[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 39 (Monday, September 28, 1998)]
[Pages 1833-1834]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks in a Meeting With the President's Advisory Board on Race

September 18, 1998

[Chairman John Hope Franklin and other members of the advisory board 
made opening remarks. Former Governor of Minnesota and board member 
William F. Winter reminded the President of a photograph he was shown of 
Gov. Winter's grandson's elementary school class in Oxford, Mississippi, 
a year ago, which he had enlarged.]

    The President. What a wonderful poster!

[Gov. Winter then read a letter to the President from one student and 
then presented the President a book of letters from the entire class.]

    The President. Isn't that great? Maybe I ought to read that to 
people.
    Gov. Winter. And they want you to come visit their class. [Laughter]
    The President. This is your grandson's class?
    Gov. Winter. That's my grandson's class. That's right.
    Chairman Franklin. We went to the classroom.
    Gov. 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 
made brief remarks.]

    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 made brief remarks and joked if the board 
does not do something ``big, huge, tremendous, way beyond the norm'' on 
education, it will ``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]

[Mr. Thomas continued his remarks, and then Board Member Suzan D. 
Johnson Cook spoke. In concluding her remarks, she asked the President 
to sign her son's class picture and then presented the President 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, consultant to the advisory board 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 and the family can 
no longer refer to their ``Scot-Irish-Oklahoman'' grandfather as a 
``redneck.'']

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

[Ms. Harris closed by thanking the President for the government-to-
government relationship between the Federal Government and tribal 
governments. Chairman Franklin concurred it was a great help to the 
board's deliberations.]

[[Page 1834]]

    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 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. Other participants in the meeting were Judith A. Winston, 
Executive Director, and Christopher Edley, consultant, President's 
Advisory Board on Race. These remarks were not received in time for 
publication in the appropriate issue. A tape was not available for 
verification of the content of these remarks.