Little Rock And Huckabee

Essentially, it's not just a skin problem, it's a sin problem. Because we in Arkansas have wandered around in ambiguity, all kinds of explanations and justifications. And I think today we come to say once and for all that what happened here 40 years ago was simply wrong. It was evil, and we renounce it. What the people did who tried to hold those nine from entering the doors of this high school may be forgivable, but it is not excusable. I remember those photos, and they will always haunt me as I look back and see the faces of those teenagers--the same age as my own children--and realize those teenagers were simply reflecting the values and the teachings they got at home. And what is really tragic that we today come to renounce is the fact that in many parts of the South it was the white churches that helped not only ignore the problems of racism, but in many cases actually fostered those feelings and sentiments. And today, we call upon every church, every pulpit, every synagogue, every mosque in every part of Arkansas and the rest of the world to say never, never, never, never again will we be silent when people's rights are at stake.