… When I think about Dr. King -- a man who was willing to help America live up to its promises of equality written into our constitution in 1776, who had to face many of his contemporaries who had no foresight. He had to face politicians with no backbone. And finally, he had to face a church with no conscience. But now, more than 30 years after he left us, it’s not those that foolishly stood in his way that we remember. It’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., one of America’s truly great heroes. And as we celebrate now, at the beginning of this new millennium, this new century, we can look back with an enormous amount of pride at the success of the work of Dr. King and Rosa Parks and others …

We can look at an America that we can be proud of, because there are many, many advantages that people have in our country today that they didn’t have in 1955 to 1965. And those students here who will live out your lives in this next century will have the opportunity to take advantage of things that Dr. King could not have even dreamed of; the advantages of medicine and science and other areas.

And I did not come here tonight to put this great nation down to honor Dr. King. No. With that being said, I do feel and I do believe that in spite of all the good things about our nation and the advantages that we made, there is some ill wind blowing across our nation.

The FBI tells us that last year, over 1,000 hate crimes were committed approximately each month. Nearly 12,000 hate crimes were committed in the United States. And that’s probably an undercount. In addition, there are 450 hate Web sites on the Internet. And that’s up from one in 1995. You know about a lot of the horrible hate crimes that are being committed. James Byrd, Jr. dragged to his death in Jasper, Texas, behind a pickup truck driven by two members of the Ku Klux Klan. Matthew Sheppard, bleeding, taken out into the desert and tied to a fence where he died, simply because of his sexual orientation. And just last September, a guy with Aryan Nation ties, Buford O. Furrow Jr., took an automatic weapon and walked into a Jewish day care center in Los Angeles and opened fire on innocent little Jewish children.

There’s a battle going on in this country on several levels. And it’s a battle that didn’t just come to us today. But it’s one that each of you in this auditorium, especially students at this college, are going to take part in. You are going to take part even by doing nothing and letting others set the agenda as you go about your life. Or you can become involved to make this nation the great nation that it can be. And to live for the dreams and aspirations of Rosa Parks and Dr. King and the other great heroes of the American Civil Rights movement.

And that’s the battle. Who’s America is this? Whose version of America is going to prevail? And I promise you, there are people in this county who feel very strongly about their version of America. They feel strong enough to put a truck and 4,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate fertilizer … drive that in front of a federal building and explode it with little or no thought to the innocent men, women and children inside. And when Timothy McVeigh struck his match to make his political statement, to ensure that his view of this nation prevailed …. And it might come as a shock to most of you, but what he did, he thought of himself as a hero, as a good soldier, as a patriotic American citizen. We had a case at the law center a few years ago that I think illustrates this condition in this country and the battle that is being fought.

I would like to share. We represented a family from Ethiopia, a poor family who had a son, a 24-year-old, Mulegeta Seraw, who had been very successful at school there. He had a small son and a wife. He was convinced by school officials there that he ought to go to the United States to get an education. His family did not have the money to pay. He was eligible to receive some scholarship funds. And he was admitted to Portland Junior College in Portland, Ore. His dad took him to the airport. As he was about to get on the plane, Mulegeta turned to his father and said "You know, I never felt this great nation. I’ve heard so many good things about America -- that if you work hard, save your money, get a good education, stay out of trouble, you’ve got a good chance of getting ahead." And he said, "Dad, I’m going to make you proud of me."

When Mulegeta got to Portland, he had to work hard because he had to send money back home to his family. He got a job at Avis Rent a Car, driving people in vans out to where the cars were parked. And oftentimes they would leave a personal item on this van. Using his own money … he shipped it back to them. Because of his good deeds, his personnel file began to fill up with letters of praise. And while he was still a student, the age of many of you, he was elected employee of the month at age 24.

But there was another man who lived 1,200 miles to the south of Portland down in Fallbrook, Calif., who had a different idea about America. His name was Tom Metzger. Some of you may have heard about him. He had been on all the national talk shows. He is 55 years old. He hasn’t had a solid political career. He’s very articulate, a good speaker. He set up an organization called White Aryan Resistance, or WAR. He began to recruit chapters of racist skinheads around the country. And he had some 50 cities with skinhead chapters in the nation, and he told them that America is a good nation. But America is going to fall from its position of greatness, like the Roman Empire did. And we are going to fall because we are being dragged down from within and the people who are bringing America down he called mud people. People amongst us who weren’t white only, but Mexican, Americans of African descent, Latinos, Mexican-Americans … Asians and others. He told his followers that it was necessary to go out and cause trouble -- we know these as hate crimes... And these people, these mud people, will be forced to leave us.

