Gregory Freeman: Barbara Jordan: Confidence, Conviction Personified, P-D 1/19/1996

Headline: BARBARA JORDAN: CONFIDENCE, CONVICTION PERSONIFIED
Reporter: By Gregory Freeman

Publication: ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Last Printed: Fri., Jan. 19, 1996
Section: WAR PAGE, Page: 5B, FIVE STAR LIFT

BARBARA JORDAN knew who she was.
    While some politicians move back and forth across the political spectrum depending on the direction and velocity of the wind, Barbara Jordan planted her feet firmly in the sand of the Democratic Party. And eventually, she became the party's conscience. For Jordan, the Democratic Party stood for the principle of helping the little person. It was the party that allowed her to achieve numerous firsts:
   In 1966 she became the first black elected to the Texas Legislature since 1883 and became the first black woman elected to that state's legislature.
   In 1972, she became the first black woman elected to Congress from the South.

In 1976, she became the first woman and the first black to be the keynote speaker at a Democratic National Convention. It was there that she stirred a nation with her fiery words.
   "There is something different and special about this opening night, " she began. "I, Barbara Jordan, am a keynote speaker.
   "In the intervening years since 1832 (the first Democratic convention), it would have been most unusual for any national political party to have asked a Barbara Jordan to make a keynote address - most unusual. But tonight here I am.
   "The past notwithstanding, a Barbara Jordan is before you tonight.
   "This is one additional bit of evidence that the American dream need not forever be deferred."
There was a roar from the crowd.

She urged Americans to realize the dangers of the country fighting within itself.
"Are we to be one people bound together by a common spirit, sharing in a common endeavor or will we become a divided nation: region vs. region; city vs. suburb; interest group against interest group; and neighbor against neighbor?" she asked.

Jordan burst onto the national scene during the Watergate hearings in the 1970s as a member of the House Judiciary Committee. As the committee considered impeachment proceedings against President Richard M. Nixon, she uttered these words:
"My faith in the Constitution is whole, it is complete, it is total, and I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction of the Constitution."

Although she left Congress in 1979 after developing multiple sclerosis, she remained devoted to her party and often served as a spokeswoman for the powerless.

President Bill Clinton appointed Jordan chair of the Commission on Immigration Reform in 1993. Civil rights advocates sharply criticized some of the commission's proposals, but Jordan dug in her heels and eventually won support from the White House and Democratic and Republican legislators.
   Last December she gave a passionate speech to members of Congress, urging them to preserve the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, which gives citizenship to every person born in the United States.
   "Caution, " she warned. "There are nations in the world that have tried this, and we are not like them. We are not a nation that is permanently divided into `us' and `them.' . . . I believe that treating us all alike is the appropriate way to attack illegal immigration.
   "To deny birthright citizenship would derail this engine of American liberty. . . . Do not let debate on birthright citizenship distract you from the urgent business of controlling illegal immigration, which is essential to the credibility of our commitment to the national interest in legal immigration."

I met Jordan four years ago, at the 1992 Conference on Freedom in Memphis. Jordan received an award there, as did South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
While she was no longer able to stand, her mind - and her words - were as sharp as ever. She implored Democrats not to "nickel-and-dime Bill Clinton to death." Clinton, the party's nominee, was being criticized by some for not being liberal enough. She argued her belief that he had the public's interest at heart, adding that that was more important than his ideology.
Even from her wheelchair, Jordan was impressive because of the conviction that rang out in her voice.

That voice has been silenced now, but we can hope that the messages that Jordan delivered over her career will be taken to heart by the American people.
Barbara Jordan - the woman who knew who she was and who knew what America strived to be - was an example of the American dream who spent her lifetime trying to share that dream with others.

Daniel Schesch - Webweaver

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