James Enos Clyburn made history in 1993 when he became the
first African-American to represent South Carolina in the House of
Representatives since Reconstruction. Over the course of his tenure, he has
served as Majority Whip and as Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, and
is currently the third-ranking Democrat in the House as the Assistant Minority
Leader.
Representative Clyburn is an alumnus of the HBCU South Carolina State College,
where he majored in history and was active in the civil rights movement. During
his junior year, he was arrested and convicted as a member of the Orangeburg
Seven, a group of student leaders who had organized a non-violent demonstration
against segregated lunch counters.
Congressman Clyburn has been married to his wife, Emily, since 1961, and they
have three daughters, two sons-in-law, and three grandchildren. Here, he talks
about his life and career, and about his autobiography,
Blessed Experiences:
Genuinely Southern, Proudly Black.
Kam Williams: Congressman Clyburn, thanks for the interview. I’m
honored to have this opportunity to speak with you.
James Clyburn: Yes, sir. How are you, Kam?
KW: Great! I loved your autobiography. It really gave me a chance to get to
know you in so much more depth than your appearances on C-Span and other
cable news networks. I really knew next to nothing about your rich civil
rights background and lifelong commitment to the underprivileged.
JC: Oh, you’re so kind, Kam.
KW: I’ll be mixing in my questions with some from readers. Editor/Legist
Patricia Turnier says: I am from Canada and thank you for taking the time to
share your experience and knowledge in your autobiography. What is the main
message you want people to take away from the book?
JC: The memoir’s main lesson is grounded in that old adage, “If at first you
don’t succeed, try, try again.” I lost three times before I got elected.
There’s no limit. Stay in pursuit of your dreams. That’s what this book is
about. I hope young people get a lesson out of every chapter and are
motivated by the notion that the next time might be “the” time that they
succeed.
KW: Patricia also says: Warren Buffett wrote about your book that you are
the most significant African-American member of Congress who broke many
barriers. What does it take for a visible minority to shatter the glass
ceiling and enjoy longevity in a career in politics?
JC: First, get yourself prepared, not just in terms of education, but
mentally. A question I often get is, “How do you maintain your sanity with
so much happening all around you?” I think I developed a certain mental
toughness that is required in this business. You have to have a thick skin
and a brass bottom, because you’re going to kicked a lot.
KW: It also seems that the higher you go, the more they come after you.
JC: You’re exactly right. All you have to do is achieve a modicum of
success.
KW: Patricia finishes by saying: Older females are among the most vulnerable
individuals in the economic crisis. They are twice as likely as elderly
males to be living near or below the federal poverty threshold. What needs
to be done to secure a reasonable retirement for this segment of the
population?
JC: Patricia is correct that it’s a very vulnerable population. But I don’t
know that anything additional needs to be done outside of sensitivity to the
fact that these issues are unique for this demographic, and that we ought to
be aware of that uniqueness. We need to make sure that they are aware of and
are able to gain access to what’s available for them. That’s why I was so
concerned about the Affordable Care Act. A big part of it is the expansion
of Medicaid, which includes not only low-income people, but senior citizens
in nursing homes, the disabled and children who are vulnerable.
KW: Environmental activist Grace Sinden says: As a Democratic leader in the
U.S House of Representatives, you must often feel frustrated by the
destructive resistance of the House Republican majority to move forward on
any of President Obama's programs such as job creation, much-needed
infrastructure improvements, including unsafe roads and bridges, and the
impingement of voting rights in many states. How do you deal with the
frustration that results from the blockage of necessary progress, since the
opposition has made this their prime strategy in terms of the President's
programs? An appeal to reason does not seem to work, because this is a
blanket strategy.
JC: Sure, it’s frustrating at times, but you keep going at it. It took me
seven years to create the Gullah-Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor, which
failed to pass for a long time. All of a sudden the break came, and I was
ready to pounce, as soon as I saw that opening. It’s now law. And it turned
out to be one of the most popular things I’ve ever done. Often it depends on
your not being hung up on getting the credit, since the best way to get
legislation that you’ve proposed passed sometimes is to let another
Congressman put his or her name on the bill.
So, I think stick-to-itiveness and a little humility can go a long way.
KW: So, an ability to compromise is important, right?
JC: Absolutely! That means stepping back and getting the ego out of the way
in order to accomplish what you want to get done.
KW: Grace also says: While you have a commendable voting record, you support
nuclear power concluding that wind and solar power are too expensive. How do
you respond to the legitimate fears of nuclear accidents, such as happened
in Russia and Japan, and of acts of terrorism, as well as concerns about the
safety and adequacy of the storage of highly radioactive spent fuel?
JC: Well, I’m very concerned about the storage of nuclear waste, but I’m not
worried about it. That’s one of the reasons why I’m so supportive of what
we’re doing down at the Savannah River Plant. I think the technology’s
there. All we need is the funding to turn the waste into additional energy.
And I’m a big supporter of research. My wife, Emily, has had five bypass
surgeries. She’s alive today because of nuclear medicine. You ought not be
afraid of nuclear, but respectful of it. Yes, it has dangers, but it also
has benefits. If not for nuclear, much of the medicine that’s saving lives
today would not be in existence.
KW: Publisher John Zippert says: There are many Black farmers who were still
left out of the Pigford/USDA lawsuit settlement. Do you see Congress acting
again to complete the process and make sure everyone who is eligible
receives the settlement?
