On Feb. 20, 54 years after former Congressman William Clay graduated from Saint Louis University, his son, Lacy Clay, the current House Representative for St. Louis’ district, was in the halls of SLU to speak to students for Black History Month. The speech, co-sponsored by the Black Student Alliance and College Democrats, was titled “African Americans and Politics: The Past, the Present and the Future,” though it eventually led to his first formal, public announcement that, if presented with a bill to increase funding to Iraq, he would refuse to support it.
A St. Louis native himself, Lacy Clay was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2000, after serving 17 years in both chambers of Missouri’s legislature. He follows in the footsteps of his father, who was one of the founding fathers of the Congressional Black Caucus, a group within Congress that works to achieve equality, particularly for African-Americans, though it is also known to campaign for civil rights of all citizens.
Approximately 50 students attended the lecture, which lasted about 20 minutes. Clay opened his speech with an update on the current state of Washington, D.C., stating, “The new Democratic majority has achieved more in the last six weeks than Congress did in the last six years.”
The war in Iraq remained a central topic for the entire discussion, during which Clay insisted that President Bush’s current policy has failed. Though he emphasized his support for the troops, he was opposed to “escalating the tragedy” by sending more troops overseas, citing his belief that the war actually undermines their abilities and talents.
Bearing in mind that he was addressing a college-aged audience, Clay brought up a bill he was co-sponsoring that, if passed, would help lighten the burden of student loans on graduating college students. The proposed bill would cut interest rates on student loans almost in half, which Clay said he hoped would be a step toward keeping college affordable for all, and not only the upper class.
Toward the end of his speech, Clay called attention to the strides that African-Americans have taken in politics over the years, including the creation of the Congressional Black Caucus. As it stands, there are now an unprecedented 43 African-American members of Congress. Clay said, “A huge chapter of black history is unfolding before our eyes.”
Once the speech concluded, Clay opened the floor for students to ask questions, and faced issues ranging from the upcoming 2008 presidential election to Medicare. When asked if he was completely committed to deny the war funding, Clay officially announced that he would not support the requests for financial help from the president, explaining that we have “outlived our usefulness of being there.” Though Clay’s stance regarding Iraq has always been in opposition to the war, this is the first time he has publicly committed to actively attempting to challenge its efforts.
After the event concluded, junior Lauren Begley said, “[Clay] was very approachable and more than willing to answer everyone’s questions.” Though politicians are often stereotyped as untrustworthy and “phony,” Begley thought that Clay was almost brutally honest about the issues.
College Democrats President Marlena Jentz hoped that students would walk away from the speech with both “a better understanding of the development of African-Americans in politics and [a] broadened knowledge of current events and issues.” Jentz, who first contacted Clay’s office about the speech in November, chose Clay to deliver the speech because of his familiarity with local and national issues and his ability to speak about what it has been like to be an African-American in a predominately white Congress. Said Jentz, “It is?important to recognize that we have come a long way since Congressman Clay’s father was at SLU . but that?there is still work to be done.” Clay plans to continue his efforts in Congress upon his return to Washington, D.C., to put an eventual stop to the war.
