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Post Magazine
This Week:
Pride and Prejudice
Hosted by Dale Russakoff
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, Sept. 10, 2001; 1 p.m. EDT

While others marched for civil rights in Birmingham, Ala., in the '60s, Condoleezza Rice's black middle-class family taught her to make her own freedom. It's a philosophy that she has brought to the Bush White House.

Dale Russakoff, whose article "Lessons of Might and Right" appeared in Sunday's Washington Post Magazine, was online Monday, Sept. 10 at 1 p.m. EDT, to field questions and comments about the article and about the forces that shaped Rice, America's first black female national security adviser.

Russakoff, a Washington Post staff writer, grew up across town, and a world away, from Rice in Birmingham in the 1960s..

A transcript follows.

Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.

Dale Russakoff: Hello everyone and thanks for your interest. There are lots of questions already, so I’ll get started.

Washington, D.C.: Hello Ms. Russakoff. Kudos on a well written piece. I was deeply disturbed I hope you can enlighten me -- perhaps I misunderstood what I read. As the article states, "While others marched for civil rights in Birmingham, Ala., in the '60s, Condoleezza Rice's black middle-class family taught her to make her own freedom. It's a philosophy that she has brought to the Bush White House." Ms. Rice seems to marginalize the success of the civil rights struggle, suggesting that the segregated system would have collapsed under its own weight irrespective of the federal government's intervention. (The feds would not have intervened if not for the civil rights struggle.) I am appalled at the glibness of her suggestion. While I agree one should never have any sacred cows, how can Ms. Rice dismiss the sacrifices and suffering of people who essentially paved the way for her to succeed in her career? If the civil rights struggle had not been going on parallel to her parent's own efforts to educate Ms. Rice, where would she be today? Is her downplaying of their achievements simply a form of guilt that she had it relatively (note: "relatively") easy?

Dale Russakoff: This is a tough question. Condi Rice’s views of Birmingham and the fall of segregation are so different from mine, and so different from those of most black people of her and her parents’ generation that there’s no easy explanation. I definitely got no sense that she feels guilt about her Birmingham experience. Quite the contrary, she seems very comfortable with her past and proud of her family’s choices. She doesn’t dismiss the achievements of the civil rights movement, but she definitely sees them as less pivotal than most of us—again, drawing on her own experiences, and her family’s. And she is very aware that she would not be where she is today without the Civil Rights Act. I, too, was struck by her view that whites had grown sick of segregation and that it was going to fall eventually, with or without the movement and the federal laws. This was not true of most whites I knew. But she’s right to point out that whites were willing to bend Jim Crow laws when they got in the way of doing business. That saleswoman in the first paragraph literally could have lost her job, and if Bull Connor had known about that happening on a regular basis, that store could have lost its permits to operate. Also, the Rices did observe the boycott of downtown stores that preceded the big marches and that helped weaken the resolve of the business community. Of course, the ultimate “pain in the neck” for Birmingham business leaders was the civil rights marches and the global attention they drew to the inhumanity of segregation. So yes, I think she has a view that’s at odds with history, but it fits her sense of her own history.

Bethesda, Md.: I thoroughly enjoyed the article on Condelezza Rice and her background. I admit: I knew little about her before the piece. I now have a greater respect for her, her abilities, and her success. However, one thing left me a little disturbed. I agree with her positions on race and how to overcome racism in all its forms. But I felt that some of her beliefs/attitudes smacked of classism -- something that is pretty un-American to me. Do you get that feeling? Am I alone in this?

Dale Russakoff: I think her views are very complicated, and deeply personal. I didn't want to label them so much as flesh them out in her words and through her experiences. You're not the only person who thinks that, based on other questions that are coming in, but there are readers who are writing that they admire her based on the same material.

Washington, D.C.: When you spoke with Ms. Rice did she give any indication what her long range plans are; where she might go next?

