[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.