Clinton Points to Beating Case in Racial Peace Plea

President Clinton, asking the nation to join his prayers for a beaten Chicago boy, called on Americans this Easter weekend to reject racial hatred and to remember that Christ died to redeem all people--black and white.

“In this season of renewal, we must renew our pledge to make America one nation under God,” the president said Saturday in a radio address that focused on the attack last week on 13-year-old Lenard Clark. Three white teenagers are accused of beating the black boy into unconsciousness.

Clinton worried that black Americans would see in the youths accused of attacking Clark the faces of all white Americans. “The acts of a few people must never become an excuse for blanket condemnation,” he added.

But even as he denounced the crime, as a “savage, senseless assault driven by nothing but hate,” Clinton looked ahead to both Easter and next month’s Passover holiday as he asked the nation to pray for Clark. “The holidays of this season teach us that hope can spring forth from darkest of times,” he said.