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Remarks to the Community of Los Angeles 5/8/92 [OA 6102] [4]
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Remarks to the Community of Los Angeles 5/8/92 [OA 6102] [4]
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[Remarks] to the Community of Los Angeles 5/8/92 [OA 6102] [4]
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1
if
"
Seneral comment
David Kearns
went make justice. ion sure, law you & you order mention
See additional Darman changes from C.A.
DDDM
Group
Draft One
CD MAY 6 P5:28
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS TO THE COMMUNITY OF LOS ANGELES
FRIDAY, MAY 8, 1992
[ACKNOWLEDGMENTS)
Let me first thank the people of the City of Los Angeles for
all they have done to make this visit so successful. With all
that has transpired these last few days, I can't imagine the
headaches we've probably caused, but I can assure you we do plan
to leave on schedule,
The police, the community groups, the
Mayor's office, the Governor: Everyone has been tremendously
helpful.
= was important that = come here. Los Angeles has been the
site of a torrible tragedy. Not just for you, but for all of us.
That's why it's important that I say a few things about this
visit, to speak with you about what I've seen in this city -- and
about where we must now go as a country.
(Anecdote( (s) from tour and meetings.] In sum, on the same
city block
11
(Education)
saw shocking signs of hatred and remarkable signs
should be reference to specific examples of
(ccA
of hope.
assis problems fance the Fed. gat. yave to immediate
This tragedy has been many, many years in the making. It
Importer
will take a long time to put things right. I could have said
Things naver
"put things right again", but that would miss the point Things
for de
been the
weren't right before a week ago Wednesday. The status quo here,
Lades
and in too many cities across America is not right. We must not
return to the status quo not here not in any city where
que
(OCA)
General
How about mentioning all of reforms
T
beside "weed &seed, etc
Siglence and
ration of the
are the order
Let me tell you a
little
mut
Rudy Cambell. Saw him on TV.
Looks to be about eight.
I,
urdered a few years back.
Mother? Didn't see her.
1.
filsed by his twenty-two year
old sister who has five
own. Lives in a tough
neighborhood. Think about
has already been through. And
that now he says he fears
-173 will only get "badder and
badder and badder. " It by
heart.
What went wrong in
:::
were the "underlying
causes", the "root proplems
can all be debated. And it
should be. Not to assign
sssing blame gets us nowhere.
Honest talk and principles
111
get us a lot further --
will move us forward.
I believe there are
that most Americans can agree
with. Let me spend just 1
those. Since the sixties,
lots of different programs
(Justice
tried
and social decay.
Ec address the need
for adequate housing, for
for education, for job
training. Everything from
to welfare to health care
has been the subject of som
report, or study.
[
Huge amounts of money
spent -- some estimates are
as high as two and a hal:
cllars over twenty-five
years. Check the numbers:
the last decade, federal
spending went up for these
diforts.
Dayman that ted pointed pending
at
7
Put away the studies en
has game up during POTUS
recound our cities. Some quick tenure
facts: in 1960 the percent:
to unwed mothers was 5%.
3
Now it is 27% -- 5 times as great. If you read about a young
black male dying, odds are that ne was murdered. In fact, odds
are 4 out of 10. Cur young black men are at a crisis: If you're
a black male between 15-25 here in California, you're three times
more likely to be murdered than = enter the University of
California. Kids used to carry just their lunches to school.
Between 1987 and 1991, 134 guns were seized here in L.A. -- and
(OCA)
good
emphasize.
that was in our elementary schools. Numbers for high schools are
10 times as great. The chances that an 8th grader has ever used
alcohol is 70%, and there's = = in 10 chance that he or she has
used marijuana.
In the wake of the
L.A.
DIE
-- in the wake of the crack
epidemic -- in the wake of the lost generation of inner-city
geny
(GCA)
youth: can any of us argue THAT - solved the problems of
poverty, racism, and crime?
-- govt. programs have
We have made progress removing many of the legal barriers to
discrimination and equality.
30t you don hadd Teck
(Instice)
further
to see that hate,
(Justice)
bigotry
Players
1]
smoked
social
Some programs -- I'm thinking of a program like Head Start -
- have shown time-tested positive results. But many, many more
simply have not worked. our Veloure system doesn't get people
off welfare -- it keeps them there. Our safety net -- as
essential as it is -- stops short of providing the people it
serves a way out of at
cycle of
poverty.
&
[Tustree)
?
We know all too well
the
schering statistics
--
severest
in
our nation's urban areas.
jummary fact is this: our cities
are in serious trouble.
We in government have
relate responsibility to
participate in solving ther
leas, Our first responsibility
is to create order -- net ::
:.f a prison yard -- but an
enabling order. One where
can flourish, children can
(Justice)
learn, and jobs can be
how :t can I have taken a hart 1:
== the government can do and
enable
vto a address
the concerns that
really matter: how people
imperty or a home, how people
can start a business and 22
T.
in the community, ensure
that the people not the go:
tre making the big decisions
that affect the health, etc.
care of one's own family.
Think of the way it
:: now to the ordinary person
on welfare. Government pro
the money you live on -- the
1st and 15th of every month.
Thent tells you where you can
live -- where your kids go
When you're sick --
government tells you what to
11 see, and when. If you
find part-time work you
mac government may cut your
welfare benefits. IS you sn:
naga to put some money away --
you worry that government
(ect)
after you for fraud.
Every one of those
jens with the system we we've 've get
on't tach in
right now. And then
were
an't these people take
control of their lives
neir sense of responsibility?
each he
If we had set out =
stem that would perpetuate
(Justice)
It's little wonder so many
charge of their own futures.
Americans seem less to take
5
dependency -- a system that would strip away personal
responsibility we could hardly have done better than the
(OCA)
system we have today.
It's time we tried something different. A fresh approach.
good
I believe we must start with a set of principles -- principles
that give the word opportunity real meaning for people. They are
very simple: Order is better than disorder. Tolerance is better
than intolerance. Work is better than welfare. Opportunity is
better than entitlement. Independence is better than dependence.
Ownership 1S better than tenancy. And traditional family values
are better than moral relativism and government paternalism.
I believe in policies that foster personal responsibility,
policies that refecus entitlement programs to serve those who are
truly needy, and increase choice and competition in delivering
government services. I believe in policies that rely on the
community for guidance and that use states as laboratories. I
believe in policies that encourage entrepreneurship increase
investment -- create jobs.
(Education Insert #1)
My economic opportunity plan flows from these principles:
We must spark an economic revival in urban America. That's
why = want =0 see Enterprise Zones, with a zero capital gains
rate for entrepreneurs and investors who locate businesses in
America's inner cities.
(Justice)
We must reclain neighborhoods now ravaged by crime and
And we must do it in partnership with the neighborhood residents themselves
drugs. We're doing that through a new initiative called Weed and
Seed -- to "weed out" the gang leaders, the drug dealers and
(Justice)
and economic
through (Justice) gut. action initiation terprise. an
ther
5
CO Ovivate lex
career criminals, and "seed"
Chose neighborhoods with expanded
educational opportunities
services,
And I've sent =0
Congress an urgent Yer
* shortly
pring Weed and Ssed to Los
(OCA)
Angeles as soon as possible,
We must break the cer
that discourage
what about the
work and encourage welfare.
got == reform our AFDC rules -
(ombencourage Deople to work
stake
-
stop penalizing people
=0 work and save and show
stainess.
individual initiative --
==
mings that will help them
Useau
leave welfare behind.
VI STATE V.
exacutes what
We must promote new
422
home ownership. That's the
aim of our HOPE initiative
?
people a real stake in their
communities -- something =:
285 along to their kids by
Educatic
turning public housing tens
tomeowners.
(Insert
We must give parents
dion's hardest-hit communities
the same choices. Parents.
government, should be free to
choose who cares for their
-- and where their children
esistation? care -- and we can do it
(OCA)
go to school.
Finally, we must assure
ericans access to basic health
promising choice and quality,
through my comprehensive pla.
salth care reform.
Some will say, "you've
all this before." They are
right * And I am proposing
because I am right. some
will say, "Where is the
the new program, the new
bureaucracy?" I will sa'
ment program does not raise
children, families do. A
I have CCA) proposed ited butit the
IF
program does not dispense
been the by
(Justice)
cordination of Ecderal state and local
commitment is to an unprecedented
mores of law enforment and
talication on a nerghborhood by
OPD.# y
or
So far I have spoken about mat government can do. Now let
me talk about what society
must
=
= have said we can agree on
several things. In sum, for
years we've tried a lot of
solutions, spent a lot of
And
haven't solved the problems. (Justice
But we are not a morally, to
or intellectually bankrupp
treugth and the resolv
nation. In other words, we
2
spirit and the
to
wrestle the crisis of OUT inner - cities
go
sntil we
it
Maybe even
-
to try some things we haven
before.
Before I arrived I was
nac the real anguish of the
people in the hardest hit are
about the children. This we
should be able to agree on :.
whatever we do must be
about the children -- they it ...
future. Our actions in the
wake of this tragedy are for
not just here in Los
Angeles, but all across the
:
Your own Mayor Bradley
"ong at group of mayors who came
cention
to see me last January.
=
ceated often what he and others
said to me that day.
They
more programs or more
Amoney. They said that the
tant problem facing our
state
cities is the dissolution ==
:
amily.
They're right. What's
the determining fact right no
mother a child has hope --
iader-
stays in school, stays awa;
gs? It's not the level of
federal aid. It's not a HUD
an SBA loan. It's whether
shewt
child lives in a home
and a father.
(Justice)
We know from
history that societies
cannot be successful
without
idamental building blocks in
place. The state of our
the state of our communities.
9
Good communities are safe and decent. They care for their young
people -- instill them with character and values and good habits
for life. They have good schools. And good communities provide
opportunity and hope, rooted in the dignity of work and reward
for achievement.
So this is obviously not a crisis just of economics. This
is about rebuilding our spirit. It's about rebuilding the bonds
between individuals, and between ethnic groups, between races.
We must not let our diversity destroy us. our diversity is
central to our strength as a country.
That's why guaranteeing a hopeful future for the children of
our cities is about a lct more than rebuilding burned out
buildings. It's about building a American (OCA community. And
better
history shows us that government cannot come close to creating
the scale and energy needed to transform the lives of people in
need. Anyone who believes otherwise has been living in a cave
for the last twenty-five years.
The simple fact is that in every city in America, tens of
thousands of groups, and hundreds of thousands of individuals,
who have never been involved before, and who will never be paid
one nickel for their efforts, must become partners in solving our
MOST serious social problems. One need not look far for the
evidence that this 18 part of the solution.
Right now, this community has many of the answers within
itself. For example
(Justice)
there are xx members of One Hundred Black Men mentoring boys in
10
South Central Los Angeles. If instead there were Ten Thousand
Black Men working with boys
and so on with the
(Justice)
hundreds of people and groups that work with kids
there is no
question that what happened last week would have been much, much
less severe. so it only makes isnse that a large part of our
challenge is to expand the smile :: what we already know works in
community after community.
Perhaps the phrase I have eated more often than any other
is "Any definition of a successivi life must include service to
others", That goes for
institutions
as well as individuals.
(OCA
When we look to ensure 1
and hopeful future for our
would
children, I mean this:
First
:
must praise what works and
be
thew
share what works. Second,
ders must mobilize and inspire
place
their communities to take
action
Third, community centers must
to
ping
link those that care with
.. need the help. Fourth, the
locopt.
media must cover what is wor
"Elight
so we can share and repeat our
successes many times over.
Finally,
we must change our laws that
frighten good people away from ng others. Finally, there's
something society must cultivate that government cannot provide.
something we can't legislate
==
establish by government order.
I'm talking about the moral $ that must guide us all. In
simplest terms -- I'm talking MOUT knowing right from wrong.
Let me come back again to that little boy I spoke about
earlier -- Rudy Campbell. There 'S a lesson he's learned that
survived the horror and the hate. In the midst of all the chaos
05/07/92
10:30
202 514 0468
ATTORNEY GENERAL
002
Office of the Attorney General
Washington. B. C. 20530
May 7, 1992
MEMORANDUM TO: PAUL KORFONTA
FROM:
EUGENE SCALIA
of
SUBJECT:
MAY 8 LOS ANGELES SPEECH
Here are DOJ's comments on the full speech; you will recall
that we already sent those on pages 5 and 6, concerning Weed and
Seed. Explanations:
Pages 9-10: Delete the reference to Cities in Schools,
which is not fully a private program but in fact relies on a
large degree of federal funding, channeled through DOJ, that we
should not propose increasing 6-fold.
Page 1: This speech at times removes individual
irresponsibility and plain criminality as causes of the rioting.
The Administration should not be attributing the riots to
"failure, hatred and despair" -- they were to a large degree
committed for fun and profit. For this reason, delete the rest
of the page from the second to the last line after "any city
where, and add: "violence and disintegration of the social
fabric are the order of the day."
Page 2: It is the Administration's position that not enough
"programs" have been aimed at the problems I have struck out:
That is, crime in its various forms has been repeatedly denied by
social planners for being a "root cause" in its own right.
Page 3: References to "racism" deleted for three reasons:
We need to avoid suggesting the verdict was the result of racism.
It may have been, but it is premature to conclusively state the
verdict was wrong, and of course it is another leap to say it was
wrong due to racism. Second, for reasons given with respect to
page 1, we should not suggest that the cause of the riot was
oppressive conditions the rioters live under. And third, there
is consensus among social scientists that racism ranks fairly low
among the problems encountered by the inner-city poor.
Page 3: "Inefficiency" is the least of the problems of
poverty,
Page 4: "Our cities are in trouble" is a very broad
statement that could get the Administration in trouble.
05/07/92
10:30
202 514 0468
ATTORNEY GENERAL
003
Page 4: The government does not have a "responsibility" to
help people own homes. It is this expanded concept of the
government's role that we mean to be fighting in this paragraph.
Page 4: It would be disastrous for the President to refer
to poor, inner-city blacks as the alien "these people." He
should identify with, not hold out at arm's length.
Page 8: The language changed belittled the enormity of the
task. This isn't a tennis match.
MAY-07-1992 11:42 FROM
TO
94562223 P.04
insert I
111 create jobs.
p. 5.
V/
I believe in revolutionary change for our education system.
Change that will deliver a quality education for every child in
America. No more business as usual.
wint#2
#2
p.6.
of into homeownes,
1
It takes bold ideas to solve big problems. For the first time
in our history, we have a set of six national education goals.
We're on a course to attain those goals and in the process
create the best schools in the world for all our children.
Education
Inserts
OPD:# !
Document No.
32653585
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
5/6/92
11.00AM, THURS,
DATE:
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DU
(Y:
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: 20 THE COMMUNITY OF LOS ANGELES
SUBJECT:
FRIDAY, MAY 8, 1992
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
HORNER
SKINNER
MCBRIDE
SCOWCROFT
MOORE
DARMAN
PETERSMEYER
BRADY
PORTER
BROMLEY
ROGICH
CALIO
ROLLINS
DEMAREST
SMITH
YEUTTER
FITZWATER
GRAY
FINDLAY
HOLIDAY
KAUFMAN
BOSKIN
REMARKS:
Please provide comments on the attached directly
to Dan McGroarty, Rm. 120
12930, with a copy to
this office NO LATER THAN :00AM, THURSDAY, MAY 7.
