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President's Message Clyde E.Bailey, Sr. 14th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Banquet United States Army Combined Arms Support Command and Fort Lee Fort Lee, Virginia ……"There are those who are asking the devotees of Civil Rights. "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality; we cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one; we can not be satisfied as long the Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No! No, we are not satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream." (Excerpted from Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech delivered on Aug. 28, 1963 on the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC). These were, of course, the magnanimous, pulsating and electrifying words of Dr. Martin Luther King excerpted from his legendary and memorable "I Have A Dream" speech of August 28, 1963 on the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. I am extremely honored to be here this evening to address the men and women of this Command during your Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. observance. Your theme "Remember! Celebrate! Act! A Day On, Not a Day Off!!" suggest that while we celebrate the many accomplishments we have made in civil rights, there still is much work to be done. I would like to thank and acknowledge my many friends and family members who are here tonight. Many of them were not aware that I was going to speak at Fort Lee. My brother John, with whom I talk to at least once a day, was somewhat embarrassed that a golfing partner first told him that I was going to speak during the Dr. King Program at the Base. I also understand that my sisters, Velma and Jackie, were both admonished by friends and family because they did not tell others that I was going to speak here this evening. Well, to each of my siblings, I most humbly apologize for the awkward position my coming home may have placed you in. I can assure you, however, that after my tenure as bar president ends, references to me will again be as "Bongo's brother" or "Jackie's younger brother" or "Velma's brother who is not Bongo," and hardly anyone will inquire as to my whereabouts. I must also acknowledge that Fort Lee was like an extended home to many of my friends and me when we were growing up in Petersburg. I spent several years during the 1960's, while attending Va. State, earning book and tuition money as a dining room worker in this very building. I also remember spending many weekends holding court in the post gymnasium with many of my basketball friends from Petersburg and Hopewell. Now, on behalf of the over 30,000 African American lawyers, judges and legal scholars of the National Bar Association, I extend greetings to all of you and to all the men and women of the US Army Combined Arms Support Command and Fort Lee during this your 14th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Banquet. I should also say before I get into my remarks that I am one who appreciates that a speech, to be memorable, need not be eternal. So I will make a deliberate effort to limit the time between my remarks and the benediction to not more than 15 minutes . I am particularly honored to be here this evening and to be included among such esteemed prior year speakers as the first African American governor of Commonwealth of Virginia., the Honorable Douglas Wilder, and the Honorable Justice Roger Gregory, US Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, both, by the way, are National Bar Association members. Roger, coincidentally, who grew up just one block from my home in Petersburg, administered the oath of office to me as the 61st President of the National Bar Association. Permit me to extend a special thanks to the men and women from this most historic base that have or will play an important role in all phases of our war against terrorism in the Middle East and around the world. You and your families have made the people of this Command, the people of the Richmond, Petersburg and Hopewell region and the people of this nation extremely proud of your outstanding service to country. rMaybe some of you read this article, but a recent Sunday edition of the Washington Post featured troops from the 443rd Military Police Company (MD) returning to the States after a tour of duty in the Middle East (Iraq). I was particularly drawn to the article because it indicated that the troops were bound for Fort Lee, Va. for decompression, i.e., post-war psychological counseling to assist troops with the many changes in their life, including their families, communities, employment, etc. One could infer from the article that Fort Lee was chosen to provide decompression intervention to the returning troops because of its outstanding reputation in this and other areas under its Command. A returning sergeant, who apparently had a successful decompression experience, told the Post in the same article, "When I get home, I'm going to sit in a bathtub with a bottle of champagne." That's a good example of a satisfied decompressed customer, wouldn't you say? As many of you know, the National Bar Association, formed in 1925 when our numbers were few and when we were not permitted to join the America Bar Association, is this nation's oldest and largest Association of African American lawyers, judges, legal scholars and law students. Throughout the years, we have weighed in on a number of important civil rights issues of the day. Our lawyers have been national and international leaders in pursuing the protection of human rights, civil rights and political rights for all people, particularly for people of the underserved communities. Last summer, the nation commemorated the 40th Anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington. The event marked the 40th year of our long journey, lead by Dr. Martin Luther King, to end racial injustice and societal inequities so ruthlessly visited upon African Americans and other ethnic minority groups in our society in their pursuit of the right to vote, the right to a decent education, the right to good jobs and fair salaries, the right to decent housing and the right to be treated as a human being You will recall that the March on Washington resoundingly moved this nation to accept the principle that we, as a nation, could no longer turn a blind eye to the horrors of racism. The March was indeed a catalyst for the transformation of the laws of our nation making way for the Civil Rights laws of 1964 and the Voting rights act of 1965. These developments paved the way for continuous progress in the struggle for liberty and justice for all. Yet forty years later, we as a nation must focus on well financed and expensively promoted assaults on civil rights, human rights and affirmative action that threaten to roll-back advances made by generations of men and women who fought and died for equality. People like the Rev. Wyatt T. Walker, the pastor at Gillfield Baptist Church, and the Rev. Milton Reid, the pastor at First Baptist, both of Petersburg; and the Rev. Curtis Harris of Hopewell, and the law firm of Oliver Hill, Samuel Tucker and Henry Marsh of Richmond, all were among the prominent leaders in our communities who visibly lead the fight for civil rights and against civil wrongs during the era of the 60's. Yes, the National Bar Association is indeed committed to keeping Dr. King's dream alive and the work of all the front line soldiers of the early civil rights era. We shall remain vigilant in addressing such urgent community