March 26, 1968
by Janine Stephenson
There was a ton of murmuring today about The Senator and racism. Not that The Senator is racist, but that he’s not doing enough to reach out to people who live in poverty. I heard about this problem before, but I didn’t think it was a big issue. I thought that maybe The Senator needed to put out a position paper on it, or maybe he needed to go to the ghettos and speak with people.
He isn’t making campaign stops in the right places. That’s what everyone is saying. They think that this doesn’t have to be a big problem because he just needs to change his schedule.
But then some people think that it’s a HUGE problem because it’s a blind spot in his campaign. Why should we have to force the issues of poverty and civil rights on him? He should be on the side of black people already, and not just because it’s a campaign year.
Craig and Becca think that The Senator fall short in this area, but that he just needs refocusing.
I disagree. I think there’s a flaw in his thinking. Position papers aren’t going to stop poverty and segregation. We shouldn’t have to force him to pay attention to civil rights.
I told Becca and Craig how I felt. They were steamed. “Well, why don’t you go work for Bobby then?”
I don’t want to do that, but how are we going to get The Senator to change his priorities?
