From Jepson Forum Stage Journalist and Observer Juan Williams Discusses Immigration, Assimilation, Racism, Sexism and American Life and Politics

                                      "Barack Obama is a living tonic. 
He is not invested in pointing fingers at whites.
He's not invested in the notion of blaming blacks.
He is invested in the idea that we have
to come together and
form a common identity."

WEBCAST

Juan Williams spoke at the Jepson Leadership Forum Oct. 4, 2007, following a week that included two brushes with controversy:  NPR's refusal of a White House bid for a Williams interview, and commentator Bill O'Reilly's comments on race in a Williams interview.  In his remarks, the National Public Radio correspondent suggested that the controversies were indicative not only of the nation's sharply polarized politics, but of a society beset by economic and demographic upheaval.

Among the demographic pressures on American society, said Williams, are the sheer numbers of Americans:  a population that recently topped the 300 million mark. While some of the growth can be attributed to increasing longevity, a large part is due to the more controversial phenomenon of immigration.  And unlike immigrants of old, who hailed from European countries and wanted only to assimilate, today's immigrants tend to identify with their native countries in Asia, Latin America and Africa, and to consider their American affiliation temporary.

"They don't necessarily feel any compulsion to become assimilated," said Williams.  "They come here...speaking their native tongue, insisting that they are part of a global economy."

The lack of emphasis on assimilation causes resentment, said Williams, among Americans "who go to the 7-11, and there's no one there who speaks English; or they get caught up in phone hell...and someone says press one to speak English."  Frustrated callers are inclined to respond, "What's going on here?  Why do I have to press one to speak English in the United States?"  As a result, said Williams, demographers no longer speak of the great American melting pot; the old metaphor has been replaced with that of the great American salad bowl.  "In the salad bowl, the lettuce, the carrot, the tomato, the onion, all retain their distinct identity."

But while the wave of immigrants continues to fuel resentment, shifts in attitudes have also opened doors for candidates such as Barack Obama, the U.S. senator with a Kenyan father and a childhood spent partly in Indonesia. 

 "Americans would never have embraced such a character a generation ago," said Williams. "But to young people who are tired of the old conversations, Barack Obama is a living tonic.  He is not invested in pointing fingers at whites. He's not invested in the notion of blaming blacks. He is invested in the idea that we have to come together and form a common identity."

It's the older black leadership, said Williams, that is skeptical of Obama. Old-line black politicians are accustomed to what Williams described as a quasi-patronage form of politics. They want elected officials they are comfortable calling. To these politicians, Obama is "a whippersnapper who has not earned his stripes....He did not march with Dr. King."

Yet the younger demographic is growing in clout, said Williams, citing the 25 percent of Americans under the age of 18.  And the youth of today are increasingly diverse in ways that go beyond racial and ethnic heritage.

Recounting a visit to a high school in Minnesota, Williams said he spoke to a counselor there who attended the school in 1960 and sent her children there in the 1980s. Asked the biggest difference between 1960 and 2000, the woman told Williams it should have been obvious in his meetings with the school's student leaders, athletes, and academic achievers.  In 1960, those groups were dominated by young men; today, females make up eight out of 10 high achievers and seven out of 10 student leaders. 

Williams asserted that this shift reflects not only the younger generation's willingness to invest power in women, but also the fact that women are more eager to exercise their power. In the Nation's Capital, he said, he is already seeing the beginnings of that trend.

 "I've been in Washington 30 years," he said. "When I go up to Capitol Hill, I'm used to speaking with a Dan Rostenkowski or a Tip O'Neill -- kind of old, large male bull characters, right?  I go up to Capitol Hill now and say hello to the speaker, and I'm saying hello to Nancy Pelosi.  A grandmother!"

On the flip side of the growing under-18 demographic is its complement, represented by the quarter of the population over the age of 65.  At a senior citizen center in Orlando, Florida, where Williams traveled to investigate the "graying of America" phenomenon, he was surprised to find that the blaring heavy metal music he had complained about was coming from the center's courtyard.  "There was a group of people up there," he said with a laugh, "rocking and rolling, well over the age of 75."

Citing current top acts and albums that feature senior citizens Tina Turner, Prince, Mick Jagger, and Bob Dylan, Williams added that the over-65 cohort is flexing its muscles on the political scene as well.  Increasingly, politically active seniors will be setting legislative priorities, emphasizing everything from the viability of Social Security to prescription drug costs and Medicare reform. What's more, Williams said, the AARP has established a 2011 Council -- named for the year in which the first of the baby boomers hits age 65.  "After that it's just like Niagara Falls, there will be so many people going over." 

The downside of that trend, he remarked, was pointed out by a mayor he visited on his Florida trip.  The mayor told Williams that seniors are loath to support public schools, mass transit and highway projects, or economic development. "They in fact wish," Williams quoted the mayor, "that there was no one else coming to Florida. They wish after they moved to Florida, the door had closed." 

As a result, Williams speculated, the racial and class tensions of the past may well be giving way to generational tensions in the years to come. 

Meanwhile, another pressure troubling the electorate is the changing economy, which has seen a rapid shift from agricultural and industrial to service-based, high tech and now the biotech society. \

"It's to the point where I can't even make sense of it," Williams said. "They're mapping the human genome, they've got cloning, they've got stem cell research, stem cell therapies, they've got pills. They've got pills that will grow hair on your head...that will lower your cholesterol."

The downside of the biotech era, he emphasized, is that "we have a society where the will to work and a strong back will no longer allow you to support a family."  Such an economy demands both education and flexibility, as evidenced by statistics that the average American shifts jobs eight to 10 times in a career.

It's partly for this reason, said Williams, that Americans are reporting in record numbers that the country is headed in the wrong direction, and that they feel more economic anxiety and tension in their everyday lives.  It's for this reason that John Edwards' "Two Americas" speech, about the increasingly sharp divide between the haves and have-nots, continues to resonate.  And it's for this reason that candidates such as Hillary Clinton have put health care at the top of their agenda, "to try and take some of that stinging anxiety away."

Williams said that every major candidate has a segment of the campaign dedicated to white suburban women, who -- as with the soccer moms of 1996 and the security moms of 2004 -- are expected to play a key role in the next election.

"But guess what they're called now?" he said. "Mortgage moms." That focus reflects the high level of anxiety among even middle class Americans over job security, health care and education costs.

"I'm not talking about the American poor, I'm not talking about the American working class, I'm talking about the American middle class," said Williams. "There's so much tension, so much pressure, so much demand for change, so much demand for fresh attitudes and fresh ideas.

"And of course that's the calling card," he added, "of one Barack Obama."

The fight over Obama pits older black leadership against younger voters, and reflects the larger intergenerational fight taking place over whose voice will define the debate, said Williams.  He concluded by urging listeners to observe the presidential campaign process and "to be aware that you're not simply watching a horse race or looking for winners and losers, but looking for those whose voice comes to dominate."  Candidates who end up bowing out in 2008, he stressed, may find their voices in 2012 and 2016.

"This may not be Barack Obama's time," Williams summed up. "But Obama's time is coming. It's inexorable. It can't be stopped. It's a reality."    

Video of program (Streaming video, requires RealPlayer)
Biography of Juan Williams
About the Speaker Series
About the Jepson School of Leadership Studies

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