There's No Greater Challenge And There Is

In The Segregated South, Education Was Almost Like Armor. It Was A Way To Put Yourself In A Category Where Even With The Slings And Arrows And Humiliations Of Racism And Segregation, Somehow You Had Better Control Of The Situation. I Always Said My Parents Understood That You Might Not Be Able To Control Your Circumstances, But They And Their Parents Believed That You Could Control Your Reaction To Your Circumstances.

I Certainly Think That The World Views The United States As A Place To Be Respected. All Over The World Our Values Are Respected; Who We Are, A Place That You Can Come And Come From Modest Circumstances To Great Things, That's Respected.

I Think That One Of The Greatest Challenges We Have Today Is Around Education. One Of The Things That Is Dividing Us More And More Is Whether You Have Good Prospects Or You Don't. Do You Live A Neighborhood Where The Schools Are Good? If You Don't, Your Kids May Not Read Until The Time They're In Third Grade. Do You At Least Have Access To A Community College That Will Give You Job Training Skills So That If You Don't Go For Four Years You Will At Least Come Out With A Decent Job And A Decent Wage. Too Many People Don't Have That Opportunity.

So I Think, If September 11 Taught Us Anything, It Taught Us That We're Vulnerable, And Vulnerable In Ways That We Didn't Fully Understand.

I Remember At The Time Of 9/11 That There Were Women Who Went Out Of Their Way To Escort Muslim Women To Grocery Stores Because They Wanted To Be Sure That They Didn't Experience Any Prejudice. And So I'm Not One Who Believes That America Is A Country That's Intolerant. It's The Most Tolerant Country In The World, And I Really Think That It's Unfortunate That A Number Of People Are Trying To Paint America With This Brush. I Just Don't See It.