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Lieberman Tells Howard Students '63 March Changed Him

By Kerry-Ann Hamilton
Black College Wire

Lieberman campaign Web site Lieberman interns for Sen. Abraham Ribicoff, 1963

Democratic presidential candidate Joseph Lieberman, marking the 40th anniversary of the March on Washington, told students at Howard University how the event not only accelerated the shift toward equality in the United States but also changed his life.

Lieberman, now a senator from Connecticut, attended the Aug. 28, 1963, march as a 21-year-old Yale law student and Capitol Hill intern.

“It was a journey of the heart,” Lieberman said of his participation in the event at the Lincoln Memorial. “The March on Washington helped change America and I know it changed me.”

While Lieberman acknowledged that life is better since the massive demonstration, especially for African Americans, he said, “The March on Washington only began 40 years ago today. It continues to this day because the dream is not yet real.”

Inspired by King, Lieberman led a group of students to Mississippi two months after the march to register African Americans to vote in a mock election for state NAACP chair Aaron Henry.

Lieberman pursued a career in public life and, in 2000, ran as the Democratic vice presidential nominee on a ticket headed by Al Gore.

Now, Lieberman is a member of a crowded field contending for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination.

Lieberman told about 100 students, many from a class on black politics, that he supports affirmative action, saying it “is not only just, it is necessary to realizing the promise of equal opportunity today.”

He stressed his commitment to funding education as a way of removing inequities in society. Fully funding more education programs would remove what Lieberman called de facto segregation in our schools and end second-class education in poor communities.

Lieberman said he intends to make higher education the hallmark of a Lieberman administration.

“We should commit ourselves to opening the doors of higher education wider than they have ever been before and making sure that every student is given a chance to graduate,” he said.

The presidential hopeful also asserted that anyone who is accepted by a college or university should be able to attend. In conjunction with this, Lieberman spoke of increasing tax deductions for tuition and expanding aid programs for disadvantaged students, especially Pell Grants.

Lieberman said that historically black colleges like Howard University are dream destinations that have produced extraordinary talents, including Thurgood Marshall, the first African American Supreme Court justice; Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison; and Andrew Young, the former U.N. ambassador and Atlanta mayor.

Lieberman said he was committed to preserving HBCUs.

“I worked with Congressman Jim Clyburn [D-S.C.] to pass legislation that would make it easier for historic properties to qualify for federal restoration funding. HBCUs are facing crippling renovation costs to the tune of $755 million,” Lieberman said. “As president, I’ll make sure we pay that bill.” Clyburn chairs the Congressional Black Caucus.

The Connecticut native criticized President Bush’s reelection campaign Web site as misleading because, he said, it carried so many photos of people of color.

“A picture may be worth a thousand words, but no words can convey how wrong it is to use African Americans to prove you [Bush] have compassion, when you abuse African Americans with the policies that worsen their lives,” Lieberman said.

Lieberman also fielded questions from students about the war in Iraq, unemployment and curbing disparities in education.

Kerry-Ann Hamilton, a graduate of Howard University, now attends American University.

Text of Lieberman's remarks

Posted Aug. 28, 2003