by Mark Silva
âRace is still an important factor in our society,ââ Sen. Barack Obama said in a series of televised interviews of the presidential candidates this evening. âThere is still discrimination. There's still barriers to opportunity.ââ
Sen. Hillary Clinton, in another of these interviews aired by NBC News, was asked how she can serve as âa leading voiceââ for racial reconciliation when there is an African-American in the race. âI think there are so many leading voices. And-- I am here as a beneficiary of Dr. King,ââ she replied. âThe Voting Rights Act helped me as well as helped those who were waiting in line to vote and being turned away in-- so many places across the South.''
All three of the major-party candidates for president paused today for interviews with Brian Williams, anchor of the NBC Nightly News â Sens. John McCain and Clinton outside the motel in Memphis where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was slain 40 years ago today.
McCain, a former prisoner of war, remembered where he was that day: âI was in a prison cell by myself in Hanoi, North Vietnam, and every morning, every evening they would play a propaganda program,ââ he said, recalling the first word he heard of the assassination. âIt was broadcast⦠They told us only the bad news, not the good newsââ to hurt the morale of the prisoners, he said, âand they were right.ââ
In retrospect, he said of Kingâs life and death: âI think the lesson is, we have come a long way, but we have a long way to go⦠We really have a dual system of education.ââ McCain said the nation âshould honor his memory⦠We should be a nation that is committed to our founding fathersâ belief that all of us are created equal.ââ
And McCain addressed the admission he made today that he was âwrongââ in once opposing a national holiday in commemoration of Kingâs birthday. âIt was based on the belief that we had too many holidays, or it was too expensive, or something,ââ McCain told Williams in Memphis. âBut it was wrong⦠It was wrong.ââ
Williams, who interviewed Obama by a long-distance satellite connection, asked the senator from Illinois why he was campaigning in Fort Wayne, Indiana, today, instead of Memphis. âA lot of people in the crowd assume you are here or will be here.ââ Williams asked Obama. âYet, you're not. Why is that?''
âWell, obviously, we all, I think across the country, are remarking-- on the tragic death and the extraordinary life of Dr. King,ââ Obama said. â I thought that I could best deliver that message here in Indiana, and later, in North Dakota. And I also have the opportunity to talk to Dr. King's family this morning. I think they are aware of how important believe the legacy of Dr. King is. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for him.ââ
âHe was a 39-year-old man when he died on the balcony behind us,ââ Williams said of King. âHe's now been dead longer than he was on Earth. What of his message, back then in 1968 continues today unchanged?''
âWell, obviously, race is still an important factor in our society,ââ Obama said. âThere is still discrimination. There's still barriers to opportunity.
"But I think what's important to note is that Dr. King went down to Memphis as part of the poor people's movement and recognized the link between economic justice and racial justice. But on the economic front, we just found out-- that last month, we lost 80,000 jobs, over 200,000 so far this year. And so often that is just disproportionately impacting African American and Latinos.
âHaving an agenda that ensures economic justice, that everybody can get paid a decent wage and find a job,ââ he said. âThat part of Dr. King's dream has not yet been achieved. And I think has to be one of the challenges to America in the coming decadesâ¦
âWell, I think that there has been enormous progress over the last 40 years,ââ he said. âAnd you see it most clear in the younger generation. So I think the attitudes are light years away from where they were in '68. But there's no doubt that we still have unconscious prejudices. Not just white, but also black and Hispanics and Asians. I think we all have biases and fears and concerns of people who don't look like us on the surface. And that's why it's so important that we have a leadership that is not trying to exploit those biases, but rather, trying to overcome them.ââ
Williams, interviewing Clinton outside the motel, said: âThis is almost a national talisman. Talk about the emotional impact this place.
