    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book I)]
    [April 21, 2000]
    [Pages 756-757]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Videotaped Remarks to a National Campaign Against Youth Violence
    Townhall Meeting
    April 21, 2000

        Good evening. I'm so pleased to join you as the National Campaign
    Against Youth Violence kicks off its City-By-City initiative.
        Seven years ago I had the honor to speak at the Church of God in
    Christ in Memphis. That morning I spoke about the awful toll of youth
    violence and gun crime in our communities. On that day I said, unless we
    deal with the ravages of crime and violence, none of the other things we
    seek to do will ever take us where we need to go.
        Together, we have come a long way in the last 7 years. With our
    strategy of putting more cops on the beat and getting more guns off the
    street, overall crime has fallen for the seventh year in a row. The
    juvenile violent crime arrest rate is the lowest in 10 years. And with
    100,000 new community police officers and the Brady law, we've kept guns
    out of the hands of a half-million felons, fugitives, and stalkers.
        But while we've made great progress, one act of violence is still
    one too many. Nearly a year has passed since the awful tragedy at
    Columbine, and gunfire continues to take the lives of nearly a dozen
    young people every single day.
        If we're going to reach our goal of making America the safest big
    country on Earth, all of us have a responsibility to act. And Congress
    has to do its part, too, by sending me commonsense gun legislation that
    mandates child safety locks, closes the gun show loophole, bans the
    importation of large ammunition clips, and holds adults accountable when
    they allow young people to get their hands on deadly guns.
        Our administration is trying to do its part by strengthening the
    enforcement of our gun laws, supporting more after-school programs, more
    mentoring, and more conflict resolution and peer mediation. Last year we
    helped to launch the National Campaign Against Youth Violence, and we
    established a new White House Youth Violence Council to coordinate the
    wide-ranging efforts of the Federal Government.
        We're also working hard to ensure that all Americans are treated
    with dignity and that no American is victimized by violence because of
    his or her race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation. That's why
    we've fought so hard to

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    pass a strong hate crimes law, to promote diversity, to end
    discrimination in the work force. We must all recommit ourselves to
    respecting one another, to seeing our diversity as our greatest
    strength, and to recognizing the fundamental values that define us as
    one America.
        Ultimately, this effort begins on the ground, at the grassroots. You
    can reach out to troubled youth. You can help to change a culture that
    too often glorifies violence and hate. You can talk to your children,
    teach them to resolve their conflicts peacefully, and raise them with
    the right values. I'm grateful, because in Memphis, you're doing these
    things. And there's no mission more important for our Nation.
        Your work in Memphis, and the work of the Memphis Shelby Crime
    Commission, is a testament to the fundamental goodness of the American
    spirit. It sets an example I hope cities all across our land will
    follow.
        Thank you, and God bless you.

    Note: The remarks were videotaped at approximately 7:40 p.m. in the Map
    Room at the White House on March 28 for broadcast to the meeting in
    Memphis, TN, on April 14. The transcript was released by the Office of
    the Press Secretary on April 21. A tape was not available for
    verification of the content of these remarks.