Thank you.
RESPONSE:
See comments. - Thanks.
VPF
Faul 05/07 K.
PHILLIP D. BRADY
Assistant to the President
and Staff Secretary
Ext. 2702
DEN. DT xeΓox islecopier 7020 5- 0-92 5:27PM
The White House-
OPD:# 2
Seneral comment
David Kearns went make justice. ion r sure, law if " you & londer mention "
DDDM
Group
Draft One
02 MAY 6 P5:
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS TO THE COMMUNITY OF LOS ANGELES
FRIDAY, MAY 8, 1992
[ACKNOWLEDGMENTS]
Let me first thank the people of the city of Los Angeles for
all they have done to make this visit so successful. With all
that has transpired these last few days, I can't imagine the
headaches we've probably caused, but I can assure you we do plan
to leave on schedule. The police, the community groups, the
Mayor's office, the Governor: Everyone has been tremendously
helpful.
It was important that I come here. Los Angeles has been the
site of a terrible tragedy. Not just for you, but for all of us.
That's why it's important that I say a few things about this
visit, to speak with you about what I've seen in this city -- and
about where we must now go as a country.
[Anecdote (s) from tour and meetings.] In sum, on the same
city block (Education) I saw shocking signs of hatred and remarkable signs
of hope.
should be reference to specific examples of
COCA
assistance problems the Fed. gat. have to immediate
This tragedy has been many, many years in the making. It
Importan
will take a long time to put things right. I could have said
Things. haven
"put things right again", but that would miss the point Things
weren't right before a week ago Wednesday. The status quo here,
for de
beek TX
cases
and in too many cities across America is not right. We must not
return to the status quo -- not here -- not in any city where the
status quo perpetuates failure, hatred, and despair.
(OCA)
General
How about mentioning all of reforms
beside "weed $seed, etc
2
Let me tell you a little about Rudy Cambell. Saw him on TV.
Looks to be about eight. Father? Murdered a few years back.
Mother? Didn't see her. Rudy == raised by his twenty-two year
old sister who has five kids 11 ter own. Lives in a tough
neighborhood. Think about when he has already been through. And
that now he says he fears things will only get "badder and
badder and badder." It broken
our heart.
What went wrong in
L.A.
what were the "underlying
causes", the "root problems
that can all be debated. And it
should be. Not to assign
Casting blame gets us nowhere.
Honest talk and principled
will get us a lot further --
will move us forward.
I believe there are some
:3 that most Americans can agree
with. Let me spend just a
on those. Since the sixties,
lots of different programs
Jeen tried -- aimed at stemming
the tide of urban violence,
crime, and social decay.
Lots of different progrt
ve tried to address the need
for adequate housing, for noa..- care, for education, for job
training. Everything from rare to welfare to health care
has been the subject of some
ssion, report, or study.
Huge amounts of money 22
ceen
spent
:
some estimates are
as high as two and a half
dollars over twenty-five
years. Check the numbers:
Itrest
10
the last decade, federal
spending went up for these kir...
Darman cointed out
in
efforts.
7
that teat. spending
Put away the studies and
has game up during POTUS
around our cities. Some quick tennoe
facts: in 1960 the percentage
births to unwed mothers was 5%.
3
Now it is 27% -- 5 times as great. If you read about a young
black male dying, odds are that he was murdered. In fact, odds
are 4 out of 10. Our young black men are at a crisis: If you're
a black male between 15-25 here in California, you're three times
more likely to be murdered than to enter the University of
California. Kids used to carry just their lunches to school.
Between 1987 and 1991, 134 guns were seized here in L.A. -- and
(OCA)
good really emphasize.
that was in our elementary schools. Numbers for high schools are
10 times as great. The chances that an 8th grader has ever used
alcohol is 70%, and there's a 1 in 10 chance that he or she has
used marijuana.
In the wake of the L.A. riots -- in the wake of the crack
epidemic -- in the wake of the lost generation of inner-city
youth: can any of us argue that solved the problems of
your
(ocA)
poverty,
racism, and crime? our govt. programs have
We have made progress removing many of the legal barriers to
discrimination and equality. [[ But you don't need to look
further than the graffiti on the next street to see that hate,
bigotry and racism still plagues our society. ]]
Some programs -- I'm thinking of a program like Head Start -
- have shown time-tested positive results. But many, many more
simply have not worked. Our welfare system doesn't get people
off welfare -- it keeps them there. Our safety net -- as
essential as it is -- stops short of providing the people it
serves a way out of a dehumanizing and inefficient cycle of
poverty.
4
We know all too well the sobering statistics -- severest in
our nation's urban areas.
The
summary fact is this:
our
cities
are in serious trouble.
We in government have
assolute responsibility to
participate in solving these Withiems. Our first responsibility
is to create order
net
the
under
of a prison yard -- but an
enabling order. One where es can flourish, children can
learn, and jobs can be created
I have taken a hard lock
that the government can do and
its responsibility to help
lities with the concerns that
really matter: how people
property or a home, how people
can start a business and creat.
in the community, ensure
that the people not the govern
are making the big decisions
that affect the health,
educa-
and care of one's own family.
Think of the way it loc
ght now to the ordinary person
on welfare. Government prov
ou
the money you live on -- the
1st and 15th of every month.
arnment tells you where you can
live -- where your kids go to
mool.
When you're sick --
government tells you what doc
11 see, and when. If you
find part-time work
:
you
worr
chat government may cut your
welfare benefits. If you save
anage to put some money away --
(2)
you worry that government may
after you for fraud.
Every one of those think:
ppens with the system we've got
don't
right now. And then we wonds can't these people take
estails the the
control of their lives
their sense of responsibility?
If we had set out to system that would perpetuate
even
5
dependency -- a system that would strip away personal
responsibility -- we could hardly have done better than the
system we have today.
Excellent! It's time we tried something different. A fresh approach.
Daniel casse
I believe we must start with a set of principles -- principles
that give the word opportunity real meaning for people. They are
very simple: Order is better than disorder. Tolerance is better
than intolerance. Work is better than welfare. Opportunity is
better than entitlement. Independence is better than dependence.
Ownership is better than tenancy. And traditional family values
are better than moral relativism and government paternalism.
I believe in policies that foster personal responsibility,
policies that refocus entitlement programs to serve those who are
truly needy, and increase choice and competition in delivering
government services. I believe in policies that rely on the
community for guidance and that use states as laboratories. I
believe in policies that encourage entrepreneurship -- increase
investment -- create jobs.
My economic opportunity plan flows from these principles:
We must spark an economic revival in urban America. That's
why I want to see Enterprise Zones, with a zero capital gains
rate for entrepreneurs and investors who locate businesses in
America's inner cities.
(Justice)
We must reclaim neighborhoods now ravaged by crime and
And we must de it in partnership with the neighborhood residents thousdve
drugs. We're doing that through a new initiative called Weed and
Seed -- to "weed out" the gang leaders, the drug dealers and
VFVI#
(Justice)
and economic
through (Justice) govt. action initiat and
other
6
goivate exterprise
career criminals, and "seed" those neighborhoods with expanded
congress Shortly. shortly, an urgent request =0 bring Weed and Seed to Los
educational (Ed.) opportunities and social services, And I've sent to
(OCA)
Angeles as soon as possible.
We must break the perverse lis-incentives that discourage
what about the
work and encourage welfare.
B got to reform our AFDC rules -
state
- stop penalizing people who
ramage to work and save and show
staivess.
individual initiative
--
the
things that will help them
Useau
leave welfare behind.
We must promote new hope Mircugh home ownership. That's the
X M.
aim of our HOPE initiative.
we people a real stake in their
communities -- something the
doing
pass along to their kids -- by
turning public housing tenants
n=o homeowners.
We must give parents
12:
nation's hardest-hit communities
the same choices. Parents,
the
government, should be free to
choose who cares for their
CCL
ren
-- and where their children
(OCA)
go to school.
station? care -- and we can do it
Finally, we must assure
Americans access to basic health
without
compromising choice and quality,
through my comprehensive plan
C.7.
health care reform.
Some will say, "you've proposed all this before." They are
right * And I am proposing 1=
vin
because I am right. Some
will say, "Where is the new
the new program, the new
bureaucracy?" I will say, a
arnment program does not raise
(ECA) I have been the by butit the
children, families do. A government program does not dispense
Our commitment is to any unprecedented
(Justice)
coordination of Eederal state and local
hes
Frograms of law enforcement and
revifulization on a neighborhood by
neraborhood basis.
,
The white nouse-
OPU:# 8
7
spiritual guidance, churches do. A government program does not
build neighborhoods, citizens do.
I'm not a social scientist.. Never pretended to be. I look
at things from a more uncomplicated point of view. As a father
with kids --- now with grandkids. As a volunteer -- coaching
little league or knocking doors for the United Negro College
Fund. As someone who spent half his life in a business trying to
build a future for his family. As someone who spent the other
half of his life trying to serve the public. That's how I look (©CA)
at the world. bad anology "defend or apand current
programs
business usual +embrace radical now change not
We've tried other W. ys to solve problems is the
We must reject
time to We must try something different.
our approach is different. Let's give it a chance to work. If
ever the Congress needed a reason to pass my plan it is Los
(OCA)
Angeles, California.
c which plan?
eron growth?
When I saw the verdict in the Rodney King case, my reaction
was not much different than the rest of America, as I said to the
American people last Friday. And when I saw the violence and
rags erupt on your streets, once again, my reaction was the same
as most other people. We all knew that order had to be restored.
A civilized scciety cannot tackle any of the tough problems in
the midst of chaos. It's as simple as that. We must never
condone violence and brutality, and I am confident we never will.
And when I saw and read about the heroic acts, the
responsible acts, the selfless acts, of SO many of your people,
my reaction was one of relief -- and hope for the future.
UPUT# y
8
so far I have spoken about what government can do. Now let
me talk about what society must do. I have said we can agree on
several things. In sum, for thirty years we've tried a lot of
solutions, spent a lot of money and haven't solved the problems.
But we are not a morally, spiritually, or intellectually bankrupt
nation. In other words, we have the spirit and the gumption to
go at this problem again and Again until we beat it. Maybe even
to try some things we haven = tried before.
Before I arrived I was told that the real anguish of the
people in the hardest hit areas 15 about the children. This we
should be able to agree on as FLL --- whatever we do must be
about the children -- they are future. Our actions in the
wake of this tragedy are for
--
not just here in Los
Angeles, but all across the country.
Your own Mayor Bradley vas among a group of mayors who came
to see me last January. I have repeated often what he and others
comming
said to me that day. They didn't say more programs or more
money. They said that the
nose
aportant problem facing our
cities is the dissolution of the family. They're right. What's
the determining fact right now
11
whether a child has hope --
reader
stays in school, stays away from drugs? It's not the level of
federal aid. It's not a HUD grand or an SBA loan. It's whether
child lives in a home with a mother and a father.
We know from a longer term look at history, that societies
cannot be successful without some fundamental building blocks in
place. The state of our nation 12 the state of our communities.
9
Good communities are safe and decent. They care for their young
people -- instill them with character and values and good habits
for life. They have good schools. And good communities provide
opportunity and hope, rooted in the dignity of work and reward
for achievement.
so this is obviously not a crisis just of economics. This
is about rebuilding our spirit. It's about rebuilding the bonds
between individuals, and between ethnic groups, between races.
We must not let our diversity destroy us. Our diversity is
central to our strength as a country.
That's why guaranteeing a hopeful future for the children of
our cities is about a lot more than rebuilding burned out
better (OCA)
buildings. It's about building a American community. And
history shows us that government cannot come close to creating
the scale and energy needed to transform the lives of people in
need. Anyone who believes otherwise has been living in a cave
for the last twenty-five years.
The simple fact is that in every city in America, tens of
thousands of groups, and hundreds of thousands of individuals,
who have never been involved before, and who will never be paid
one nickel for their efforts, must become partners in solving our
most serious social problems. One need not look far for the
evidence that this is part of the solution.
Right now, this community has many of the answers within
itself. For example, there are four Cities in Schools programs,
there are XX members of One Hundred Black Men mentoring boys in
The White House-
OPD;#11
10
South Central Los Angeles. If instead there were Ten Thousand
Black Men working with boys, and twenty-five Cities in Schools
programs helping young people learn -- and so on with the
hundreds of people and groups that work with kids -- there is no
question that what happened last week would have been much, much
less severe. So it only makes sense that a large part of our
challenge is to expand the scale of what we already know works in
community after community.
Perhaps the phrase I have repeated more often than any other
is "Any definition of a successful life must include service to
others". That goes for institutions as well as individuals.
(OCA
When we look to ensure a decent and hopeful future for our
would
children, I mean this: First, we must praise what works and
be
they
share what works. Second, our leaders must mobilize and inspire
place
their communities to take action. Third, community centers must
plag
link those that care with those who need the help. Fourth, the
lood
e Elight
media must cover what is working. SO we can share and repeat our
successes many times over. Finally, we must change our laws that
frighten good people away from helping others. Finally, there's
something society must cultivate that government cannot provide.
something we can't legislate == establish by government order.
I'm talking about the moral serse that must guide us all. In
simplest terms -- I'm talking about knowing right from wrong.
Let me come back again to that little boy I spoke about
earlier -- Rudy Campbell. There's a lesson he's learned that
survived the horror and the hate. In the midst of all the chaos
WHIT HOUSE COMMCTR
THU 07 MAY 92 16:40
PG. 13
19
0701
,
5.32PM
,
The white House->
OPD:#12
11
-- in the midst of so much that's gone wrong -- he knows what's
right. When he was asked about the violence, here's what he
said, "They should know what's right and wrong, because when I
was four
that's when I learned."
That's got to give us hope. God bless Rudy Campbell. And
God bless the person who cared enough to teach him right from
wrong. Now, it's up to us -- everyone of us in this room -- to
guarantee Rudy and all the millions of kids like him have a shot
at a better life.
H believe we are right about family. We are right about
faith, about America's future. We must take these steps to
reclaim the American Dream for the people of our cities.
Thank you for the conviction you have to act on your
beliefs. Thank you for all you have done. God bless the United
States of America.
#
#
#
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
Date: 5/6
STATEMENT
ithout casting aspersions on the
a, let us agree that we face some
TO:
ok to see what the obstacles are:
tem, divided government, slow
m, the influence of special
FROM:
C. BOYDEN GRAY
ous of all, intellectual inertia.
Counsel to the President
"It is common sense to take a
admit it frankly and try another
From Jim
"
Pinkerton
A riots, in the wake of the crack
generation of inner city youth,
at we need to try new approaches.
For today's
my visit here, but I am guided by
speech
er.
tolerance.
Opportunity is better than entitlement.
Independence is better than dependence.
Ownership is better than tenancy.
Traditional family values are better than moral relativism
and government paternalism.
