Clinton Urges More Funds to Enforce Civil Rights Laws

Under the watchful gaze of a 100-year-old woman who saw her own share of discrimination, President Clinton on Saturday proposed an expanded $695-million budget to better enforce civil rights laws.

In his weekly radio address on the 71st anniversary of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.’s birth, Clinton said the money was needed to expand investigations into hate crimes and police misconduct, and fight discrimination in “finding a home, getting a job, going to school and securing a loan.”

While the U.S. economy is booming, Clinton said, minority unemployment and poverty rates are still about twice the national average.

“Still there are too many barriers on the road to opportunity, too many examples of Americans facing discrimination in daily life,” he said.

In attendance was 100-year-old Charlotte Filmore, a Washington-area woman of African American and Native American descent who had two dreams: to see the year 2000, thus living in three centuries, and meet Clinton.

The retired educator, born Oct. 2, 1899, was carefully wheeled into the White House in a wheelchair.

Filmore had assisted President Eisenhower’s wife, Mamie, during social events at the White House. At the time, because of her race, she had to enter the White House by a side door.

“Well, today Charlotte Filmore came to the White House through the front door and all the way to the Oval Office. But there is still more to do,” Clinton said.

Filmore was impressed with the 53-year-old Clinton. “I’m so glad I lived to see this day,” she said.

After the radio address, Clinton helped escort Filmore out of the West Wing.

Republican critics say laws on the books are sufficient to prosecute hate crimes. Rep. J.C. Watts Jr. (R-Okla.), who is African American, said Clinton’s hate crime legislation would “separate and divide” rather than bring people together.