Presidential Debate at the Apollo Theatre

BRADLEY: Thank you. Well, first let me say, I'm honored to be at the Apollo Theatre in Black History Month and participate in this path-breaking debate, presidential debate.

Reverend Sharpton, when I think of Amadou Diallo, I think of an unarmed man who was fired at 41 times by the police, who was killed.

BRADLEY: I think it was an outrage. I feel it. Everybody in this room feels it. I think it was also a tragedy. But I also think it reflects racial profiling, in the sense of racial profiling that seeps into the mind of someone so that he sees a wallet in the hand of a white man as a wallet, but a wallet in the hand of a black man as a gun.

(APPLAUSE)

And we—we have to change that. I would issue an executive order that would eliminate racial profiling at the federal level. I would try to pass a law to get information gathered at local levels so that we could see how the police departments are acting. I would make sure that the Justice Department was involved. And I would say quite clearly that white Americans can no longer deny the plight of black Americans.

BRADLEY: Last month in the debate in Iowa when Al said the same thing, that he would issue an executive order, I said, why doesn't he walk down the hall now and have President Clinton issue an executive order.

(APPLAUSE)

Now, Al—Al said that I shouldn't give President Clinton lectures. I am not giving President Clinton lectures. I am questioning why you haven't done that or why you haven't made this happen in the last 7 ½ years?

BRADLEY: The issue of reparations is what you really raised. And it seems to me that what the issue raised is not just the issue of money, but the issue of acknowledging the contributions of African- Americans to this country's history over its entire history.

I think it is very important to do that. There are varieties of ways to do that. You could establish a commission, which I think has already been proposed in the Congress by Mr. Conyers that would look at the possibility of finding a way to acknowledge those contributions that have been made from the days of slavery to the days today. And also, not denying anymore those contributions. American—white Americans are in denial of black Americans contributions through slavery, denial in Jim Crow...

(APPLAUSE)

... and continue to deny today the indignities that African- Americans suffer. I believe that we can change that with a major new investment in education, in economic development...

BRADLEY: ... and in beginning to see things a little deeper than skin color.

BRADLEY: The vice president has said that affirmative action is a part of the answer to this problem. And I would simply asked him that, when he was in the administration charged with reinventing government, according to George Stephanopoulos, page 208, that he led the effort to end affirmative action at the federal level. That does not sound to me like someone who wants affirmative action to be a part of the solution to this very big problem.

BRADLEY: One of the first things I would do is I would give 10,000 scholarships a year at $7,500 a year scholarship to people who after four years would agree to teach in an urban or rural school district in the areas of computer science, math, science or foreign languages. We need teachers in our communities who understand these subjects and have the equipment.

The next thing I would is something I call info-stamps, which empowers those who don't have to be able to get the equipment and the software that they need in order to be a part of the digital revolution. We have food stamps. We need info-stamps to be able to accomplish this objective.

And in terms of education, I think—and you mentioned race in education—I think it is important to know that in 1980, '81 and 1979 there was an issue before the Congress that related to whether the—whether the government would provide tax-exempt status to schools that racially discriminate. Al Gore supported those measures, and I'd like to know today why.

BRADLEY: Given Al's answer, I kind of expected his answer on his vote to preserve tax exempt status for schools like Bob Jones that racially discriminate.

(LAUGHTER)

So, I brought today, a copy of all five of those votes. I've also brought today...

(APPLAUSE)

... my—I've also brought today, my statement in opposition, the Congressional Black Caucus's statement in opposition, and Trent Lott's statement in support, saying that this would go to Bob Jones University.

(APPLAUSE)
I'd like to give it to each member of the panel and Bernie at the break, but I'd like you to have it now, Al.

BRADLEY: Well, let me briefly respond to this. The—I think that we need more minority media. That's the importance of the Madison Avenue Initiative. That is why I've met with the Madison Avenue Initiative at the Black Caucus last fall—we talked.

There are important ways that advertising dollars should go to African- American media.

I voted against that amendment. But do you know why there is not—you know why that there's now not the affirmative action you're talking about for African-Americans in the media? Because Bill Clinton signed the law that made it happen. It was a law that was signed and that's why it happened.

And I'm still going to offer you the opportunity to explain a little more carefully why you voted to preserve tax-exempt status for schools—not just Bob Jones, all of those schools in Mississippi and otherwhere, those white schools that started to be built whenever we had integration—to preserve tax-exempt status for those schools. You have to face up to this if you're going to be a strong leader.

