Posted on 05/17/2004 11:35:56 AM PDT by Brilliant
TOPEKA, Kan. - Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry said Monday the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision declaring school segregation unconstitutional comes amid too many instances of inequality in the nation and too many forces seeking to divide Americans.
Kerry, joining a host of civil rights leaders at a ceremony marking the 1954 Brown v. Topeka Board of Education case, said schools remain underfunded and divided by income, the health care system has too many disparities by race, and one-third of black children live in poverty.
"Today, more than ever, we need to renew our commitment to one America," Kerry said on the steps of the Kansas Statehouse with hundreds of schoolchildren as a backdrop.
"We should not delude ourselves into thinking for an instant that because Brown represents the law we have achieved our goal, that the work of Brown is done when there are those who still seek, in different ways, to see it undone — to roll back affirmative action, to restrict equal rights, to undermine the promise of our Constitution," he said.
Black Topeka parents who wanted to send their children to nearby whites-only schools launched the case. At the time the Supreme Court handed down the decision, fewer than 4 percent of black Americans had college degrees, a number that has risen to 20 percent. The number of black lawyers and judges has jumped from 2,800 to more than 50,000, Kerry said.
"We have to defend the progress that has been made, but we also have to move the cause forward," he said.
Kerry took indirect jabs at President Bush, who was arriving in Topeka later Monday for a similar ceremony.
"Brown began to tear down the walls of inequality," Kerry said. "The next great challenge is to put up a ladder of opportunity for all."
Kerry routinely charges on the stump that Bush has drained money for schools, leaving those in blighted areas struggling. While racial segregation may be ended, he said, millions of children get a second-class education because they are poor.
"We have certainly not met the promise of Brown when, in too many parts of our country, our school systems are not separate but equal, but separate and unequal," Kerry said.
Bush spokesman Steve Schmidt noted that the president was marking the day as well and faulted Kerry for "introducing partisan invective into this historic anniversary."
Kerry's campaign was far more direct in its criticism of the president, releasing background documents accusing Bush of appointing "radical right-wing judges" and charging that "the Justice Department's civil rights division has been effectively closed."
While the president has used his No Child Left Behind law as a centerpiece of his domestic social agenda, Kerry scoffed at that, arguing that this year alone Bush's budget is $9.4 billion short of financing the measure.
"You cannot promise no child left behind and then pursue policies that leave millions of children behind," he said. "Because that promise is a promissory note to all of America's families that must be paid in full."
Joining Kerry were Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius; Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus; civil rights leader Jesse Jackson; and Wade Henderson, head of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.
Before heading to Kansas, Kerry courted Teamsters union leaders in Las Vegas, Nev., by arguing that Bush has turned his back on the American worker by allowing other countries to break trade deals. As president, he said, he would put in place a "commonsense" effort to strengthen the negotiation and enforcement of such agreements.
"When I am president, we will never turn a blind eye to clear trade violations when American jobs are on the line," Kerry told several thousand cheering delegates to a Teamsters convention. He said, however, that he would push for trade agreements. "I'm not a protectionist," he said. "I don't think that most people who are reasonable expect that."
Teamsters president James Hoffa conceded that Kerry has voted for trade deals that labor opposed, but he said he is convinced Kerry has seen the error of his ways.
One way Kerry could energize labor would be to tap Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt, who enjoys strong union support, as his running mate, Hoffa said.
"I told him to put Dick Gephardt in as the vice president," Hoffa told reporters.
The liberal cure for whatever ails ya.
Which public schools did John attend? </sarcasm>
He needs to tune in to Rush Limbaugh today and get a clue.
Maybe. But he'll definitely require a vast tax increase to accomplish whatever his latest criteria is.
Lear Jet Liberals.
I'd LOVE to hear him givde this speech in "Southie". Methinks I feel a Howie Carr column coming on..
Yes, there's a vast divide in wealth between St. Paul's School for Girly-boys that he attended and the public schools in South Boston that working class kids attend.
Not blind, but will be ignored anyway. And what about the "unclear" violations...
Kerry told several thousand cheering delegates to a Teamsters convention.
Cheering? Ah, such dupes, so easy for arch-"free" trader Kerry to fool them.
He said, however, that he would push for trade agreements.
He's had about 20 years to name one other than NAFTA.
"I'm not a protectionist," he said. "I don't think that most people who are reasonable expect that."
Can anyone translate this dissembling?
What public schools did his kids attend? But why does he feel that dumping more money into the toilet that is failing to educate will do any good? A kid can learn in a one room shack, it isnt the buildings or the grounds that educate its the teachers and the curriculum and the discipline. Thats where the failure is.
Odds are, Kerry wants to thow more money at the problem.
Isn't it the job of the media to investigate whether this "routine charge" is true and inform the public of its findings? In fact, we are pumping more money than ever into schools. But, the media will never tell us that---they are too busy cheerleading for John Kerry.
Sort of. He'll just wait until any "center of excellence" crops up, and hammer it back down as soon as any half-witted statistician can find some demographic excuse.
Hey I know--maybe he'll just bus the teachers, instead of the students!
Translation: "I will throw you a few bones in the form of wasteful governemnt contracts that will shut you up and meanwhile I continue the same polcies as all my predecessors."
Yeah... I guess if he fixed the problem, he'd have nothing to rant about, would he?
Feh! afromative action does restrict equal rights. Ship of fools.
FMCDH
What, the ones he went to in Switzerland?
FMCDH
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