We can solve this because we are Americans. De Tocqueville
noticed this 150 years ago: Americans "all consider society as a
body in a state of improvement, humanity as a changing scene, in
which nothing is or ought to be permanent; and they admit that
what appears to them today to be good, may be superseded by
something better tomorrow."
Tonight, I start my work with the presumption that all
Americans want to join together in the task of helping rebuild
Los Angeles and guaranteeing a just, better life for all
Americans.
The common goals we have include: job opportunities,
physical security, a color blind society, home ownership, and
quality education.
We all realize that we have failed to achieve many of these
goals. A look at certain social trends of the last 30 years --
soaring crime, rising illegitimacy, family breakup -- tells us.
that something has gone wrong. So let's roll up our sleeves
###
OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT
WASHINGTON
May 7, 1992
NOTE TO DAVE DEMAREST
FROM: BILL KRISTOL WC
A couple of comments:
1. I think we need to beef up and give a bit more edge to
the discussion at the end of how we need to speak honestly about
right and wrong, values, etc. -- a la these paragraphs from a
Reagan speech.
2. We need a little more about "we believe in the people
of L.A. and America -- these examples of heroism and Good
Samaritanism will be the lasting legacy, not the ugliness of the
riots -- the dynamism and goodness of the U.S. and L.A. attract
immigrants from all over the world -- we remain a beacon, etc.
etc."
Mar. 6 / Administration of Ronald Reagan, 1984
During the civil rights struggles of the
1980, the number of illegitimate births rose
themselves an:
fifties and early sixties, millions worked for
about a quarter of a million.
turn from the:
equality in the name of their Creator. Civil
At the same time that social standards
hear from heav
rights leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King
seemed to be dissolving, our economic and
heal their lan:
based all their efforts on the claim that
governmental institutions were in disarray.
Maine to Calit
black or white, each of us is a child of God.
Big taxing and spending had led to soaring
And I do believ.
And they stirred our nation to the very
interest rates and inflation. Our defenses
our blessed land
depths of its soul.
had grown weak. Public officials at the
As this sp
And so it has been through most of our
highest levels openly spoke of a national
strength, we mt
history. All our material wealth and all our
"malaise." All over the world America had
good faith will
influence have been built on our faith in
become known not for strength and re-
pledge to condu
God and the bedrock values that follow
solve, but for vacillation and self-doubt. It
ty, tolerance, di.
from that faith. The great French philoso-
seemed for a season as though our nation
must respect the
pher Alexis de Tocqueville, 150 years ago is
was in permanent decline and that any
American, becat:
said to have observed that America is great
sense of justice. self-discipline, and duty was
mitted to demo
because America is good. And if she ever
ebbing out of our public life.
would have it no
ceases to be good, she will cease to be
But the Almighty who gave us this great
So, please use
great.
land also gave us free will, the power under
racism, anti-Semi:
Well, in recent years, we must admit,
America did seem to lose her religious and
Cod to choose our own destiny. The Ameri-
gious intolerance
moral bearings, to forget that faith and
can people decided to put a stop to that
clear that our vai.
values are what made us good and great.
long decline, and today our country is
liberate the huma:
seeing a rebirth of freedom and faith, a
deed.
We saw the signs all around us. Years ago,
great national renewal. As I said in my State
You may reme:
pornography, while available, was mostly
of the Union address, "America is
don't agree with,
sold under the counter. By the midseven-
back.
got wide circulati
ties it was available virtually on every mag-
azine rack in every drugstore or shop in the
We've begun tackling one problem after
He said puritanic
land. Drug abuse used to be confined to
another. We've knocked inflation down,
that someone. sor:
limited numbers of adults. During the six-
and we can keep it down. The prime rate is
[Laughter] Well, S{
ties and seventies, it spread through the
about half what it was when our administra-
spiritual awakenin.
tion took office. All across the country, a
mindedness. We T.
Nation like a fever, affecting children as
well as adults and involving drugs that were
powerful economic recovery is gaining
traditional values 2
strength. As we've begun rebuilding our de-
life human dignity
once unheard of, drugs like LSD and PCP,
fenses in the name of freedom, morale in
yes, laughter and joy
ironically nicknamed "angel dust."
But perhaps most important, years ago,
the military has soared. And once again.
Sometimes we al.
look at ourselves—:
the American family was still the basic
America is respected throughout the world
as a great force for freedom and peace.
sense of humor. [La:.
building block of our society. But then fami-
But this renewal is more than material.
Now, although :
lies too often found themselves penalized
have already done S
by government taxation, welfare policies
America has begun a spiritual awakening.
tional life back on
that were spinning out of control. and the
Faith and hope are being restored. Ameri-
faith and traditional
social mores of our country were being un-
cans are turning back to God. Church at-
to go.
dermined. Liberal attitudes viewed promis-
tendance is up. Audiences for religious
In foreign affairs i
cuity as acceptable. even stvlish. Indeed,
books and broadcasts are growing. On col-
fundamental tasks th
the word itself was replaced by a new term,
lege campuses, students have stopped shun-
First, we must make
"sexually active." And in the media. what
ning religion and started going to church.
try is strong, so we C
we once thought of as a sacred expression
As Harvard theologian Harvey Cox put it-
the hope of freedor
of love was often portrayed as something
and I quote-"Rather than the cynical, ca-
When I took office, I
casual and cheap.
reerist types who supposedly have filled the
defenses a top priorit
Between 1970 and 1980, the number of
campuses, I see young people who are in-
have a great deal to de
two-parent families dropped while the
tensely interested in moral issues, in reli-
dramatic headway. -
number of single-parent families almost
gious history and beliefs."
forces are the corners:
doubled. Teenage pregnancies increased
One of my favorite Bible quotations
fense of liberty, that's
significantly. And although total births de-
comes from Second Chronicles:
if
My
world.
clined during the decade between 1970 and
people who are called by My name humble
Second, in this ag-
Dave Bill- This is the kind of
306
message the President
needs.
John
Teller
We, both you here in Los Angeles and all of us in the
country, have had a tragedy
-
A lot of mistakes and things done wrong, but we ought
not to spend too much of our time dwelling on those
-
The test will be how we deal with this tragedy;
what we learn from it and what we do.
-
The Rodney King verdict and the riots resulting from it
put straight three of the fundamental values of our
society and of any democracy at stake.
-
First of all, justice.
-
Second, order.
-
Third, tolerance.
-
All of these are important to us and while
sometimes they may seem contradictory or
difficult to resolve with each other they are
all equally important and I am going to make
sure we do our best to achieve them.
Last Friday I met with
; and over the last two days I
have
.
Earlier this week I announced the following
actions. Today I'd like to announce these further actions
on the part of the federal government and the following
proposals:
-
Let's take a look at some of the things we've learned over
the past week:
-
We have not solved, regardless of some major efforts,
the problems of poverty, racism, and crime.
-
While we have removed many of the legal barriers to
equality and eliminated some discrimination legally,
which are important. Those actions alone have not made
us successful.
-
We have spent enormous sums of money--some estimates as
high as two and a half trillion dollars over twenty
five years. While this has been done with the best of
intentions, many of those programs simply have not
worked. While some such as Head Start, have been
successful, many of them, such as our welfare system,
have not.
-
(Cite specific statistics)
We do know from a longer term look at history that
societies cannot be successful without two very
fundamental things which I believe in strongly.
-
First, we have to have strong families with
values that keep families together.
-
Cite numbers, historical facts
-
If don't have families and individuals
who show some personal responsibility to
themselves, to their families and to
their communities, we cannot succeed.
-
Insert Rodney King quote--"We're all
going to be here a long time."
-
Second, we have to give our young people
economic opportunity and hope. We have
learned is that welfare or a government
payroll simply doesn't work. This is not the
place--nor do I want to get into a political
fight--but I believe the principle underlying
many of the things I've proposed over the
last three years is exactly what is needed in
Los Angeles today. That is, ways for us to
help people become independent, self-
sufficient, strengthen families, and have
some realistic hope that they can have the
things that keep families together and make
people responsible citizens; jobs, homes,
families. That is the basic principle that
underlies much of what we've proposed; (cite
and describe briefly some Administration
proposals--Hope, Enterprise Zones, Jobs 2000,
Education Programs.
We simply cannot measure our commitment by the amount of money we
are willing to spend. Rather, we have to measure it by the
standard of what will work and help people improve their lives.
I believe in these things not because we are unwilling to spend
the money, but because I think these are the kinds of programs
will improve the most lives. Believe me, if for a minute I was
convinced that simply spending more money was the solution, I
would be in favor of that. We simply have too much evidence that
it is not the solution, but it may infact be counter productive.
-
We have to find new and better ways. What I am proposing
today is Congress pass these programs immediately, targeted
at Los Angeles to use as a pilot in a time of crisis. I am
convinced they will work.
However, even the greatest optimist knows that nothing done right
now will have any effect for this summer so I am also proposing
to be linked with these proposals:
-
The summer jobs program, which
In addition, I think the local authorities here should
investigate the possibilities of requiring many of those people
who were arrested and ultimately convicted of adding to the
disturbance, commit major amounts of community service time
helping rebuild the city they harmed, and do it under close
supervision. The government role in that will be
MARTIN-
I
SANS A's
DDDM
Group
Draft Four
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS TO THE COMMUNITY OF LOS ANGELES
FRIDAY, MAY 8, 1992
Let me first thank the people of Los Angeles for all they
have done during my visit. With all that's happened these last
few days, I can envision the headaches our visit has caused. I
assure you we will leave on schedule. The Governor, the Mayor,
the police, the L.A. community: Everyone's been just great.
Let me say I am truly heartened by the speed with which
hundreds of millions of dollars of Federal relief has reached Los
Angeles -- from FEMA grants to small business loans to urgent
salute
Keans
food aid.
And I pleased to see the smooth coordination --
everyone pulling together -- on the federal, state, and local
level.
It was vitally important that I come here. The Los Angeles
Community has been the site of a terrible tragedy. Not just for
you, but for our country -- and everyone around the world who
looks to America as a model of freedom and justice. That's why I
want to say a few things about my visit, to speak with you about
what I've seen in this city. Most importantly, as I said at Mt.
Zion Church yesterday, we are one people, one family, one nation
under God. So I will speak about our course as a nation.
I can hardly imagine the depth of fear and anger people must feel
to terrorize one another and burn each other's property. But I
saw remarkable signs of hope right next to tragic signs of
2
hatred. This Boys and Girls Club stands unscarred facing a
burned-out block. It's leader is a wonderful man named Lou
Dantzler. He started it out of the back of an old pick-up truck
with a group of kids who wanted to get off the streets. Its
existence proves the power of our better selves. Never let us
forget that.
Now let me tell you why clubs like this matter. It's a
story about little Rudy Campbell. I saw him on TV. He looked to
be about eight. His father was murdered a few years back. I
didn't see his mother. Rudy is raised by his twenty-two year old
sister who has five kids of her own. He lives in South Central.
Think about what he has already been through. Now he says he
fears that things will only get "badder and badder and badder." "
It breaks your heart. Our children deserve more than that.
I talked a week ago about the law and the pursuit of
justice. Today I want to talk about what went wrong in L.A. --
the "underlying causes", the "root problems". It can all be
debated. And it should be -- but not to assign blame. Casting
blame gets us nowhere. Honest talk and principled actions will
move us forward. That's what we must do for our children.
This tragedy seemed to come suddenly but it has been many,
many years in the making. I know it will take time to put things
right. I could have said "put things right again", but that
would miss the point. Things weren't right before a week ago
Wednesday. Things aren't right in too many cities. We must not
3
return to the status quo -- not here -- not in any city where the
system perpetuates failure, hatred, poverty, and despair.
Most Americans now recognize some unpleasant realities. Let
me spend just a minute on those. For many years, we have tried
many different programs -- all with noble intentions -- to meet
the need for adequate housing, education, and health. Much of
this went to construct a compassionate safety net -- to provide
security and stability for people in need. Many other programs
and policies aimed at stemming the tide of urban violence, drugs,
crime and social decay.
We have spent huge amounts of money -- some estimates are as
high as three trillion dollars over twenty-five years. Even in
the last decade, federal spending went up for these kinds of
efforts. Everything from child care to welfare to health care
has been the subject of some commission, report, or study. But
where this path has taken us, is not where we wanted to go.
Put away the studies and just look around our cities. For
anyone who cares about our young people it is painful that in
1960 the percentage of births to unwed mothers was 5% and now it
is 27%. It's hard to read about a young black man dying, when
the odds are almost one out of two that he was murdered. Kids
used to carry just their lunches to school. The parents I talk
to know today some kids carry guns. I was told that in the last
four years, 134 guns were seized here in L.A. -- and that was
just in the elementary schools. And everyone knows that drug and
alcohol abuse are serious problems almost everywhere.
4
In the wake the L.A. riots -- in the wake of a lost
generation of inner-city lives: can any of us argue that we've
solved the problems of poverty, racism, and crime? No!
Some programs -- ones like Head Start or aid to the elderly
-- have shown time-tested positive results. All were well-
intentioned, but many haven't worked. Our welfare system doesn't
get people off welfare -- it keeps people trapped there. The
statistics are indeed sobering. The reality is sobering. The
sum and substance is this: our cities are in serious trouble.
Too many of our citizens are in trouble and it doesn't have to be
this way.
Government has an absolute responsibility to help solve
these problems. I have taken a hard look at what the government
can do and how it can help communities with the concerns that
really matter: how people can own property, own their own home,
start a business, create jobs, and ensure that people -- not
government -- make the big decisions that affect the health,
education and care of one's own family.
Think of the way the world looks right now to the single
mother on welfare. Government provides you just enough cash for
the bare necessities. Government tells you where you can live -
- where your kids go to school. When you're sick -- government
tells you what kind of care you get, and when. If you find a
job, the government cuts your welfare benefits. If you save, if
you manage to put some money away -- towards a home or maybe to
5
help your kid through college -- the government comes after you
for welfare fraud.
Every one of those things happens with the system we've got
right now. And then we wonder: why can't folks on welfare take
control of their lives -- where's their sense of responsibility?
If we had set out to devise a system that would perpetuate
dependency -- a system that would strip away dignity and
personal responsibility -- we could hardly have done better than
the system we have today.
Every American knows it's time for a fresh approach -- a
radical change in the way we look at welfare and the inner city
economy.
Every hour of meetings yesterday confirmed why I believe in
the plan we've proposed for urban America. I kept hearing words
like "ownership" and "independence" and "dignity" and
"enterprise". It reinforced my belief that we must start with a
set of principles and policies that foster personal
responsibility -- that refocus entitlement programs to serve
those who are most needy, and increase the effectiveness of
government services through competition and choice. I believe in
keeping power close to the people, and using states as
laboratories for innovation. And I believe in policies that
encourage entrepreneurship, increase investment, and create jobs.
These form the heart of my agenda for economic opportunity.
But families can't thrive, children can't learn, jobs can't
flourish in a climate of fear. So first, our responsibility is
6
to preserve order. A civilized society cannot tackle any of the
really tough problems in the midst of chaos. It's just that
simple. Violence and brutality destroy order -- destroy the rule
of law. Violence must never be rationalized. It must be
condemned.
