Clinton and Gore meet ethnic representatives to discuss race initiative

WASHINGTON - President Bill Clinton and Vice-President Al Gore met on September 9 with representatives from several ethnic communities at the White House to discuss the President's Initiative on Race. By calling the meeting, the president sought to create an opportunity to engage the broader American community in the dialogue on race.

During the meeting, the president acknowledged the importance of working together with diverse populations. Specifically mentioned was the necessity to foster a greater sense of understanding and trust among the various communities in order to solve common problems.

According to The White House's Office of Specialty Press, both the president and the vice-president were deeply moved by the stories shared by the ethnic representatives, which touched on overcoming hardships in the quest to become Americans who preserve their ethnic identity.

The White House meeting was attended by representatives of the Portuguese, Polish, Italian, Irish, Greek, Hungarian and Arab communities.

The Ukrainian American community was represented by Julian Kulas of Chicago.

The Associated Press reported that President Clinton assured the nation's ethnic groups they will have a role in his effort to reconcile the races, in response to their complaints that the plan is too fixated on black and white.

Ethnic representatives told the president they feel left out because most of what they've heard about his initiative "was being put in black vs. white vs. Latino perspectives," said Brian O'Dwyer, representing the New York-based Irish American Immigration Coalition.

A major dilemma for Clinton's initiative has been determining how much attention to give black-white relations without paying short shrift to other races and ethnic groups. At its first meeting in July, the president's seven-member race advisory board - made up of blacks, whites, Latinos and Asians - split over this issue, and has not fully resolved it.

"The importance here for me today was to be able to hear the president and vice-president say those (immigrant) communities are important, and ... make those people realize when we say Americans they are included," said Carolyn Krysiak, a Polish American member of the Maryland General Assembly, told the AP.

White House spokesman Mike McCurry was quoted by the AP as saying that the meeting was part of an ongoing outreach effort begun specifically to prevent the feelings of exclusion voiced Tuesday. "It's a very inclusive process and will continue to be so," Mr. McCurry said.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, October 5, 1997, No. 40, Vol. LXV

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