Joe Cunningham: “I do not think there will be peace in the Middle East or Ireland or in Bosnia in my lifetime, and I do not believe that…”

“I do not think there will be peace in the Middle East or Ireland or in Bosnia in my lifetime, and I do not believe that racism will be dead in the United States of America in my lifetime. I truly believe that. But I also believe that affirmative action creates a lot of negatives and that it is detrimental just like I think bilingual education is detrimental. And I agree with the gentleman from California (Mr. Riggs) that the best thing we can offer to all children and to all Americans is an equal opportunity, especially by focusing on kindergarten through 12th grade. A large portion of our Hispanic population drops out of school. That is wrong. And what chance do they have at the American dream? A large portion of the African-Americans that attend college are in remedial education, so in both groups the best thing we can do is offer all children the best we can in K through 12. But yet in this country we do not do that good a job, even though we have good teachers and good schools. My wife is one of those. I was one of those. My dad, who died three years ago, he was a Democrat, and he said: Son, my ideal of the American dream is getting a good education and working hard. And if you have those tools, you can pursue happiness. It is not guaranteed. But if you pursue happiness and you have those tools, not every day but most days you can make tomorrow better than it is today. And I truly believe that.”