issues as police brutality, racial profiling and racial discrimination, voting rights violations, among many others. And yes, the military's commitment to keep Dr. King's dream alive is also clear! What is the evidence, you might ask? In an Amicus Brief filed in the US Supreme Court in support of the University of Michigan in the affirmative action cases, military leaders presented compelling arguments in support of a diverse military. This is some of what our (your) military leaders said: "It is obvious and unarguable that no governmental interest is more compelling than the security of the Nation (citing Haig v Agee (USSCT 1981). The absence of minority officers seriously threatened the military' ability to function effectively and fulfill its mission to defend the nation…. [T]he service academies and the ROTC have set goals for minority officer candidates and worked hard to achieve those goals. They use … recruiting programs.. to expand the pool of highly-qualified minority candidates in a variety of explicitly race-conscious ways (emphasis mine). They also employ race as a factor in recruiting and admissions policies and decisions." Here's the evidence made simple, the military inextricably links diversity to its core mission of defending the nation. That's a compelling business case! What's more telling is that the military adopted a race conscious practice to achieve its diversity. If more evidence is needed, listen to what the military leaders said about the results of their race-conscious recruiting and admission practices: "These efforts have substantially increased the percentage of minority officers. Moreover, increasing numbers of officer candidates trained and educated in racially diverse educational settings, provides them with invaluable experience for their future command of our nation's highly diverse enlisted ranks. , .. The officer ranks must continue to be diverse or the cohesiveness essential to the military mission will be critically undermined (emphasis mine). Sandra Day O'Connor, who wrote the majority opinion for the Court, saw fit to support her opinion in favor of the University of Michigan with the following observation and quote from the Military brief. Justice O'Connor said: "What is more, high-ranking retired officers and civilian leaders of the United States military assert that, "based on [their] decades of experience, "a highly qualified and racially diverse officer corps…is essential to the military's ability to fulfill its principle mission to provide national security." Justice O'Connor seemed particularly persuaded by the Military's assertion that (and I quote): "…[T]he military cannot achieve an officer corps that is both highly qualified and racially diverse unless the service academies and the ROTC use limited race-conscious recruiting and admission policies." It is, therefore, my view, and surely you too must now have a sense, the Military today assigns a much higher priority to diversity than ever before in both its leadership ranks as well as in the enlisted ranks. While the University of Michigan decision and the amicus support provided to the University by the Military, corporations and others, seem to suggest that a limited race consciousness practice in recruiting and admissions are consistent and legally acceptable ways of achieving society diversity, my reminder and admonition to you this evening is that the battle is not yet won. Remain vigilant in the pursuit of civil rights and equal justice. This brings me to my final comment on the legacy of Dr. King and specifically to his vision for racial justice as set forth in his "Where Do We Go From Here" speech before the 10th Annual Session of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Among his many admonitions to the SCLC that evening in 1963, Dr. King emphasized the need to move our strengths into economic and political power and to address the poverty issues, including unemployment, underemployment, and training needs facing the disenfranchised. I believe that if Dr. King were alive today, he would still be leading the struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline in the new frontiers in our civil rights movement - a movement with its heritage in the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Memphis Garbage worker strikes to now police brutality in the boroughs of New York, racial profiling on the highways of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, environmental injustice in Southside of Chicago, the deliberate infiltration of drugs in South Central LA, disenfranchised voters in Florida, predatory lending practices across this nation, health care disparities from the East Coast to the West Cross, under funded, under performing and re-segregated public schools in all our major cities, inadequate and under-funded Medicaid programs for our seniors, and culturally insensitive judicial systems at nearly all levels in the judiciary, particularly in those judicial districts where there is no representation of ethnic minority and women judges. Your theme is right on it! "A Day On, Not A Day Off! We can hardly afford to take a day off because there is too much left to be done. And if Dr. King were living today he would no doubt say we must not be satisfied. I can assure you that the National Bar Association is not satisfied. Under my presidency, we shall work with our natural allies in the Congressional Black Caucus for the purpose of identifying more judicial nominees whose ideologies are favorable to our communities and keeping out those nominees whose ideologies are potentially injurious to our communities. We are not satisfied! The National Bar Association shall work with the National Medical Association to help eradicate Health Care Disparities that looms as a prominent civil rights issue of our times. We will not be satisfied as long as there are too many African American youth in juvenile justice system and too few in school. We are not satisfied! The National Bar Association shall work with the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law, and US Department of Justice on interpretation and compliance matters associated with the implementation of the "Help America To Vote Act (2002)." An Act which was promulgated to ensure that no group of voters (Black, Hispanic or any other ethnic group) are alienated from the voting process as we so tragically witnessed in Florida just 3 years ago. As a final example of the many continuing challenges facing our nation and particularly our communities, the National Bar Association is committed to address the woeful failure of the "War Against Drugs" by lobbying for laws and policies that embrace the protection of our children, reduces criminality and enhances public order, enhances public health, and promotes the wise and efficient use of scarce public resources. And finally, in the spirit of some of our most legendary legal giants and National Bar Association Members, including Justice Thurgood Marshall, Justice Constance Motley Baker and Justice Leon Higginbotham, I submit to you that the National Bar Association shall never be satisfied and will continue to pursue Dr. King's and this nation's goal of "Equal Justice" for all people, particularly for people in the most vulnerable communities. I am convinced that the Military is not satisfied and will continue to pursue Dr. King's dream as it recognizes that this nation's diversity is what makes us a great nation imparting responsibilities to and benefits for all those who pledge to accept our way of life in this great country. Thank You