Monday, December 15, 2003

Candidate Review - Civil Rights - Senator John Edwards

Here are comments from a speech on Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birhday , earlier this year.

"We have come far, but we have far to go:

The Constitution now guarantees blacks the right to vote; now we have to put an end to practices that lead to the deprivation of minority voting rights once and for all.

We have laws guaranteeing equal opportunity; now, we have to address the underlying economic conditions that still result in an average African-American income that is barely half that of whites.

We have laws prohibiting segregation in public education; now we have to do something about a school system that is becoming increasingly re-segregated, leaving too many minority children the victims of by inadequate education funding, inferior schools, and indifference.

More than anything, leadership means recognizing that civil rights is not a zero sum game where "we" give something to "them"-whether it's women or minorities or immigrants.

The civil rights movement was not about some "them." It was about "us." All of us. It was about transforming America into a nation so much closer to living out the true meaning of our creed.
"

No comments: