Attorney General Eric Holder Addresses the Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee 50th Anniversary Conference
http://www.justice.gov/ag/speeches/2010/ag-speech-100417.html
RALEIGH, N.C. ~ Saturday, April 17, 2010
Remarks as prepared for delivery:
Thank you, Congressman [John] Lewis. I'm humbled by your kind words.
And I continue to be inspired by the example of leadership and
service that you provide for us all.
Nearly half a century ago, during one of the most painful, and most
shameful, chapters in our nation's history, your courage and
restraint in the face of life-threatening violence brought out the
best in a generation. And on the day that Dr. King led hundreds of
thousands of Americans in a march on Washington and shared his Dream
with the world, your words established the creed that guided those
devoted to the cause of Justice and the promise of equality the
creed that sustains us to this day.
In the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial, standing with Dr. King, you
declared that, "Our minds, souls and hearts cannot rest until freedom
and justice exist for all."
Those words were true in 1963. They remain true today.
It is this truth that brings us together here. It's an honor to be
part of these days of important reflection and reevaluation. I'm
grateful to join you all in commemorating SNCC's 50th anniversary and
in celebrating the progress that so many of you here, in this very
church, helped to achieve.
Today, we also celebrate the life and mourn the loss of Dr. Benjamin
Hooks, one of our nation's great civil rights leaders. Dr. Hooks
served our country in many ways -- as a pastor, a judge, a lawyer, an
activist, a businessman and a veteran. His extraordinary commitment
to the cause of equal justice helped to open the doors of opportunity
to the many who have followed in his footsteps, and his visionary
leadership helped to steer the NAACP through one of its most challenging eras.
As we remember and honor Dr. Hooks's achievements and contributions,
our thoughts and prayers are with the Hooks family. Although Dr.
Hooks is sorely missed, there is much to celebrate in the life he
lived, in the example he set, and in the inspiration his memory will
continue to provide us. I have no doubt that Dr. Hooks is smiling
down on us, thrilled to see the large crowd gathered here.
Today, you are so many. But it is worth pausing to remember that half
a century ago in the beginning there were only a few. Four young
men Franklin McCain, David Richmond, Joseph McNeil and Ezell Blair,
Jr. joined together, bound by a shared hope and by a bold, untested
idea. And on Feb. 1, 1960, at a Woolworth's lunch counter in
Greensboro, they put their idea into action.
The next day, a picture of these young men, defiantly sitting in
"white only" stools, appeared on the cover of the Greensboro Record,
above a prophetic three-word caption that said it all: "Students
Begin Movement."
By the end of the day, those four students had been joined by dozens
more and, before long, by tens of thousands more. This flicker of
hope, first sparked by a small circle of students on North Carolina
A&T's campus, quickly spread to Durham and Chapel-Hill, to
Winston-Salem and Concord, to Raleigh, and soon to every state
across the South. Because of SNCC, because of you, what began in
Greensboro as a policy of protest became, all across America, a
philosophy of progress and a too long delayed quest for justice and equality.
It was on this very day April 17th exactly fifty years ago, that
this philosophy became the foundation of a movement that would
forever change the course of our country. On that day, SNCC's
founders adopted a strategy of nonviolent confrontation, not merely
as a tactic for advancing civil rights, but as an end unto itself.
"By appealing to conscience and standing on the moral nature of human
existence," they wrote in their mission statement, "nonviolence
nurtures the atmosphere in which reconciliation and justice become
actual possibilities."
And that, of course, is exactly what happened. As their efforts
expanded from sit-ins to marches, from freedom rides to freedom
ballots these young leaders created a legacy of non-violence that
has been emulated by every successful social movement in America
since. And as they met success, our society and our laws moved
closer to fulfilling their promise of equal justice for all.
Many of you know this history far better than I can recount it. You
lived it. You were there, a part of those early days. Some of you
risked your lives to achieve the enduring progress we now celebrate.
You were, as the Committee's Executive Secretary James Forman once
put it, "a band of sisters and brothers a circle of trust with a
belief in people and in their power to change their lives."
I mention this history because there is, quite simply, no better
guide as we set our course for the days ahead. For well over two
centuries now, the American people have been striving to fulfill the
promise of our justice system. I have great faith in this system. It
is an essential aspect of our democracy's foundation. But I also
realize that, unfortunately, our legal system hasn't always reflected
our highest ideals.
Before SNCC helped to end segregation, our legal system undermined
the very rights and privileges that it should have been protecting.
Since those dark days, we've made great progress. And, while we must
make peace with this past, we must never forget or dismiss it.
Looking back on this history provides our best chance for moving
forward. It also helps us to understand the persistent suspicion
held by some that, for example, the criminal justice system does
not treat African-Americans or other people of color fairly. And this
history illuminates some of the ways in which our old legal system
continues to affect the present conditions in some of our nation's
most vulnerable African-American communities. Indeed, this history is
a powerful reminder of the persistent effects of injustice and the
consequences of civil rights violations.
These consequences are, perhaps, most evident when examining the
current state of our economy. Over the last two years, we have faced
the most serious financial crises in generations. Certainly, the
recession affected Americans of every racial and ethnic group, class,
and age closing off both blue- and white-collar job prospects.
