Where Edwards is coming from on race

[mbali]

From December 2002 GQ:

"A black classmate of the senator's had told me about African-American protest for representation on the homecoming court . . . nother high schoool chum, Edwards's eventual college rommate, Bill Garner, had brought up the subject as well. The few blacks at North Moore High had staged a sit-in on the campus lawn, Garner told me. And, he said, Johnny Edwards had walked up to the group and spoken with them. Then he sat down with them.

"Edwards had not volunteered that detail . Perhaps he didn't remember it. Perhaps he deemed it puny in scope. This was not, after all, a lunch counter or the front of a bus. Only a stupid homecoming-court sit-in. A little thing. That's all there was to do. So he did it - spur of the moment, sitting down for the little guy."

[AP]

1. Two more pieces of the puzzle...

(1) his stump speech during U of Mich thing included a story about how the valedictorian of his law school class was a black man who wouldn't have been there if not for AA, making the point that AA isn't about giving people a chance who don't deserve one, but is about giving people who are being held back a chance to express all their talents and capabilities.

(2) his statement about how Robbins has changed its demographics over the last 30 years, however the immigrants who move to Robbins today are going for the same reasons his father moved there 40 years ago -- to get a ahead and to give opportunities to their children which they don't have. That story makes the point about race and class WAY more eloquently than, say, talking about the confederate flag.

There are so many layers to these two stories and they are infinitely more powerful and more productive for Democracy than some other things that have been said so far in the primary campaign.

[mbali]

3. MLK Day Speech

"Even in the struggle's darkest days, countless Southerners stood as profiles in courage in the face of withering opposition. For every George Wallace we had a Terry Sanford. It was Lyndon Johnson, a Texan, who shook his fist at a joint session of Congress in 1965 and roared 'We SHALL overcome!'

"I believe that as Southerners, all of us in this room have a special responsibility to lead on civil rights, not only because we know America's tragic and terrible history when it comes to race, but also because we have led the way in breaking free from that history. And every politician from the South – whether you're a mayor, a governor, a senator, or president – has a moral obligation to make the mission of civil rights our own.

"Unfortunately, there are still some political leaders who take the low road, trying to divide people for their own political ends; some who take the slow road, saying the right thing, but dragging their feet when it comes to progress; and some who take no road, failing the responsibilities of leadership and the calling of our values in their silence.

"Leadership is more than photo ops with black children. It means supporting the education and safe streets those children need to have the equal shot in life they deserve as Americans.

"Leadership is more than talking about diversity, while attacking the vehicles to college diversity in court. I am very disappointed that the president has decided to join the fight against affirmative action at the University of Michigan. We should support efforts that increase diversity – and put an end to systems, like legacy admissions, that give a special preference to the most advantaged at the expense of diversity.

"Leadership is more than nice words. Leadership is courage, and commitment, and action. It means doing everything we can to make equality a reality — not only in our laws, but in our lives, in lives where the vestiges of discrimination remain a scar on our nation — from a health system where African-Americans get inferior care, to a school system where separate and unequal is the reality in far too many places.

"We have come far, but we have far to go:

"The Constitution now guarantees blacks the right to vote; now we have to put an end to practices that lead to the deprivation of minority voting rights once and for all.

"We have laws guaranteeing equal opportunity; now, we have to address the underlying economic conditions that still result in an average African-American income that is barely half that of whites.

"We have laws prohibiting segregation in public education; now we have to do something about a school system that is becoming increasingly re-segregated, leaving too many minority children the victims of inadequate education funding, inferior schools, and indifference.

"More than anything, leadership means recognizing that civil rights is not a zero sum game where 'we' give something to 'them' — whether it's women or minorities or immigrants.

"The civil rights movement was not about some 'them.' It was about "us." All of us. It was about transforming America into a nation so much closer to living out the true meaning of our creed.

"I can't imagine what our country would be like if we still lived in a segregated society. One of the most important people in my life is my friend Julius Chambers. Many of you know that Julius graduated first in his class at UNC Chapel Hill and fulfilled this promise with an extraordinarily distinguished legal career. Had it not been for Brown v. Board of Education, Julius would not have had any hope, much less the opportunity, to attend UNC, which had been strictly segregated until 1955. Had we not undergone the changes we saw as a result of the Civil Rights Movement, Julius might have been lost to me."

- John Edwards, January 20, 2003

[chimpymustgo]

4. "Leadership is more than photo ops with black children..."

Edwards has talked the talk, walked the walk, and travelled across the great American racial divide.

[mbali]

5. Isn't that a great line?

And SO true - really sticks it to W.

[cally]

2. I think Edwards was a HS

jock in HS and didn't get that great of grades. He was not political then. I know none of the jocks in my HS would ever have used their status to help others. It takes a tremendously decent, caring man or woman to do this. I respect Edwards very much.

[AP]

6. I read somewhere that he did get good grades in HS and in college and law

school.

He got into Clemson, but couldn't afford to stay there without a football scholarship.

At NC State he finished with a very high GPA.

He got into Duke, but couldn't afford to go there either.

He finished law school at UNC near the top of his class and got a Fed. clerkship.