Sen. Bob Bennett apologized privately to the NAACP for offensive racial comments the senator made to an Ogden newspaper. Now, the NAACP wants a public apology.
"The senator did offer an apology, and it was accepted," said Edward L. Lewis Jr., president of the NAACP Tri-State Conference."But there needs to be a public apology," he added.
Apparently, Bennett's price included a lecture by Lewis and Jeanetta Williams, president of the Salt Lake chapter of the NAACP, about the persistence of racism in American society.
"I do not believe the senator is a racist," Williams said Monday during a press conference after the private meeting. "I do feel he made inappropriate remarks."
Those remarks, made to an editorial board meeting at the Standard-Examiner, included the statement "Unless George W. (Bush) steps in front of a bus or some woman comes forward, let's say some black woman comes forward with an illegitimate child that he fathered within the last 18 months, or some other scenario that you could be equally creative in thinking of, George W. Bush will be the nominee."
Lewis said only Bennett, R-Utah, "can give an explanation of what was in his mind" when he made that statement.
Bennett called the meeting "constructive," and he pledged to work more closely with the civil rights group to understand its issues and work toward reconciliation of racial problems. He also apologized for the statement.
"When I make a mistake, it's a beaut," he said.
Lewis said the political firestorm that has engulfed the senator could be remedied by proactive support of civil rights legislation currently before Congress that is supported by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the nation's largest civil rights organization.
Among the bills, Williams called on Bennett to support an increase in the minimum wage, to address the disproportionate number of ethnic minority children in the juvenile court system and to co-sponsor the Hate Crimes Prevention Act that would expand federal jurisdiction over crimes motivated because of a victim's race, religion, national origin, gender, disability or sexual preference.
The NAACP also wants Bennett to support a bill creating a commission to study slavery and make recommendations as to reparations for the "fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality and inhumanity of slavery in the United States and the 13 colonies between 1619 and 1865," Williams said.
Bennett said most of those issues are economic ones where he cannot support the political philosophy behind them. For example, the minimum wage increase would price more teenagers, including minorities, out of the marketplace, he said.
"I believe my civil rights record is a good one," Bennett said, noting he worked on his father's Senate staff to support the 1964 Civil Rights Act when the experts predicted such support would be political suicide.
"I told them I will vote for what is right, and if there is a straight civil rights issue of that kind (Civil Rights Act), then I am with them," Bennett said.
Lewis and Williams have a different opinion on Bennett's civil rights record, referring to Bennett's voting record as "hostile." Bennett has consistently scored an F on civil rights report cards compiled by the NAACP, as has Sen. Orrin Hatch, Utah's other Republican senator.
Williams was critical of Bennett for failing to vote when it came to awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to civil rights activist Rosa Parks.
"I cannot change Sen. Bennett; the NAACP cannot change him," Lewis said. "Only Sen. Bennett can recognize first, if he needs to change and to take the appropriate steps to being the healing process. Senator, the healing process begins here, today with you and with me and with all the people of Utah."
Bennett noted that he has always had a good relationship with the NAACP, and on one occasion received an award from the group. "They've always considered me to be a friend," he said.
Bennett believes his statements to the press Tuesday constitute the public apology sought by the NAACP.