Americans must communicate more effectively with one another in order to overcome such problems as racism and bigotry, Attorney General Janet Reno told an Anti-Defamation League gathering here this week.
Reno said she was “as opposed as I can be, with every fiber, every bone in my body, to hate and to bigotry.”
But, she said, she recognizes “that much of what has occurred in America in terms of tension and conflict has occurred because people won’t communicate, because people won’t talk things out, because they jump to conclusions, because they make snap judgments.”
The former Dade County, Fla. state’s attorney has been making the rounds of various conventions and meetings here, and has won a reputation both in Washington and around the country of being refreshingly honest.
Reno is these days clearly one of the most popular members of a somewhat beleaguered administration.
As in others of her recent speeches, Reno delivered a plea Thursday for greater communication and expressed her own willingness to pick up her phone and talk to people.
“I want to talk with America,” the attorney general told ADL’s 80th anniversary national commission meeting. “I want to work these issues out. And when I can’t work them out against bigotry, I want to stand with you foursquare.”
Reno said she hopes to take a “principled and thoughtful” approach to her job.
“I think the Department of Justice has an ultimate responsibility to see that the Constitution is enforced as vigorously as possible, particularly in terms of making our citizens free from bigotry, discrimination and hate,” she told the audience.
A PLEA FROM BOSNIAN ENVOY
The attorney general, who is of Danish heritage, told of attending a 50th anniversary commemoration recently of the rescue of the Jews of Denmark.
As she next to an elderly man who had served in the Danish Resistance, Reno said, “it made me realize that every single person in this world can make a difference.”
Reno, who received two standing ovations, was one of several guest speakers addressing the ADL gathering.
On Wednesday night, representatives from about 40 countries gathered for a session titled “The World United Against Anti-Semitism.”
Muhamad Sacirbey, U.N. ambassador of Bosnia-Herzegovina, urged ADL to continue its work on behalf of the war-ravaged former Yugoslav republic, “not because of a persecuted minority, but because what is at stake are the principles of multiculturalism, pluralism, democracy, tolerance and secularism.”
“These are the principles that will be under attack throughout Europe in the next few years,” the ambassador continued.
Along with many other Jewish groups, ADL has been active in urging the United States to take a stronger stand to end atrocities being perpetrated mainly by Serbian forces against the Bosnian people.
Also Wednesday night, the ADL members heard from Edgar Bronfman, president of the World Jewish Congress, Israeli Ambassador Itamar Rabinovich and Andrei Kolosovkiy, Russian deputy chief of mission in Washington.
Senate Minority Leader Robert Dole (R-Kan.) and Labor Secretary Robert Reich were to give keynote addresses Thursday night.
Other topics scheduled to be discussed throughout the five-day conference included the influence of the religious right, Islamic fundamentalism and bigotry on campus.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