âWell, it has an incredible impact on me,ââ Clinton replied. âBecause I remember where I was and what I was doing when I heard that Dr. King had been killed. I had met him as a young woman, when I was 14. And it really opened my life even as we look out at where we are in our country today, with all the unfinished business of poverty and economic challenges and a war that we need to end, it is so reminiscent of what he was talking about when he died. And we have to honor that.ââ
âYou see the glass as half empty or half full?ââ Williams asked. âs they said during the Constitutional Convention, is the sun rising or setting where race, as a topic in this country, is concerned?ââ
âI believe the sun is rising,ââ Clinton said. âI believe the glass is half full. But whether you fill it to the top, or the sun actually makes it into the sky without being obscured by clouds and storms, is really up to us. It is not only up to those of us in public life, it is up to each of us in our personal lives.ââ
âHow can you become the leading voice for -- matters of race for fulfilling Dr. King's dream with an African-American also in the race? ââ Williams asked. âOr does it matter whose voice is the leading voice as long as there's progress on the subject?
âI think there are so many leading voices. And-- I am here as a beneficiary of Dr. King,ââ she replied. âThe Voting Rights Act helped me as well as helped those who were waiting in line to vote and being turned away in-- so many places across the south. I was a young person when we reformed and amended the Constitution so that you could vote at the age of 18.
âSo the emphasis on empowerment and participation that was at the core of the Civil Rights Movement has benefited me and every American whether we know it or not.ââ
âIt's been theorized that not having a national conversation on race was perhaps one of the-- the missing elements of your husband's presidency,ââ Williams asked. âCan you pledge yourself to a national conversation on race?ââ
âWell, Brian, I believe that we have to continue it,ââ she said. âIt is an ongoing conversation. It should never end. And we not only need to talk about race, we need to talk about gender. We need to talk about religion. We need to talk about the full range of the categories in which we are often placed by ourselves and by those who look at us.
âI think, for me, as a white woman, you know, Dr. King was a category breaker. You know, he was reaching across all of those divides. And, as president, that's what I want to be as well. Here at home and around the world. We've got to find ways for us to connect with each other's common humanity.''
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Comments
McCain's name shouldn't be anywhere near the words "Race Equity"
John McCain voted against the Martin Luther King holiday in 1983. Asked about it today, he made a startling revelation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8ozQz0qe3c&eurl=http://www.dailykos.com/
McCain: I voted in my first year in congress against it. Then I began to learn. And I studied. And people talked to me. And I not only supported it, but I fought very hard in my own state of Arizona for recognition against a governor who was of my own party. ...
Reporter: On Martin Luthor King, what do you mean you say you learned?
McCain: Well, I learned that this individual was a transcendent figure in American history. He deserved to be honored. And I thought it was appropriate to do so. In my home state of Arizona, I was not proud that we were one of the last states to recognize Dr. King's birthday as a holiday. And I was pleased to be part of the fight for that recognition.
Reporter: What didn't you know when you voted initially against it that you later knew when you changed your mind?
McCain: I had not really been involved in the issue. I just had not had a lot of experience with the issue. That's all.
Reporter: [couldn't hear question]
McCain: In Arizona, I came from the military where we are the greatest equal opportunity employer in the nation and still are. And I had just not been involved in the issue. There were issues that I had not been involved in when I was in the military, and then I went relatively quickly to being a member of Congress.
Reporter: You just didn't realize the large role in American history?
McCain: I think I just explained it about best I could.
Reporter: It's not really an issue to be involved in, to be aware of his impact on this country, it's more of a knowledge of history.
McCain: I think you're entitled to your opinion on it and I respect your opinion on that, but I had not been involved in the issue. I had come from being in the military to running for Congress in a state that did not have a large African American population.
McCain was 32 when King died. He was 47 when he voted against the holiday. He claims he didn't know about MLK that entire time? That it was merely "an issue"? The reporter is right, this wasn't an issue, it was basic knowledge of American history.
Yet even at 47, McCain still had a lot of "learning" to do before he'd change his mind on MLK, as Steve Benen notes:
If McCain "began to learn" and "studied" after his opposition to the King holiday in 83, he was a very slow learner. Four years later, he didnt fight against a governor or his own party; he endorsed the governors move to eliminate a King holiday.