He sent one of his organizers up to Portland, a young man named Dave, to organize a skinhead group there. The young man got there, he went around teaching what the skinhead’s message, ideas and beliefs were. After this man had been there a couple of weeks, three skinheads met one night and went out into the street. They saw a black man get out of a car, walk to his apartment building. They rushed over to him and tore at him, and punched him in the chest and called him racist names.

It was Mulegeta Seraw, coming home from his job at Avis, getting ready for school the next day. He said "Please, please, please, no trouble. May I help you?" And while they continued to torment him, one walked around behind him with a pipe and took a full swing, crushed his skull, and he died that night. Police picked up the three skinheads who committed this crime and they got long prison sentences. I got a call from the lawyer representing the family in Ethiopia, asking if we would go out and see if we could come up with evidence to bring a civil lawsuit to get some money for this family, who had lost its breadwinner.

When I arrived, the police had already done the best they could. Three skinheads in prison -- they have no money. There’s no way you’re going to get anything from them. As I was about to leave, one officer reached in his file and pulled out a letter. He said, "We found this when we searched the skinheads’ rooms the night that we arrested them." It was a handwritten note from Metzger to a skinhead group in Portland. And it said, "When you meet Dave, our organizer, he will teach you how to operate." He closed his letter by saying, " 'I hope that your group will join the White Aryan Resistance,’ " signed, "Tom Metzger for a white America."

When our investigators and some intelligence that we had from law enforcement told us that Dave had separated from Metzger, we found him. I talked to him. He told me about the troubles that he had in his life …. But he now saw the harm and hurt that he had caused by his teachings. And he said that he would be a witness against Metzger at the civil trial. We sued Metzger and his primary business. Metzger had money and property. We put on our evidence and Dave testified and others. And at closing argument, Metzger wanted to make his own statement. He stood in front of the jury and said, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I did not know the victim. I didn’t know the people that killed him. I was 1,200 miles away. I was simply exercising my free speech rights. Don’t hold it against me. It would be a bad decision for other unpopular groups." And then as he stood there in front of that podium by the jury, he became very erect. And as he made his last remark, I could see those images of Adolph Hitler that I had seen in movies. He did everything but raise his hand in a salute. And he said "Ladies and gentlemen, I am not apologizing for my views. I believe America is a great nation because of the contribution of white people." And he sat down.

I stood there for awhile, thinking what I might say. Three men were in prison. Why would this jury want to take this man’s property? His first amendment argument didn’t hold up because he encouraged violence. I said "Ladies and gentlemen, I want you to look at those three young people sitting in the front row of this courtroom, behind Mr. Metzger’s counsel table. Those three are his children. And you know, not a one of them had to worry about getting polio, because of the genius of the Jewish doctor Jonas Salk, and if we lived in Tom Metzger’s America, we wouldn’t have the brilliance of the African-American Gen. Colin Powell."

I mentioned other people of other ethnic and racial backgrounds, and I told that jury their contributions to the greatness of this nation. I said, "Ladies and gentlemen, the America that Tom Metzger believes in is an America that never existed. Our nation is great because of the contributions of all of us." That jury agreed with me unanimously, because they returned the largest civil verdict that had been returned in the history of the state of Oregon, against Metzger and his organization.

I wish that this was the lottery and we could have just punched the ticket and collected the 25 million dollars, but we did take what Metzger had. And even today, he has to send a check to this estate in Ethiopia. As I was leaving Portland after having been there for the better part of a year, away from my family and home -- relaxing for the first time, thinking what this case meant to me personally, how I felt about what happened there -- as that airplane reached cruising altitude, I kicked back my seat and relaxed. As I looked down at this great nation passing below, we flew over the Rocky Mountains and the great plains with all the farms, the crops and the fields, and then finally came over the Appalachian Mountains into Atlanta, I thought to myself: "You know I believe what I told that jury. I believe that America is a great nation because of the contribution of all of us. But why, why so late in the history of our nation, why some 30 years after the death of Dr. King, after the America civil rights movement --why can’t we all get along with each other?

We did some work at the Southern Poverty Law Center … to find out what this nation was thinking, and what this nation has been doing in the face of a large number of highly publicized hate crimes in this country, and a rash of less spectacular, but just as hurtful, acts of violence and prejudice and discrimination. We found that there is good news. People all over this country, people like you, citizens, are saying that we are better than that. These people that commit these hate crimes don’t represent us.

