Bill Clinton: “I agree with that. If I could just make one other point. Then I'll call on David. One reason I think all this talking…”

“I agree with that. If I could just make one other point. Then I'll call on David. One reason I think all this talking business is more important than ever before is that if you posit the fact--if you look at the growth in educational attainment, the growth of the middle class among African- Americans or--you can say, well, things have gotten a lot better. And then if you identify what the continuing problems are, like what McHughson said about--and the examples David cited, you can say, these things require changes in human perception, human heart, you've got to have more talking. I think the thing that's more profound is, when you look at these communities that have--there are several counties in America with people from more than 100 different racial and ethnic groups now, and they're all different in many ways. They have different perceptions and different cultural patterns. I know, after the Los Angeles riots, I went out and walked the streets, and I was so stunned by the gulf between Korean grocers and their African-American customers. And I've been in other cities where there were Arab-American merchants and their Hispanic customers or African-American customers--all these things are proliferating. That's the kind of thing that you see eating other countries alive from the inside out. And that's why we have to begin to deal with this, because a lot of you have got to bring the insights you have from your own not only personal but historic experiences to bear on a whole different America. It's a new thing out there where there's somebody from everyplace out there with a family and a community and a culture and a set of perceptions that they will bring to bear on all their interactions. Go ahead, David. [Mr. Shipler said that optimism was too close to complacency and pessimism was too close to resignation. Mr. Liebarth then introduced the next participants. Rev. Knute Larson, white pastor of the Chapel in Akron, described growing up in a racist environment and then introduced his friend Rev. Ronald Fowler, black pastor of the Arlington Church of God. Reverend Fowler stated that whites had always had preferential treatment and therefore the Nation should intentionally provide incentives and opportunities for minorities, as it did for World War II veterans. He concluded that he and Reverend Larson had worked together to create an atmosphere for free discussion of racial issues.]”