JC: Well, I’m satisfied that we’ve done all that’s going to be done on that
issue. That’s not to say that everyone who should’ve gotten in on the
settlement got in on it. Remember, we’ve done not just one Pigford, but
Pigford II because a lot of people, through no fault of their own, were left
out. That’s why we went back and did Pigford II. I suspect that some people
might still have been left out, but I’ve been working very closely with the
advocates, John Boyd [Founder of the National Black Farmers Association] and
others who seem to be satisfied that we have done as well as we can do on
that issue.
KW: Mr. Zippert also says that less money was appropriated under the Farm
Bill for the Section 2501 Outreach Program for minority farmers in Fiscal
Year 2014 than previously when "veteran" farmers, a whole new category was
added to the program.
JC: I think what he’s asking for is outreach to make sure that farmers who
qualified did get contacted. Sure, there probably was less money this year
than in the first round. But these are the sort of programs you phase out.
You just don’t set aside the same amount of money as you did for 5,000
people, if there are only 2,000 left to be searched for. These moneys do get
phased out, and they will eventually be phased out altogether.
KW: What do you think about Attorney General Eric Holder’s recent statement
that he believes there is a racial animus behind much of the criticism of
him and President Obama?
JC: I was glad to see him finally getting there. I’ve felt that way a long
time. I’ve even said it publicly and been chastised for it, but I’ll say it
again, a lot of it is racial animus. I ask anyone who disagrees with me to
just read some of the hate mail that comes into my office. Or listen to some
of the phone calls. I’ve had college student interns working for me who
arrived bright-eyed and bushy-tailed hang up the phone crying after taking
calls because people are so racist and cruel. So, don’t tell me that it’s
got nothing to do with race. With some people, it’s got everything to do
with race.
KW: What do you think of the Republicans suing President Obama?
JC: I think they’re playing to their base. These guys know full well that
even if the lawsuit had any merit, which I don’t think it does, he’d be out
of office before it worked its way through the courts. But this is their way
of sending a signal to their base. There are a lot of people who have
endorsed the narrative that there are certain things people of color aren’t
supposed to be doing, and one of those things is running the United States
of America as President. These are people who are going to work hard all
day, every day, trying to make factual this narrative that there are certain
areas of our society and of our economy that ought to be shut off from
people of color.
KW: Since you’re from South Carolina, I need to ask you about the 2010
Democratic primary for the U’S. Senate when this unknown black man named
Alvin Greene, ostensibly a Republican plant, miraculously won the nomination
by a landslide over a credible candidate. I suspected computer tampering.
What did you think?
JC: I always felt that, too.
KW: Is there any question no one ever asks you, that you wish someone would?
JC: [Laughs] I can’t think of one, but that’s a good question.
KW: What is your favorite dish to cook?
JC: Grits.
KW: The Ling-Ju Yen question: What is your earliest childhood memory?
JC: Kindergarten.
KW: When you look in the mirror, what do you see?
JC: A 74 year-old who is not disappointed with his life.
KW: How frightening was it for you to be arrested and even convicted, when
you were a college student activist, just for trying to integrate a lunch
counter?
JC: Those were very trying times with a great deal of apprehension, although
I don’t think we ever operated out of fear. We knew that segregation was
unfair, and that we were going to challenge it, and that’s just what we did.
KW: Well, I salute you for service in the Civil Rights Movement, because you
could’ve very easily been beaten, blacklisted, imprisoned or even slain.
JC: Thank you. And some people were martyred, and some, like Congressman
John Lewis, did get hurt. But we never thought about those things.
KW: The Jamie Foxx question: If you only had 24 hours to live, how would you
spend the time?
JC: Reading and in contemplation.
KW: The bookworm
Troy
Johnson question: What was the last book you read?
JC:
The Warmth of Other Suns was the last one I read cover-to-cover. That
was a great book.
KW: Harriet Pakula-Teweles says: Let's say you’re throwing your dream dinner
party—who’s invited… and what would you serve?
JC: I would love to sit at a table with Abraham Lincoln, Harry Truman,
Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Warren Buffett and Matthew Perry, the
great civil rights attorney and judge mentioned in my book quite a bit.
KW: The Anthony Anderson question: If you could have a superpower, which one
would you choose?
JC: Omniscience.
KW: The Judyth Piazza question: What key quality do you believe all
successful people share?
JC: Perseverance.
KW: What advice do you have for anyone who wants to follow in your
footsteps?
JC: Like I said before, get yourself prepared, educationally and
emotionally, and develop mental toughness. Don’t ever give up.
KW: Lastly, what does family mean to you?
JC: Oh, it means a whole lot. Not a day goes by when I don’t communicate
with one or all of my daughters. My wife and I already exchanged several
emails today. And I spoke to my brother John on the phone this morning, and
to my brother Charles last night. We are a pretty closely-knit family.
KW: Thanks again for this opportunity, Congressman Clyburn, I really
appreciate your taking time from your extremely busy schedule to speak with
me.
JC: Thank you, Kam. I think it’s important for me to communicate with the
public at-large, even on those occasions when I know it’s not going to be
pleasant.
Related Links
Blessed Experiences: Genuinely Southern, Proudly Black - Book Review
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