[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1998, Book II)]
[September 18, 1998]
[Pages 1614-1615]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



[[Page 1614]]


Remarks in a Meeting With the President's Advisory Board on Race
September 18, 1998

[Chairman John Hope Franklin described some of his experiences during 
his 15 months on the Board, saying that the most gratifying thing was 
the response of the American people to the President's Initiative on 
Race. Board member William F. Winter, former Governor of Mississippi, 
noted that the Board's report recommended that the President establish a 
council to carry forward the initiative in a permanent way. He then gave 
the President a poster-size photograph of an Oxford, MS, elementary 
school class which the Board had visited.]

    The President. What a wonderful poster!

[Governor Winter read a student's letter to the President and then 
presented the President with a book of letters from the entire class.]

    The President. Isn't that great? Maybe I ought to read that to 
people.
    Governor Winter. And they want you to come visit their class. 
[Laughter]
    The President. This is your grandson's class?
    Governor Winter. That's my grandson's class. That's right.
    Chairman Franklin. We went to the classroom.
    Governor Winter. We had a great day down there.
    Chairman Franklin. We did, indeed.
    Board Member Linda Chavez-Thompson. And I have to follow that? 
[Laughter] I didn't bring a book.
    The President. This is beautiful, too. Nice.

[Ms. Chavez-Thompson and Board members Thomas H. Kean and Angela E. Oh 
each made brief remarks thanking the President for the opportunity to 
serve on the Board, recounting their experiences, and urging the 
President to continue his efforts for educational and economic 
opportunity and racial reconciliation.]

    Chairman Franklin. There's one thing Angela didn't do; she didn't 
tell you that she's going to write a book saying, ``How Being a Member 
of the Advisory Board Changed My Life.'' [Laughter]
    The President. It's here on the tape, the first chapter. [Laughter]

[Board member Robert Thomas praised the contributions of President's 
Race Initiative Executive Director Judith A. Winston and Board 
consultants Christopher Edley and Laura Harris. Emphasizing the 
importance of education, he joked that without ``something big, huge, 
tremendous, way beyond the norm, we'll just be perfuming the pig.'']

    The President. We had a long discussion about where that came from. 
[Laughter] I thought I never heard it before you said it, but I like it. 
I'm going to use it shamelessly. [Laughter]

[After Mr. Thomas concluded his remarks, Board member Suzan D. Johnson 
Cook, thanked the President for opening the door to a conversation on 
race. She then asked him to autograph a picture for her son and 
presented him with a book entitled ``Too Blessed To Be Stressed.'']

    The President I accept that. That's great.
    Ms. Cook. And so we're praying for you, and we thank you so much for 
flying on Air Force One and eating ribs with you. Thank you. [Laughter]
    The President. You need to tell me how you want me to sign that, and 
I've got a special pen, and we'll sign it, and I'll bring it over there.

[Laura Harris, the Board's consultant on Native American issues, 
explained the diversity of her son's ethnic background and joked that 
since she began her work with the Board, her son said the family should 
no longer refer to his Scot-Irish-Oklahoman grandfather as a redneck.]

    The President. That's a real advance. [Laughter]

[Ms. Harris closed by thanking the President for improving the 
relationship between the Federal Government and tribal governments, and 
Chairman Franklin concurred.]

    The President. You know, let me just say--I'll be very brief, 
because I know we're supposed to go over to this other deal, and I think 
Linda's got to go. But I just want to thank you for doing this and for 
being brave enough to do it.
    I knew when we started that all of us would be subject to some 
criticism because, number

[[Page 1615]]

one, we couldn't solve every problem in America overnight related to 
race; number two, you could almost relate every problem in America to 
race; and number three, in a cynical and weary world, it's easy to 
devalue the importance of people going in good faith to raise the 
consciousness and quicken the conscience and kind of lift the spirits of 
other people and encourage them to do the right thing, and then to 
figure out--it is a complex thing, figuring out how much of this is 
policy, how much of this is dialog, how much of this is community, how 
much of this is almost spiritual.
    I think you have really made a heroic effort to come to grips with 
all of these elements and to make this a very important milestone on 
America's journey here, and I hope you'll always be proud of it. I 
really think--you know, it was a big risk. I knew a lot of people would 
say, well, we didn't do this; we didn't do that; we didn't do the other 
thing; or we said this, and it was wrong. And probably some of that 
criticism is valid. But when you take it all and shake it up, I think 
there is no question that what we did at this moment, in the absence of 
a searing crisis, facing a future of incredible kaleidoscopic diversity, 
was a very good thing for our country. And I do think that we have to 
keep it going, and I will take all these recommendations seriously.
    I hope you all meant what you said today. I hope it was a great gift 
for you, because for your country it was a great gift.
    Chairman Franklin. We are deeply grateful to you, Mr. President.
    The President. Thank you. Well, I'll see you over there--except 
Linda, who has an excused absence.

Note: The President spoke at 2:20 p.m. in the Oval Office at the White 
House. A tape was not available for verification of the content of these 
remarks.