Excellent article. Thanks

Dale Russakoff: No, in fact she seems very comfortable focusing all her attention on the present, and letting the future take care of itself. However, she's quite open about wanting to be commissioner of the NFL one day!

Southern Georgia: I grew up in Thomasville, Ga. ( 40 miles north of Florida) and attended a Primitive Baptist Church. The conservative values such as Ms. Rice professes are a dime a dozen in the south in black communities and she knows it.

The problem with President Bush with blacks is the fact that some of the biggest, baddest most professional racists in our town had "George Bush for President" lawn signs in their yard. A black person would've been a fool to support anyone these jerks were supporting.

I'm very resentful of the way Ms. Rice, Colin Powell (and his son) promote their conservative political views as if they are unique -- "pink poodles" -- in the black communitty. It strikes me as pure self-promotion.

My husband and I consider ourselves conservatives. Yet, my husband votes Democratic -- straight ticket in every major election.

Lot of blacks are conservative in their personal life but vote Democratic. How can we vote otherwise as long as the GOP knows full well they depend of the "bigot vote" in the south just to survive... if you can't take my word for it. Ask any Congressman from the deep south or for that matter ask any congressman from a Plains State.

And the fact that neither Rice or Powell is willing to force "Mr. Compassion" to deal with this reality is all the more frustrating. Thank you.

Dale Russakoff: Obviously this isn't a question, and it doesn't require an answer, but I'm getting a number of reactions like this and want to post it for that reason.

Vienna, Va.: Dale,
I loved the piece on Rice. I'm a young 25-year-old and I was so inspired by your article.

Racism is racism. Whether or not you are privileged or working class, the first thing that bigots see is the color of your skin. Although many in the black community may be critical of Rice, she represents how ultimately a black woman can overcome racism. And for many minorities, the values that her family taught her are the same -- You got to be the best that you can be and better than someone in the majority. You have to try twice as hard, especially if you are a minority woman.

Dale Russakoff:
Again, not a question, so no answer required. But this theme is coming through, also, in your responses.

Rockville, Md.: Miss Rice seems to sound the theme of most black Republicans -- ignore discriminatory behavior, decline to participate in a change process to equal the playing field but reap the benefits when the changes occur. Do you think Miss Rice would have been selected for her position if not for race or gender?

Dale Russakoff: In a way, this is like saying would she have been selected if she had not been condi rice. Her race and her gender are part of who she is. So are: her intelligence, her political philosophy, her accomplishments, her relationships with the Bush family. . .

Rockville, Md.: Your excellent article confirmed my high opinion of Dr. Rice, even while I disagree with some of her points of view. It also emphasized that while what you see impacts what you are, who you are also impacts what you see. The Rice family's approach to the problems of the black southerner was to rise above them as individuals, not seeing the suffering of others; this resulted in a philosophy of individual responsibility. Others who saw their neighbors' distress came down more on the side of a role for the group and government.

Dale Russakoff: I don't think it's fair to say they didn't see the suffering of others. Her father's ardent commitment to education certainly was a response to the suffering of others (as well as to the promise of children like his daughter). But they did not experience the suffering as others experienced it, and I think it's fair to say that had something--though not everything--to do with the way they saw the problem and the way they tried to solve it.

Towson, Md.: In response to the reader who stated that Condoleezza Rice's comments smack of "classism," which is viewed as un-American. Whether we like to admit it, the United States is a very classist nation. Perhaps the problem lies in the fact that some people just cannot fathom the idea that middle-class blacks existed in the pre-civil rights period.

Frankly, I'm surprised that more of the questions haven't focused upon Dr. Rice's ability to succeed in a field that is largely thought to be beyond the reach of blacks, e.g. international affairs unless it deals specifically with Africa or the Caribbean. (And by the way, this is from the mouth of a fellow black female who is a Ph.D. candidate in Russian history and who has followed Dr. Rice's career since the early 1990s). Sadly enough, people like us are still considered oddities as we should be studying our "own" histories.

