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President Clinton's vision of One America in the 21st Century is to
have a diverse, democratic community in which we respect, even
celebrate our differences, while embracing the shared values that unite
us. To reach that goal, the President has asked all Americans to join him in a
national effort to deal openly and honestly with our racial differences.
The year-long effort combines thoughtful study, constructive dialogue, and
positive action to address the continuing challenge of how to live and
work more productively as One America in the 21st century.
The President has convened an Advisory Board of seven distinguished Americans to assist him with the Initiative. The Advisory Board will work with the President to engage the many diverse groups, communities, regions, and various industries in this country. The President has asked the Advisory Board
to join him in reaching out to local communities and listen to Americans from all
different races and backgrounds, so that we can better understand the
causes of racial tension. The Advisory Board will help foster and participate in
constructive dialogues on race that the President has called for in this
Initiative. President Clinton has asked the Board to recommend creative
ways to resolve these problems with the help and input of the community
leaders who are committed to tackling these difficult issues.
Finally, President Clinton believes that, while thoughtful dialogue will
be an enormous benefit, no real progress can be made without specific actions
aimed at breaking down the walls that surround the issue of race relations. The
Advisory Board will study critical substantive areas in which racial disparities are significant, including education, economic opportunity, housing, health care and the administration of justice. At the President's direction, all Cabinet agencies will join in this effort -- in coordination with and building on the work of the Advisory Board --to identify concrete policies to address critical race-based problems.
Based on the findings from the dialogue, study, and action of the
Initiative, the President will present his Report to the American People. This will
be his blueprint for improving race relations in the 21st century.
The goal of the President's Initiative on Race is to strengthen our
shared foundation as Americans so that we can live in an atmosphere of trust and
mutual respect. All Americans have reason to invest in creating One
America so that we, as a nation, can effectively move together to fulfill the
promise of the American dream in the 21st century.
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