BRADLEY: I think the question was about the future of affirmative action.

BRADLEY: And I believe that we need a strong president who's not going to back away from leading on affirmative action.

I believe affirmative action is common sense. I believe it's reaching out to the broadest possible community in this country in order to bring all talent into our country's best performance. That's what I believe.

And, you know, I think that the things that have happened in California, the Proposition 209; the things that happened in Texas, the Hopgood (ph) Decision, are the wrong direction. And the only way you're going to change that is if a president is willing to lead with the bully-pulpit on this issue and not follow.

BRADLEY: I think that it's a very important question. I would fully fund the Ryan White (ph) Act, because I think that is a special importance. In the health care program that I have outlined, I have allocated a very large sum of money to community health clinics and community health centers, which is where a lot of the minority population could get treated.

I also have passed a—suggested a health care bill that would allow HIV positive people to be able to get access to health care, because now they're not—they're denied access to health care.

I think making those investments in infrastructure—we need the clinics in the neighborhood, and the funds to reach out—the Ryan White (ph) and in making sure that they can see a doctor before they get AIDS when they have HIV, is a way that I would go, and think it would be an important way to deal with this issue.

BRADLEY: We've talked a lot about my health care proposal in this campaign. In its terms, it's a disability, a disability under Medicaid. It saves the same amount of money. It's the same services. It's the same benefits. The only difference is that now, if you have HIV, you can qualify for insurance, and if you're in the neighborhood, you get a health—you get a community health benefit. That's the only difference.

And tonight, I pledge that any health care bill that I would sign would have every Medicaid patient...

BRADLEY: ... a better health plan than Medicaid is today.

BRADLEY: I believe Medicare is a sacred trust. For 18 years, I fought on the Senate Finance Committee to preserve premiums from going up. I once offered an amendment on the Senate floor to prevent premiums from going up and using tobacco tax money in order to prevent it from going up, and Al Gore was one of the few Democrats to vote against that amendment, preferring Big Tobacco over Medicare recipients.

(APPLAUSE)
I will tell you, in addition, I have a prescription drug benefit that will give you no cap. You could have as much as your costs are. Al would cap it.

Let's say I ran into a woman the—I ran into a woman the other day, she said her mother had a $10,000 prescription drug bill.

Under the program that I've offered, the government would pay $7,500 of that bill, and under Al's it would pay much, much less, because he caps it at $1,000.

And so I think there's a big difference...

BRADLEY: ... between a little bit and making sure you give people real insurance for prescription drugs.

BRADLEY: I've said throughout this campaign that if we grow more than 2.9 percent, then money from—will go from the general revenues—the surplus, to Medicare. We're projected to grow much higher than that if we continue as we are in the path that we're headed now. To me, that is the reasonable way to proceed.

Medicare is solid now. It is solid until 2017. Nobody is questioning that. If we continue to grow, it'll be solid further. If we grow more...

BRADLEY: ... the money I will take from the surplus and put it in the trust fund.

BRADLEY: The answer is, yes, we can limit the number of guns that people buy. In fact, I've offered the strongest gun control proposal of any presidential candidate in history. I want registration and licensing of all handguns. All handguns.

(APPLAUSE)

I want to make sure that there're trigger locks on guns, no gun dealers in residential neighborhoods; that we have background checks at gun shows, as well as gun dealers.

BRADLEY: And I'll tell you something else. Al has been Bill Clinton's vice president for seven years. He's done a good job as vice president. But he was also a conservative congressman. And when he was a conservative congressman, he voted with the NRA, and the head of the NRA said that he was the poster child or man of the year. So there are two differences here.

(APPLAUSE)

There are two differences.

BRADLEY: Well, what you've seen is an elaborate what I call Gore dance. It is...

(APPLAUSE)

... it is a—it is a dance to avoid facing up to your conservative record on guns.

BRADLEY: It is a dance that denies the fact that you do not support registration and licensing of all handguns, but you'd want to give the impression of that, so you say, I'm for licensing of all handguns. I'm for licensing of all (inaudible) handguns.

(LAUGHTER)

BRADLEY: What does that mean? I'm for licensing of all new handguns. Only new, not the 65 million that are out there.

BRADLEY; My view is that the people will make this decision. My view also is that if Al were the nominee, I would support him.

(APPLAUSE)

My view—my view, however, is that we have very different views of the Democratic Party. I—in Congress, he introduced four bills that dealt with education and zero bills that dealt with health care. He was a conservative Democrat, did not support national health insurance, an 84 percent right-to-life voting record and was the poster boy for the NRA.