We can reclaim our crime-ravaged neighborhoods through a new
initiative called Weed and Seed. Today I am announcing a $19
million Weed and Seed operation for the City of Los Angeles -- to
"weed out" the gang leaders, the drug dealers and career
criminals, and "seed" those neighborhoods with expanded
educational, employment, and social services.
With safe and secure neighborhoods we can spark an economic
revival in urban America. So the second part of my agenda is to
ask the Congress to take action on Enterprise Zones, with a zero
capital gains rate for entrepreneurs and investors who locate
businesses and create jobs in America's inner cities. At the
same time, we must help states bring innovation to their welfare
systems. And at the federal level we must break the perverse
disincentives that AFDC rules -- stop penalizing people who want
to work and save -- people who muster the individual initiative
to get off welfare.
Three, safe, drug-free schools are places where our children
can learn. But that's not enough. We've got to revolutionize
our schools through community action, competition, innovation,
and choice -- principles at the heart of the strategy I call
7
American 2000. We must give children in our nation's hardest-
hit communities the same opportunities as kids in the suburbs.
Four, we must promote new hope through home ownership.
People want a real stake in their communities, something of value
they can pass along to their kids. That's what our HOPE
initiative does -- turns public housing tenants into homeowners.
These are just the highlights of an action agenda to bring
hope and opportunity back to our inner cities, but we have other
ideas to try as well. My first order of business upon my return
to Washington will be to build a bipartisan effort in support of
immediate action on this agenda. I know some will say, "you've
proposed all this before." That's true. They are right. And I
am proposing it again. Because we must try something new.
It doesn't take a social scientist to know we must think
differently. We've tried the old ways of thinking. Now as
Lincoln said "it is time to think anew." Our approach is a
radical break with the policies of the past. It is new because
it's never been tried before. For the sake of the people of
South Central, and people in America's inner cities everywhere, I
will work with the Congress to act now on this common sense
agenda.
You have been through a lot. When I saw the verdict in the
Rodney King case, my reaction was the same as yours. But I
remain confident in our system of justice. And when I saw the
violence and rage erupt on your streets, my reaction was the same
as yours. We all knew we had to restore order. And when I saw
8
and read about the heroic acts of firefighters and police, or the
selfless acts of so many citizens, my reaction was one of relief
&
and hope for the future.
must
beabout
Even in the short time I've been here, I could sense that
the real anguish of the people in South Central L.A. is about
their kids. People are worried sick about the children. All
must agree that whatever we do must be about the children -- they
are our future. Our actions in the wake of this tragedy are for
them -- not just here in Los Angeles, but all across the country.
So far I have spoken about what government can do. Now let
me talk about what society must do. Yes, we've tried hard, spent
a lot of money, and haven't solved the problems. Some critics
say we are a morally, spiritually, and intellectually bankrupt
nation. Not so! Yes, we have problems. But we are the freest,
fairest, the most decent country on the face of the Earth -- and
we have the drive and gumption to prevail.
Your own Mayor Bradley was among a group of mayors who came
to see me last January. I have repeated often what he and others
said to me that day. They said that the most important problem
facing our cities is the dissolution of the family. They're
right. What's the determining fact right now for whether a child
has hope -- stays in school, stays away from drugs? It's not
government spending. It's whether a child lives in a loving home
with a mother and a father.
History tells us that societies cannot succeed without some
fundamental building blocks in place. The state of our nation is
9
the state of our communities. Good communities are safe and
decent. Their young people are cared for -- instilled with
character and values and good habits for life. Good communities
have good schools. And they provide opportunity and hope, rooted
in the dignity of work and reward for achievement.
That's why guaranteeing a hopeful future for the children of
our cities is about a lot more than rebuilding burned out
love order this Noot
buildings. It's about building a new American community. It's
about rebuilding bonds among individuals, and among ethnic
groups, among races. We must not let our diversity destroy us.
It is central to our strength as a country. Our ability to live
and work together has made America the inspiration of the world.
Across this country, tens of thousands of groups, and
hundreds of thousands of individuals, who have never been
involved before, and who will never be paid one nickel for their
efforts, must become partners in solving our most serious social
problems. The people right here in this room know exactly what
I'm talking about. Government alone cannot create the scale and
energy needed to transform the lives of people in need.
In my conversation with leaders of L.A.'s many communities,
L
heard over and over that right now, L.A. has many of the
answers with itself. For example, there are four Cities in
Schools programs helping children learn, and many members of a
group called One Hundred Black Men mentors boys in South Central.
If instead there were twenty-five Cities in Schools programs and
Ten Thousand Black Men working with boys -- and so on with the
10
hundreds of people and groups that work with kids -- there is no
question that what happened last week wouldn't have been as bad.
So it only makes sense that a large part of our challenge is to
dramatically expand -- in community after community -- the scale
of what we already know works.
The phrase I have repeated perhaps more often than any other
is worth repeating here: "From now on in America, any
definition of a successful life must include serving others".
When we look to ensure a decent and hopeful future for our
children, I mean this about every community: First, every group
and institution in America -- schools, businesses, churches --
must do its part. We must praise what works and share what
works. Second, all leaders -- all leaders must mobilize and
inspire their people to take action. Third, community centers
must link those that care with those who need the help. Fourth,
the media cover what is working, so we can share and repeat our
successes many times over. Finally, we must change our liability
S.O.
laws that frighten people away from helping others.
But there's something else society must cultivate that
11*
government cannot provide. Something we can't legislate -- or
can
establish by government order. I'm talking about the moral sense
that must guide us all. In the simplest terms -- I'm talking
about knowing right from wrong -- and doing what's right.
Let me come back again to that little boy I spoke about
earlier -- Rudy Campbell. There's a lesson he learned that
survived the horror and the hate. In the midst of all the chaos
11
-- in the midst of so much that's gone wrong -- he knows what's
right. When he was asked about the violence, here's what he
said, "They should know what's right and wrong, because when I
was four that's when I learned."
That's got to give us hope. God bless Rudy Campbell. And
God bless the person who cared enough to teach him right from
wrong. Now, it's up to us -- everyone of us in this room -- to
guarantee that Rudy and all the millions of kids like him grow up
in a better America.
I believe we are right about family. We are right about
freedom and free enterprise. We are right about faith. And most
of all, we are right about America's future. We have the
strength and spirit in our government, in our communities, and in
ourselves to transform America into the nation we have dreamed of
for generations.
Thank you for the conviction you have to act on your
beliefs. Thank you for all you have done. God bless the United
States of America.
# # #
DDDM
Group
Draft Four
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS TO THE COMMUNITY OF LOS ANGELES
FRIDAY, MAY 8, 1992
Let me first thank the people of Los Angeles for all they
have done during my visit. With all that's happened these last
few days, I can envision the headaches our visit has caused. I
assure you we will leave on schedule. The Governor, the Mayor,
the police, the L.A. community: Everyone's been just great.
Let me say I am truly heartened by the speed with which
hundreds of millions of dollars of Federal relief has reached Los
Angeles -- from FEMA grants to small business loans to urgent
food aid. And I pleased to see the smooth coordination --
everyone pulling together -- on the federal, state, and local
level.
It was vitally important that I come here. The Los Angeles
Community has been the site of a terrible tragedy. Not just for
you, but for our country -- and everyone around the world who
looks to America as a model of freedom and justice. That's why I
want to say a few things about my visit, to speak with you about
what I've seen in this city. Most importantly, as I said at Mt.
Zion Church yesterday, we are one people, one family, one nation
under God. So I will speak about where we must go as a nation.
I can hardly imagine the depth of fear and anger people must
feel to terrorize one another and burn each other's property.
But I saw remarkable signs of hope right next to tragic signs of
whychis whycherino like chiles It's maths.
2
hatred. This Boys and Girls Club stands unscarréd facing a
burned-out block. It's leader is a wonderful man named Lou
Dantzler. He started it out of the back of an old pick-up truck
with a group of kids who wanted to get off the streets. Its
existence proves the power of our better selves. Never let us
forget that Now let me tell you a story about little Rudy
Campbell. I saw him on TV. He looked to be about eight. His
father was murdered a few years back. I didn't see his mother.
Rudy is raised by his twenty-two year old sister who has five
kids of her own. He lives in South Central. Think about what he
has already been through. Now he says he fears that things will
only get "badder and badder and badder." It breaks your heart.
Our children deserve more than that.
I talked a week ago about the Law and the Pursuit of
Justice. Today I want to talk about what went wrong in L.A. --
the "underlying causes", the "root problems". It can all be
debated. And it should be -- but not to assign blame. Casting
blame gets us nowhere. Honest talk and principled actions will
move us forward. That's what we must do for our children.
This tragedy seemed to come suddenly but it has been many,
many years in the making. I know it will take time to put things
right. I could have said "put things right again", but that
would miss the point. Things weren't right before a week ago
Wednesday. Things aren't right in too many cities. We must not
return to the status quo -- not here -- not in any city where the
system perpetuates failure, hatred, poverty, and despair.
3
Most Americans now recognize some unpleasant realities. Let
me spend just a minute on those. For many years, we have tried
many different programs -- all with noble intentions -- to meet
the need for adequate housing, education, and health. Much of
this went to construct a compassionate safety net -- to provide
security and stability for people in need. Many other programs
and policies aimed at stemming the tide of urban violence, drugs,
crime and social decay.
We have spent huge amounts of money -- some estimates are as
high as three trillion dollars over twenty-five years. Even in
the last decade, federal spending went up for these kinds of
efforts. Everything from child care to welfare to health care
has been the subject of some commission, report, or study. But
where this path has taken us, is not where we wanted to go.
Put away. the studies and just look around our cities. For
anyone who cares about our young people it is painful that in
1960 the percentage of births to unwed mothers was 5% and now it
is 27%. It's hard to read about a young black man dying, when
the odds are almost one out of two that he was murdered. Kids
used to carry just their lunches to school. The parents I talk
to know today some kids carry guns. I was told that in the last
four years, 134 guns were seized here in L.A. -- and that was
just in the elementary schools. And everyone knows that drug and
alcohol abuse are serious problems almost everywhere.
4
In the wake the L.A. riots -- in the wake of a lost
generation of inner-city lives: can any of us argue that we've
solved the problems of poverty, racism, and crime? No!
STEV
Some programs -- ones like Head Start or aid to the elderly
-- have shown time-tested positive results. All were well-
intentioned, [but many OThers haven't workęd. Our welfare system doesn't
get people off welfare -- it keeps people trapped there. The
statistics are indeed sobering. The reality is sobering. The
sum and substance is this: our cities are in serious trouble.
Too many of our citizens are in trouble and it doesn't have to be
this way.
Government has an absolute responsibility to help solve
these problems. I have taken a hard look at what the government
can do and how it can help communities with the concerns that
really matter: how people can own property, own their own home,
start a business, create jobs, and ensure that people -- not
government -- make the big decisions that affect the health,
education and care of one's own family.
Think of the way the world looks right now to the single
mother on welfare. Government provides you just enough cash for
the bare necessities. Government tells you where you can live -
- where your kids go to school. When you're sick -- government
tells you what kind of care you get, and when. If you find a
job, the government cuts your welfare benefits. If you save, if
you manage to put some money away -- towards a home or maybe to
5
help your kid through college -- the government comes after you
for welfare fraud.
Every one of those things happens with the system we've got
right now. And then we wonder: why can't folks on welfare take
control of their lives -- where's their sense of responsibility?
If we had set out to devise a system that would perpetuate
dependency -- a system that would strip away dignity and
personal responsibility -- we could hardly have done better than
the system we have today Every American knows it's time for a
fresh approach -- a radical change in the way we look at welfare
and the inner city economy.
During every hour of meetings yesterday G was reminded confirmed why
I believe in the plan we've proposed for urban America. I kept
hearing words like "ownership" and "independence" and "dignity"
and "enterprise". It reinforced my belief that we must start
with a set of principles and policies that foster personal
responsibility -- that refocus entitlement programs to serve
those who are most needy, and increase the effectiveness of
government services through competition and choice. I believe in
keeping power close to the people, and using states as
laboratories for innovation. And I believe in policies that
encourage entrepreneurship, increase investment, and create jobs.
These form the heart of my agenda for economic opportunity.
But families can't thrive, children can't learn, jobs can't
flourish in a climate of fear. So first, our responsibility is
to preserve order. A civilized society cannot tackle any of the
6
really tough problems in the midst of chaos. It's just that
simple. Violence and brutality destroy order -- destroy the rule
of law for iolence must never be rationalized. It must be
condemned.
We can reclaim our crime ravaged neighborhoods through a
new initiative called Weed and Seed. [[ Today I am announcing a
$19 million Weed and Seed operation for the City of Los Angeles -
- to "weed out" the gang leaders, the drug dealers and career
criminals, and "seed" those neighborhoods with expanded
educational, employment, and social servces. ]]
With safe and secure neighborhoods we can spark an economic
revival in urban America. So the second part of my agenda is to
ask the Congress to take action on Enterprise Zones, with a zero
capital gains rate for entrepreneurs and investors who locate
businesses and create jobs in America's inner cities. At the
same time, we must help states bring innovation to their welfare
systems. And at the federal level we must break the perverse
disincentives that AFDC rules -- stop penalizing people who want
to work and save -- people who muster the individual initiative
to get off welfare.
Three, safe, drug-free schools are places where our children
can learn. But that's not enough. We've got to revolutionize
our schools through community action, competition, innovation,
and choice -- principles at the heart of the strategy I call
American 2000. We must give children in our nation's hardest-
hit communities the same opportunities as kids in the suburbs.
7
Four, we must promote new hope through home ownership.
People want a real stake in their communities, something of value
they can pass along to their kids. That's what our HOPE
initiative does -- turns public housing tenants into homeowners.
These are just the highlights of an action agenda to bring
hope and opportunity back to our inner cities, but we have other
ideas to try as well. My first order of business upon my return
to Washington will be to build a bipartisan effort in support of
immediate action on this agenda. I know some will say, "you've
proposed all this before.' That's true. They are right. And I
am proposing it again. Because we must try something new.
It doesn't take a social scientist to know we must think
differently. We've tried the old ways of thinking. Now as
Lincoln said "it is time to think anew." Our approach is a
radical break with the policies of the past. It is new because
it's never been tried before. For the sake of the people of
South Central, and people in America's inner cities everywhere, I
will work with the Congress to act now on this common sense
agenda.
You have been through a lot. When I saw the verdict in the
Rodney King case, my reaction was the same as yours. But I
remain confident in our system of justice. And when I saw the
violence and rage erupt on your streets, my reaction was the same
as yours. We all knew we had to restore order. And when I saw
and read about the heroic acts of firefighters and police, or the
8
selfless acts of so many citizens, my reaction was one of relief
-- and hope for the future.
Even in the short time I've been here, I could sense that
the real anguish of the people in South Central L.A. is about
their kids. People are worried sick about the children. All
must agree that whatever we do must be about the children -- they
are our future. Our actions in the wake of this tragedy are for
them -- not just here in Los Angeles, but all across the country.
