Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 25 October 2002 — Page 2

THE INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25,2002

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Former president Clinton honorary inductee to Black hall of fame

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LITTLE ROCK (AP) — Former President Bill Clinton brought an audience of 8S0 people to their feet and received thunderous applause as he became an honorary inductee Saturday night in the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame. Long known for his close ties with the Black community, the former Arkansas governor and two-term U.S. president returned to his home state for the historic honor in recognition of a lifetime of work on behalf of the Black community. Once described by author Toni Morrison as “our first Black president,” Clinton was the first non-Black recognized

in the hall’s 10-year history. “I owe you way more than you owe me,” Clinton told the audience. “You have looked beyond the color of my skin to the truth of my heart.” Clinton described a pivotal moment in his political career. After losing the governor’s race in 1980, he said he met with leaders in the Delta, one of the poorest regions in the country, and the mayor of Haynes stood before the crowd and vowed to stick by him. “That moment changed my life, the future of this state and the future of the nation,” he said. In introducing the former president, fellow Arkansan Rodney Slater, who served as

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Clinton’s transportation secretary and was one of many Blacks Clinton appointed to higher office, said people have wondered if Clinton was just a white politician trying to get the Black vote. But Slater reassured the audience. “President Clinton is here tonight not because he needs your vote but because he has always wanted our love and wanted to share his love with us. It is not about the skin. It is about the spirit and the soul of this soul brother,” Slater said. Clinton last week said the honor has special meaning. “Most members of the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame have been personal friends or heroes of mine. To be included in their numbers, after a lifetime of working for equal rights and greater opportunity, is a wonderful gift,” he said. At the ceremony. Gov. Mike Huckabee welcomed Clinton and told the honorees that Arkansas was proud of each of them. Huckabee recalled growing up in Hope, where the former president was born and where the first Black federal appellate judge from Arkansas, Lavenski Smith, also grew up. “I watched him (Smith) and knew the battles he had just to get through school and law school,” Huckabee said. “Growing up in Hope was harder for Lavenski. The schools were not the same, his books were not the same and his level of opportunity was eariy^XeUie overcame.”’ , r./icn 'W <■ 'Charles Stewart, the hall of fame's chairman and founder, said Clinton and Black Arkansans have long had a relationship of mutual admiration. Stewart said Clinton’s dealings with the Black community in Arkansas have shaped his relationships with Blacks around the nation and the world. “This honor makes a lot of sense. It is this community’s way of saying thank you to him for the work that he has done,” Stewart said. The group’s selection committee voted in part to honor Clinton for the work he has done in his post presidency to combat AIDS in Africa and the Caribbean, Stewart said. Also inducted were Dr. Edith Irby Jones of Houston, the first Black graduate of the College of Medicine at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences; A1 Bell of North Little Rock, the driving force behind Stax Records; award-wining poet Haki Madhubuti of Chicago; Faye Clarke of Long Beach, Calif., co-founder and executive director of the Educate the Children Foundation; and the late Bishop Charles H. Mason, founder of the Church of God in Christ Inc. The Indianapolis Recorder's m£)ST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE Who are the most influential Blacks in Indy f The Recorder wants to hear from you. To submit your picks of the best and brightest Blacks in Indianapolis email us at: newsroomQindyrecor0er.com Or dick on The Recorder's Discussion Board, located on our Web site at: www.indianapolisrecorder.com. Please name three of the most influential Blacks in Business.

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