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Does either party have an edge on race relations?
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. Trent Lott's recent comments, which some consider an endorsement of segregation, have opened a national dialogue on the GOP's position on race. Have his comments hurt the GOP's chances of reaching out to minority voters? The Rev. Jesse Jackson of the Rainbow/Push Coalition and Republican strategist Cliff May stepped into the "Crossfire" Tuesday with hosts Tucker Carlson and James Carville to discuss Lott's future and which party best speaks to minorities. CARLSON: Now, Mr. Jackson, we don't agree on all that much, but I think we can both agree on a basic definition of racism. Racism is when government favors one group over another based on skin color. JACKSON: That's a limited definition. CARLSON: Well, that's one of them. JACKSON: No. One definition may be personal, (such as) feeling superior. CARLSON: Right. JACKSON: It may be institutional, where one group has advantage over another. It may be philosophical or it may be religious. So don't make it that simple. CARLSON: I don't think it is that simple, but I think we can agree that (it) is racist in any case. So I'm struck by the fact that only one of the two major political parties has that idea at its core, in its platform, and as its operating principle. It seems to me, its support for affirmative action makes the Democratic Party complicit in racial discrimination. JACKSON: Affirmative action is a conservative remedy to offset years of denial. And, by the way, it is a majority of white women and women of other color, plus people of color. It is an affirmative action of those who have been victims of negative action. And it has been seen as a minority. It is a majority issue. Women and people of color are a majority. CARLSON: I must say, if that definition is true, I'm struck by this poll. This is the definitive poll done by Harvard in The Washington Post on affirmative action. Here's the question -- not a loaded question.
"In order to give minorities more opportunities, do you believe race or ethnicity should be a factor when deciding who is hired, promoted or admitted to college?" Whites are against it by 94 percent to three percent, but black Americans who responded were against it 86 to 12 percent. Now, that makes sense to me, people are against discrimination, no matter what you call it. JACKSON: What's phenomenal about the case in Michigan, for example, is that you make as a factor legacy points -- the kind that Mr. Bush got when he went to Yale -- athlete points, rural points, international points, above 50 points, grades points, but race cannot be a point. Race is the most fundamental fact in the history of America's past and America's existence. There must be some plan to remedy the years of denial and exploitation, which persists until this day. Don't you know that? CARVILLE: Cliff, what is it about your party, the Republican Party, that makes people (such as) the neo-confederate groups, people in the Concerned Citizens Council who advocate racial segregation, why do these people feel more comfortable in the Republican Party than they do in the Democratic Party? What have you all done to make them feel so welcome and warm there? MAY: I can't imagine ... The fact of the matter is, James, that I believe very strongly -- and I'm going to establish, I hope, for you -- that it's the Republican Party that is the more integrationist of the two parties. We don't believe in segregation, even if you call it theme dorms. We don't believe that hyphenated Americans is the model. We don't believe in Balkanizing. We don't believe in divisiveness. Which party believes that one should be judged by the color -- not by the color of their skin, but the content of the character -- Martin Luther King ... CARVILLE: Well I'm sure he was a big Republican. OK? Let me go here. Why is it that the attorney general of the United States gives an interview to a magazine that hails the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and he says we don't do enough to promote the image of the Confederacy? The current president of the United States goes to South Carolina and refuses to take a stand on the symbol of the Confederate flag flying over the capital. You don't think black people get that? MAY: Look, there was a Confederate flag embedded in the state symbol of Arkansas when (former President Bill) Clinton was governor. There was a park named for a Ku Klux Klansman in Tennessee .... Senator (Robert) Byrd was a Ku Klux Klan member. I know he's not now, and I'm sure he doesn't long for those times. CARVILLE: Answer my question. Why couldn't George W. Bush take a stand on a racist symbol that was flying over the South Carolina capital? Doesn't that make neo-confederates neo-racists? MAY: No, it doesn't. The people who have been hardest on Trent Lott for his remarks, have been conservatives because the Republican Party is the party of Lincoln ... He's damaged his party and he's damaged all southerners. He's damaged himself most of all. JACKSON: His struggle in Mississippi and across the South when he took Reagan to Philadelphia, Mississippi, where two Jews and a black (were) killed the same day Carter was in Atlanta, Georgia, giving the human rights speech, that signal was not lost. When he tried to get funding for Bob Jones University, where Bush went two years ago, that signal was not lost. So when he voted against the King holiday ... MAY: Reverend, when I talk about Senator Byrd and when I talk about others, I'm saying that race is an issue inside both parties. Both parties have to examine their souls in this. And what's more, playing the race card, as you're doing, James, and a lot of Democrats are doing, by making believe that this is a Republican problem as opposed to an American problem ... CARLSON: Speaking of civil rights groups and civil rights, here is a verbatim quote from (Democratic Rep.) John Lewis of Georgia. I want you to hear what he has to say about Senator Lott. JACKSON: All right. CARLSON: "I'd like to come down on his side" -- that is Senator Lott's side -- "giving him a chance. I'm not one of those calling for him to step down and give up his leadership post. We all make mistakes. We all make blunders. It's very much in keeping with the philosophy and discipline of nonviolence to forgive and move on." It seems to me, Mr. Jackson, that if John Lewis can do it, I don't know why you can't. JACKSON: I think John Lewis is right, but let me tell you what the Scriptures says about it. It says, "If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then they hear from heaven." If Mr. Trent Lott is now looking to change his ways (he should) begin to address issues of poor people and civil rights and civil justice in a legislative way and select judges who are fair. You measure a tree by the fruit it bears. So I think John is right in the first step (Lott should take.) Now as he goes toward inclusion, will the party follow him as it followed Lyndon Johnson? He's on the Lyndon Johnson trail. Lyndon Johnson went from the sordid southern background to '64, public accommodation. That's where redemption came. CARLSON: So Lott is the new Lyndon Johnson? JACKSON: Well, the point is that that will be the measurement because Johnson's redemption came through legislation, not just through words. Trent Lott's redemption will come through action, just not through words. That is true for the president as well.
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