So far I have spoken about what government can do. Now let
me talk about what society must do. Yes, we've tried hard, spent
a lot of money, and haven't solved the problems. Some critics
say we are a morally, spiritually, and intellectually bankrupt
nation. Not so! Yes, we have problems. But we are the freest,
fairest, the most decent country on the face of the Earth -- and
we have the drive and gumption to prevail.
Your own Mayor Bradley was among a group of mayors who came
to see me last January. I have repeated often what he and others
said to me that day. They said that the most important problem
facing our cities is the dissolution of the family. They're
right. What's the determining fact right now for whether a child
has hope -- stays in school, stays away from drugs? It's not
government spending. It's whether a child lives in a loving home
with a mother and a father.
History tells us that societies cannot succeed without some
fundamental building blocks in place. The state of our nation is
the state of our communities. Good communities are safe and
9
decent. Their young people are cared for -- instilled with
character and values and good habits for life. Good communities
have good schools. And they provide opportunity and hope, rooted
in the dignity of work and reward for achievement.
That's why guaranteeing a hopeful future for the children of
our cities is about a lot more than rebuilding burned out
buildings. It's about building a new American community. It's
about rebuilding bonds among individuals, and among ethnic
groups, among races. We must not let our diversity destroy us.
It is central to our strength as a country. Our ability to live
and work together has made America the inspiration of the world.
Across this country, tens of thousands of groups, and
hundreds of thousands of individuals, who have never been
involved before, and who will never be paid one nickel for their
efforts, must become partners in solving our most serious social
problems. The people right here in this room know exactly what
I'm talking about. Government alone cannot create the scale and
energy needed to transform the lives of people in need.
In my conversation with leaders of L.A.'s many communities,
I heard over and over that right now, L.A. has many of the
answers with itself. Right now, this community has many of the
answers within itself. For example, there are four Cities in
Schools programs helping children learn, and many members of a
group called One Hundred Black Men mentors boys in South Central.
If instead there were twenty-five Cities in Schools programs and
Ten Thousand Black Men working with boys -- and so on with the
10
hundreds of people and groups that work with kids -- there is no
question that what happened last week wouldn't have been as bad.
So it only makes sense that a large part of our challenge is to
in comments ter community-
dramatically expand the scale of what we alréady know works 141
community after community.
The phrase I have repeated perhaps more often than any other
is worth repeating here "From now on in America, any definition
of a successful life must include serving others".
When we look to ensure a decent and hopeful future for our
children, I mean this about every community: First, every group
and institution in America -- schools, businesses, churches --
must do its part. We must praise what works and share what
works. Second, all leaders -- all leaders must mobilize and
inspire their people to take action. Third, community centers
must link those that care with those who need the help. Fourth,
needs to
the media MISE cover what is working, so we can share and repeat
our successes many times over. Finally, we must change our
liability laws that frighten people away from helping others.
But there's something else society must cultivate that
government cannot provide. Something we can't legislate -- or
establish by government order. I'm talking about the moral sense
that must guide us all. In the simplest terms -- I'm talking
about knowing right from wrong AND DOING WHAT's RIGHT.
Let me come back again to that little boy I spoke about
earlier -- Rudy Campbell. There's a lesson he learned that
survived the horror and the hate. In the midst of all the chaos
11
-- in the midst of so much that's gone wrong -- he knows what's
right. When he was asked about the violence, here's what he
said, "They should know what's right and wrong, because when I
was four that's when I learned."
That's got to give us hope. God bless Rudy Campbell. And
God bless the person who cared enough to teach him right from
wrong. Now, it's up to us -- everyone of us in this room -- to
guarantee that Rudy and all the millions of kids like him grow up
a
in, better America.
I believe we are right about family. We are right about
freedom and free enterprise. We are right about faith. And most
of all, we are right about America's future. We have the
strength and spirit in our government, in our communities, and in
ourselves to transform America into the nation we have dreamed of
for generations.
Thank you for the conviction you have to act on your
beliefs. Thank you for all you have done. God bless the United
States of America.
# # #
General Services Administration, Region 9
*
LINTED STATES COMPLETITION
*
We the
*
........
GENERAL SERVICES
#1621-2821
L821
People
*
#1621
1661-2861
1991
* ADMINISTRATION
1987
BICENTENNIAL*
Recept:
FEMA, SBA, FOODAID
MASSIVE
pleased w/ The
coord of
fed - state
of local
Let me say &
the speed with which a federal retel hundreds of millions
I am truly heartened by
of federal relief reached Loo Angeles -
from FEMA grants to Small Business
Loans to inquest food aid.
And I am pleased to see the
smooth cooperation 6 coordination -
between everyone pulling toge the 1
on the fedual, state + local level.
DD
Kristol
DDDM
Group
Draft Two Twee
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS TO THE COMMUNITY OF LOS ANGELES
FRIDAY, MAY 8, 1992
[ACKNOWLEDGMENTS]
Let me first thank the people of Los Angeles for all they
have done during my visit. With all that has transpired these
envision
last few days, I can imagine the headaches our visit has caused,
will
but I can assure you we do plan to leave on schedule. The
police, the community groups, the Mayor's office, the Governor:
Everyone has been tremendously helpful.
befonsure
(BK)
It was vitally important that I come here. The Los Angeles
Community has been the site of a terrible tragedy. Not just for
you, but for our country -- and everyone around the world who
looks to America as a model of freedom and justice. That's why I
want to say a few things about my visit, to speak with you about
what I've seen in this city -- and most importantly -- about
where we must go as a nation. For as I said yesterday at Mt.
Zion Church we are one people ++ one-family tt one nation under
God.
[Anecdote (s) from tour and meetings.] When people terrorize
one another and burn each others property, I can hardly imagine
the volume of fear and anger people must feel. In sum, on the
same city block -- I saw tragic signs of hatred but remarkable
signs of hope.
2
This tragedy seemed to come suddenly but it has been many,
many years in the making. I know it will take time to put things
right. I could have said "put things right again", but that
would miss the point. Things weren't right before a week ago
Wednesday. Things aren't right in too many cities across
America. We must not return to the status quo -- not here -- not
in any city where the system perpetuates failure, hatred,
poverty, and despair.
Let me tell you a little story about Rudy Campbell. I saw
him on TV. He looked to be about eight. His father was murdered
a few years back. I didn't see his mother. Rudy is raised by
his twenty-two year old sister who has five kids of her own. He
lives in South Central. Think about what he has already been
through. And that now he says he fears that things will only get
"badder and badder and badder." It breaks your heart. But we
can't stop there. Our children need more than sympathy.
What went wrong in L.A. -- what were the "underlying
causes", the "root problems" -- that can all be debated. And it
should be -- but not to assign blame. Casting blame gets us
nowhere. Honest talk and principled actions will get us a lot
further -- will move us forward. That's what we must do for our
children.
We must start with some unpleasant realities that most
Americans now recognize. Let me spend just a minute on those.
For many years
many
Since the 1960's, we have tried lots of different programs --
3
aimed at stemming the tide of urban violence, drugs, crime, and
social decay.
Lots of different programs and policies -- all with noble
Many other
intentions -- have tried to address the need for adequate
housing, education, jobs and job training. Everything from child
care to welfare to health care has been the subject of some
commission, report, or study.
We have spent huge amounts of money -- some estimates are as
high as two and a half trillion dollars over twenty-five years.
social
Much of this ffort went to construct a safety net -- to provide
for those in need.
some security and hopefully some stability, Even in the last
decade, federal spending went up for these kinds of efforts. But
when we look where this path has taken us, it is not where we
wanted to go.
Now put away the studies and just look around our cities.
Some quick facts: in 1960 the percentage of births to unwed
mothers was 5%. Now it is 27%. If you read about a young black
male dying, odds are that he was murdered. In fact, the odds are
almost 1 out of 2. Kids used to carry just their lunches to
school. Today some carry guns. Between 1987 and 1991, 134 guns
were seized here in L.A. -- and that was just in the elementary
schools. Drug and alcohol abuse are serious problems almost
everywhere. The chances that an 8th grader has ever used alcohol
of
is 70%, and there's a 1 in 10 chance that he or she has used
marijuana
4
In the wake of the L.A. riots -- in the wake of the crack
epidemic sweeping our cities -- in the wake of a lost generation
of inner-city lives: can any of us argue that we've solved the
problems of poverty, racism, and crime? No!
Thanks to a great civil rights revolution, we removed many
of the legal barriers to discrimination and equality of
I
opportunity. [[ But you don't need to look further than the
graffiti on the next street to see that hate, bigotry and racism
still plague our society. ]]
Some programs -- I'm thinking of programs like Head Start or
Aid to the Elderly -- have shown time-tested positive results.
But many simply have not worked. Our welfare system doesn't get
from
people off welfare -- it keeps people trapped there.
The reality is sobering.
The statistics are indeed sobering. The sum and substance
is this: our cities are in serious trouble. Too many of our citizens
are in trouble-
We in government have an absolute responsibility to help And
it
need no be
solve these problems. Our first responsibility is to preserve
this
order -- not the order of a prison yard -- but an enabling order.
way.
thereve
One where families can flourish, children can learn, and jobs can
flourish.
be created.
I have taken a hard look at what the government can do and
how it can help communities with the concerns that really matter:
how people can own property, own their own home, start a
and
business, create jobs, ensure that people not government make the
big decisions that affect the health, education and care of one's
own family.
5
(delete)
BK
Think of the way the world looks right now to the single
mother on welfare. Government provides you just enough cash for
the bare necessities. Government tells you where you can live -
- where your kids go to school. When you're sick -- government
tells you what kind of care you get, and when. If you find a
job, the government cuts your welfare benefits. If you save, if
you manage to put some money away -- towards a home or maybe to
help your kid through college -- the government comes after you
for welfare fraud.
Every one of those things happens with the system we've got
debte
right now. And then we wonder: why can't folks on welfare take
control of their lives -- where's their sense of responsibility?
If we had set out to devise a system that would perpetuate
nove
dependency -- a system that would strip away dignity and
personal responsibility -- we could hardly have done better than
the system we have today.
do
Every American knows it's time we tried something different.
A fresh approach -- a radical change in the way we look at
welfare and the inner city economy.
pine ples
We must start with policies that foster personal
responsibility, policies that refocus entitlement programs to
serve those who are most needy, and increase the effectiveness of
government services through competition and choice. I believe in
policies that keep power close to the people -- and that usens
I believe
states as laboratories for innovation. I believe in policies
that encourage entrepreneurship -- increase investment -- create
6
jobs. My agenda for economic opportunity flows from these beliefs
principles: and I have made asked the Congress to toraction help.
/This is one way to
One, we must spark an economic revival in urban America
Congress to pass
That's why I want to see Enterprise Zones, with a zero capital
gains rate for entrepreneurs and investors who locate businesses
At the Same time,
and create jobs in America's inner cities. We must break the
perverse dis-incentives that discourage work and encourage
welfare. We've got to reform our AFDC rules -- stop penalizing
people who want to work and save -- people who must the
individual initiative to leave welfare behind.
if an uner economy to grow, if our children are to learn,
Two, we must reclaim neighborhoods now ravaged by crime and
drugs. We're doing that through a new initiative called Weed and
Seed -- to "weed out" the gang leaders, the drug dealers and
career criminals, and "seed" those neighborhoods with expanded employment
and
educational opportunities and social services. [We Sannourcement]
only in
Three, safe neighborhoods are places where our children can
learn. But that's not enough. We've got to revolutionize our
free schools. We do it through choice and competition key
and innovation
and
community
safe duy
action
ideas at the heart of the strategy I call American 2000. We must
give children parents in our nation's hardest-hit communities the same opportunities
as inthe suburbo.
choices. Parents, not the government, should be free to choose
who cares for their children and where their children go to
school.
Four, we must promote new hope through home ownership.
That's the aim of our HOPE initiative, to give people a real
stake in their communities -- something of value they can pass
or need an cas goid
word
7
along to their kids -- by turning public housing tenants into
homeowners. There are more proposals in the areas
delite
Finally, fifth, we must assure all Americans access to basic
health care -- and we can do it without compromising choice and
quality, through my comprehensive plan for health care reform.
Some will say, "you've proposed all this before." They are
right. And I am proposing it again. Because I am right. Some
will say, "Where is the new money, the new programs, the new
bureaucracy?" I will say, government doesn't create wealth, free
enterprise and free people do I will say, a government program
does not raise children, families do. A government program does
provide
not dispense spiritual and moral guidance, churches, synagogues
and parents do. A government program does not build
neighborhoods, people do.
I'm not a social scientist. I have never pretended to be.
I look at things from my own experience.
We've tried the old ways of thinking. Now as Lincoln said
"it is time to think anew." Our approach is a radical break
with the policies of the past. It is new because it's never been
tried before. If ever the Congress needed a reason to try
something new it is Los Angeles, California.
When I saw the verdict in the Rodney King case, my reaction
was not much different than the rest of America, as I said to the
American people last Friday. I was stunned, but I remain
confident in our system of justice. And when I saw the violence
and rage erupt on your streets, my reaction was the same as most
8
other people. We all knew we had to restore order. A civilized
society cannot tackle any of the really tough problems in the
midst of chaos. It's as simple as that. We must never condone
violence and brutality, and I am confident we never will.
When I saw and read about the heroic acts, the responsible
acts, the selfless acts, of so many of the citizens of Los
Angeles, my reaction was one of relief -- and hope for the
future.
So far I have spoken about what government can do. Now let
me talk about what society must do. I have said we can agree on
several things. For thirty years we've tried many solutions,
spent a lot of money, and haven't solved the problems. But we
are not a morally, spiritually, or intellectually bankrupt
nation. Nothing could be further from the truth. We have the
spirit and the gumption to go at this problem again and again
until we beat it. And we will -- if we try the right things --
things we haven't tried before.
Even in the short time I've been here, I could sense that
the real anguish of the people in the hardest hit areas is about
their kids. People are worried sick about the children. I
believe all agree that whatever we do must be about the children
-- they are our future. Our actions in the wake of this tragedy
are for them -- not just here in Los Angeles, but all across the
country.
Your own Mayor Bradley was among a group of mayors who came
to see me last January. I have repeated often what he and others
[mts comments with black leaders]
said to me that day.
They didn't ask for more programs or more
money. They said that the most important problem facing our
cities is the dissolution of the family. They're right. What's
the determining fact right now for whether a child has hope --
stays in school, stays away from drugs? It's not the level of
federal aid. It's not a HUD grant or an SBA loan. It's whether
a child lives in a loving home with a mother and a father.
History tells us that societies cannot succeed without some
fundamental building blocks in place. The state of our nation is
the state of our communities. Good communities are safe and
decent. They care for their young people -- instill them with
character and values and good habits for life. They have good
schools. Good communities provide opportunity and hope, rooted
in the dignity of work and reward for achievement.
So this is obviously not a crisis just of economics. This
is about rebuilding our spirit. It's about rebuilding bonds
among individuals, and among ethnic groups, between races. We
must not let our diversity destroy us. It is central to our
strength as a country. Our ability to live and work together has
made America the inspiration of the world.
