Gentleman Jim Clyburn (INTERVIEW)
Congressman James Clyburn
The “Blessed Experiences” Interview
with Kam Williams
Gentleman Jim Clyburn
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.
To order a copy of Blessed Experiences, visit:
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