independent courts." He praised President Eisenhower for doing that in 1957 when he sent federal troops to Arkansas to enforce Supreme Court orders to integrate.

Clinton, who was an 11-year old student living in nearby Hot Springs in 1957, also spoke of his own memories of racism and segregation: "I never attended school with a person of another race until I went to college." He said he had learned the lesson of racial tolerance by observing the example of his grandfather who owned a small store and by the example shown later by the "Little Rock Nine". "It was Little Rock that made racial equality a driving obsession in my life," he added.

Toward the close of his speech, Clinton invoked the opening words of the black national anthem and urged Americans to seek racial unity. "One America today, one America tomorrow, and one America forever."

President Clinton was accompanied on the visit by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, Attorney General Janet Reno, Education Secretary Richard Riley, Labor Secretary Alexis Herman, and Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater. The First Lady said the Little Rock crisis was "about what it means to be an American and what kind of people we intend to be."

Ernest Green, the first of the "Little Rock Nine" to graduate from Central High, was the only one of the group to speak today. He thanked Clinton for coming to the school on the 40th anniversary of the integration crisis and for the commission he has established to make recommendations on how to improve race relations. Green stressed the unfinished agenda as far as racial progress in America is concerned, but pronounced himself optimistic. "Despite our differences, we are much more alike than different," he said.

Mike Huckabee, the state's Republican governor, made an impassioned plea for racial tolerance saying categorically that "what happened here 40 years ago was simply wrong. It was evil and we denounce it."

The two-hour ceremony took place on the front lawn of Central High. It had been threatened by heavy rainfall in the state during the last two days. But just before it began the sun broke through the clouds and shone intermittently on a mixed crowd of blacks and whites who had gathered for the event.

Clinton's speech was the first he has given on the subject of race since the appointment of his Advisory Commission on Race last June. At that time, the President said he wanted Americans to engage in a year-long dialogue on race centering on how to foster better race relations.