That's why guaranteeing a hopeful future for the children of
our cities is about a lot more than rebuilding burned out
buildings. It's about building a new American community. And
history shows us that government alone cannot come close to
creating the scale and energy needed to transform the lives of
10
people in need. Anyone who believes otherwise has been living in
a cave for the last twenty-five years.
In every city in America, tens of thousands of groups, and
hundreds of thousands of individuals, who have never been
involved before, and who will never be paid one nickel for their
efforts, must become partners in solving our most serious social
problems. One need not look far for the evidence that this is
central to the solution.
Right now, this community has many of the answers within
itself. For example, there are four Cities in Schools programs,
there are XX members of One Hundred Black Men mentoring boys in
South Central Los Angeles. If instead there were Ten Thousand
Black Men working with boys, and twenty-five Cities in Schools
programs helping hispanic children learn -- and so on with the
hundreds of people and groups that work with kids -- there is no
question that what happened last week would have been much, much
less severe. So it only makes sense that a large part of our
challenge is to dramatically expand the scale of what we already
know works in community after community.
The phrase I have repeated perhaps more often than any other
is worth repeating here "From now on in America, any definition
of a successful life must include serving others". That goes for
institutions as well as individuals.
When we look to ensure a decent and hopeful future for our
children, I mean this about every community: First, every group
and institution in America -- schools, businesses, churches --
11
must do its part. We must praise what works and share what
works. Second, all leaders -- all leaders must mobilize and
inspire their people to take action. Third, community centers
delett
must link those that care with those who need the help. Fourth,
18
the media must cover what is working, so we can share and repeat
our successes many times over. Finally, we must change our
liability laws that frighten good people away from helping
others.
But. there's something society must cultivate that
government cannot provide. Something we can't legislate -- or
establish by government order. I'm talking about the moral sense
that must guide us all. In the simplest terms -- I'm talking
about knowing right from wrong.
Let me come back again to that little boy I spoke about
earlier -- Rudy Campbell. There's a lesson he learned that
survived the horror and the hate. In the midst of all the chaos
-- in the midst of so much that's gone wrong -- he knows what's
right. When he was asked about the violence, here's what he
said, "They should know what's right and wrong, because when I
was four
that's when I learned."
That's got to give us hope. God bless Rudy Campbell. And
God bless the person who cared enough to teach him right from
wrong. Now, it's up to us -- everyone of us in this room -- to
guarantee that Rudy and all the millions of kids like him have a
shot at a better life.
12
I believe we are right about family. We are right about
freedom and free enterprise. We are right about faith. And most
of all, we are right about America's future. We have the
capacity in our government, in our communities, and in ourselves
to transform America into the nation we have dreamed of for
generations.
Thank you for the conviction you have to act on your
beliefs. Thank you for all you have done. God bless the United
States of America.
# # #
Call on feef Consessional Wright of wonseaberting pot
LA melting
As soon
as back get
POTUS
DDDM
Group
Draft Three
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS TO THE COMMUNITY OF LOS ANGELES
FRIDAY, MAY 8, 1992
[ACKNOWLEDGMENTS]
Let me first thank the people of Los Angeles for all they
have done during my visit. With all that's happened these last
few days, I can envision the headaches our visit has caused. I
assure you we will leave on schedule. The Governor, the Mayor,
the police, the L.A. community: Everyone's been just great.
It was vitally important that I come here. The Los Angeles
Community has been the site of a terrible tragedy. Not just for
you, but for our country -- and everyone around the world who
looks to America as a model of freedom and justice. That's why I
want to say a few things about my visit, to speak with you about
what I've seen in this city. Most importantly, as I said at Mt.
Zion Church yesterday, we are one people, one family, one nation
under God. So I will speak about where we must go as a nation.
I can hardly imagine the depth of fear and anger people must
feel to terrorize one another and burn each other's property.
But I saw remarkable signs of hope right next to tragic signs of
and Girls
hatred. This Boys Club stands unscarred in the midst of a
Its existence
burned-out block. That it was saved proves the power of our
better selves. Never let us forget that.
Add lou story
2
Now let me tell you a story about little Rudy Campbell. I
saw him on TV. He looked to be about eight. His father was
murdered a few years back. I didn't see his mother. Rudy is
raised by his twenty-two year old sister who has five kids of her
own. He lives in South Central. Think about what he has already
been through. Now he says he fears that things will only get
"badder and badder and badder." It breaks your heart. But we
can't stop at sympathy. Our children deserve more than that.
What went wrong in L.A. -- the "underlying causes", the
"root problems" -- that can all be debated. And it should be --
but not to assign blame. Casting blame gets us nowhere. Honest
talk and principled actions will move us forward. That's what we
must do for our children.
This tragedy seemed to come suddenly -- but it has been
many, many years in the making. I know it will take time to put
things right. I could have said "put things right again", but
that would miss the point. Things weren't right before a week ago
Wednesday. Things aren't right in too many cities. We must not
return to the status quo -- not here -- not in any city where the
system perpetuates failure, hatred, poverty, and despair.
Most Americans now recognize some unpleasant realities. Let
me spend just a minute on those. For many years, we have tried
many different programs -- aimed at stemming the tide of urban
violence, drugs, crime, and social decay
Many other programs
and policies -- all with noble intentions -- have tried to
address the need for adequate housing, education, jobs, and job
heart A
heat per
3
training. Everything from child care to welfare to health care
has been the subject of some commission, report, or study.
We have spent huge amounts of money -- some estimates are as
high as three trillion dollars over twenty-five years. Much of
an important and
this went to construct compassionate safety net -- to provide
security and stability for people in need. Even within the last
decade, federal spending went up for these kinds of efforts. But
where this path has taken us, is not where we wanted to go.
Put away the studies and just look around our cities. Some
quick facts: in 1960 the percentage of births to unwed mothers
was 5%. Now it is 27%. If you read about a young black male
dying, odds are that he was murdered. In fact, the odds are
almost 1 out of 2. Kids used to carry just their lunches to
school. Today some carry guns. Between 1987 and 1991, 134 guns
were seized here in L.A. -- and that was just in the elementary
schools. Drug and alcohol abuse are serious problems almost
everywhere. The chances that an 8th grader has ever used alcohol
is 70%, and there's a 1 in 10 chance of drug use.
In the wake of the L.A. riots -- in the wake of the crack
epidemic sweeping our cities -- in the wake of a lost generation
of inner-city lives: can any of us argue that we've solved the
problems of poverty, racism, and crime? No! Thanks to a great
civil rights revolution, we removed many of the legal barriers to
discrimination and equality of opportunity. [[ But you don't
need to look further than the graffiti on street to see that
hate, bigotry and racism still plague our society. ]]
4
Some programs -- ones like Head Start or aid to the elderly
-- have shown time-tested positive results. But many haven't
worked. Our welfare system doesn't get people off welfare -- it
keeps people trapped there. The statistics are indeed sobering.
The reality is sobering. The sum and substance is this: our
cities are in serious trouble. Too many of our citizens are in
trouble and it doesn't have to be this way.
Government has an absolute responsibility to help solve
these problems. I have taken a hard look at what the government
can do and how it can help communities with the concerns that
really matter: how people can own property, own their own home,
start a business, create jobs. How we can ensure that people --
not government -- make the big decisions that affect the health,
education and care of one's own family.
Think of the way the world looks right now to the single
mother on welfare. Government provides you just enough cash for
the bare necessities. Government tells you where you can live -
- where your kids go to school. When you're sick -- government
tells you what kind of care you get, and when. If you find a
job, the government cuts your welfare benefits. If you save, if
you manage to put some money away -- towards a home or maybe to
help your kid through college -- the government comes after you
for welfare fraud.
Every one of those things happens with the system we've got
right now. And then we wonder: why can't folks on welfare take
control of their lives -- where's their sense of responsibility?
5
If we had set out to devise a system that would perpetuate
dependency -- a system that would strip away dignity and
personal responsibility -- we could hardly have done better than
the system we have today. Every American knows it's time for a
fresh approach -- a radical change in the way we look at welfare
and the inner city economy.
Duing
Every
hour
We must start with a set of principles and policies that
and opportunity
yesterday
foster personal responsibility, that refocus entitlement programs
I reminded was
to serve those who are most needy, and increase the effectiveness
of government services through competition and choice. I believe
I 5mg believe this
in keeping power close to the people, and using states as
laboratories for innovation. And I believe in policies that
in
for plan Am.
encourage entrepreneurship, increase investment, and create jobs.
These form the heart of my agenda for economic opportunity.
But families can't thrive, children can't learn, jobs can't
flourish in a climate of fear. So first, our responsibility is
to preserve order. A civilized society cannot tackle any of the
really tough problems in the midst of chaos. It's just that
simple. Violence and brutality destroy order -- destroy the rule
will
of law -- and can never be condoned.
We can reclaim our crime-ravaged neighborhoods through a new
initiative called Weed and Seed. [[ Today I am announcing a $19
million Weed and Seed operation for the City of Los Angeles -- to
"weed out" the gang leaders, the drug dealers and career
criminals, and "seed" those neighborhoods with expanded
educational, employment, and social services. ]]
6
With safe and secure neighborhoods we can spark an economic
revival in urban America. So the second part of my agenda is to
ask the Congress to take action on Enterprise Zones, with a zero
capital gains rate for entrepreneurs and investors who locate
businesses and create jobs in America's inner cities. At the
same time, we must break the perverse disincentives that
discourage work and encourage welfare. We've got to reform our
AFDC rules -- stop penalizing people who want to work and save -
- people who muster the individual initiative to get off welfare.
Three, safe, drug-free schools are places where our children
can learn. But that's not enough. We've got to revolutionize
our schools through community action, competition, innovation,
and choice -- principles at the heart of the strategy I call
American 2000. We must give children in our nation's hardest-
hit communities the same opportunities as kids in the suburbs.
Four, we must promote new hope through home ownership.
People want a real stake in their communities, something of value
they can pass along to their kids. That's what our HOPE
initiative does -- turns public housing tenants into homeowners.
These are just the highlights of an agenda to bring hope and
opportunity back to our inner cities. And we have a national
economic plan to keep America competitive in the years ahead. I
know some will say, "you've proposed all this before." They are
right. And I am proposing it again. Because I am right.
Some will say, "Where is the new money, the new programs,
the new bureaucracy?" I will say, government doesn't create
7
wealth, free enterprise and free people do. A government program
does not build neighborhoods, people do. Government does not
raise children, families do. And finally, government programs
don't provide spiritual and moral guidance, churches, synagogues
and parents do.
It doesn't take a social scientist to know we must think
differently. We've tried the old ways of thinking. Now as
Lincoln said "it is time to think anew." Our approach is a
radical break with the policies of the past. It is new because
it's never been tried before. I am asking the Congress again to
enact this common sense agenda. And if ever the Congress needed
a reason to try something new -- it is Los Angeles, California.
When I saw the verdict in the Rodney King case, my reaction
was not much different than the rest of America. As I said to
the American people last Friday, I was stunned, but I remain
confident in our system of justice. And when I saw the violence
and rage erupt on your streets, my reaction was the same as most
I was horrified
other people. a We all knew we had to restore order. And when I
saw and read about the heroic acts of firefighters and police, or
the selfless acts of so many citizens, my reaction was one of
relief -- and hope for the future.
Even in the short time I've been here, I could sense that
the real anguish of the people in South Central L.A. is about
their kids. People are worried sick about the children. All
must agree that whatever we do must be about the children -- they
are our future. Our actions in the wake of this tragedy are for
8
them -- not just here in Los Angeles, but all across the country.
So far I have spoken about what government can do. Now let
me talk about what society must do. Yes, we've tried hard, spent
a lot of money, and haven't solved the problems. But we are not
a morally, spiritually, or intellectually bankrupt nation.
Nothing could be further from the truth. We have the spirit and
the gumption to go at this problem again and again until we beat
it. And we will -- if we try the right things.
Your own Mayor Bradley was among a group of mayors who came
to see me last January. I have repeated often what he and others
said to me that day. They said that the most important problem
facing our cities is the dissolution of the family. They're
right. What's the determining fact right now for whether a child
has hope -- stays in school, stays away from drugs? It's not a
HUD grant or an SBA loan. It's whether a child lives in a loving
home with a mother and a father.
History tells us that societies cannot succeed without some
fundamental building blocks in place. The state of our nation is
the state of our communities. Good communities are safe and
decent. They care for their young people -- instill in them
character and values and good habits for life. They have good
schools. Good communities provide opportunity and hope, rooted
in the dignity of work and reward for achievement.
So this is obviously not a crisis just of economics. This
is about rebuilding our spirit. It's about rebuilding bonds
among individuals, and among ethnic groups, between races. We
9
must not let our diversity destroy us. It is central to our
strength as a country. Our ability to live and work together has
made America the inspiration of the world.
That's why guaranteeing a hopeful future for the children of
our cities is about a lot more than rebuilding burned out
buildings. It's about building a new American community. And
history shows us that government alone cannot come close to
creating the scale and energy needed to transform the lives of
people in need. Anyone who believes otherwise has been living in
a cave for the last twenty-five years.
In every city in America, tens of thousands of groups, and
hundreds of thousands of individuals, who have never been
involved before, and who will never be paid one nickel for their
efforts, must become partners in solving our most serious social
problems. One need not look far for the evidence that this is
central to the solution.
In my conversations with leaders of L.A.'s many communities,
I heard over and over that right now, L.A. has many of the
answers within itself. For example, there are four Cities in
helping children learn,
Schools programs, and many members of a group called One Hundred
Black Men mentor boys in South Central. If instead there were
twenty-five Cities in Schools programs helping hispanic children
learn, and Ten Thousand Black Men working with boys -- and so on
with the hundreds of people and groups that work with kids --
wouldn't not
there is no question that what happened last week would have been
as bad.
much, much less severe. So it only makes sense that a large part
10
of our challenge is to dramatically expand the scale of what we
already know works in community after community.
The phrase I have repeated perhaps more often than any other
is worth repeating here "From now on in America, any definition
of a successful life must include serving others".
When we look to ensure a decent and hopeful future for our
children, I mean this about every community: First, every group
and institution in America -- schools, businesses, churches --
must do its part. We must praise what works and share what
works. Second, all leaders -- all leaders must mobilize and
inspire their people to take action. Third, community centers
must link those that care with those who need the help. Fourth,
the media must cover what is working, so we can share and repeat
our successes many times over. Finally, we must change our
liability laws that frighten people away from helping others.
else
But there's something society must cultivate that government
cannot provide. Something we can't legislate -- or establish by
government order. I'm talking about the moral sense that must
guide us all. In the simplest terms -- I'm talking about knowing
right from wrong.
Let me come back again to that little boy I spoke about
earlier -- Rudy Campbell. There's a lesson he learned that
survived the horror and the hate. In the midst of all the chaos
-- in the midst of so much that's gone wrong -- he knows what's
right. When he was asked about the violence, here's what he
11
said, "They should know what's right and wrong, because when I
was four
that's when I learned."
That's got to give us hope. God bless Rudy Campbell. And
God bless the person who cared enough to teach him right from
wrong. Now, it's up to us -- as partners -- everyone of us in
this room -- to guarantee that Rudy and all the millions of kids
like him grow up in a better America.
