Clinton proposes 'poverty czar' in speech honoring Martin Luther King Jr. David Edwards

Published: Friday April 4, 2008



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Print This Email This Sen. Hillary Clinton proposed creating a cabinet-level "Poverty Czar" during a speech Friday honoring the late civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. "I believe we should appoint a cabinet-level position that will be solely and fully devoted to ending poverty as we know it in America, a position that will focus the attention of our nation on this issue," she said. The president would ask the poverty czar, "What have you done today to end poverty in America?" The New York Times reports: She is to make the announcement in her speech at the Mason Temple in Memphis, where officials have gathered to pay tribute to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in remembrance of the 40th anniversary of his assassination.



The move comes in advance of the North Carolina primary on May 6, where Mrs. Clinton is hoping to appeal to both black voters and supporters of John Edwards, the former candidate. Mr. Edwards, a former Senator from North Carolina, had focused his campaign on reducing poverty, which he often called the cause of my life.



Both Mrs. Clinton and her rival, Senator Barack Obama, have made pilgrimages to Mr. Edwardss home in North Carolina and sought his endorsement, but so far, Mr. Edwards has remained mum. He had been critical of both of them while he was still in the race. Since then, he and his wife, Elizabeth, have suggested that they are more comfortable with Mrs. Clintons health-care plan, which, like the one he proposed first, provides for universal coverage.



The announcement of a poverty czar position could be an open invitation by Mrs. Clinton for Mr. Edwardss backing. There is a lot John and I have in common, she said in February. I will be a fighter, and I intend to ask John Edwards to be a part of anything I do in the White House. This video is from MSNBC's News Live, broadcast April 4, 2008.



Clinton proposes poverty czar This video is from MSNBC's News Live, broadcast April 4, 2008.



Transcript via closed captions it is hard to believe that it has been 40 years. and it is also heartbreaking to know that dr. king has been gone from this earth longer than he was here. when one thinks of his life, such a short life, going by in just a moment of time, but having such a profound and lasting impact on all of us. you know, as a young woman, i was privileged to be taken to hear dr. king speak by a youth minister who opened my eyes and ears and my horizons. dr. king's call to action that evening in chicago led me to confront a world bigger and broader than the one i inhabited. he had a way of doing that. of pushing us outside our own comfort zone. of making it clear that we had to be part of the revolution that was going on. it wasn't a revolution of guns. it was a revolution of hearts and minds, of attitudes and actions. when one heard dr. king speak, and i stood in line for a very long time that night, to shake his hand. and he was gracious and he was kind. to lean over to shake the hand of a 14-year-old girl from the suburbs of chicago. who went to an all-white church and an all-white school and lived in an all-white suburb. but he didn't ask me, as i reached out my hand, where do you live? what's your experience? he just took it. and looked in my face and thanked me for coming. that dr. king had such a profound and lasting impact on a young white girl, that he had that kind of impact on millions of people of all colors, faiths, ages and walks of life, tells us something about the reach and power of his vision. it was a vision big enough and bold enough and grace-filled enough to emsbras every last one of us. and when he came here to memphis to speak out on behalf of workers, he wasn't only speaking for those sanitation workers who were denied their rights, who had seen two of their fellow workers die in a cascade of garbage a few weeks before. he was speaking out for all workers everywhere who are exploited and abused and denied their basic rights. when dr. king protested the vietnam war, he wasn't just speaking on behalf of black soldiers but all soldiers and civilians. vietnamese and americans alike. when he worked on behalf of the poor here in america and around the world, he wasn't just speaking for the poor he knew, that he could see with his own eyes. but the poor who knew no boundaries of geography or color. and when he stood against discrimination, he wasn't just speaking to free african-americans from the shackles of slavery and the past that had been shaped by that abomination. he was seeking to break the shackles of hatred on the hearts of us all. he yearned for our country to fulfill the ideals that it had given lip service to. that were embodied in our founding documents. in his last speech here, he took us on a tour of his faith. but he also rooted us in the unfinished business and the unrealized promises of america. dr. king understood our constitution better than most of us. and he knew that it was crafted to expand as our hearts expanded. it was in the a constricted document from one place in time. but an xansive prok lamation of what america could become if we had the courage to do so. slavery was written into that document but so was the potential for equality. he waged that revolution not just to change our laws, but to change our hearts and our behaviors. he reminded us that those who signed our founding documents were signing a promissory note to which every american was to fall err. the promise of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. in the end, he asked nothing more than that we redeem that promise. each in our own way, through faith-based institutions, through our businesses, our labor unions, through our political and public service. and even though as originally drafted, we did not include dr. king, or me either, women and african-americans were left out of america's founding promises. but he never gave up and neither should we. his faith in america animated and sustained his journey. like with any faith, there were dark moments when one doubts, when one is on the brink of giving up and throwing in the towel. but he would always come back from those dark places and so must we. the tenacity of dr. king's faith is all the more extraordinary when we think of the ways it was tested. by all the critics in the media attacking his work. by the death threats, the bombings, the beatings, the stabbings, the murders, the grinding hard work day after day of just getting up and moving on. even the speech he gave here at this great complex wasn't supposed to be delivered. the crowd demanded it and he came. he always answered the call. and for those who are clergy, you know that it sometimes tests one's constitution and one's faith to constantly be asked to do more, to reach out, to keep going. someone of lesser heart and lesser faith might have grown weary doing good. might have given up. but he persisted in the struggle. and we know the results. so much has changed. i look at the young people standing in the back of this room. and it may be hard for you to imagine what you read in the history books, what your parents and your grandparents tell you. jim crow is now something you read about. but people in this room lived under it. because of dr. king, these young people, my daughter's generation, grout up taking for granted that children of all colors could attend school together. because of him, after 219 years and 43 presidents who have been white men, this next generation will grow up taking for granted that a woman or an african-american can be president of the united states of america. but as far as we've come, we know the journey is far from over. some days when you open up the newspaper and you read the headlines, it feels like we've tumbled right back down that mountain top, doesn't it? some days it's amazing how deep the valley can be. at times like those, i think of what dr. king said in his last speech. how he acknowledged we are living in a time of turmoil and upheaval. but then admonished us to remember that only when it is dark enough can you see the stars. dr. king saw the darkness of a nation torn apart by petty human differences. but he imagined one knit back together by our shared humanity. he saw so many going hungry in a land of plenty. but he envisioned an america where our prosperity was shared. he saw america embroiled in an endless war. but imagined a principled peace. while our problems were grave, he never stopped believing our promise was greater. he saw us not as we were, but as we could and should be. isn't it about time we started seeing ourselves as dr. king saw us? isn't it about time we came together as we have in memphis, to find the solutions to make america what it can and should be? when i say solutions, i mean good jobs. jobs you can raise a family on. jobs that give people a shot at the middle class. to be able to stay there and live with dignity and respect.