COMMUNITY VIEWS

Race Relations And Bill Clinton

E

dency is at the top rank of all U.S.
very couple of weeks or so, I
presidents.
attend a forum for in-depth
Thomas Jefferson declared "all men
political discourse. It takes
are
created equal" yet was himself a
place at the Atlantic Barber
slave
owner.
Shop in Detroit's Harmony Park,
Abraham Lincoln, nearly a century
where Harry and Spencer cut hair, dis-
later, prosecuted a war to preserve the
pense homespun wisdom and
union and freed the slaves
debate the great issues of the
in
the process.
day. Their customers range
It was Theodore Roo-
from janitors to judges, who,
sevelt
who first hosted a
like me, enjoy the give and
black
man at the White
take as much as they appreci-
House for dinner. The
ate the good grooming.
resulting political and edito-
In recent months, the Bar-
rial page backlash from this
den casino petition drive, and
meeting
with Booker T.
Mayor Archer's ultimate tri-
Washington
was so fierce
umph, was covered from all
that
no
other
African Amer-
MEL
VIN
J.
angles.
b - The talk at the
ican
was
invited
to the pres-
HOLL
OWELL
Atlantic more recently has
idential
mansion
for anoth-
R.
centered on Ken Starr's
J
er 30 years.
Spe cial to
report. And, notwithstanding
Franklin Roosevelt infor-
Starr's allegations, if the dis-
The Jew ish News
mally
deputized his wife
cussions at Atlantic are at all
Eleanor
to speak out on
reflective of the black community in
racial
equality,
keeping
some distance
Detroit, President Clinton's stock
from
the
issue
himself
to
presumably
remains sky high.
keep
his
southern
wing
of
the Democ-
This could be due to a number of
ratic
party
intact.
factors: the robust economy, his efforts
Harry Truman gave the order to
to save Social Security and other
integrate the armed forces, even
domestic policy achievements. But,
though he had been associated with
more probably, it seems to be, as
the
Klu Klux Klan in the early days of
Atlantic's proprietor Harry says, "No
his
political
career in rural Missouri.
doubt about it. The man's got soul."
Dwight
Eisenhower
sent federal
Indeed, it could be persuasively argued
troops
to
enforce
the
integration
of
that, as it relates to the African Ameri-
Little Rock public schools and quietly
can community, Bill Clinton's presi-
maintained a relatively good (though
Melvin J. Hollowell Jr. is a sharehold-
largely private) working relationship
er at the Detroit-based law firm of
with Harlem Congressman Adam
Butzel Long.
Clayton Powell Jr.

President John R Kennedy spoke
out, from time to time, on the civil
rights struggle but more often dis-
patched his brother Bobby, the attor-
ney general, to meet with southern
governors and work directly with Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Lyndon Johnson, though himself a
son of the South, was largely responsi-
ble for passing the 1964 Civil Rights
Act, the 1965 Voting Rights Act and
appointing Thurgood Marshall to a
seat on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Still, President Bill Clinton is differ-
ent from his predecessors. Many have
remarked that he seems
"comfortable" with
African Americans. Clin-
ton and the late Democ-
ratic Party chairman Ron
Brown were nearly insepa-
rable during the 1992
campaign and constantly
thereafter, until Brown's
untimely death. When
elected, Clinton appoint-
ed Vernon Jordan to head
his transition team. By all
accounts, Jordan is the
president's best friend.
Instead of appointing
blacks to "traditionally black" Cabinet
positions like HUD and Health, Clin-
ton named African Americans to head
the Commerce, Agriculture, Energy,
Labor, Transportation and Budget
departments.
He has appointed twice as many
blacks to federal judgeships and as U.S.
attorneys than any of his predecessors.

His personal secretary and his clos-
est Secret Service bodyguard are black.
He is the first sitting president to tour
Africa.
In the face of the Republican effort
to abolish all affirmative action pro-
grams, Clinton brought in NAACP
President Kweisi Mfume, and held the
line by saying that, so long as the lega-
cy of discrimination continues, affir-
mative action should be preserved.
His words were, "Let's mend it, not
end it."
President Clinton's speech on race
relations, delivered at the Memphis
church where Dr.
King gave his "I've
seen the mountain
top" sermon the night
before he was assassi-
nated, was a water-
shed event. It was, by
all accounts, the most
passionate and incisive
analysis of how our
nation should heal the
racial divide, ever
delivered by a U.S.
president. Indeed, his
efforts to institution-
alize the dialogue on
race relations is an important step in
the right direction.
It appears that unlike any other
president, he has allowed African
Americans into his sphere of personal
associations. This may be the enduring
signal to all Americans that true
progress in the area of race relations
begins at home.

❑

LETTERS

the same week that Haazenu was read
in the synagogues.
Your article "A Spiritual Nomad"
(Oct. 2) was offensive and inappropri-
ate. There was absolutely no valid
point in glorifying a woman, born
Jewish with no Jewish upbringing,
who now leads a local church of a
false god and attracts Jews who have
no idea of the beauty and depth
Judaism holds. Nor was there any crit-
ical element in your story. Rather than
listening to Moses and his warnings,
your story was an advertisement for
this woman and her church.
It would be terrible, but not sur-
prising, if unknowledgeable Jews go to
this church because of your newspaper
and the article.
You devoted more space to this
woman than to the holiday of Sukkot.
With Judaism having so much to

10/16

1998

32 Detroit Jewish News

offer, it is sad your article was mind-
less and senseless filler. If you have
nothing better to write, the pages
would be better left blank.
Donald H. Scharg
West Bloomfield

Political
Targeting

Last week, I finished saying Kaddish
for my father, Larry Pernick. Now, I
must begin saying Kaddish for the
world's greatest democracy.
Without most people even notic-
ing, the Kenneth Starr-Republican
witchhunt has altered our political
structure from a strong to a weak pres-
idency. The president can now be
removed or rendered unable to govern
merely by a perception of weakness by

the opposing party. This is a loss for
the world and a troubling sign for
Jews, who have been protected by this
great country and who may be the
next target of the far right.
We must punish the Republican
Party in the upcoming election or risk
the loss of the greatest friend to the
Jewish people. If enough Americans
vote Republican next month, it may
be the last free election we have.
Nat Pernick
Huntington Woods

Town Hall
A Success

Thank you so much for your help
with our recent Jewish Town Hall
meeting in the Commerce area.
Because of your assistance and the

David Gad-Harf addresses the Sept. 16
Town Hall gathering.

involvement of a number of other
organizations in the community, the
first Town Hall meeting was a great
success.

David Gad-Harf
Executive director
Jewish Community Council of
Metropolitan Detroit