I believe we are right about family. We are right about
freedom and free enterprise. We are right about faith. And most
of all, we are right about America's future. We have the
strength and spirit in our government, in our communities, and in
ourselves to transform America into the nation we have dreamed of
for generations.
Thank you for the conviction you have to act on your
beliefs. Thank you for all you have done. God bless the United
States of America.
# # #
KEMP
DDDM
Group
Draft Two
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS TO THE COMMUNITY OF LOS ANGELES
FRIDAY, MAY 8, 1992
[ACKNOWLEDGMENTS]
Let me first thank the people of Los Angeles for all they
have done during my visit. With all that has transpired these
last few days, I can imagine the headaches our visit has caused,
but I can assure you we do plan to leave on schedule. The fire of
q religious leaders
police, the community groups the Mayor's office, the Governor:
Everyone has been tremendously helpful but most particularly the grant people
It was vitally important that I come here. The Los Angeles
of
this
Community has been the site of a terrible tragedy. Not just for
great
you, but for our country -- and everyone around the world who
city.
an oyample
deman
looks to America as a mode of freedom and justice. That's why I
want to say a few things about my visit, to speak with you about
what I've seen in this city and most importantly about
what tere heard from the people with whomile met,
where we must go as a nation. For as I said yesterday at Mt.
Zion Church we are one family -- one people one nation under
God. each of us with x stake in each others creefare &well being.
[Anecdote (s) from tour and meetings.] When people terrorize
one another others property, I can hardly imagine
suson and burn or q each plunder someones
the volume of fear and anger people must feel. In sum, on the
same city block -- I saw tragic signs of hatred but remarkable
signs of hope.
wdatabout
paranthelical
phrase
here
a
reminding people that then can be
2
mr excuse for breakength law or violates
or taking the law into group perferts,
?
This tragedy seemed to come suddenly but it has been many,
human Nhe
many years in the making. I know it will take time to put things
02
right. I could have said "put things right again", but that
would miss the point. Things weren't right before a week ago
n
the
Wednesday. Things aren't right in too many Hom cities across
live
its
Letme assure you we ww not
America. We must not return to the status quo -- not here -- not
in any city where (the the perpetuates failure, hatred,
policies system promote 9m cases
poverty, and despair.
Let me tell you a little story about Rudy Campbell. I saw
him on TV. He looked to be about eight. His father was murdered
a few years back. I didn't see his mother. Rudy is raised by
his twenty-two year old sister who has five kids of her own. He
lives in South Central. Think about what he has already been
through. And that now he says he fears that things will only get
"badder and badder and badder.' It breaks your heart. But we
love, Protection of musturing and monthly are they need our collective ask 8 commedite
can't stop there. Our children need more than sympathy they need our
What went wrong in L.A. what were the "underlying
discussed
action
causes", the "root problems" -- that can all be debated.
ABa
it
wahago
should be but not to assign blame. Casting blame gets us
about
nowhere. Honest talk a and principled actions will get us a lot
topen dialogas as well as immediate
further indud, can move us forward. That's what we must do for our
Justice
children. for our communities for our nation g its future
We must start with some unpleasant realities that most
Americans now recognize. Let me spend just a minute on those.
until
Since the 1960's, we have tried lots of different programs --
talk
about
3
aimed at stemming the tide of urban violence, drugs, crime, and
social decay.
with lots ofmonay
Lots of different programs and policies K with nobles good
intentions -- have tried to address the need for adequate
housing, education, jobs and job training. Everything from child
care to welfare to health care has been the subject of some
commission, report, or study and varying dyrees of public expenditures
and sand We have spent huge amounts of money -- some estimates are as
high as two and a half trillion dollars over twenty-five years.
Much of this effort went to construct a safety net -- to provide
some security and hopefully some stability. Even in the last
decade, federal spending went up for these kinds of efforts. But
when we look where this path has taken us, it is not where we
wanted to go. we in effect have a Safety nex underwhich people should nox be
allowed to fall - but wen mislectes the londer 1 opp mpon which all people show
Now put away the studies and just look around our cities.
be allow
Some quick facts: in 1960 the percentage of births to unwed
&
mothers was 5%. Now it is 27%. If you read about a young black
male dying, odds are that he was murdered. In fact, the odds are
almost 1 out of 2. Kids used to carry just their lunches to
school. Today some carry guns. Between 1987 and 1991, 134 guns
were seized here in L.A. -- and that was just in the elementary
schools. Drug and alcohol abuse are serious problems almost
everywhere. The chances that an 8th grader has ever used alcohol
is 70%, and there's al in 10 chance that he or she has used
marijuana.
4
In the wake of the L.A. riots in the wake of the crack
epidemic sweeping our cities in the wake of to mamy a lost generation
lost inner-city lives: can any of us argue that we've solved the
problems of poverty, racism, and crime? No!
Thanks to a great civil rights revolution, we removed many
of the legal barriers to discrimination and equality of
opportunity. [[ But you don't need to look further than the
graffiti on the next street to see that hate bigotry and racism
still plague our society. ]] But now we face an opp to open a new chapse
in this ongoing Some Borlution programs to make the I'm purmise thinking of an of Did programs 1 Indepi like a reality Head Start -
potion Aid to one Elderly -- have shown time-tested positive results.
bat
for all
But many simply have not worked. Our welfare system doesn't get
people off welfare. -- it keeps people trapped there. at doesn't combat
poverty it
The statistics are indeed sobering. The sum and substance
is this: our cities are in serious trouble.
We in government have an absolute responsibility to help
solve these problems. Our first responsibility is to preserve
order -- not the order of a prison yard -- but an enabling order.
One where families can flourish, children can learn, and jobs can
be created. GMT must be active in remaing business impediments to
the creation profert have taken twealth a hard breah look dron at the what walls the of government prejidece discrim can do of and to Ruh M.
Capture
how it can help communities with the concerns that really matter:
R
how people can own a property, n own their own home, start
business, create jobs, ensure that people not government make the
amer am
importer decisions that affect the educa health, n education and care of one's
then children
own family.
5
a
Think of the way the world looks right now to the single
or an 1.Embloges father Employed
mother on welfare Government provides you just enough cash for
the
bare
necessities.
Government cases
tells you where you can live -
- where your kids go to school. When you're sick -- government
tells you what kind of care you get, and when. If you find an Entry
level job, the government cuts wye your welfare benefits. If you save, if
you manage to put some money away -- towards a home or maybe to
help your kid through college the government comes after you
for even daring Every a one savings of those acct. hear things people happens say .we with want the everge system stevings we've got time if but
for welfare fraud. one young Chic chicano woman was find 15,000
right now. And then we folks on welfare take
values
control of their lives -- where's their sense of responsibility?
Pm
&
well,
If we had set out to devise a system that would perpetuate
out
of
dependency -- a system that would strip away dignity and
unk
personal responsibility we could hardly have done better than
gary
the welfare system we have today.
SM
Every American knows it's time we tried something different.
A fresh approach -- a radical change in the our way we lock at
dramate
organit
welfare system and the our inner city economy, (d behive work al my heart
theyour.
some
We must start with policies that foster personal
and
that
responsibility, policies that refocus entitlement programs to
serve those who are most needy, and increase the effectiveness of
government services through competition and choice. I believe in
policies that keep Empower power people the not people and that
use
party
states as laboratories for innovation. I believe in policies
good
consultip
that encourage entrepreneurship Ä increase investment 0 create
the
smily
has
&
STATE
bisis
www
Group
in
you!
achiever
6
jobs. My agenda for economic opportunity flows from these simple
principles: of based on one historical fact - people respond to
but we must spark an economic revival in urban America. rewarks
that gruntine our unner cthis
That's why I want to see Enterprise Zones with a zero capital
work live F invest
people
gains rate for entrepreneurs and investors who locate
want
and create jobs in America's inner cities. We must break the
perverse dis-incentives that discourage work and partituato incourage
nigh
defenday welfare. We've got to reform week our AFDC rules that penalizing
this hr.
people who want to work and save people who must the
individual initiative to there leave why welfare & gart defending.
purity, Ither
Two, we must reclaim neighborhoods now ravaged by crime and
drugs. We're doing that through a new initiative called Weed and
Seed -- to "weed out" the gang leaders, the drug dealers and
career criminals, and "seed" those neighborhoods with expanded
educational opportunities and social services.
Three, safe neighborhoods are places where our children can
learn. But that's not enough. We've got to revolutionize our
schools. We do it through choice and competition -- two key
guter parentitype
ideas at the heart of the strategy I call American 2000. We must
give parents in our nation's hardest-hit communities the same
then they chicken or folls due in the sububs.
choices. Parents, not the government, should be free to choose
who cares for their children and where their children go to
school.
expanded
Four, we must promote new hope through home ownership.
abalm Soucol lh
That's the aim of our - HOPE initiative, to give people a real
stake in their communities -- something of value they can pass
May20th, 130 Unnesterken annureisan art 1 of now m we fexiolm must apply it seals &
7
of & gon ossisted gont
along to their kids by turning public housing tenants into
homeowners producty owners. I'm ashing Congus to folly ford
our urban
Finally, fifth, we must assure all Americans access to basic
Romesteading
health care and we can do it without compromising choice and
initiative
quality, through my comprehensive plan for health care reform.
d
Some will say, "you've proposed all this before. " They/are
help us
right And I am proposing what it again. Because Im right Some
donble
will say, "Where is the new money, the new programs, the new
the
bureaucracy?" I will say, government doesn't create wealth, free
number
enterprise and free people do. I will say, government programs
of low
doe not raise children, families do. A government program does
not dispense spiritual and moral guidance, churches, synagogues
and parents do. A government program does not build
american
neighborhoods, people do. Barth government can remove to the barriers
who
I'm not a social scientist. I have never pretended to be.
an
I look at things from my own experience.
become
We've tried the old ways of thinking. Now as Lincoln said
homeones
"it is time to think anew." Our approach is a radical break
with the policies of the past. It is new because it's never been
tried before. If ever the Congress needed a reason to try
something new it is Los Angeles, California dufact, l invote the bedues
M both om When partis I saw in the Cryuse verdict to join in the me in Rodney L.A. King announce case, my These reaction initiative on
was not much different than the rest of America, as I said to the
-bip
American people last Friday. I was stunned, but I remain
base
confident in our system of justice. And when I saw the violence
x
and rage erupt on your streets, my reaction was the same as most
the
that
And
to
all
an
8
other people. We all knew we had to restore order. A civilized
society cannot tackle any of the really tough problems in the
midst of chaos. It's as simple as that. We must never condone
violence and brutality, and I am confident we never will.
When I saw and read about the heroic acts, the responsible
acts, the selfless acts, of so many of the citizens of Los
Angeles, my reaction was one of relief -- and hope for the
future.
So far I have spoken about what government can do. Now let
me talk about what society must do. I have said we can agree on
several things. For thirty years we've tried many solutions,
spent a lot of money, and haven't solved the problems. But we
are not a morally, spiritually, or intellectually bankrupt
nation. Nothing could be further from the truth. We have the
spirit and the gumption to go at this problem again and again
until we beat it. And we will -- if we try the right things --
things we haven't tried before.
Even in the short time I've been here, I could sense that
the real anguish of the people in the hardest hit areas is about
their kids. People are worried sick about the children. I
believe all agree that whatever we do must be about the children
-- they are our future. Our actions in the wake of this tragedy
are for them -- not just here in Los Angeles, but all across the
country.
Your own Mayor Bradley was among a group of mayors who came
to see me last January. I have repeated often what he and others
9
said to me that day. They didn't ask for more programs or more
money. They said that the most important problem facing our
cities is the dissolution of the family. They're right. What's
the determining fact right now for whether a child has hope --
stays in school, stays away from drugs? It's not the level of
federal aid. It's not a HUD grant or an SBA loan. It's whether
a child lives in a loving home with a mother and a father.
History tells us that societies cannot succeed without some
fundamental building blocks in place. The state of our nation is
the state of our communities. Good communities are safe and
decent. They care for their young people -- instill them with
character and values and good habits for life. They have good
schools. Good communities provide opportunity and hope, rooted
in the dignity of work and reward for achievement.
So this is obviously not a crisis just of economics. This
is about rebuilding our spirit. It's about rebuilding bonds
among individuals, and among ethnic groups, between races. We
must not let our diversity destroy us. It is central to our
strength as a country. Our ability to live and work together has
made America the inspiration of the world.
That's why guaranteeing a hopeful future for the children of
our cities is about a lot more than rebuilding burned out
buildings. It's about building a new American community. And
history shows us that government alone cannot come close to
creating the scale and energy needed to transform the lives of
10
people in need. Anyone who believes otherwise has been living in
a cave for the last twenty-five years.
In every city in America, tens of thousands of groups, and
hundreds of thousands of individuals, who have never been
involved before, and who will never be paid one nickel for their
efforts, must become partners in solving our most serious social
problems. One need not look far for the evidence that this is
central to the solution.
Right now, this community has many of the answers within
itself. For example, there are four Cities in Schools programs,
there are XX members of One Hundred Black Men mentoring boys in
South Central Los Angeles. If instead there were Ten Thousand
Black Men working with boys, and twenty-five Cities in Schools
programs helping hispanic children learn -- and so on with the
hundreds of people and groups that work with kids -- there is no
question that what happened last week would have been much, much
less severe. So it only makes sense that a large part of our
challenge is to dramatically expand the scale of what we already
know works in community after community.
The phrase I have repeated perhaps more often than any other
is worth repeating here "From now on in America, any definition
of a successful life must include serving others". That goes for
institutions as well as individuals.
When we look to ensure a decent and hopeful future for our
children, I mean this about every community: First, every group
and institution in America -- schools, businesses, churches --
11
must do its part. We must praise what works and share what
works. Second, all leaders -- all leaders must mobilize and
inspire their people to take action. Third, community centers
must link those that care with those who need the help. Fourth,
the media must cover what is working, so we can share and repeat
our successes many times over. Finally, we must change our
liability laws that frighten good people away from helping
others.
But. there's something society must cultivate that
government cannot provide. Something we can't legislate -- or
establish by government order. I'm talking about the moral sense
that must guide us all. In the simplest terms -- I'm talking
about knowing right from wrong.
Let me come back again to that little boy I spoke about
earlier -- Rudy Campbell. There's a lesson he learned that
survived the horror and the hate. In the midst of all the chaos
-- in the midst of so much that's gone wrong -- he knows what's
right. When he was asked about the violence, here's what he
said, "They should know what's right and wrong, because when I
was four
that's when I learned."
That's got to give us hope. God bless Rudy Campbell. And
God bless the person who cared enough to teach him right from
wrong. Now, it's up to us -- everyone of us in this room -- to
guarantee that Rudy and all the millions of kids like him have a
shot at a better life.
12
I believe we are right about family. We are right about
freedom and free enterprise. We are right about faith. And most
of all, we are right about America's future. We have the
capacity in our government, in our communities, and in ourselves
to transform America into the nation we have dreamed of for
generations.
Thank you for the conviction you have to act on your
beliefs. Thank you for all you have done. God bless the United
States of America.