Six years after his House vote he began supporting a state holiday, but still opposed a federal King holiday. Eleven years after his vote, he tried to strip federal funding from the MLK Federal Holiday Commission. Seventeen years after his vote, McCain publicly endorsed South Carolinas right to fly the confederate flag over its statehouse.
Now, in the interest of fairness, its worth noting that McCain ended up, years after the fact, in the right place, and reversed himself on practically all of his previous positions. Better late than never, I suppose.
Now McCain claims he fought his own governor, Benen (who I trust more), says he didn't. So does ABC News' Jake Tapper:
In Arizona, a bill to recognize a holiday honoring MLK failed in the legislature, so then-Gov. Bruce Babbitt, a Democrat, declared one through executive order.
In January 1987, the first act of Arizona's new governor, Republican Evan Mecham, was to rescind the executive order by his predecessor to create an MLK holiday. Arizona's stance became a national controversy.
McCain backed the decision at the time.
So he's a liar. And worse than that, it speaks volumes that he considers MLK not a giant of American (and world) history, but "an issue". I'm sure McCain, Trent Lott, and George Allen would all agree on that.
Posted by: sok | April 4, 2008 7:36 PM
"CHERTOFF SPEAKS"
THE "SECRETARY" HAS THE AUTHORIZATION TO COLLECT BIOMETRIC DATA.
THE "SECRETARY" NOT THE ATTORNEY GENERAL!
RACE, WHAT RACE! GENDER WHAT GENDER!
NATURALIZATION, WHAT NATURALIZATION.
BORN AFTER 1964, THEY BELONG TO ME. I'M THE LAW OF THE LAND. I'M THE ONLY PERSON THAT CAN DISCUSS WHO IS WHO, WHAT RACE, GENDER OR NATURALIZATION.
WE REPEAT!
REMOVE "ATTORNEY GENERAL" IN DEALING WITH THE "COMMISSIONER OF IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION" AND inserting "SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY"
SO WE THE PEOPLE ARE WE THE "REAL ID" PEOPLE BORN AFTER 1964.
YA'LL CAN DO WHATEVER YOU WANT WITH THE REST OF AMERICA'S DNA BORN BEFORE 1964.
YOU BETTER NOT HIDE, YOU BETTER NOT RUN, BECAUSE I'M THE "SECRETARY" AND I'M COMING TO YOUR TOWN!
SO YOU BETTER WATCH OUT, YOU BETTER NOT HIDE, THE "SECRETARY" IS COMING TO TOWN.
RACE!
"IMPERMISSIBLE EXCERCISE OF THE EXECUTIVE POWER"
YA'LL LEAVE THIS RACE ISSUE TO ME. I GOT THIS.
"Z" PATCHES GET YOUR "Z" PATCH! ONE NATION UNDER A CHERTOFF GROOVE GETTING DOWN WITH ALL YOUR NATIONALITY. ONE NATION UNDER CHERTOFF YOU BETTER RECOGNIZE!
Posted by: Roger Morris | April 4, 2008 7:46 PM
Sok, it's preposterous to call a man with a Bangladeshi daughter a racist.
Posted by: Derannimer | April 4, 2008 7:57 PM
Sok, it's preposterous to call a man with a Bangladeshi daughter a racist.
Posted by: Derannimer | April 4, 2008 7:57 PM
Read the McCain interview I posted, moron
Just because McCain and his super rich wife adopted a minortiy child doesn't excuse his racist actions
Posted by: sok | April 4, 2008 8:02 PM
I was in Memphis when Dr. King was slain; and I believe to this day that he was assassinated so that the garbage unions would be recognized. Immediately after his slaying these unions were immediately recognized all over the south whereas before they did not even have a toe hold. Look up the documentary that was produced by Memphis State Univ. afterwards and tell me differently. Those unions were the only beneficiaries from his death, in my opinion. It may have been a racist
who killed him, but I believe Ray was hired. Dr. King was not slain,
because of all his many accomplishments, but his death(in my opinion) was used to achieve an end known only to a select few.
