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Bradley: Racial tolerance 'central' to America's future
April 20, 1999 NEW YORK (AllPolitics, April 20) -- Former U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley said Tuesday in a speech that solving racial problems are "central to our American future" and promised to make tolerance a focus of his quest for the presidency in 2000. "In running for president, I'm betting that far more than a majority of people in America want to achieve a deeper racial unity," he said in a speech to 200 students and administrators at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City. The New Jersey Democrat is the sole challenger to Vice President Al Gore for the Democratic Party's nomination. Bradley highlighted the controversial shooting death in February of an unarmed African immigrant by four white New York City police officers as an example of how racial issues have changed in America. The incident ignited a storm of protests and caused a major political headache for Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Bradley said the shooting of Amadou Diallo, who was hit by 19 of 41 bullets fired by the plainclothes officers, illustrates how the fight for racial equality has changed since the civil rights movement of past decades. "While legal barriers are down, divisions still remain, but they are divisions of the heart more than of the law," he said. "If you're black, you know that being within the radar of white fear and suspicion can be dangerous." "This tragic event was in most ways different from the church burnings of 1994 ... It was not an act of senseless hatred. It cannot be dismissed as an act of aberrant individuals," he said, adding that the solution is to eradicate "white indifference and black suspicion." He said he would continue to discuss the importance of deciding whether the country will be a collection of 265 million individuals, or 265 million individuals living together as one nation. He also promised that as president, he would make racial tolerance a focus of his administration. "When Ronald Reagan was president, everyone knew that if you wanted to please the boss, you cut taxes, increased military spending and fought communism," he said. "If I'm president, I want one thing to be known: If you want to please the boss, one of the things you'd better show is how in your department or agency you've furthered tolerance and racial understanding." Bradley recited a list of prejudices and injustices: church bombings, incidents of people beaten or killed because they were of Chinese descent or gay and the police practice of pulling over drivers because they are racial minorities. Bradley also remembered how the racial prejudice he saw against his black teammates as an NBA basketball player drove him into politics. "For me the quest for racial unity remains the defining moral issue of our time. It's the reason I first ran for public office," he said. Bradley also said that Americans ought to focus on improving racial relations out of economic self-interest as well as from a moral standpoint. "By the year 2010 in America, less than 60 percent of the people entering the work force are going to be native-born white Americans," he said. "That means that the economic future of the children of white Americans will depend increasingly on the talents of non-white Americans. That's not ideology. That's demographics." The text of the speech was posted on Bradley's Web site. Bradley is expected to formally announce his candidacy later this year. He trails the better-known Gore in fund raising, although he raised $4.3 million, including $3.6 million from donors giving $1,000 each, in the first campaign finance reporting period. That is a surprising amount for a candidate facing an incumbent vice president. Bradley was first elected to the Senate in 1978 and served three terms, retiring in 1996. Before being elected to the Senate, Bradley played 10 seasons in the NBA for the New York Knicks. He also was a Rhodes Scholar and graduated from Princeton University before heading into the NBA. The Associated Press contributed to this report. |
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MORE STORIES:Tuesday, April 20, 1999
• Text of joint resolution on Kosovo • Partisan battle shaping up over emergency Kosovo funding • Presidential hopefuls stake out positions on NATO airstrikes • Bradley: Racial tolerance 'central' to America's future • Books: George Mitchell recounts fight for Northern Irish peace • Clinton gives Helmut Kohl highest U.S. civilian award • Clinton's commencement itinerary • Mrs. Clinton says she loves New York, but not if she'll run • Barbour lobbies for Medicare money • Republicans get more union support • Stakes behind the census fight • Blacks criticize Social Security • Gore tours tornado damage in Ohio • Man says he was would-be robber foiled by Shalala • Importers beef about U.S.-planned tariffs | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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