Issue Position: Personal Moral Code and Political Agenda

Issue Position

Q: What is your personal moral code, and how does it drive your political agenda?

A: I have been an ordained Methodist Minister for over 36 years. My faith guides my actions and is my strength. I was born in a two-room wooden shack in segregated Waxahachie, Texas. We were poor. A picture of that shack where my three sisters and I grew up hangs on the wall of my office in Washington, D.C. as a constant reminder of where I am from.

My mother's love of politics and community and my father's devotion to his family are part of who I am. I have served in leadership positions during difficult and prosperous times. I have a great and abiding faith in people.

I was sent to Kansas City after the riots of 1968. The SCLC knew that racial tensions were high and that the waters needed attention. My job was to bring people together in turbulent and tumultuous times. It was a job I have some skill at doing. It is a job I have been doing ever since.

There is much work to be done, but it is work I have done before. It is work we all have done before. I believe in the good in people. Like many of my generation, my guiding political principle was born in the struggle for civil rights. We proved then, and I still believe to this day, that no obstacle is too difficult for committed people of good faith to overcome. I grew up in a two-room wooden shack with a tin roof. No one can tell me better and brighter days are not ahead.

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