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    "title": "HRC - Clinton/Gore Speeches 95-96: [9/30/96 St. Paul AME[African Methodist Episcopal] Church, Jacksonville, FL]",
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    "ocrText": "FOIA Number:\n2006-1733-F\nFOIA\nMARKER\nThis is not a textual record. This is used as an\nadministrative marker by the William J. Clinton\nPresidential Library Staff.\nCollection/Record Group:\nClinton Presidential Records\nSubgroup/Office of Origin:\nFirst Lady's Office\nSeries/Staff Member:\nSpeechwriting\nSubseries:\nLaura Schiller: HRC Speeches 9/95 - 11/96, Clinton/Gore Speeches 1996\nOA/ID Number:\n24622\nFolderID:\nFolder Title:\nHRC - Clinton/Gore Speeches 95-96: [9/30/96 St. Paul AME [African Methodist Episcopal] Church,\nJacksonville, FL]\nStack:\nRow:\nSection:\nShelf:\nPosition:\nS\n61\n2\n4\n1\nSt. Paul AME Church\n9/30\nFIRST LADY HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON\nREMARKS TO ST. PAUL AME CHURCH\nJACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA\nSEPTEMBER 30, 1996\nI am delighted and honored to be here today at St. Paul AME, and to share this stage\nwith so many people Bishop Cummings, Pastor Proctor, Sheriff Glover, who have dedicated\ntheir lives to serving the Jacksonville community and to making our country an even better\nplace for all Americans.\n[I am very happy to be here with Jacksonville's voice in Washington, Congresswoman\nCorrine Brown. On Capitol Hill, Representative Brown has been a champion for economic\ndevelopment, education, and senior citizens' rights. She is a productive member of Congress,\nsponsoring bills to reduce crime and to create more health care facilities for veterans. She\nstood with the President on the Family and Medical Leave Act, on the Brady Bill, and on\nfunding for community police officers who have helped Sheriff Glover keep Jacksonville's\nneighborhoods safe. To some, Jacksonville may seem very far away when you're working on\nCapitol Hill, but Representative Brown has never forgotten who sent her to Washington. She\nhas worked hard to bring new jobs, businesses, and transportation projects to the area. But\nthere's much more Corrine Brown wants to and knows she can do for Jacksonville. So let's\nwork together to make sure Corrine Brown can keep doing a great job in Washington].\nStanding here at St. Paul AME, I can't help but feel the legacy and spirit of American\nhistory within these walls. For 127 years, this church has been a refuge, a beacon, and a\nsource of strength for thousands of Jacksonville residents. In some of this country's darker\nhours and struggles, you have been a strong voice of compassion, progress and conscience.\nThis is no less true today. Let me thank all of you for your commitment to your church and\nfor the wonderful things you are doing to strengthen marriages, to nurture families and mentor\nchildren, to care for the elderly, to reach out to and work with other religious communities.\nIt seems appropriate that in an institution that has experienced so much of our country's\npast, and that has worked so hard to keep our communities and families strong and vibrant, I\ncome to talk about the historic decision we will make in November and about the future of our\nAmerican Family. In a little over a month, we will be choosing the last president of the 20th\ncentury and the first president of the 21st century. The choice we make on November 5th\nwill determine what kind of country my daughter and all of our daughters and sons will inherit\nas they come of age in a new century.\nI've had the opportunity to travel around our country during these past four years.\nAnd every family I've ever met, whether they live in a city or a town or on a farm, shares the\nsame fundamental aspirations and concerns. We all want to be able to earn enough money to\nsupport our families. We all want to be good parents, to be able to give our children the time,\nlove, attention, and discipline they need. We all want to be able to send our children to good\n1\nschools, so they will have the skills and knowledge they need to take advantage of the\nopportunities of the 21st century. We all want to live in safe and peaceful neighborhoods. We\nall want to be able to see a doctor when we get sick, and to retire in security when we grow\nold.\nThese are also the President's hopes for the future. He is committed to bringing this\ncountry together to make these things happen for every single person in this country who is\nwilling to work hard. He wants to make sure the opportunities of the 21st century are within\nreach of every man, woman and child who plays by the rules and is doing his or her best to\nmake the most of his or her God-given potential. He wants to strengthen and celebrate the\ndiversity of our communities. And he is calling upon all of us to recognize our common\nresponsibility for building America's bridge to the 21st century.\nFor the past four years, the President has been working very hard to lay a solid\nfoundation for that bridge. The President's policies have led us out of recession and created\nthe most vibrant economy in decades. America has 10 million new jobs. The deficit has\nshrunk by more than half. We have the lowest combined rates of inflation, unemployment,\nand home mortgages in 28 years. The typical family income rose by more than $1,600. The\ntypical African-American family earned $3,000 more than they did before the President took\noffice. And the poverty rate fell by nearly 14 percent, the biggest drop in over a decade.\nThe African-American poverty rate has dropped to its lowest level in history.\nWhen my husband told me about these figures last week, I couldn't believe it. But\nthen I got to thinking. Over these past four years, the President has been acting on his belief\nthat people who take responsibility should have the opportunity to lift themselves out of\npoverty. That's why he fought for an increase in the minimum wage that gave more than half\na million workers in this state a much deserved raise. And it's why he fought hard for the\nEarned Income Tax Credit that has helped nearly 900,000 working families in Florida alone\nmake ends meet.\nOver these past four years, the President hasn't just paid lip service to family values,\nhe has acted in ways that value families and give parents the tools they need to fulfill their\nresponsibilities in the home and in the workplace. The first piece of legislation my husband\nsigned was the Family and Medical Leave Act which allows workers to take time off to care\nfor sick parents or children without fear of losing their jobs. The President is now working to\nextend the law to give parents time off to attend parent-teacher conferences, or to take their\nchildren to the doctor. He is boosting child support enforcement, making deadbeat parents\nrecognize their responsibilities to their children. He fought for the V-chip that will empower\nparents to screen out the TV programs they don't want their children to watch. And he has\nstood up to the tobacco lobby, working to keep cigarettes out of the hands of children.