People are doing two things. First, they are turning to the victims of violence and hatred, and they are saying to them and their communities … "We understand your hurt. We are with you. We support you." Then they are organizing in groups. Small groups and large groups, citywide, statewide and some countrywide, to try to build bridges over those divides that separate us in this country today -- divides along lines that cause so much hatred and pain and anger and frustration. Divides along lines of sexual orientation, along lines of race and ethnicity, along lines of gender, along lines of those who are handicapped and those who are not. Those who are young and old. Those who have one religion or another or no religion at all. And along lines of class. Those on one side who have goods and wealth and those on the other who don’t. As we began to collect the stories about what’s going on in this country … we found touching examples of people reaching out to each other and supporting victims of hate and violence.

I remember one story in particular in Billings, Mont., a small town, pretty much all white, very few minorities. And a Jewish family there purchased a menorah, a candleholder to be used to light candles during Hanukkah. And this little boy, they gave it to their son, 6 years old, was so proud of his menorah that he placed it in the window in the front part of the house facing the street, and each night during Hanukah he would light a candle. But somebody saw that menorah that didn’t like it. They threw a brick in the window and it crashed to the floor. His mother and father, concerned, placed it in a less conspicuous position in the home.

A man in town who ran a business heard about it, too -- a business person, he wasn’t a Jewish man. He had a store with a marquee out front where he put letters about the things he had to sell, and he took down the advertisement for his merchandise and in their place put the words, "Not in Our Town." And he organized, along with others -- school children, law enforcement, the newspaper, businesses and others. And they made paper menorahs out of cardboard. And in support of those victims, they placed the menorahs in about every single window in every house in Billings close to the street. One night when this campaign was under way, the mother and father took their little son out to see. They went out to dinner and as they drove around, down one street and up another, he could see those menorahs backlit from the lights inside. And as he looked in amazement, he said, "Mom, Dad, I didn’t know so many Jewish people lived in Billings." And she said "No, son. They are our friends."

And therein, I think, lies the answer. When the bridges are built, all of those that strive to separate us in this nation gently go from (there to) acceptance, understanding, friendship and love for those people who are different than we are. This influences (us) to love those people in our families. It’s very important to have a close-knit, loving family. In fact, there are people I love in my family that I love in spite of them. I’ve got an old uncle, he’s not with us anymore, he changed his views before he passed away. He ran a country store at the crossroads in a little farming community. And he kept a Ku Klux Klan robe hanging in his closet in his store. And I’ve seen him put it on to scare people. But you know, I loved my uncle, because he also did a lot of good things in his community. Thank goodness he changed his views on race before he died.

Or have friendship activities with. That’s important, too. I’m talking about understanding, accepting, appreciating and loving those people who are different than you are. A person whose hair has a different texture. Whose eyes are different shade, whose skin might have a different color than yours. Who might have a different sexual orientation, who might be severely crippled or different in so many ways. You know the ways and the differences. Accepting the differences between those people and understanding that what each of us brought to the table and contributes to making this nation great. And that is easier said than done.

It’s difficult for me tonight to stand here and know what’s in each of your hearts and minds. You’ve got to find out and figure out for yourself how you can fill in the dots. But you know, I did not honestly come here to put you into despair. I do believe that, like every time in our history when there have been problems, we overcame them. There have been some dark days in the history of this nation, and we overcame the problems.

I remember one of those dark times. The year was 1963. The Rev. Martin Luther King was 10 days out of the Birmingham jail. I try to get people to read the letter that he wrote to the clergy of Birmingham … the African American clergy, who criticized him for using children to break down the barriers of segregation. In 1963, I was three years out of the University of Alabama law school. And shortly after King was released from jail, a group of Klansmen tied 25 sticks of dynamite together and placed them in the stairwell of the 16^th Street Baptist Church. And four little Sunday school girls lost their lives simply because of the color of their skin. But Dr. King did not despair. He didn’t lose faith. He didn’t lose faith in his spiritual beliefs. He didn’t lose faith in us. All of us. Those that revered him, and those to come. You have to understand that in 1963, there were no guarantees. There had been no 1964 Civil Rights Act. There had been no 1965 Voting Rights Act. Powerful people in Congress from his state, my state and other states blocked those reforms. But Dr. King did not despair. Dr. King had faith. And he went to Washington to express that faith. He stood on the mall with 250,000 people at his feet and millions watching on television, to whom he expressed that faith in all of us. He said that I have a dream that one day in the state of Georgia that the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will sit down around a table of brotherhood.