Is there proof? No. It is an unprovable theory.
Posted by: Sunshine K. Snyder | April 4, 2008 9:05 PM
Where were John W McBush's handlers today?
In the interest of tact on THIS day, couldnât they have found a white aid to hold an umbrella over John W McBush's head?
McCain booed, with video:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/04/mccain-booed-heckled-at-m_n_95079.html
Posted by: ChimpCo | April 4, 2008 11:45 PM
Obama STILL needs to apologize to Geraldine Ferraro. And then he needs to shut up about race issues--everytime he mentions them he reminds us that he was the beneficiary of civil rights---not an activist, but a posing beneficiary of someone (REZKO AND DALYE BEGAN HIS POLITICAL CAREER, FOLKS). Obama trashed Don Imus and now his republican-linked politcal operatives out of TEXAS are trying to ruin Geraldine Ferraro's career.
And so called left-leaning people need to beware Air America
If you haven't watch a snippet of the Rhandi Rhodes sexist rant for the benefit of the West Coast Obamite$,
Disgusing. Geraldine Ferraro is such a class act.
http://guerillawomentn.blogspot.com/2008/04/geraldine-ferraro-responds-to-randi.html
Posted by: realist | April 5, 2008 7:22 AM
Obama can't shutup about race he is a race baiter. Instead of renouncing Jeremiah Wright he had to elicit white guilt. This is extortion Obama. You sat in the pews donating some $22,000 a year to Wright and his church and have the nerve to expose your young daughters to this racist and his views.Don't point fingers at white people including your sweet white grandmother you threw off the bus for Wright. Jerry White, Springfield, IL
Posted by: Jerry White | April 5, 2008 10:11 AM
Obama is hitting all the wrong notes---and the mainstream media bails him out over and over again.
Obama is on the ROPES in PA and Indiana. (Don't believe the polls. People in those states can vote in PRIVATE against hypocrisy--not a black man).
The continued failure of Obama to apologize to Geraldine Ferraro (a beloved woman taken 'down' yet again at an Obama fund-raiser "David Duke in drag" "f***** b****"--watch Randi Rhodes
[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,346392,00.html]
Campaign wise--Obama BLEW IT by trying to save his skin in Indiana and stupidly blowing off Memphis.
And MSNBC lets him look into the camera and speak about race. Would they have been so nice to Hilary--let her have a "do-over?"
Obama is the Tonya Harding candidate, the McCarthyite siding with Republicans to trash a good liberal Congresswoman. (Hilary and Geraldine have done more for African Americans while also flossing their teeth than Obama has ever done).
Obama is whipping up racism to help his campaign. And then silencing critics. Very creepy the pressure the Obamites put on people who oppose his candidacy. Someday this will be written about. Wake up before it's too late.
Posted by: golden oldie | April 5, 2008 10:41 AM
Barack Obama is the only one who been consistent in his opposition to the war and with his grassroots work to get jobs and heath care for people who need them and who has talked honestly about racial issues in this country. Hillary supporters such as guerillawomen above who spew out hateful statements will do nothing to get their candidate elected. I will support Hillary if she is nominated not because she is a woman and uses her gender and pretends to be a victim to get votes but because despite her calculated vote for the war, she will at least try to get us out of it unlike John McCain. Everyone should remember though she has not kept her promises. Where are the 200,000 jobs in NY? What about health care? What if Hillary had used all her smarts and energy all those 35 years to actually work on health care? We would have had it. Instead she has used her talents to fulfill her life long ambition to be president no matter what the cost â even to vote for a war in Iraq at the expense of 4000 veterans who have died now and at the expense of those who have been injured who she now cares about. She now whispers that Barack cannot win because he is black while running down to Memphis to give a âheartfelt and tearyâ speech to honor MLKâs death. What if she actually cared about race in this country? The first step would be to really support Barack if he is nominated. Weâll see.
Posted by: Anonymous | April 5, 2008 2:53 PM