Dale Russakoff: Thank you for this comment. Kiron Skinner (quoted in the article), who happens to be a Democrat, would agree with you.

Vienna, Va.: From the article, you and the Rices had a moment with the snowman photos. When you look back, what feelings do you have when you compare your childhood with Condi's and growing up during the Civil Rights movement?

Dale Russakoff: Oh my gosh--I could write about this for hours. I have very very deep feelings about this, as do many of my friends. I think perhaps more than anything, we feel sad--sad that we were born into a world where human beings could be treated so cruelly, and that we didn't even begin to understand what was happening. To give a child-sized perspective: I didn't know as a child that Kiddieland was segregated by law. My world was always all white, wherever I went, so it never occurred to me to wonder, as a child, why there were no black children at Kiddieland. When I learned, in reporting this story, how painful it was for black children (with the exception of Condi!) to drive by Kiddieland and see children like me having the time of their lives, I wanted to cry. This is going to sound overly sugary, but when Freeman Hrabowski told me how he cried about Kiddieland, I was thinking: If all of us had been friends as kids, we never would've allowed THEM to segregate kiddieland. That would've been a level of cruely children wouldn't allow.

Chicago, Ill.: I liked your piece very much, but it seems to me that society and the media at large employ a double standard when analyzing black conservatives and black progressives. The backgrounds of black conservatives, such as Clarence Thomas and Condoleezza Rice, are dissected almost reverentially. When such conservatives use their background to explain their views (e.g. Ms. Rice's stance against gun control on the basis that it would have prevented her father and others from protecting their families during the civil rights movement), they are not challenged for playing the race card (a term I dislike) or for trying to make policy based on their individual experiences. I would be interested in your response to my view.

Dale Russakoff: I didn't want to challenge or elevate her. I just wanted to understand what she experienced in Birmingham and to what extent it shaped her views.

Chantilly, Va.: Dale: I am a student of the civil rights years and the relationship between blacks and whites in this country, so I found your article most interesting. Ms. Rice is clearly an extremely intelligent, thoughtful person, but some of the things she says about the South strike me as heading down toward the Ezola Foster end of the scale. That business about Republicans registering her father to vote? Thanks for explaining that her father was, in great part, being used by a petty bureaucrat.

Dale Russakoff: Thanks for your comment. I want to point out that Condi Rice herself is the one who told me this. Although her speech portrayed the Republicans as "giving" her father his vote, when I asked her for the full story, she didn't "spin" it

Arlington, Va.: This is more or less a comment than it is a question. As I read the piece yesterday, I grew more and more disgusted with Ms. Rice. Her constant reference to "being better at their culture than they were" sickens me for two reasons.

First of all, she is telling African Americans that knowing Mozart, taking dance lessons and etc... are all pleasures that are associated with being white. I myself am an only child of upper-middle class African American parents. I took dance lessons, piano lessons and graduated at the top of my class. However, I never once thought (or was ever told) that these were white things. These are just things that my parents could afford to let me do. It had nothing to do with being whiter than a white person. I was just a little girl with parents who were able to afford such types of extracurricular activities.

Secondly, Ms. Rice seems out of touch with reality. The fact that she decries the need for the Civil Rights Movement is abhorrent. Being from an upper middle class family is not an excuse for ignorance or blindness. I guess it's true, being "book smart" is not always synonymous with being truly intelligent.

Dale Russakoff: Again, no question, so no answer. But to clarify, Condi Rice didn't dismiss the importance of the civil rights movement. She does, however, put at least as much emphasis on individual self reliance.

Washington, D.C.: Wonderful, excellent piece Dale.

