Romney: Education, jobs are today's civil rights issues

By Michael Levenson
Globe Staff

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- To mark the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday today,
Mitt Romney delivered a tribute at a petroleum company and then shook hands
with African-American families at an MLK-day parade.

King “showed in many respects how to bring down some of the barriers to
fulfill the promise of the Declaration of Independence,“ Romney told 70
employees of Gate Petroleum this morning. “And that was not fulfilled in
this country for a long, long time. And in some places today, it is still
yet to be fulfilled.”

He praised the slain civil rights leader as someone who “showed again what
one person can do.”

“Sometimes you think problems are huge and they’re beyond the scope of
anyone’s ability to deal with them, but an individual of passion and
courage and faith and character can help change an entire nation, as he
did,“ Romney said.

He then went into his stump speech. “So I wish to begin by paying my
respects to his great memory and accomplishment. My areas of accomplishment
are not like his, not on that level, and yet I took a very different course
in my life than most people who are in office. I spent my life in the
private sector…”

At the parade, he shook hands and posed for photos as a marching band
played “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” an African-American anthem written at
the turn of the 19th century by Jacksonville native James Weldon Johnson.

“Who let the dogs out? Who? Who?” Romney said, singing the chorus of a
popular song while posing with children. Admiring a child’s gold necklace,
he said, “You’ve got some bling-bling, too.” And meeting some high school
students in the Navy JROTC, he said he was heartened to see such patriotism
in America’s youth.

Romney made no formal remarks to the crowds. But asked by a reporter what
he would do to help those who face racial barriers, he listed several items.

"One is to make sure our schools are able to prepare kids for the jobs of
tomorrow," Romney said. "I think that’s the great civil rights issue of our
time, is making sure our inner-city schools are up to the task. And I think
they fail way too many of our kids. We should also teach kids that they
should get married before they have babies, and encourage the formation of
families. It’s an enormous advantage for kids to have the blessing of a
two-parent home. I think Bill Cosby was speaking about that with some
courage. And of course one of the best things you can to do help people is
to get them health care. We fought to get every citizen in our state health
care."

Then he climbed back on to his Winnebago to embark on a cross-state
campaign tour.