All-American Presidential Forums on PBS" Moderated by Tavis Smiley

FORUM RESPONSES

"First of all, thank you for the question. Tavis, thank you for helping to organize this. All the contributors of the "Covenant," thank you and thank you to Howard and Dr. Swygert and all of you who have made me what I am. This is where Thurgood Marshall and the team from Brown crafted their strategy. If it hadn't been for them, I would not be standing here today.

It was their fundamental recognition that, for us to achieve racial equality was not simply good for African Americans, but it was good for America as a whole, that we could not be what we might be as a nation unless we healed the brutal wounds of slavery and Jim Crow. Now we have enormous progress, but the progress we have made is not good enough. As many have already mentioned, we live in a society that remains separated in terms of life opportunities for African Americans, for Latinos and the rest of the nation.

It is absolutely critical for us to recognize that there are going to be responsibilities on the part of African Americans and other groups to take personal responsibility to rise up out of the problems that we face, but there's also got to be a social responsibility. There has to be a sense of mutual responsibility and there's got to be political will in the White House to make that happen. That's what I'm committed to doing. That's the reason I'm running for president."

"A number of the things that we've got to do have already been mentioned. Early childhood education, and John's exactly right, starts from birth. Where we can get parenting counselors to go in and work with at-risk parents, it makes an enormous difference. We've got to make sure that teachers are going to the schools that need them the most.

We're going to lose a million teachers over the next decade because the baby boom generation is retiring, so it's absolutely critical for us to give them the incentives and the tools and the training that they need not only to become excellent teachers, but to become excellent teachers where they're most needed. We're going to have to put more money into after-school programs and provide the resources that are necessary. When you've got a bill called No Child Left Behind, you can't leave the money behind for No Child Left Behind and, unfortunately, that's what's been done.

But the most important thing is that we recognize these children as our children. The reason that we have consistently had under-performance among our children is because too many of us think it is acceptable for them not to achieve. We have to have a mindset where we say to ourselves that every single child can learn if they're given the resources and the opportunities and right now that's not happening. We need somebody in the White House who's going to recognize these children as our own."

"I think John's prescriptions are right. I would add the issue of prevention involves education and one of the things that we've got to overcome is a stigma that still exists in our communities. We don't talk about this. We don't talk about in the schools. Sometimes we don't talk about it in the churches. It has been an aspect of sometimes a homophobia, that we don't address this issue as clearly as it needs to be. I also think there's a broader issue here. This is going to be true on all the issues we talk about.

The problems of poverty, like of health care, like of educational opportunity, are all interconnected. To some degree, the African American community is weakened. It has a disease to its immune system. When we are impoverished, when people don't have jobs, they are more likely to be afflicted not just with AIDS, but with substance abuse problems, with guns in the streets.

So it is important for us to look at the whole body here and make absolutely certain that we are providing the kinds of economic development opportunities and jobs that will create healthy communities, that we've got universal health care that ensures the people can get regular treatments. Those are the kinds of strategies that, over the long term, are going to make a difference in our communities."

"There's no doubt that the tax system has been skewed and, the Bush tax cuts, people didn't need them and they weren't even asking for them and that's why they need to be lapsed so we can pay for universal health care and other initiatives. But I think this goes to a broader question and that is, are we willing to make the investments in genuine equal opportunity in this country?

People aren't looking for charity and one of the stressing things sometimes when we have a conversation about race in America is that we talk about welfare and we talk about poverty, but what people really want is fairness. They want people paying their fair share of taxes. They want that money allocated fairly.

One of the distressing things about Katrina was the fact not only that the Bush administration did not respond, but the tragedy had happened before the hurricane struck. That is because we had not made systematic investments and the only way we're going to make it is by making sure that those of us who are fortunate enough to have the money actually make a contribution for all the programs that we've been talking about tonight."

"[These disparities suggest] that the criminal justice system is not colorblind. It does not work for all people equally and that is why it's critical to have a president who sends a signal that we are going to have a system of justice that is not just us, but is everybody.

This is something that I've got a track record working on at the state level where a lot of the criminal justice issues come up. That's why I passed racial profiling legislation at the state level. That's why I passed legislation to make sure that we didn't have wrongful convictions, but it requires some political courage because oftentimes you are accused of being soft on crime when you deal with these issues."

"Well, let me finish John's thought because it's an important one. Halliburton or Bechtel or these other operations getting the contracts to rebuild, instead of giving the people in New Orleans the opportunity to rebuild and get jobs and training, is a further compounding of the outrage. I think that what's most important, though, that we have a president who is in touch with the needs of New Orleans before the hurricane hits.

Because part of the reason that we had such a tragedy was the assumption that everybody could jump in their SUVs, load up with sparkling water and check into the nearest hotel. We've got to have one person in charge. We've got to have a FEMA director that's reporting to the president, but we have to have a president who understands the reality that people in New Orleans were being neglected prior to the hurricane and there are potential Katrinas all across this country that have been left unattended."

"I now live in Chicago, but I'm not originally from Chicago. I moved there to work with churches who were dealing with the devastation of steel plants that had closed all throughout the region. Tens of thousands of people had been laid off. There was never a federal effort to come in after those closings and to figure out how can we retain workers for the jobs of the future, how can we invest and make sure capital is available to create new businesses in those communities.

So not only do we have to deal with our trade agreements, not only do we have to eliminate tax breaks for companies that are moving overseas, not only do we have to work on our education system, but we also have to have an intentional strategy on the part of the federal government to make sure that we are reinvesting in those communities that are being burdened by globalization and not benefiting from it."

"The no-fly zone is important. Having the protective force is critical. But we have to look at Africa not just after a crisis happens. What are we doing with respect to trade opportunities with Africa? What are we doing in terms of investment in Africa? What are we doing to pay attention to Africa consistently with respect to our foreign policy? That has been what's missing in the White House and our long-term security is going to depend on whether we're giving children in Sudan and Zimbabwe and Kenya the same opportunities so that they have a stake in order as opposed to violence and chaos."