I am a Black female and if there is one phrase that my friends can equate with me, it is "Put a fist in the air." So, trust me, I am not clouded by some "President W-esque, I'm for the people mentality." HOWEVER, it must be understood that the idea that ALL Black people must think the same way about the many issues and consequences of racism is ridiculous. And to berate a Black person for their more conservative Republican views as opposed to some bleeding heart Democratic views is even more ridiculous. You cannot take everything at face value. For instance, my mother and I were dicussing the article this morning. She also lived in Birmingham and two of the four little girls in the bombing were her friends and her father, my grandfather, was the pastor of a church in Birmingham at the same time also. My grandfather did not allow my mother and uncles to be involved in the marches and such just as Condi Rice's father for a distinct reason: there was a strange recruiting strategy aimed at young children for many reasons and my grandfather did not want his children used as pawns, examples nor victims. Instead, he empowered his children and EVERY person in his sphere of influence. Now my mother did go on in college to participate in sit-ins and the like but there is more than ONE strategy in accomplishing a goal. The Civil Rights Movement did not "succeed" because of only one strategy. WE must come at the evil that is racism from ALL sides.
(Note: one does not "overcome" racism; one just disallows it to define her.)

Dale Russakoff: Thank you. What an eloquent statement.

Alexandria Virginia: Why does Ms Rice feel that she if she had children she would be unable to pass on some of the opportunities? With her super intellligence and keeping with family tradition, wouldn't her children be exposed to more?

Dale Russakoff: She said she DID want to pass on her opportunities, and if she'd had children, that would've been the most direct way to do so.

Washington, D.C.: I was wondering how you arranged with Ms. Rice to work on this story. Did you have to work through White House Press shop and get their approval or did you work directly? I thought it was interesting that the White House folks would approve of her supporting your work and working with you, as it would seem to get them off-message from their economy and reading focus. They haven't laid any groundwork for this article in the past few weeks and so it seems to be shifting focus away from their "message of the week." Do you concur?

Dale Russakoff: I wrote to her as soon as Bush named her national security adviser, and proposed the story. She agreed to do it, but made clear that I'd have to wait a long time to get access to her. In other words, the story was not a priority for her, and certainly not for the white house. It took months and months to get the interviews. She had to cancel a number of our appointments because of various world crises. I never dealt with the white house press office. My guess is that this was something that she, personally, decided to do.

Washington, D.C.: I was intrigued by the comment in your article (attributed, I believe, to Ms. Rice's cousin) that whites were comfortable with her because she had worked so hard to become fluent in "their" culture. Do you sense that Ms. Rice's self-view is that of a black existing in an "other" culture? I guess the larger questions is, do you think we may ever evolve to a point where blacks in this country come to think of themselves as just "people," "Americans" -- as have many immigrants? Thank you.

Dale Russakoff: I think Condi Rice thinks of herself as just "a person" and very definitely as an AMerican. But this doesn't exclude being conscious of race as a factor in many situations.

Alexandria, Va.: Your article was excellent. I was two years behind Condoleezza Rice at St. Mary's Academy High School in Denver. While her classmates may have known something of her background in Birmingham, I don't think it was generally known in our small school. Since her speech at the Republican National Convention, I've often wondered what it must have been like for her to move from Birmingham to Denver. During your interviews did Condi Rice reflect on the experience at all?

Dale Russakoff: Just a bit. She had been in Denver for several summers because her father was studying at UD for a graduate degree in personnel administration. So she'd been exposed to a world outside the segregated South before she moved there. One fascinating detail that didn't get into the article was that a (white) administrator at ST. Mary's told her, after she took a standardized test upon entering the mostly white school (at age 13--2 years younger than her classmates), that she didn't have the aptitude to go to college! She pointed out to me that no one ever told her that in a segregated school.

Washington, D.C.: Would it be a reasonable conclusion that Rice believes that in order to be "politically" successful, African American's must adopt an assimilationist perspective? Could you please elaborate on what her views may have been? Thanks.

Dale Russakoff: THis would not be her view.

