Sen. Edward Kennedy died Aug. 25 at the age of 77 after losing his battle with brain cancer.
The youngest of his eight brothers and sisters, including President John Kennedy and Sen. Robert Kennedy, Edward Kennedy lived his early years in the shadow of his accomplished siblings. After the assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy, however, Edward Kennedy went on to serve 46 years in the Senate. That's a longer term than all but two senators ever finished.
During his lengthy and sometimes scandalous political career, Ted Kennedy made significant contributions to civil rights and, in turn, race relations. In 1968, he fought for the renewals of the Voting Rights Act and the Fair Housing Law. Fourteen years later, he helped to prevent the Reagan administration from weakening the Voting Rights Act. According to the New York Times, Ted Kennedy was known to refer to civil rights as "still the unfinished business of America."
But Kennedy's concern about civil rights and race relations expanded beyond the United States. The New York Times reports that he led the Congressional effort to impose sanctions on South Africa over apartheid and denounced the Vietnam War. Kennedy also made a world-wide impact by backing Barack Obama for president in 2008. He reportedly viewed Obama as someone who could heal the nation's wounds related to race.
"He will be a president who refuses to be trapped in the patterns of the past," the Times quoted Kennedy saying at a 2008 Obama rally. "He is a leader who sees the world clearly, without being cynical. He is a fighter who cares passionately about the causes he believes in without demonizing those who hold a different view."
Ted Kennedy also managed not to demonize those with different viewpoints, working with Sen. John McCain on immigration legislation and Sen. Bob Dole on voting rights legislation.
Although beset by personal tragedy and scandal, some of his own making, Ted Kennedy is an American hero. Born into an aristocratic family with white skin and political clout, Kennedy didn't have to push legislation that would make America a more egalitarian nation, but he did. Let him be a reminder to those who declare they want their "America back," an America in which "blacks...would sit at segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down citizens' doors in midnight raids, and...writers and artists could be censored at the whim of government," Kennedy said when objecting to the nomination of Robert Bork to the Supreme Court in 1987.
In today's hate-filled political climate, it would be wonderful if more Americans would follow in Kennedy's footsteps and work to create opportunities for the disadvantaged rather than dream of an America in which whole swaths of humanity had few to no rights.
Comments
This is a great article. I particulary like the following, “Born into an aristocratic family with white skin and political clout, Kennedy didn’t have to push legislation that would make America a more egalitarian nation, but he did,”
Perhaps this will be a reminder to us to help others, even when we don’t have to.
What is his true Civil Rights record when it comes to Afro-American people. I am so tired of this false lifting up of people for something that in all reality they did not do. So, can someone tell me exactly what it was he did. remember yes he back Obama, but many whitie people backed Obama. also remember, his backing of Obama, did nothing for Obama in the Senetor’s state.
Thanks, Kindra. Frederick, my post outlines what he did for blacks: “Ted Kennedy made significant contributions to civil rights and, in turn, race relations. In 1968, he fought for the renewals of the Voting Rights Act and the Fair Housing Law. Fourteen years later, he helped to prevent the Reagan administration from weakening the Voting Rights Act.” These acts were created with disenfranchised blacks in mind.
And I think it is important that he backed Obama considering the Clintons had ties to the Kennedy family, so he had to burn a bridge in a sense to support Obama. Also, I didn’t mention some of the more class-based work he did which had an impact on blacks, such as establishing programs that allowed the poor to have government-based food assistance and health care.
And leading the fight for the U.S to impose sanctions on South Africa is noteworthy as well. Many black Americans, such as Barack Obama, were involved in anti-apartheid activism, so by fighting to impose sanctions, Ted Kennedy supported black Americans and Africans, alike.
America has lost a great leader. The mention of Ted Kennedy’s name has only one blur on it and that is the accident at the Island. I think after all these years of fighting on the behalf of those people who are less fortunate that one blemish should be forgotten and forgiven. He will be greatly missed by all Americans.
It seems to me that the primary issue today is poverty, and this goes beyond race. Socio-economic perceptions worsen the problem, as we focus on blaming individuals, rather than the changes in “how things work” in America.
Most of America’s poor are white/female, and much of our poverty is the result of conditions rather than such things as “personal responsibility.” Hundreds of thousands of family-supporting jobs drain out of the country annually while we have shredded the social safety net, etc.
The marriage between corporations and government has kept the US economy on a downhill slide since the early ’80s, with no improvements likely without reversing the policies that created this situation (and there is no political will to do so). Your value as a citizen is determined not by race, but by income.
One thing is true: Race is a powerful tool for keeping people divided, preventing them from taking a strong stand against excessive corporate power (as we saw some countries do). As long as we emphasize race over economic issues, the status quo is safe. We’ll continue paying taxes to finance corp “tax relief,” bailouts, etc, and they’ll continue using that money for exorbitant CEO salaries and to move our jobs to foreign countries.