# # #
DDDM
Group
Draft Two
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS TO THE COMMUNITY OF LOS ANGELES
FRIDAY, MAY 8, 1992
[ACKNOWLEDGMENTS]
Let me first thank the people of Los Angeles for all they
have done during my visit. With all that has transpired these
last few days, I can imagine the headaches our visit has
caused, but I can assure you we do plan to leave on schedule.
The police, the community groups, the Mayor's office, the
Governor: Everyone has been tremendously helpful.
It was vitally important that I come here. The Los Angeles
Community has been the site of a terrible tragedy. Not just for
you, but for our country -- and everyone around the world who
looks to America as a model of freedom and justice. That's why I
want to say a few things about my visit, to speak with you about
what I've seen in this city -- and most importantly -- about
where we must go as a nation. For as I said yesterday at Mt.
Zion Church we are one people -- one-family -- one nation under
God.
[Anecdote (s) from tour and meetings.] When people terrorize
one another and burn each others property, I can hardly imagine
the volume of fear and anger people must feel. In sum, on the
same city block -- I saw tragic signs of hatred but remarkable
signs of hope.
2
This tragedy seemed to come suddenly but it has been many,
many years in the making. I know it will take time to put things
right. I could have said "put things right again", but that
would miss the point. Things weren't right before a week ago
Wednesday. Things aren't right in too many cities across
America. We must not return to the status quo -- not here -- not
in any city where the system perpetuates failure, hatred,
poverty, and despair.
story
Let me tell you a little about Rudy Campbell. I saw him on
TV. He looked to be about eight. His father was murdered a few
years back. I didn't see his mother. Rudy is raised by his
twenty-two year old sister who has five kids of her own. He
lives in South Central. Think about what he has already been
through. And that now he says he fears that things will only get
"badder and badder and badder." It breaks your heart. But we
can't stop there. Our children need more than sympathy. this
is no time for partisanship or politics.
What went wrong in L.A. -- what were the "underlying
causes", the "root problems" -- that can all be debated. And it
should be -- but not to assign blame. Casting blame gets us
nowhere. Honest talk and principled actions will get us a lot
further -- will move us forward. That's what we must do for our
we must start with
children
I believe there are some unpleasant realities that most
Americans now recognize. Let me spend just a minute on those.
Since the 1960's, we have tried lots of different programs --
3
aimed at stemming the tide of urban violence, drugs, crime, and
social decay.
Lots of different programs and policies -- all with noble
intentions -- have tried to address the need for adequate
housing, for health care, for education, for jobs and job
training. Everything from child care to welfare to health care
has been the subject of some commission, report, or study.
We have spent huge amounts of money -- some estimates are as
high as two and a half trillion dollars over twenty-five years.
Much of this effort went to construct a safety net -- to provide
some security and hopefully some stability. Even in the last
decade, federal spending went up for these kinds of efforts. But
when we look where this path has taken us, it is not where we
wanted to go.
Now put away the studies and just look around our cities.
Some quick facts: in 1960 the percentage of births to unwed
mothers was 5%. Now it is 27% 5 times as great. If you read
about a young black male dying, odds are that he was murdered.
almost
/
In fact, the odds are ^ out of 10. Kids used to carry just their
lunches to school. Today some carry guns. Between 1987 and
the
1991, 134 guns were seized here in L.A. -- and that was in our
elementary schools. Drug and alcohol abuse are serious problems
almost everywhere. The chances that an 8th grader has ever used
alcohol is 70%, and there's a 1 in 10 chance that he or she has
used marijuana.
4
In the wake of the L.A. riots -- in the wake of the crack
sweeping our
epidemic in the wake of a lost generation of inner-city lives:
can any of us argue that we've solved the problems of poverty,
racism, and crime? No!
Thanks to a great civil rights revolution, we removed many
of the legal barriers to discrimination and equality of
opportunity. [[ But you don't need to look further than the
graffiti on the next street to see that hate, bigotry and racism
still plague our society. ]]
Some programs -- I'm thinking of programs like Head Start
or Aid to the Elderly -- have shown time-tested positive results.
But many simply have not worked. Our welfare system doesn't get
people off welfare -- it keeps people trapped there.
The statistics are indeed sobering. The sum and substance
is this: our cities are in serious trouble.
We in government have an absolute responsibility to help
solve these problems. Our first responsibility is to preserve
order -- not the order of a prison yard -- but an enabling order.
One where families can flourish, children can learn, and jobs can
be created.
I have taken a hard look at what the government can do and
how it can help communities with the concerns that really matter:
how people can own property, own their own home, start a
business, create jobs in their community, ensure that people not
government make the big decisions that affect the health,
education and care of one's own family.
5
Think of the way the world looks right now to the single
rest
cash for the bare
mother on welfare. Government provides you enough to barely live mean
on. Government tells you where you can live -- where your kids
go to school. When you're sick -- government tells you what kind
of care you get, and when. If you find a job, the government
cuts your welfare benefits. If you save, if you manage to put
some money away -- towards a home or maybe to help your kid
through college -- the government comes after you for welfare
fraud.
Every one of those things happens with the welfare system
we've got right now. And then we wonder: why can't folks on
welfare take control of their lives -- where's their sense of
responsibility? If we had set out to devise a system that
would perpetuate dependency -- a system that would strip away
dignity and personal responsibility -- we could hardly have done
better than the system we have today.
Every American knows it's time we tried something different;
the way we lookat
A fresh approach -- a radical change in our approach to welfare
and the inner city economy.
We must start with policies that foster personal
responsibility, policies that refocus entitlement programs to
serve those who are most needy, and increase the effectiveness of
government services through competition and choice. I believe in
policies that keep power close to the people -- and that use
states as laboratories for innovation. I believe in policies
6
that encourage entrepreneurship -- increase investment -- create
jobs.
agenda
My
economic opportunity plan flows from these principlesA.
One, we must spark an economic revival in urban America.
That's why I want to see Enterprise Zones, with a zero capital
gains rate for entrepreneurs and investors who locate businesses
and create jobs in America's inner cities. We must break the
perverse dis-incentives that discourage work and encourage
welfare. We've got to reform our AFDC rules -- stop penalizing
want
people who mister the
people who manage to work and save and show individual initiative
to
the very things that will help them leave welfare behind.
Two, we must reclaim neighborhoods now ravaged by crime and
drugs. We're doing that through a new initiative called Weed and
Seed -- to "weed out" the gang leaders, the drug dealers and
career criminals, and "seed" those neighborhoods with expanded exployment
and educational opportunities and social services. We must give
parents in our nation's hardest-hit communities the same choices i as
folks
Parents, not the government, should be free to choose who cares
have
in
for their children -- and where their children go to school.
this
submit
Three, safe neighborhoods are places where our children can
learn. But that's not enough. We've got to revolutionize our
schools. We do it through choice and competition -- two key
ideas at the heart of the strategy I call American 2000.
Four, we must promote new hope through home ownership.
That's the aim of our HOPE initiative, to give people a real
stake in their communities -- something of value they can pass
7
along to their kids -- by turning public housing tenants into
homeowners.
Finally, fifth, we must assure all Americans access to basic
health care -- and we can do it without compromising choice and
quality, through my comprehensive plan for health care reform.
Some will say, "you've proposed all this before." They are
right. And I am proposing it again. Because I am right. Some
will say, "Where is the new money, the new programs, the new
bureaucracy?" I will say, government doesn't create wealth, free
enterprise and free people do. I will say, a government program
does not raise children, families do. A government program does
not dispense spiritual and moral guidance, churches, synagogues
and parents do. A government program does not build
neighborhoods, people do.
7
along to their kids -- by turning public housing tenants into
homeowners.
Finally, fifth, we must assure all Americans access to basic
health care -- and we can do it without compromising choice and
quality, through my comprehensive plan for health care reform.
Some will say, "you've proposed all this before." " They are
right. And I am proposing it again. Because I am right. Some
will say, "Where is the new money, the new programs, the new
bureaucracy?" I will say, government doesn't create wealth, free
enterprise and free people do. I will say, a government program
does not raise children, families do. A government program does
not dispense spiritual and moral guidance, churches, synagogues
and parents do. A government program does not build
neighborhoods, people do.
I'm not a social scientist. I have never pretended to be.
I look at things from my own experience.
We've tried the old ways of thinking. Now as Lincoln said
"it is time to think anew." Our approach is a radical break
with the policies of the past. It is new because it's never been
tried before. If ever the Congress needed a reason to try
something new it is Los Angeles, California.
When I saw the verdict in the Rodney King case, my reaction
was not much different than the rest of America, as I said to the
American people last Friday. I was stunned, but I remain
confident in our systems of justice. And when I saw the violence
and rage erupt on your streets, my reaction was the same as most
8
other people. We all knew we had to restore order. A civilized
really
society cannot tackle any of the tough problems in the midst of
a
chaos. It's as simple as that. We must never condone violence
and brutality, and I am confident we never will.
When I saw and read about the heroic acts, the responsible
acts, the selfless acts, of so many of the citizens of Los
Angeles, my reaction was one of relief -- and hope for the
future.
So far I have spoken about what government can do. Now let
me talk about what society must do. I have said we can agree on
several things. For thirty years we've tried many solutions,
spent a lot of money, and haven't solved the problems. But we
are not a morally, spiritually, or intellectually bankrupt
nation. Nothing could be further from the truth. We have the
spirit and the gumption to go at this problem again and again
until we beat it. And we will -- if we try the right things --
things we haven't tried before.
Even in the short time I've been here, I could sense that
the real anguish of the people in the hardest hit areas is about
the children. People are worried sick about the children. kids I
believe all agree that whatever we do must be about the children
-- they are our future. Our actions in the wake of this tragedy
are for them -- not just here in Los Angeles, but all across the
country.
Your own Mayor Bradley was among a group of mayors who came
to see me last January. I have repeated often what he and others
9
said to me that day. They didn't ask for more programs or more
money. They said that the most important problem facing our
cities is the dissolution of the family. They're right.
What's
the determining fact right now for in whether a child has hope --
stet
stays in school, stays away from drugs? It's not the level of
federal aid. It's not a HUD grant or an SBA loan. It's whether
a child lives in a loving home with a mother and a father.
History tells us that societies cannot succeed without some
fundamental building blocks in place. The state of our nation is
the state of our communities. Good communities are safe and
decent. They care for their young people -- instill them with
character and values and good habits for life. They have good
schools. Good communities provide opportunity and hope, rooted
in the dignity of work and reward for achievement.
So this is obviously not a crisis just of economics. This
is about rebuilding our spirit. It's about rebuilding bonds
among individuals, and among ethnic groups, between races. We
It
must not let our diversity destroy us. Our diversity is central
to our strength as a country. Our ability to live and work
together has made America the inspiration of the world.
That's why guaranteeing a hopeful future for the children of
our cities is about a lot more than rebuilding burned out
buildings. It's about building a new American community. And
history shows us that government alone cannot come close to
creating the scale and energy needed to transform the lives of
10
people in need. Anyone who believes otherwise has been living in
a cave for the last twenty-five years.
In every city in America, tens of thousands of groups, and
hundreds of thousands of individuals, who have never been
involved before, and who will never be paid one nickel for their
efforts, must become partners in solving our most serious social
problems. One need not look far for the evidence that this is
central to the solution.
Right now, this community has many of the answers within
itself. For example, there are four Cities in Schools programs,
there are XX members of One Hundred Black Men mentoring boys in
South Central Los Angeles. If instead there were Ten Thousand
Black Men working with boys, and twenty-five Cities in Schools
programs helping hispanic children learn -- and so on with the
hundreds of people and groups that work with kids -- there is no
question that what happened last week would have been much, much
less severe. So it only makes sense that a large part of our
challenge is to dramatically expand the scale of what we already
know works in community after community.
The phrase I have repeated perhaps more often than any other
is worth repeating here "From now on in America, any definition
of a successful life must include serving others". That goes for
institutions as well as individuals.
When we look to ensure a decent and hopeful future for our
about
children, I mean this almost every community: First, every group
and institution in America -- schools, businesses, churches --
11
must do its part. We must praise what works and share what
works. Second, all leaders -- all leaders must mobilize and
inspire their people to take action. Third, community centers
must link those that care with those who need the help. Fourth,
the media must cover what is working, so we can share and repeat
our successes many times over. Finally, we must change our
liability laws that frighten good people away from helping
P But
others. Finally, there's something society must cultivate that
government cannot provide. Something we can't legislate -- or
establish by government order. I'm talking about the moral sense
that must guide us all. In the simplest terms -- I'm talking
about knowing right from wrong.
Let me come back again to that little boy I spoke about
earlier -- Rudy Campbell. There's a lesson he learned that
survived the horror and the hate. In the midst of all the chaos
-- in the midst of so much that's gone wrong -- he knows what's
right. When he was asked about the violence, here's what he
said, "They should know what's right and wrong, because when I
was four
that's when I learned."
That's got to give us hope. God bless Rudy Campbell. And
God bless the person who cared enough to teach him right from
wrong. Now, it's up to us -- everyone of us in this room -- to
that
guarantee Rudy and all the millions of kids like him have a shot
at a better life.
I believe we are right about family. We are right about
freedom and free enterprise. We are right about faith. And most
THU 07 MAY 92 03:00
PG.02
WHITE HOUSE COMMCTR
TALKING POINTS - KOREAN COMMUNITY LEADERS
May 7, 1992
I want to thank all of you for coming here
today. The destruction I've just seen in
Koreatown and throughout Los Angeles is
appalling.
I also want to applaud Radio Korea for the
constant support you have given to the Korean
community here. Radio Korea has truly acted as
a lifeline in this tragic situation.
- 2 -
Two immediate concerns I want to raise with
you are: 1) What will the government do to
bring about a speedy economic recovery, and
2) what can we do to ease the evident racial
tension here in Los Angeles and throughout the
country.
I want you to know that the situation in L.A. is
on the minds of all citizens. I am thankful now
that the streets are safer, our children are back
in school and businesses are reopening.
Now that order has been restored we need to
concentrate on rebuilding.
WHITE HOUSE COMMCTR
THU 07 MAY 92 03:01
PG.03
- 3 =
I have signed a disaster declaration for the
area, and have directed the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) and the Small
Business Administration (SBA) to provide
immediate assistance to victimized parties.
FEMA, for example, is providing grants for
personal needs such as food, clothing and
medicine, for minor home damage, and
unemployment assistance to those who are now
without jobs because of the disaster.
An 800 assistance number will also receive calls
in six languages.
a 4 -
The SBA is also making available sizable
disaster loans for business losses and home
million. damage. These loans could total over $300
All told, federal aid to Los Angeles and the
million. surrounding areas could total as much as $600
the current situation.
Now, I want to hear your concerns regarding
WHITE HOUSE COMMCTR
THU 07 MAY 92 03:04
PG.02
- 5 -
We've got some very good, comprehensive
proposals that are being considered now.
When they are announced, I hope they will
receive your enthusiastic support.
I believe the federal government is playing a
crucial and positive role in rebuilding South
Central Los Angeles.
o
Your comments and suggestions are critical as
we chart this course.