Washington, D.C.: Re the person who said, "One does not "overcome" racism; one just disallows it to define her." If you are living in a society in which your oppressors define and then oppress you according to your race, you have little choice in the matter of how you are defined. You must overcome it before you have the luxury of deciding to let it define you or not.

Dale Russakoff: Thanks for helping me with the answers. I need it. So many great questions stil waiting.....

Virginia: What impact do you think Ms. Rice and other successful African American Republicans will have on African American Democrat voters? Do you see more African Americans joining the Republican party down the road?

Dale Russakoff: Good question. I think Bush and REpublicans in Congress will have more to do with African American voters' choices than will the visibility of Condoleezza Rice

Washington, D.C.: I guess sister gurl grew up in a Birmingham, Alabama that was in a parallel universe. It was probably the same universe that spawned Clarence Thomas. "House slave?" Come on, girlfriend, wake up and look around you!

Dale Russakoff: Here's another comment....

Arlington, Va.: Thank you for a very insightful piece. To what extent do you think the "joyless" family environment Ms. Rice grew up in permeates her relentless pursuit of career goals above life's many other joys (i.e. family)? And do you get the impression all her success has left her feeling fulfilled?

Dale Russakoff: That quote came from her second cousin, not from her. ANd she pointed out that John Rice, Condi's father, was the first Rice who WASN'T joyless. My sense is tha Condi Rice is happy with her life choices. They wouldn't have worked for all women, but they seem to work well for her. A friend of hers told me that Rice's parents never made her feel that she had to have children to be a whole person--and the friend felt this was very rare. Speaking as a woman of the same generation, I think it's rare too.

Berlin, Germany: I understand that Ms. Rice is planning to hire former first lady Barbara Bush's press secretary Anna Perez as her media advisor. Is this true and have other National Security Advisors had flacks?

Dale Russakoff: Yes this is true, and yes they have had their own press secretaries.

Herndon, Va.: Your article described Condoleezza Rice as being against gun control due to what her family went through in Alabama. How have her experiences in life shaped her views on other controversial issues such as abortion?
Thank you.

Dale Russakoff: I don't think that her views on abortion, which are more pro choice than not, are related to Birmingham. As for other views, I think I covered all those that I found to be connected to B'ham.

Alexandria, Va.: Russakoff's article is trite and full of innuendo based in a European's perception of the issues of race, racism, and religion in America. Condi Rice, as is Colin Powell, despite there perceived success, are anomoly's and token's of the white power structure in America. Condi Rice and Colin Powell are the exceptions rather than the rule. Rice had to be better at the white culture because the process of slavery stripped Blacks of their own culture. In reality, Rice like many Black Americans does not have a cultural legacy i.e. no history, no language, no community inherent to the American experience. We struggle with understanding who we are. Therefore assimilation into white culture was/is our only alternative for economic survival. It is crass to to infer that she made it on hard work, education,and "religious faith" in view of the great sacrifices made during the civil rights movement by Martin King, Jr, John Lewis, Fannie Lou Hamer,Rosa Parks and the unmentioned heroes who paid a great price to change the laws so that the succeeding generations of Americans, which include Rice, would have
access to the "dream" of freedom, liberty and social equality. This article is a treatise on conservatism and classism that typically creates the environment for racism and social oppression to exist.

Dale Russakoff: ANother comment that didn't ask for a response.

washingtonpost.com: Dale will continue to answer questions about her Sunday Magazine story for another 30 minutes.

New York, N.Y.: I think your story on Condi Rice is as preposterous as Rice's boss and this administration's narrow-minded near-sighted foreign policy (or any policy for that matter). According to you, or Rice, "house slaves" were in a higher "class" than "field slaves"; just because she and her dead mother had the money or "class", they had the right to insult store clerks for their lower "class" ("hired help" "$6/hour"). She probably forgot, in her ancestors' "house slave" days, they could not even be called "hired help" or were paid "$6/hour". She forgot what "class" she really descended from and should belong to. Don't black people have their own culture that they are proud of? Apparently not, otherwise, why do the Rices have to imitate whites and be "twice-good" in white culture? By the way, I'm not black.

