But knowing what we know about the difficulties of our own history, knowing what we know about how hard it is to build democracy, we need to be humble in singing freedom's praises.
But we should not let our voice waver in speaking out on the side of people who are seeking freedom. And we must never, ever indulge in the condescending voices who allege that some people in Africa or in the Middle East are just not interested in freedom, they're culturally just not ready for freedom or they just aren't ready for freedom's responsibilities.
We've heard that argument before, and we, more than any, as a people, should be ready to reject it. The view was wrong in 1963 in Birmingham, and it is wrong in 2003 in Baghdad and in the rest of the Middle East. [...]
[...] I don't think I'm of the particular breed, that -- those people are a kind of special breed, I think, who run for office. We put them through an awful lot. And it's a little difficult for me to imagine doing it.
I'm not a very good long-term planner. I really don't say never to anything. But it is not on my radar screen to run for elective office.
| Some of several remarks in the Associated Press' "Excerpts From Condoleezza Rice's Remarks" before the National Association of Black Journalists in Dallas today
Rice, the president's national security adviser, who rarely speaks publicly about racial issues, also told the journalists that she occasionally gives the president advice on such matters. "Sometimes, when there are issues concerning race, I make my views known," she said, in answer to a reporter's questions. "Sometimes, whether I'm asked or not, I make my views known."
Earlier, in a more formal address, Rice spoke of her upbringing in Alabama.
"Like many of you, I grew up around the home-grown terrorism of the 1960s," she said.
"I remember the bombing of the church in Birmingham in 1963, because one of the little girls that died was a friend of mine. Forty years removed from the tragedy, I can honestly say that Denise McNair and the others did not die in vain," Rice said.
"Because of their sacrifice," she added, "we are a better nation and a better example to a world where difference is still too often taken as a license to kill." [...]
[...] "Let us never indulge the condescending voices who allege that some people are not interested in freedom or aren't ready for freedom's responsibilities," she said.
"That view was wrong in 1963 in Birmingham, and it is wrong in 2003 in Baghdad."
"Our own histories should remind us that the union of democratic principle and practice is always a work in progress," she said.
"When the Founding Fathers said 'We the people,' they did not mean us. Our ancestors were considered three-fifths of a person."
| More Rice quotes are served in Jacques Steinberg's New York Times (via the Charlotte Observer) article "Rice says rebuilding Iraq is like '60s South"
posted in articles on August 7, 2003 8:39 PM | t (0)
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please. let's hope she keeps her word and doesn't run for office any time, sooner or later
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