Statement by Robert L. Woodson, Sr.

President, National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise

Hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the

Confirmation of Senator John Ashcroft to be U.S. Attorney General

January 18, 2001

I am here to vigorously support the nomination of Senator John Ashcroft for U.S. Attorney General, and to explain to you the reasons why more than 150 leaders of faith-based organizations across the country came here Tuesday at their own expense to show their support for Senator Ashcroft. Most of these leaders, for the record, are minority and low-income.

There is clear evidence that the most critical problems of our society are not caused by poverty or racism, and that they cannot be alleviated by remedies that assume these causes. General trends among young people in our nation's suburban communities--rising rates of gang activity, youth crime, and adolescent substance abuse, make this very clear.

We are facing a nationwide crisis--a spiritual and moral freefall--which has brought fear and uncertainty throughout America. Fifty-three percent of respondents in a recent USA today/CNN/Gallup poll said that the nation's moral problems concerned them more than economic problems, while 39 percent rated the state of moral values in our nation as "very weak."

The good news is that solutions to this crisis do exist. However, if we are to forge an effective strategy of moral and spiritual revitalization, we must move the focus of the debate beyond racial and economic considerations. To develop solutions for the crises we now face, we must go beyond the level of education, jobs, housing, or racial reconciliation. These strategies will never be able to address the root of a crisis that is essentially spiritual and moral. If we are to identify effective remedies, we must be willing to look to a new source for solutions.

Over the past 20 years, the National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise has worked with grassroots, faith-based organizations within the nation's inner cities that have transformed the homeless into homeowners, hopeless addicts into productive citizens, and violent youth predators into peacekeepers. Through the power of God they have worked these miracles without tv control, gun control, but through self-control. Some examples of these God-centered transformation stations are as follows:

Teen Challenge, with more than 150 chapters in the U.S. and abroad; Victory Fellowship, with 65 chapters in the U.S. and Latin America; and Youth Challenge, with some 50 locations in the U.S. and internationally, are faith-based substance abuse programs with very successful track records in freeing drug and alcoholic addicts from their addictions. Victory Fellowship, for instance, founded in San Antonio almost 30 years ago by Pastor Freddie Garcia, has a success rate of more than 70% of those that complete its program. Victory finds its success in the rehabilitation of heroin and other severe addicts through a program that is composed of Bible study, prayer, chapel, one-on-one counseling--mostly by others who have conquered their own addiction--and visiting former haunts to evangelize old friends and drug colleagues as well as to let them know of the success of the program. The program leads addicts through three attitudinal changes: Regeneration, Responsibility, and Reconciliation. Without these critical phases, Pastor Garcia says, the program would have the same results as those of secular programs. The program normally takes 18 months, during which time the individual changes from being a "taker" to a "giver."

Despite this success, faith-based programs are continually under assault by the professional poverty industry. In fact, several states have tried to shut down these organizations with the charge that they do not have trained professionals as counselors, and therefore do not meet the states requirement. To focus attention on this issue, in 1995 the National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise led a demonstration in Texas against the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse (TCADA), which was trying to close down a very effective Teen Challenge chapter there. When the situation became known to then Governor Bush, he responded by initiating legislation to exempt faith-based substance abuse programs from regulations by the state.

We brought this issue to Senator Ashcroft, who has long been a champion of faith-based programs. He immediately responded and has worked tirelessly with us when there were no headlines to be made and no political capital to be gained. He fashioned the Charitable Choice provision in 1996, and it was passed overwhelmingly by the Congress in the Welfare Reform legislation. Many times he has traveled to different parts of the country at great inconvenience to himself, to address grassroots groups that are trying to solve the problems of their own neighborhoods. And he has persuaded many other members of both parties to do the same.

I would like to read from a letter Senator Ashcroft wrote for one of our publications about why he initiated the Charitable Choice legislation:

In the past, many successful faith-based organizations have not participated in government programs for fear of having to compromise their religious integrity or of being hobbled by excessive government regulation and intrusion. The confusing array of legal precedents has often led government officials to conclude mistakenly that constitutional law requires that faith-based organizations be excluded from the mix of private service providers, or that entities accepting government funds must forego their religious character.

One of my goals in proposing the Charitable Choice provision was to encourage faith-based organizations to expand their involvement in the welfare reform effort by providing assurances that their religious integrity would be protected. The Charitable Choice provision uses U.S. Supreme Court case precedents to clarify what is constitutionally permissible when states and local governments cooperate with the religious and charitable sector of society. The provision protects the rights of faith-based providers as well as the religious liberty of the individuals they may serve.

These are not the words of a zealot or a person who would place his personal opinions above the rule of law. These are the words of a man who is a servant of the law, and who has a deep concern for those in need.

That is why over 150 grassroots leaders pooled their resources to travel here this week, 50 of them riding in a bus for two days, with a return trip of two more days--just to come and demonstrate their support. Ninety-percent of those who came are transformed drug addicts, thieves, and prostitutes--people that society has given up on. But Senator Ashcroft, since he has been the in Senate, has worked tirelessly on their behalf.

Let me address the really outrageous accusations that Senator Ashcroft is a racist.

As a former civil rights advocate, who led demonstrations in the 60's, a person who has personally felt the sting of racism in the three years I served in the south , who went to jail three times, I can tell you that we should not permit false accusations of racism to trump character. Members of the press and public are quick to attack bigotry. But we should also reject bigotry coming from those who style themselves as defenders of justice, who use race as a spear against those with whom they disagree, and a shield against personal responsibility.

Senator Ashcroft is not a racist, and others who have testified have articulated his record in supporting minorities. While governor of Missouri, he appointed the first black federal judge. Three members of his cabinet were black. He fought to save Lincoln University and approved making Martin Luther King's birthday a legal holiday. He voted yes for 26 out of 28 blacks nominated by President Clinton for federal judgeships.

Some attack Senator John Ashcroft on the grounds that he will be "bad" for black issues, like affirmative action and abortion. But it is a fallacious assumption that blacks are monolithic in their opinions. Seldom is it reported that 47% of blacks oppose race-based affirmative action. Seventy-four percent of those with school-age children favor school choice. A large percentage of blacks oppose abortion. And many do favor the death penalty. The most important thing to say, however, is that he is a man of integrity who will uphold the law.

His Charitable Choice legislation alone may do more to help blacks solve the real problems in their own communities than anything else government has done.

The most important thing in this day and age is to have leaders who are morally and spiritually sound, especially in public offices like the Attorney General. In this post-civil rights era, we need moral and spiritual leadership as never before. And John Ashcroft passes the test.