What I'm saying is, That's one view of what the Democratic Party can be. The other view is to go the road of making access to quality affordable health care available to every one in this country, making major investments in urban public schools that need those investments so much...

(APPLAUSE)

... doubling the amount of money spent on Title I, so that urban public schools...

BRADLEY: ... will have qualified teachers and be accountable to parents.

BRADLEY: I did not propose a special prosecutor. I said that the Democratic Party will lose its mantle as a reform party if we don't come to terms with what happened in 1996. And I think the best way to come to terms with what happened in 1996 is for you to tell people exactly what happened, in your own words, so that—let me tell you, if you are...

BRADLEY: Incorrect.

BRADLEY: It's incorrect.

BRADLEY: It's incorrect.

BRADLEY: No. No. It's incorrect.

BRADLEY: I have—I have told you what I think the answer is. And it is to nominate me as the Democratic nominee of this party.

(APPLAUSE)

That's what I told you.

You know, me calling attention to the fact that he was a conservative Democrat before he was Bill Clinton's vice president is simply truth-telling. It's simply telling people what the facts are.

BRADLEY: It's not embroidering the facts. And laying out much bolder proposals on health care and on education than the vice president does is not embroidering anything. It's proposing a new future.

I am—as an example in this campaign, he proposes increasing defense expenditures more than he proposes increasing education expenditures.

BRADLEY: What I think is they don't know your record as a conservative Democrat.

BRADLEY: They—they don't know that you voted five times over three years for a tax exemption for schools that discriminate on the basis of race. It's in the record. The Black Caucus stated so.

BRADLEY: It's there in the record.

BRADLEY: Could I—Bernie, could I on that?

BRADLEY: When I talk to people in urban America, they're very concerned about their schools. In 1968, I worked right here in Harlem, at an Urban League street academy. Ran a little reading program at 116th and Lenox, it was called, then.

And it was an experience that seared me with the need to do something about urban public education.

BRADLEY: I frequently fought and always voted to increase Title One fundings. And in this program, in this year, in this election, what I have done is to advocate doubling Title One money, which is the largest federal program that goes to urban schools and to use that money to improve the quality of the teaching—every teacher has to be qualified—to hold schools accountable so that we reduce the disparity between minority and nonminority performance, and give parents, give parents the freedom to move...

BRADLEY: ... from one public school to another public school if the second one is a better performing school. That's an investment in urban public education.

BRADLEY: OK. We have a different view of what education is. Al views it as a box with some programs in it. I view it as beginning at birth, extending through every life stage and being for everyone.

BRADLEY: That is why I make a major investment in the first four years of life so that kids will have early education. That's why I increase Head Start by 400,000 slots, you don't. That's why I create 2,000 after school programs, patterned on the Beacon Schools Program in this very city.

BRADLEY: And that's why I make major investments in community colleges in this country, because those are the first step up the rung of achievement for people in America.

BRADLEY: I think the first criteria is that the person should be able to step into the office if the president was not there and perform the duties exceptionally well.

I think the second criteria is that the person should be able to help in a campaign.

The third is that the person should be someone that the president has the ability to get along with and can be a partner.

I think there are plenty of African-Americans in this country who fit that criteria. I think one of the...

(APPLAUSE)
.
.. you know, if Dr. Martin Luther King came back today and looked out there and saw this country, he would say on one way that dream has been fulfilled, because he said once the overt shackles of discrimination are removed then African-Americans will ascend to places of prominence in every field in America. And that is precisely what's happened.

The pool is out there. And so I would seriously consider it. In my own appointments of federal judges, two of the three federal judges that I appointed in New Jersey were African-American.

BRADLEY: And my staffs, both in the Senate and in the campaign, reflect diversity as well.

BRADLEY: Well...

BRADLEY: ... I think—I think that, if I could take my 30, I think that the key thing is to recognize that we are truly at a new time here, and we're at a new time where there are new possibilities, and we are at a time where we have a lot of prosperity, but that prosperity hasn't filtered down to everyone.

But we also know that discrimination comes in different forms. It's now the bank, it's now the digital divide. But we begin to also lead by examples...

BRADLEY: ... of people we put before the public. And elected leaders who are African-American are important to put before the public to demonstrate for young people...

BRADLEY: ... that they too can have a career in politics.

BRADLEY: What I've already done is gone to Columbia, South Carolina, to Benedict College, and made in no uncertain terms a speech to say, Take this flag down.

