Bill Clinton to Speak at Symposium Commemorating Report on 60s Riots

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February 22, 2008


Bill Clinton speaks during church services at The Temple of Praisein southeast Washington on Sunday, Feb. 10, 2008.


In planning a symposium on one historical event, faculty members at the University of Pennsylvania may have set the stage for another.

The symposium, “Kerner Plus 40,” examines the long-term impact of a report issued February 29, 1968, by the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, widely known as the Kerner Commission after its chairman, Gov. Otto Kerner, Jr. of Illinois. Convened by President Lyndon Johnson, the panel investigated two dozen of the many civil disturbances that had erupted in Detroit, Newark, and other American cities the year before. It concluded “Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white — separate and unequal,” and recommended a long list of government responses to inequities in education and other areas.

Camille Z. Charles, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Pennsylvania and faculty associate director of the university’s Center for Africana Studies, says she and other planners of the symposium were simply looking for “a big-name person” to speak when they sent Bill Clinton an invitation in August.

“It was never intended to be an opportunity for campaigning, and it was not pitched to him as such,” Ms. Charles says. “Obviously, when we first thought about this, it was a very different political climate in terms of what was expected in the primaries. We really anticipated that by the time it got to be time for our event, the nomination would be sort of a done deal.”

Mr. Clinton expressed interest in speaking at the symposium from the get-go, but remained on the fence about doing it, saying he was worried about a potential schedule conflict, Ms. Charles says. Not until a couple of weeks ago did he commit to speaking at the event on Thursday, February 28.

Contrary to the symposium planners’ predictions, the Democratic Party’s choice of its presidential nominee is anything but “a done deal,” with Barack Obama having recently overtaken Hillary Rodham Clinton in a tight race and Mrs. Clinton fighting hard to make a comeback in the coming primaries in Ohio, Texas, and, yes, Pennsylvania.

Over the course of his wife’s presidential campaign, Mr. Clinton has gone from being a beloved figure among many black Americans — once hailed as “the first black president” — to someone who has come under heavy fire from black leaders for his criticisms of Mr. Obama, who has overwhelming black support. At least one prominent black scholar of race relations, the Stanford University law professor Richard Thompson Ford, has accused the Clinton campaign of stoking racial tensions by suggesting that it is banking on Hispanic voters being hesitant to support a black candidate.

It is hard not to see speech by Bill Clinton on race relations and the aftermath of the 60s riots as a potentially pivotal moment for his wife’s campaign, offering him the opportunity to score points with black voters or to make statements that will drive many away. Ms. Charles says the plan is to have Mr. Clinton speak for 20 minutes and then spend another 20 or so being interviewed by symposium organizers. A crowd of 1,000 is expected.

http://chronicle.com/blogs/election/1731/bill-clinton-to-speak-at-symposium-commemorating-report-on-60s-riots