Condoleezza Rice on Civil Rights Secretary of State

Sub-sections under Civil Rights:
• 1960s Segregation
• Affirmative Action
• Other issues under Civil Rights

Same-sex civil unions, but not marriage

When you think about the rights of same-sex couples, which of the following is closest to your personal opinion?
• A. Same-sex couples should not be allowed to marry or form any kind of civil union
• B. Same-sex couples should be allowed to form civil unions, but not to marry in the traditional sense
• C. Same-sex couples should be allowed to marry legally, with all the same rights as traditional marriages

Scars of slavery include black preoccupation with skin color

By the time I came along, skin color and other physical features were less important, though not irrelevant.

One can imagine, though, what it was like for my very dark-skinned grandfather in the first half of the 20th century. He was given the worst land to work and not much encouragement from his father.

On racist IQ theory: "I'm better in white culture than you"

1985: First woman on grounds of Japan's military academy

All military academies are hierarchical, but in Japan this is exacerbated by cultural customs. The language, which is hierarchical, made it difficult to find an appropriate greeting in a case where a female of higher status addresses a male of lower standing. When one of my host professors invited me to his home for dinner and his wife served us but ate in the kitchen, I was just appalled. In general, I found the whole experience stultifying.

Supports civil unions but not gay marriage

Founding Fathers said "We the People," but didn't mean me

"Nonetheless, the ideal of justice at the heart of this regime was the mirror that black Americans held in the face of their oppressors. This reflected a stark choice for our entire country: Either the principles of our nation's Creed were true for everyone--or they were true for no one. If there truths were indeed self-evident--if all men really were created equal--then it was America that had to change, not American's democratic ideals.

Furious at theories that blacks have genetically lower IQ

As the professor [concluded that] blacks had lower IQ's because of genetics, Condi became more furious. "I raised my hand and said, 'You really should not be presenting this as fact because there's plenty of evidence to the contrary.'" The professor disagreed with her, saying that evidence to the contrary didn't exist. "That's when I said. 'Let me explain to you: I speak French, I play Bach, I'm better in your culture than you are. So obviously this can be taught. It doesn't have anything to do with whether you are or are not black.'"

Her confrontation silenced the professor on the topic, and she even aced the class.

Urges respect & sensitivity in same-sex marriage debate

“This is an issue that can be debated and can be discussed in our country with respect for every human being,” Rice told the News & Record of Greensboro, N.C. “When we get into difficult debates about social policy, we get into difficult debates that touch people’s lives. The only thing that I ask is that Americans do it with a kind of sensitivity that real individuals and real human beings are involved here.“

In a major defeat for President Bush and other Republicans who hope the issue will rally GOP voters for the November elections, the Senate rejected by a wide margin last week a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. Asked for her opinion on the amendment, Rice told the paper, ”This is not my area of expertise or, frankly, my area of concentration at this point.“

Advocates respect for all when discussing gay marriage

Message of her candidacy: no ceiling for blacks

The stain that began to spread through our land when the first slaves landed at Jamestown, VA, would be erased. Condi’s election would be the last battle of the Civil War, the last civil rights demonstration, the end of a saga that has haunted us since our nation was born. In a land where the signs once read “No Irish need apply,” wasn’t the election of John F. Kennedy the death knell of anti-Catholic bigotry?

If the civil rights movement of the 1960s was animated by the haunting lyrics and melody of the song “We Shall Overcome,” electing Rice to the White House would send a very different message: “We have overcome.” And that, apart from Condi’s obvious merits as a possible president, might just be worth voting for.

Participated in 1962 Alabama anti-segregation boycott

But it was Christmas when I realized that something truly serious was under way. I was terribly disappointed [because the boycott precluded toys] but old enough to understand the larger issues at stake.

Clearly, the boycott was succeeding. Sales declined 11% that year, leading the city of Birmingham to threaten to cut off a surplus food program servicing about 19,000 poor black families if the boycott didn't stop. The churches responded by conducting a food drive.

Though they supported the boycott, my parents didn't want to go without toys that Christmas, so they arranged for Aunt Gee to bring them from her home in Norfolk, Virginia.

First black in Birmingham-Southern conservatory of music

On the day of the audition I admitted to my parents that I was nervous. I didn't want to embarrass anyone. I'd be the first black student in the Birmingham-Southern program. I felt that I was carrying the weight of needing to be twice as good. They reassured me that I was indeed twice as good. Looking back, it is striking that they didn't say, "You don't have to be twice as good."