(APPLAUSE)

And I also called the governor. And in the speech I pointed out that the Confederate flag over the capital has not been there since the Civil War. It was put up after the 1964 Civil Rights Act was passed, and in the period of desegregation, as a defiant symbol against desegregation in America.

In my view, it represents the past not the future of America. And as president of the United States I would not let up on beating that drum day after day after day. The large majority of people in South Carolina want the flag to come...

BRADLEY: ... and the question is whether the elected officials will honor what the people want.

BRADLEY: I wonder if any of you in here know what the subject was of Governor George Bush's speech at Bob Jones University.

BRADLEY: It was called, "The New Conservatism." Now, the only thing that I observe is that by going to Bob Jones University to make a speech about the new conservatism, the new conservatism doesn't look a heck of a lot different to me than the old conservatism.

(APPLAUSE)

And I think, once again, we cannot have, we must not have tax- exempt status for schools...

BRADLEY: ... who discriminate on the basis of race.

BRADLEY: The most important thing that we can do now to deal with the disparity in the application of the death penalty of African- Americans is to pass the Racial Justice Act, which would indeed reduce that disparity. But to do that, you need a president who's going to stand up and try to tell the...

(AUDIO GAP)

BRADLEY: I will be that president.

(APPLAUSE)

BRADLEY: I will push for the Racial Justice Act. I will—I will not, at the end of the day, compromise it. It will either be in a crime bill, or there will not be a crime bill if I am president of the United States.

(APPLAUSE)

The issue of the criminal justice system is, though, deeper than simply the death penalty. There is unequal justice in this country.

Not only racial profiling, not only crack cocaine—which I would change the differential...

BRADLEY: ... but also in terms of kids getting mandatory sentences for first-time, non-violent drug use and being put away 20 years. That should not happen.

BRADLEY: I think programmatic responses are important. But this is a deeper moral issue for the country. You cannot have individuals who are African-American living in a community, law abiding citizens, they go out and they're victimized by crime.

BRADLEY: And then they tell their son, who is a great kid, who is doing all the things right, when he goes you out, watch out Saturday night, because you're driving while black and that's dangerous in this country.

We have to have elected officials that are going to get beyond...

BRADLEY: ... and challenge white America to stop denying the plight of black Americans and the indignities that they're experiencing.

BRADLEY: The...

(APPLAUSE)

The answer is yes. I think that there's no question that there's environmental pollution endangering urban America. I mean, just smell the buses in Harlem. Just smell the diesel fuel that comes out of Harlem out of those buses.

It seems to me that a president could have an impact by getting to the MTA and telling the MTA, "Replace those buses with natural gas buses."

(APPLAUSE)

Second, if you had a health care program that I've offered where every child in America is covered, you could be seen earlier.

And third, if you are located in a community with a community health center, it would be easily accessible.

So I would do all of those things.

BRADLEY: You know...

BRADLEY: If I could...

BRADLEY: I was driving up here tonight on Frederick Douglass Boulevard, and I must say, as I drove up I saw abandoned building after abandoned building. I saw incredible potential unfilled.

If I am president of the United States, there will be a major investment program in Harlem and urban America like the street that I drove up. And that means Community Reinvestment Act...

BRADLEY: ... and it means major investment in home ownership in Harlem and other African-American communities.

BRADLEY: I don't think that cutting taxes now is the answer. I think that now we have unprecedented prosperity. We have large budget surpluses.

BRADLEY: We should be fixing our roof while the sun is shining. We should now be passing national health insurance. We should now be making major investments in our urban schools and schools across this country. And we should commit, as I have, to reduce child poverty by 4 million in the first four years, and eliminate child poverty in 10 years.

But you know, to do that we have to understand where people live their lives. And earlier I was talking about Al as the conservative Democrat, and he was saying 20 years ago, not so long ago, 1996, the welfare reform bill—and the welfare reform bill that Al Gore urged President Clinton to sign in the middle of the campaign so as to win the election was truly a gamble with poor children in this country.

BRADLEY: And that's a gamble that I think shouldn't have been taken.

BRADLEY: The welfare reform bill that exists now, the welfare system is not the welfare bill that was passed in 1996. There have been changes. There have been significant changes for legal immigrants. There have been significant changes on the time that people can be on welfare.

BRADLEY: And in addition to that, there are now hundreds of thousands of children in this country who do not have health insurance, because when they lose their welfare and go off of welfare, they automatically lose Medicaid eligibility for their health insurance.

