Race and Reconciliation in America by Hon. William S. Cohen

Author:Hon. William S. Cohen
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780739135525
Publisher: Lexington Books

SECRETARY BILL COHEN: And with all due respect to General Jones, the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of the Army of the Soldiers for Justice is Janet Cohen.

MRS. JANET LANGHART COHEN: Soldiers for justice. I like that.

MR. DOUG WILSON: Beverly, Bernard, Josh, and Jason, if you will permit, I think it’s only fair just to be able to return the mic to Helene Gayle. So that she can finish her presentation.

DR. HELENE GAYLE: And I’m going to be very, very brief. Because I think it’s as exciting to hear what everybody else has to say. So let me just make a few points pretty quickly. First of all, as I mentioned, I spend a lot of my time now focusing on global issues.

I think from a global perspective, clearly this is an issue that is broader than the United States. But what the United States does matters. And I think Chris Edley made that point earlier. You know, everywhere that I go, it is amazing how universal this need to have other and to make distinctions. I think it has to do with fear. It has to do with a sense of competition, a sense of lack of thinking about scarcity and some of the things that are at the core of this.

But I think our ability to show that we can get past this and that we can think more broadly, I think, will have a huge impact on the rest of the world—whether it’s crises in Darfur, whether it’s the Middle East. I think you can go around the world and look at the kind of conflicts that people have that are built on a notion of differences. I think the more that we can show, as many people have said, our common humanity and how much we have in common and how we, as a country that is known around the world for having not dealt with this issue, if we can do it, then I think we can be a beacon of hope for the rest of the world. So I think we have a real leadership role that goes beyond us in this country that can help in healing the world in general.

We talked about this issue of economics I think in a variety of ways. And as I was starting to say, I think the worst part of it is the cost of racism long term, but also the cost of wasted potential and what that does. We have to think about that and how we make sure that, ultimately, we’re doing what we can to ensure that everybody has the ability to recognize their full potential. Because again, I think that’s when we in this country, as well as the rest of the world, will be able to have a very different world when we have one that allows people to each reach their full potential.

It’s been said many, many, many times over the course of these last few hours, the role

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