Dale Russakoff: The first part of your comment doesn't ask for an answer, but as for the last part: In Birmingham, in that era, black people did have to be "twice as good" (if not ten times as good) to even get in the game.

Dale Russakoff: We've run out of time, but I'll keep going if readers want to keep writing in.

South Bend, Ind.: Does Ms. Rice talk at all about her studies at Notre Dame? When the South Bend Tribune did a bio piece on her in January, they noted that she didn't talk much about it. I noticed you refer to it, but nothing more then that. Is there a reason?

Dale Russakoff: No reason... there just wasn't time to get to it. I'm sure it's full of great material, though.

Washington, D.C.: Did Ms. Rice have any men in her life, other than her father and uncle?

Dale Russakoff: Her maternal grandfather, Albert Ray III, was very present in her life. So were other uncles besides Alto Ray. I'm sure there also were family friends to whom she was close, but I didn't have a chance to find them.

Arlington, Va.: Wow, this is my life in the Post Magazine: I live a half block from Lisa Mundy's Ballston pay phones and, hey, I was there in Mountain Brook in Jan of 1962 when the "big" storm came. We were out of school for a week (during semester finals at Shades Valley High School) and the street clearance problems in the area, I think I remember, were because B'ham had sold all their snow removal equipment the year before to Chicago because they had been unneeded for so long.

As to the race issues, what can I say? For my family, it was really weird as we were transferred by USSteel in 1957 from Pittsburgh to B'ham and were considered Yankees by the natives, an odd, despicable species. Then I left in the fall of 1962 to attend Northwestern U. where I was considered a southerner, an odd, despicable species.

I'm glad both you and Ms. Rice have done so well tho my politics are not with the present administration. My regards.

Dale Russakoff: I'm a lot like you. My parents were "yankee" transplants, and I never felt that I was "really" southern, until I went up north to college and realized that in fact, I was southern in profound ways. I think Condi Rice is too, by the way. Please e-mail me at russakoffd@washpost.com if you want to compare more notes.

Chicago, Ill.: I enjoyed your article about Condoleeza Rice, particularly because I am a black woman, of approximately the same age as Ms. Rice, who is the daughter of a doctor and nurse, and also a third-generation college graduate (although I would never trumpet that fact.) Here is my question: You present Ms. Rice as an anomaly, whose anomalous upbringing explains her views, success and comfort within the Republican Party. However, while the black middle class was smaller in the 1960s than it is today (and it is still too small), it still numbered at least in the many thousands back then. those of us who grew up in the black middle class had upbringings similar to Ms. Rice's, but our current views and politcal affiliations differ markedly from hers (i.e., the thousands of black people who grew up like Ms. Rice are not members of the GOP and likely also believe in the virtues of self reliance, hard work, etc.). What do you think accounts for Ms. Rice's differences in outlook from those who grew up in circumstances similar to hers? What, if anything, does she think about it? Why does the media continually highlight the "exceptionalness" of her upbringing as the explanation for her views, when others grew up like her and think differently? Thank you.

Dale Russakoff: Condi Rice struck me as one of the most fiercely individual and independent people I've ever met. (I hope that was obvious in the story). So I don't think it's surprising, given that, that her views are different from those of others around her. I didn't mean to say that the "exceptionalism" of her upbringing accounts for her views. It was a factor, but as you point out, there were others like her who emerged with very different philosophies. Thank you for writing

Santa Cruz, Calif.: I find it disturbing that Miss Rice takes so much pride in the fact that her father was a Republican. How did Alabama Republicans react to the Civil Rights Act? Didn't they fight the federal orders tooth and nail? I understand her anger at the Democrats for not registering her father, but the Republicans were hardly interested in promoting integration or justice for blacks. Miss Rice comes across as being extremely arrogant and absolutely convinced that her comprehension of international affairs is superior and infallible. I recall that the ambassador to China was less than impressed by her understanding of the Chinese. I read about her upbringing of French, piano and ballet lessons, and I wonder if she has any idea what life is like for the average African-American child in this country today.

