Initiatives of Change - Hope in the Cities: Newsroom

In a call for courageous, far-sighted leadership, William Winter, the former Governor of Mississippi said responsible citizenship means 'doing the things that may not immediately and directly benefit us but will create for those who come after us the opportunity for a more fulfilling and productive life.'

Winter is credited with reinventing public education in Mississippi. When he became Governor in 1982, the state’s schools ranked last in the nation by most measures. His sweeping education reform created the first publicly funded kindergarten.

'A high quality public school system is the highest priority for the advancement of our cities,' said Winter who served on President Clinton’s National Advisory Board on Race. He noted that 50 years ago Mississippi and Virginia had made common cause in massive resistance against school integration, but now they could be allies in finding constructive solutions to today’s challenges which are more complex and difficult than ever before.

In the last 20 years the percentage of low income students in the South grew from 37 percent to 54 percent. 'These children are automatically at risk.' Meanwhile schools are becoming re-segregated. 'I must tell you that the problem of race, despite all the progress we have made, remains the thorniest, trickiest and most difficult barrier that we confront in achieving a truly united country.'

The huge demographic shift – the number of children in the South grew by over 3 million in the nineties, and half of the increase was among Latino children – means it is vital that we make schools places where people of different races can learn to respect and understand one another. The 2004 State of the South Report by researchers at MDC in Chapel Hill, South Carolina, asks: 'Can the South muster the will to develop public schools aligned with the demands of a fast-changing economy? Can the region develop schools that meet the needs of a multi-ethnic, democratic society? ...Southerners must recognize the consequences of economic isolation and a dived society as a threat to their self-interest.'

Tichi Pinkney-Epps of the NAACP and Richmond PTA, Don Cowles, Executive Director IofC, Michael Paul Williams, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Robert Bobb, President of the Washington Board of Education, and Governor William Winter (Photo: Karen Elliott-Greisdorf)

Robert Bobb, president of the Washington Board of Education, joined Winter on a panel moderated by Richmond Times-Dispatch columnist Michael Paul Williams. 'We have to create not just centers of excellence but excellent schools in every neighborhood,' he said. 'We’ve got to declare a reading emergency' and dedicate resources to programs for children from low-income families, from birth to five years old.

Other panelists were Tichi Pinkney-Epps, of the NAACP and president of Richmond PTA, and Don Cowles, a former corporate executive, now heading Hope in the Cities’ dialogue initiative on healthy integrated public schools. Cowles observed two hopeful indicators: 'There is a growing appreciation among people like me – the privileged – of the capacity of those who are not privileged. Through the Micah Initiative, which is pairing scores of faith communities with elementary schools, people like me are beginning to meet, trust and love all kids. There is also a growing desperation for change among business leaders who need everyone for their future workforce.' But he acknowledged, 'I need to have more conversations with my peers. We don’t really know what happens in schools, and recommendations are made without real knowledge.' More than 20 students from the region's public and private schools added their voices to the discussion.

Participants at the breakfast forum (Photo: Karen Elliott-Greisdorf)

According to Winter, closing the racial gap is 'our most important unfinished business,' and it is, of course, not just a Southern problem. 'All of this is a matter of trying to be honest with ourselves and with each other. It is a matter of developing a sense of trust...That is admittedly harder for blacks to do than for whites. For black people have more to forgive even if they cannot and probably should not forget. But there must come a time when we have to recognize that we are all in this together – when we must move past the old divisions of race and understand our common interests and our common humanity.'

When he joined Clinton’s Advisory Board, Winter admitted he had misgivings on learning that one member was a black woman preacher from New York City. 'All of my old Southern white male biases started to surface. I thought to myself without ever having met her, ‘'That woman is going to cause trouble.'’ And then I met her. She was absolutely delightful. We bonded immediately. Later after we had gotten to know each other well I told her of my initial reservations. ‘'Let me tell you something,'’ she said, ‘'When they told me there as going to be an old ex-governor for Mississippi on the commission I knew I wouldn’t be able to get along with him!”'

Thirty-five non-profit organizations and twenty corporations supported the 11th annual Metropolitan Richmond Day.

click here to download the full text of Governor Winter's speech.