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Race report decries 'white privilege' WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, Sept. 18) -- Americans must confront the nation's "history of white privilege" before the nation's many races can get along, President Bill Clinton's advisers on race concluded in their final report, formally presented to the president Friday afternoon. The report concludes the race advisory board's yearlong inquiry into race relations in the United States.
"This board has raised the consciousness and quickened the conscience of America. They have moved us closer to our ideal," Clinton said in his remarks thanking the group for its work. Clinton said that while there has been progress in improving race relations in the United States, more work remains to be done. "On the eve of a new millennium, our country is more free and equal than ever before. But we have to keep going until everybody has a chance to live out his or her dreams, according to his or her capacities and efforts," the president said. "We have a lot to do here. We have a lot to do in the country," he said. "Even though the work of the board is over, they have given us a continuing mission."
The document urges Clinton to take the lead in educating people about the bleaker side of the nation's past, and how an inferior status was assigned to people of color. "It is, we believe, essential to recall the facts of racial domination. ... We as a nation need to understand that whites tend to benefit, either unknowingly or consciously, from this country's history of white privilege," the report said. Clinton is to use the board's findings in a report of his own on how the country can prepare for a day when no racial group is a majority of the U.S. population. That day is expected to arrive within 50 years. The commission's report is based on information that came from a series of White House town hall meetings on race -- two involving Clinton. The meetings were criticized as forums that garnered little more than clichés on race issues, and for sometimes attracting crowds that didn't adequately represent various ethnic groups. Overall, the race board said, racial attitudes among whites have improved steadily over the past 40 years. "It is fair to say that there is a deep-rooted national consensus to the ideals of racial equality and integration, even if that consensus falters on the best means to achieve those ideals," the report said. The board recommended no new policies but did submit proposals. Among them, the board: -- Supported Clinton's "mend it, don't end it" policy on affirmative action and called for more study. -- Proposed creation of a permanent presidential panel to promote racial and ethnic harmony and dialogue. 
-- Flagged for study police misconduct involving minorities, stereotyping in media, federal employment, bilingual education, access to technology and conflicts between nonwhite ethnic groups. -- Highlighted racial profiling, in which police use race to identify potential criminals. It is employed most often in traffic stops, a crime known casually as "driving while black." -- Urged Clinton to reduce the disparity in sentences for crimes involving powdered cocaine and its concentrated form, crack. The board said longer sentences for crack crimes, largely involving poor blacks or Hispanics, are "morally and intellectually indefensible." Throughout America's history, the board said, white privilege allowed blacks, Hispanics, American Indians, Asians, certain European immigrants and religious groups to gain only limited acceptance, usually after painful, hate-generated conflict. It said white privilege manifests itself in small ways, among them being able to buy cars at lower prices, escaping scrutiny for possible criminal behavior, and getting prompt service "while minorities and people of color are often still refused service or made to wait."
Specifically, the board noted an "inferior and uncivilized" status given indigenous Indians, who were rounded up and isolated; "constitutionally sanctioned" discrimination against black slaves and their descendants; "marginalization" of Latinos through military conquest; a belief from the early 1900s that Asians were "a source of cheap labor" undeserving of land ownership or full citizenship; and "social exclusion, discrimination and disenfranchisement" that confronted immigrants from Ireland and Poland and those of Jewish, Catholic and Muslim faiths. The board concluded an apology for slavery would be too narrow in light of blacks' "unparalleled" experience with discrimination. "The apology we must all make cannot be adequately expressed in words but in actions," the board said. Clinton was expected to get a second report on race Friday from the Council of Economic Advisers. The document was to list social and economic indicators of various racial and ethnic groups. The presidential race board proposed the economic report as a means of measuring the impact of prejudice. The second report will show that whites and Asians enjoy greater economic advantages and have better access to health care and education. It also found that the social and economic progress of blacks slowed between the mid-1970s and early 1990s; the economic status of Hispanics declined in the past 25 years; and American Indians are the most disadvantaged ethnic group by far. Clinton is expected to address race Saturday in a speech to the Congressional Black Caucus.
Correspondent Jonathan Aiken and The Associated Press contributed to this report. |
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MORE STORIES:Friday, September 18, 1998
• Clinton video likely to get high ratings • Race report decries 'white privilege' • House panel will release Clinton video, Lewinsky testimony • Gore says Clinton is 'not going to resign nor should he' • FBI will review House GOP 'intimidation' complaint • Abortion ban veto sustained • Satellite exports argued over • Black Caucus cheers first lady • Indiana Rep. Pease hospitalized • Pat Robertson: Impeach Clinton • Senator rejects meeting with Clinton over Lewinsky • Facing Clinton veto threat, House GOP moves $80 billion in tax cuts • Quotes urging Clinton to resign • Rehnquist an expert on impeachment • Theatrics mar Indiana race • Panel clears Internet porn bill • Firecracker at Lewinsky dad's home • Clinton attacks critics for making political issue of his troubles • Poll: Releasing Clinton video wrong • Transcript: Judiciary Committee members on decision to release Clinton videotape, Starr documents • Transcript: Democratic Judiciary Committee members on Starr material release | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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