BRADLEY: You know what's interesting about your question, Tamala—and I am disappointed there're not more support in the African American community according to the polls.

BRADLEY: Because if you look at the programs that I've offered—health insurance access to all Americans, guarantees for children, making sure that we have community health centers—that is aimed at a population that's disproportionately poor. For example, you have about 25 percent of African-Americans who don't have health insurance.

In terms of the education program, the public education programs that I've explained tonight go to primarily urban and some rural areas that have high numbers of poor children in them.

If you take the whole effort on eliminating child poverty, you have 40 percent of African-American children living in poverty.

If you look at the respective positions, there is no question that the positions that I've advocated...

BRADLEY: ... are stronger for the community than the positions that Al has advocated.

BRADLEY: I think on so many levels that the debate doesn't reflect truly the richness of our country nor the opportunity of the moment. And the question is not which person can get the most elected leadership support. The question is which person's program will best benefit the people out there who are working every day, the people who are trying to make ends meet...

BRADLEY: ... the people who need to have somebody who's going to fight for them every day

BRADLEY: Al—the vice president said he wanted to take race out of I think the criminal justice system or out of policing, he said. That requires a president who is strong and willing to lead on the central question of race in our country today.

BRADLEY: And that means sometimes telling white Americans what they don't want to hear.
And I, therefore, don't do it with any kind of pointed finger. But take the issue of white skin privilege. Now, what is white skin privilege? White skin privilege—did you see the television program a couple years ago where a black couple and a white couple, exactly parallel, went to 10 places to get apartments or houses. The black couple was rejected in all. The white couple was accepted in all.
But in a more personal sense, what is white skin privilege?

When I was a rookie in the NBA, I got a lot of offers to do television and commercials—to do advertisements. I didn't—and why did I get those? White skin privilege.

I wasn't the best player on the team, but I didn't take those because I thought that was not the right thing to do and that they were—should have gone to my African-American teammates.

We have to explain white skin privilege.

BRADLEY: Well, I think that one of the most important things here is making sure that young African-Americans, Latinos, participate in the political process.

BRADLEY: And they should know that nothing is going to intimidate them from participating in that political process. And I think that what we need to do, and what I would do as president if I were elected, is to make the Voting Rights Act permanent.

BRADLEY: I've talked to Martin Luther King Jr. about this, Martin King about this. It is very important to make the Voting Rights Act permanent so that the right to vote will never be endangered for African-Americans.

BRADLEY: You know, Jeff, I think you raised a very important point. There's not a parent in an urban area in America that doesn't think about it. And in fact, the reason I voted for experiments in vouchers, on several occasions, was because I was listening to those parents.

I represented New Jersey, second highest per capita income in the country, but five of the poorest places. I would do town meetings in Newark, Jersey City, and African-American parents would come up to me and say, Our school is a disaster: drugs, violence, teachers that aren't qualified. Nobody cares. What are you going to do about it?

And I said, Well, you ought to join the school board. They'd look at me like I just descended from Mars. They'd say, Wait a minute, we join the school board—we can't. We go to work at 6:00, get home at 9:00.

So I voted to give them a chance with a couple of experiments. There are now experiments in Milwaukee and in Cleveland. But I think the answer is not vouchers because the system isn't big enough. The answer is a major new investment in public education under Title I, but not the money just flowing in, but the money flowing in making the schools accountable for results and qualified teachers.

BRADLEY: If a child goes to kindergarten and is sick, the child is not going to learn. And under the health care program that I've offered, every child would have a doctor.

I know a teacher that tells a story about a child who comes in sick, she puts him in the back of the room in a bed of coats, because the child is sick and doesn't have health insurance. So health insurance is education policy as well. Gun control is education policy as well. There are 800,000 kids...

BRADLEY: ... that took a gun to school at one day last year.

BRADLEY: So we have to see this a little bigger then simply a box that says "education," and deal with all the influences that come in on our system of education.

BRADLEY: Someone once said that a lot of people want to change the world, but only a few people want to change themselves.

When it comes to the issue of race in America we have to do both. We have to change the underlying conditions and we also have to change the hearts of the American people. We have to do both.

I believe the American people are good people. But, as the doctor—Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King once said, that the reason the civil rights revolution didn't occur sooner than it did in America was because of the silence of good people.

What my campaign is about is asking good people to come forward and join us so that our voices will be heard. I believe that we can move ahead in this country as one nation, I believe we can respect each other, but you need a strong president who's going to put this as the number one issue on his agenda every day in his administration, and I will do that.

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