A lot has happened since Dr. King left us. We have taken three steps forward and two steps back. If Dr. King was here today, he wouldn’t recognize the United States, much less the issues that we face. I think if he was here today, he would still have faith in us to solve the problems that divide us. And if he had given that same speech today, he might say, "I had a dream that one day in the state of Georgia," but he might add … "on the reservations and in the seats of economic and political and judicial power in this nation, that the sons and daughters of former slaves and the sons and daughters of former slave owners," and today he might add, "the poor, the powerless, the homeless and those that hold the keys to economic and political and judicial power of this nation might sit down around the table of brotherhood and truly learn to love one another."

Dr. King understood something. He understood the power of justice denied. He understood that the desire for justice has burned in the hearts of many since the beginning of time. And he understood that our great nation had wanted a way. The idea of justice is written in our constitution … And to look around this nation reminds us that it is this basic idea of justice that sets us apart from other nations of the world. He told about another nation and another time. The year was 900 B.C. The children of Israel, the Jews, had wandered from place to place after being held slaves in Egypt. They finally settled into a town and built a prosperous city near the town of Jerusalem. They built big walls around this city, and inside these walls they built a marketplace. People brought goods from surrounding areas to sell. And people prospered in that town. Those that prospered got nice building lots and built beautiful homes overlooking fertile valleys. They got a school system, a court system, a law enforcement system.

But there was one man who came through those big gates early in the morning from a neighboring village with his crops to sell and was haunted by what he saw. As he pulled his wagon laden with goods, he saw able-bodied men and women at the gates begging for food. … People came by his stall, and he heard grumbling. Grumbling about failures in the court system, and the police, if you didn’t happen to be part of the right group. Today we might call that racial profiling.

He was a man of some reputation and means. So he called for an audience with the leaders. And it was granted. He was concerned that they might not be able to keep their town together. You might know this farmer. He was the prophet Amos. And he went before the leaders of that town, and he said you have to be fair to all people. No matter who they are, you have to be fair. Because if you want to pass the things that you have down here, all the way from China, things that you have in this country, pass that onto your children and your grandchildren and so on, you’ve got to be fair. He left them with the words that Dr. King used so often. He said, "You should not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream."

Think about what you might do in this modern world we live in, when you go out to make your living, which is fine to do. And when you raise your families or put your houses together or whatever you might do. When you purchase transportation and homes and save money for your future. Remember this story of Amos, if no more than for a selfish reason. If we are to keep this nation great, we must be fair. This country has been here for a small time in the realm of history. Just a small snap of the finger. There are no assurances that this American dream of democracy will last. And it surely won’t last unless we are fair.

The hate crimes that are committed and the bias and the prejudice that are built into our society have a lot to do with fear and anger and greed. When I hear gay and lesbians arguing about laws to be passed to protect them, I don’t hear them asking for special treatment. I hear them asking for equal treatment. When I hear older people and handicapped people, and minorities and others who have been playing on an unlevel field asking for some protection, they are not saying "Give me an advantage." They are saying, "Give me an equal opportunity." There are those in the country who manipulate those feelings. Politicians who use loaded words like affirmative action and others in order to project your eyes off the real issues.

We just finished a presidential election that was very close, and it is no accident at all that it was decided in Florida. Because Florida is a state beginning to look close to what this nation will look like 50 years from now. When people like myself and most of you will be in a minority. And minorities today will be in a majority, 50 years from now. In some states, like California, that’s already the case. And these people are demanding equal and fair treatment.

And don’t you think that the issues that are debated in this election were academic. They were not. They were serious, and the people on either side of the issues were fighting over whose America is this. And maybe they didn’t load a truck with 4,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, but how we allocate health care, how we allocate economic justice, how we allocate who gets drugs and who doesn’t, who gets training and who doesn’t, how we allocate the funds, the money for the infrastructure of our cities and so many other things will determine the kind of nation that we are.

I know that each of you, especially those of you privileged enough to be going to this great university, will go out and be leaders in this community and this nation and maybe this world. You will make those decisions. I urge you to think a long time about that little story that Dr. King left with us. That little story of self interest and justice. And I know that you will not be satisfied until truly in your minds and in the work that you do, justice flows down like waters. Thank you so much.

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