The audition went very well, and I was admitted. I was soon reenergized in my pursuit of a career as a concert pianist. Years later, my father said that he was really glad that he and my mother took the chance of letting me try to break this color barrier.

No marches as child; but one-on-one mentoring instead

Tested Civil Rights Act by eating at all-white restaurant

Childhood in the heat of the Civil Rights struggle

"I was in the heat of political struggle all through my childhood," Condi shares. "But I thought of the Civil Rights Movement as part of a struggle to give all Americans the opportunity to pursue whatever interests them most, where they can best use their talents. Because I viewed the struggle of black America as meaning the right of each of us to do what we are best equipped to do, it did not seem to me to be disjunction for me to follow my own particular course. Rather the reverse--I was exercising a fundamental right of Americans."

I grew up in Birmingham, most segregated city in America

Her parents couldn't completely shield Condi from the prejudice that she'd see on the news as she watched beating after beating of blacks by police who were paid in part by the tax dollars of blacks to protect them. And although her parents and others in her inner circle of family & friends were extraordinary role models who encouraged her to be all she could be, others expected little or nothing from her.

"I grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, a place that was once described, with no exaggeration, as the most thoroughly segregated city in the country. I know what it means to hold dreams and aspirations when half your neighbors think of you as incapable of, or uninterested in, anything higher."

I remember "Bombingham", city of Bull Connor and the KKK

Missed 31 days of school in 1963 due to Birmingham bombings

"I am so grateful for my parents for helping me through that period," says Condi. "They explained to me carefully what was going on, and they did so without any bitterness." Bombs were continually going off in Birmingham.

Remembering these days, Condi refers to these attacks on blacks as "homegrown terrorism." It was indeed a time of terror for Condi, who began to see just how far racist whites would go to destroy the black race.

I would rather be ignored than patronized

I'd grown up in a family that believed there was no room for being a victim or depending on "the white man" to take care of you. Despite the gross inequities my ancestors faced, there HAS been progress, and today race no longer determines how far one can go. That said, America is not color-blind and likely never will be.

Fierce defender of affirmative action

Years later, after having been on the other side of faculty hiring, especially as the provost of Stanford, I understood exactly what had happened. Stanford, in an effort to diversify its faculty, had made it possible to hire minorities without going through the normal processes. The Department of Political Science saw a young, black, female Soviet specialist and decided to make an affirmative action hire.

Contrary to what has sometimes been written about me, I was and still am a fierce defender of affirmative action of this kind. Why shouldn't universities use every means necessary to diversify their faculty?

Supporter of affirmative action, if done in the right way

Yet the question of how to remedy that situation is a delicate one. I've always believed that there are plenty of qualified minorities for these roles. But the processes of selection, the networks through which people are identified, can very easily be insular and produce the same outcomes over and over. The answer lies in looking outside established networks and patterns of hiring.

Affirmative action: look for prospects in minority places

The key to affirmative action, I believe, is not to lower standards but to look for good prospects where you would not ordinarily find them.

Appointed State Department's first chief diversity officer

Latin American leaders were comfortable talking to me about their struggles with racial equality and efforts at affirmative action, perhaps because I was honest with them about America's own struggles. In fact, as I often said, the US State Department was no model of racial diversity. "I can go all day and not see another person who looked like me." I appointed the department's first chief diversity officer, and championed programs to interest minorities in Foreign Service careers.

Supports college affirmative action, as beneficiary herself

Yet, as much as she backed affirmative action in hiring faculty, she strongly opposed it in granting tenure. She consistently refused to give into demands that she favor minority and women professors in granting tenure.

Rice has broken with President Bush to endorse race-based preferences in college admissions. Rice said, “ I believe that while race-neutral means are preferable, it is appropriate to use race as one factor among others in achieving a diverse student body.”

Race-neutral preferable, but use race factors until achieved

I agree with the President’s position, which emphasizes the need for diversity and recognizes the continued legacy of racial prejudice, and the need to fight it. The President challenged universities to develop ways to diversify their populations fully.

I believe that while race neutral means are preferable, it is appropriate to use race as one factor among others in achieving a diverse student body.

It is important to take race into consideration if you must, if race-neutral means do not work.