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| Remarks to the Congressional Black Caucus"You know, in all seriousness, we face more than a new President and a new administration and new leadership of honored institutions. Here in Washington the House and Senate will be more closely divided than at any time in the history that any of us can personally remember. And across America there are real and continuing disagreements about the issues and about what is now past and about what lies ahead.
And now you must chose, as public servants, and as Americans, to heal our nation's divisions and move this country forward. I believe very deeply that we all must respect -- and wherever possible - - help President-elect Bush. Because from the moment he takes his solemn oath, a great responsibility will rest in his hands. And from the moment you take your solemn oath, building upon the one just administered here in this ceremony, you are charged with a special responsibility as well, one that you know in your heart and in your bones, because this institution has discharged that responsibility on behalf of the people of this country since its founding - - to lift up those who have been left out or locked out, to honor those who fought and marched and died to have their voices heard, and to secure the right to vote.
When you are the conscience of the Congress, you of course have to do your best to reach across party lines, but you also have to know when to draw the line. When you are the conscience of the Congress, you have to work to build majorities, but you also have to fight for human dignity. When you are the conscience of the Congress, you have to seek consensus, but you also have to seek justice and fundamental fairness.
On the great issues that you will face in the 107th Congress, you have to act from conviction and lead from your heart. You know full well that among your special responsibilities is a sacred one to all of those who took our advice last November and voted C.B.C.*
So, for them, when you walk onto the floor of the Congress, and you see their equities at stake, you have to vote C.B.C.
And so I ask you, the next time you see a crumbling school with desks crowded in the hallways and rain dripping through the roof, vote C.B.C.
The next time you see a sick child with no health insurance and a parent who cannot possibly afford her family's care, vote C.B.C.
The next time you see whole communities choking from pollution and environmental injustice, vote C.B.C.
The next time someone tries to shut down Affirmative Action instead of swinging open the doors of opportunity, I know you'll vote C.B.C.
The next time that anyone argues that even the most vicious and violent hate crimes are just like any other crimes, or that racial profiling is just a price that has to be paid, vote C.B.C.
And when I look at all these challenges that lie ahead I see the great promise of a country that is stronger and more prosperous than at any time in our history. I see how much good we can achieve. But the values we fought for together, the causes we have championed together, across the years and in the final days of the election, cannot be measured in votes or victors.
I am more grateful to the men and women of the C.B.C. and all of you and others who have lifted them up and made their careers and their prophesies and their struggles possible. I am more grateful than I can say to you. I look back across the distinguished line of leadership here and I see another close friend, who was your immediate past Chair, who did a truly outstanding job, Congressman Jim Clyburn, and I want to pay tribute to Jim Clyburn.
Your support was one of the greatest honors I have ever received in my life. I mean that from my heart. Because the struggle that you represent and that you embody is a struggle for more than fairness, more even than justice. It is a struggle in its deepest sense for redemption: redemption of this nation's history, redemption of this nation's soul. And so your support has been something that I have and will always cherish with all my heart. And I want you to know that I will always be there for you.
Seventeen days from now I leave the Vice Presidency full of love for my country, full of gratitude to its people and above all full of hope for our common future. And one reason is that I know in the 107th Congress you will carry the torch of liberty and strive each and every day to make America all it can be.
So I want to close with the words of the great Harlem poet, Langston Hughes:
'Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed - -
...a land where liberty is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe...
O let America be America again - -
The land that never has been yet - -
And yet must be - - the land where every man is free.'**
God bless and good luck in the 107th Congress with your outstanding leadership, the Congressional Black Caucus." President Al Gore, January 3, 2001
(*"Vote C.B.C. is a reference to a speech that President Gore made to the C.B.C. during the 2000 Presidential campaign. In that speech, Gore admitted that he could not openly ask them to vote for Gore/Lieberman, so instead he jokingly asked them to vote C.B.C. The joke went on for several minutes, with the President listing his agenda and urging them to "vote C.B.C." on each proposed policy. In his January 3rd speech, Gore's request for them to "vote C.B.C." was definately not a joke.)
(**The full text of the Langston Hughes poem paraphrased by President Gore can be found here.) |
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