However, the consequences for African-American communities have been
far more severe than the national averages. Even today, as our nation
emerges from the recession, joblessness for young black men, those
between the ages of 16 and 24, has reached proportions not seen since
the Great Depression. And young black women of the same age now have
an unemployment rate of more that 26 percent, 11 points higher than
the unemployment rate for all 16-to-24-year-old women.
These economic disparities will have long-term consequences for all
Americans. And they should concern each of us. After all we've worked
to achieve, we must not allow this next generation to become the
first generation in decades not to keep pace with or exceed their
parents' standard of living.
But such disparities, as you know, are not limited to financial
matters. A little more than a month ago, the U.S. Sentencing
Commission released a study that found African-American and Latino
men are more likely to receive longer prison sentences than their
white counterparts a reality aggravated by the crack/powder cocaine
sentencing disparity that Congress is, fortunately, now taking steps
to reduce. And, just this past week, a U.S. District court judge at
the urging of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division
ordered the Walthall County School District in Tylertown, Mississippi
just miles from where SNCC planted the seeds of its freedom ballots
campaign in 1961 to comply with an order from nearly four decades
ago to halt practices that were encouraging the re-segregation of
their schools.
Today's challenges remind us that we have much more to do, despite
the progress we've made in creating a more equal nation. It may be
tempting when you look at the diversity of people walking the halls
of Congress or at the man sitting in the Oval Office to think that
equal justice has been achieved for all Americans. We have made
tremendous progress as a nation. But it will take more than the
election of the first African-American President to fully secure the
promise of equality for every American. And it will certainly take
more than the appointment of the first African-American Attorney
General to ensure that the American justice system reflects the
values and principles enshrined in our nation's founding documents.
We at the Justice Department have recommitted ourselves to this work.
We're strengthening civil rights protections in employment, housing,
voting, and sentencing, and we've launched a new initiative aimed at
expanding access to justice.
I believe that every American, and certainly every one in this
church, can play a role in advancing this work in rekindling the
spirit of justice that began at luncheon counters in April 1960 and
electrified the nation. I am, of course, speaking in particular to
the many college students gathered here today. We are counting on you
to build on SNCC's achievements and to use the opportunities and
gifts you've been provided to help others realize their potential,
and to further advance the cause of justice, and to ensure that our
nation's promise of equal opportunity is, finally, fulfilled.
Your presence here today gives me great hope for our future. Time
after time, the American people often at the insistence of our
nation's young people have proven that we will not be deterred by
our nation's painful past. Instead, we must continue to apply the
lessons we have learned from history to hasten our work and to open
the doors of opportunity for all.
On this historic day, as we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of SNCC's
beginnings, I can't help but be optimistic. And I can't help but
recall Dr. King's prophetic reminder that "the arc of the moral
universe is long but it bends toward justice." I believe that Dr.
King was right, in part because of the progress I've witnessed during
my own lifetime and the incredible healing I've seen. As a child in
New York, I cheered on the Brooklyn Dodgers and their star second
baseman, Jackie Robinson. As a boy, I watched Vivian Malone a woman
who later became my sister-in-law step past George Wallace to
integrate the University of Alabama. As a teenager, I felt the scope
of my own dreams expand as I saw Thurgood Marshall take his historic
place on our nation's highest court. As a man, I've had the privilege
to serve our nation's first African-American President. And I now
have the indescribable honor of leading our nation's Justice
Department as the first African-American Attorney General.
This progress would not have, and could not have, occurred without
SNCC's work. Let me be very clear: there is a direct line, a direct
line, from that lunch counter to the Oval Office and to the fifth
floor of the United States Department of Justice where the Attorney
General sits. Today, as I stand before leaders who I've admired all
my life, I fully understand that I also stand on your shoulders. So I
am here to simply say "thank you" as much as anything. The path I've
been so blessed to travel was blazed by your sacrifice, by your
courage, by your conviction and most of all- by your action. What
seems almost easy looking back at old newsreel coverage from fifty
years ago was, I know, unimaginably difficult and frightening.
Despite this, SNCC and the movement it inspired persevered and succeeded.
Now, together, we must continue moving forward on this long road
toward justice and equality. Although our progress may still seem
slow and halting at times, each of us has the power, and obligation,
to make sure that our journey continues. Together, we can build a
more inclusive, more just, and more perfect union. And we must. As
John Lewis said best, "our minds, souls, and hearts cannot rest until
freedom and justice exist for all."
To that, I say, simply, "Amen."
Thank you.
--------
Eric Holder's SNCC Speech
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YTdkMjRlNTgwNzI3MjU5MGIwZTU1YTBiY2JjNzRmMTE=
by Roger Clegg
4/19/2010
Over the weekend, Attorney General Eric Holder gave a speech at the
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee's 50th anniversary
conference. He recounted and praised SNCC's role in the
lunch-counter sit-ins and freedom rides during the early days of the
civil-rights movement, but his history ends early: There is no
mention of SNCC becoming increasingly radical (embracing Black Power
and expelling its white staff members and volunteers) and,
ultimately, rejecting nonviolence, with Stokely Carmichael replacing
John Lewis as its head, and with H. Rap Brown succeeding Carmichael
when the latter left to join the Black Panthers. (Brown, who also
became a Black Panther and is now in prison for murder, changed the
"N" in SNCC from "Nonviolent" to "National.") I think it is also
fair to say that Holder's speech sees the civil-rights glass today as
half-empty rather than 15/16ths full.
.
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