\nThe President has led the way on health care, making it more accessible and affordable\nto all Americans. No one wants to go back to the days when most Americans had no health\n2\ninsurance -- and no hope of getting it. That's why the President stood firm when the\nRepublican Congress tried to take health insurance away from some of our most vulnerable\ncitizens by cutting Medicare and Medicaid. Because of the President's leadership, Americans\ncan keep their health insurance after losing or leaving a job. They can't be denied coverage\nbecause of a pre-existing condition. We need to move forward, building on the strengths of\npast accomplishments and making improvements so that step by step every family can afford\nhigh-quality health care.\nOn no other issue is the choice between moving forward or turning back clearer than\non education. The President is committed to moving American into the future with a strong\nfocus on lifelong learning. He wants to revolutionize educational opportunity in the next\ncentury so that every eight year old will be able to read on his or her own. [Literacy\nInitiative.] Every 12-year old will be able to log on to the Internet. [A computer in every\nclassroom from inner city Detroit to suburban Dallas to Jacksonville]. And every 18-year old\nwill be able to go to college. [HOPE Scholarships, $10,000 tax deduction, student loans, Pell\ngrants, work-study.]\nStill, those computers and that chance at a college education will mean little if our\nchildren are afraid to walk to and from school, if they are raised in fear, seduced by the false\nallure of drugs, or crime or gangs into a world of distorted values, diminished hope, and\nultimate disappointment.\nWe simply cannot go into the 21st century with children having children, children\nkilling children, children being raised by other children, or raising themselves on the streets\nalone. This is not the America the President wants to pass on to our children and their\nchildren.\nThat's why he worked to pass the Crime Bill, to put 100,000 police community police\nofficers on the streets. As you well know because of Sheriff Glover's leadership in\ncommunity policing, community police officers aren't just catching criminals, they are getting\nto know the people they serve, making people feel safe, serving as role models for our\nchildren, and preventing crimes from happening in the first place.\nThe President signed the Brady Bill, taking 19 assault weapons off our streets and\nmaking sure that all guns stay out of the hands of tens of thousands of people with criminal\nrecords. He supports school uniforms so that children do not hurt or kill each other over\ndesigner jackets or gang colors; community-based curfews, and other programs to help our\nchildren stay out of trouble. He knows that children need something to say yes to as well as\nsomething to say no to. I think our children should be able to say yes to jobs in the\nsummertime, yes to staying in schools after hours of they don't want to be on the street, yes to\nsupervised recreation, yes to things that will enrich our lives and surround them with positive\nrole models.\n3\nBeing good role models begins with a committed effort to reject the racism that\ncontinues to poison our communities. As President has said so many times, we need to reject\nthe voices of division and hatred that encourage so many of us \"to define ourselves in terms of\nwho we're not, instead of who we are; define ourselves in terms of who we can look down on,\ninstead of what we can look up to.\"\nAnd while we all work toward a time when the fires of racism will be doused forever,\nwe need to support efforts to create a more inclusive, equal-opportunity society. That's why\nafter careful study last year, the President decided that while we could and should make some\nchanges in affirmative action laws, it would be mistake to end them and walk away.\nAffirmative action has helped and must continue to help our country live up to its ideal of\nopportunity for all.\nFor Bill Clinton, being President is not just about going through the motions. It's\nabout understanding and answering the everyday concerns of Americans from one end of this\ncountry to another. I have seen my husband get up every single day and go to work filled\nwith energy because he knows what life is like for most Americans. He hasn't forgotten the\nmother who raised him, alone, and often against great odds. When he works to end domestic\nviolence and calls for extending the Brady Bill to apply to anyone convicted of domestic\nviolence, he's speaking from his own personal experience. When he talks about extending\nfamily leave for parent-teacher conferences or doctors' appointments, he's speaking from\nexperience from sitting in those tiny chairs infront of Chelsea's teachers on back-to-school\nnight. When he talks about what it means to own a home for the first time, he thinks about\nthe first house we bought for $17,000 and furnished with sheets from Wal-Mart. When he\nspeaks of mending, but not ending affirmative action, he thinks of his experiences growing up\nin the South and a past that America cannot afford to revisit.\nMy husband believes that America's strength lies in our diversity, and in our abilities\nto draw on our cultural heritages to build vibrant and supportive communities. We saw this\nin towns across the South this summer, where people of all faiths, backgrounds and races\ncame together to shingle new roofs, plaster new walls, and polish new altars of churches that\nwere destroyed by arson. Working side by side, they learned that they have much more in\ncommon than they thought they did. They recognized the truth of that old song from Sunday\nschool, \"Jesus loves the little children of the world, red and yellow, black and white, they are\nprecious in His sight.\"\nAnd they realized that much more unites us as Americans than divides us. I saw this\nfirsthand when Chelsea and I visited our troops in Bosnia earlier this year.\n[Bosnia story]\nSo this election is about a better economy. It is about education and the decreasing\ncrime rate and health care and everything else. But, most of all, it about how we live together\n4\nand help each other prosper. It is about building a bridge that is wide enough and strong\nenough for every single American to walk across to a better and brighter future.\nLet us commit ourselves to working together, to building bridges, and to a new season\nof hope for America and for all our children.\n###\n5"
}