Dale Russakoff: You're absolutely right--The Alabama GOP definitely was not into civil rights in the 1950s.

Miami, Fla.: I have been following Condi Rice's career since hearing and seeing her a #41's convention -- I was wowed. Your article is a wonderful summation and analysis of her life. As a Jew, I have had similar experiences in my childhood. My advantage was that I didn't have to sit at the back of the bus or drink from a whites-only fountain. So as a child as young as 7 I began sitting in the back of the bus and drinking from the blacks-only water fountains. You should have seen the way black people looked at this crazy white child -- this crazy white child who would stand at the food counter at Woolworth's and eat, because they wouldn't let black people sit down. They didn't know it, but I was showing them that I loved them. Like Condi Rice, I am also a conservative Republican. Might you address the question as to why the ability to think independently creates a conservative Republican?

Dale Russakoff: Gee, I thought independent thinkers came in all stripes.

Birmingham, Ala.: You wrote a gripping, realistic, totally accurate history of our city and the events of the time.

Bravo!

Dale Russakoff: Thanks, y'all!

West Palm Beach, Fla.: Your article about Condoleezza Rice revealed a personality who, on a regular basis, seems to enjoy telling people that she is much better than they are, and you really seemed to let her off the hook. Frankly, the person you described came across as rather arrogant. Why didn't you press her more on this point?

Dale Russakoff: I wanted her to speak for herself so that you, and others, could have their own opinions of her. As you can see from the above, some readers agree with you and some like what they saw in the article.

Camano Island, Wash.: Great article. Condi is one of the most impressive persons I have ever met. She is an incredible example to all of us. I am glad that The Post was able to publish this article. Rrimmer de Vries

Dale Russakoff: another comment with no question attached.

Dayton, Ohio: Did Dr. Rice ever study abroad? I know she has travelled during her tenures in government, but what about during her student years?

Dale Russakoff: She did extensive research abroad as a graduate student and as a professor, but always based at universities in this country.

Capitol Heights, Md.: I would like to say how impressed I am with your article of Condoleezza Rice. There was so much I was remembering as I read it. I'm a year younger than Ms. Rice and experienced racism from the other side of the fence. Growing up a poor, African American female in Newark, N.J., I too was not allowed to see myself as a victim. I may not be in the same profession as Ms. Rice or be a doctor, lawyer, etc. but, because of the similar teachings, I too can interact and feel comfortable with many cultures within our society. So, there is much to be said about how we are taught to view ourselves.

I found your article particularly interesting and informative the way you showed the different perspectives to the civil rights movement. One thought I have after your article is, how many were prepared to move into the opportunities granted after the signing of the Civil Rights Act? Thank you for a well-written and informed article. It gives me a lot to think about.

Dale Russakoff: The civil rights act opened up opportunities at the bottom, the top and the middle. Until it passed, many state universities and colleges had been closed to blacks. Condi Rice's parents, for example, could not attend the University of Alabama. Ditto for many jobs. The Rices' across the street neighbor, a black architect, had to spend weekdays in Atlanta, because no one in alabama would hire a black architect. But jobs at every level opened up (although gradually), so you didn't have to be "prepared," in that sense, to benefit. THe act made it possible for more and more people to BECOME prepared.

Arlington, Va.: I want to thank Dr. Rice for sharing her story, and you for telling it so eloquently. I have have learned a great deal, and have been give a great deal to think about. You deserve a nice fat bonus or promotion or something.

Dale Russakoff: Thank you for thiskind comment. I am forwarding it to the managing editor!

Dale Russakoff: thank you everyone. I'm out of questions. I've learned a lot from your responses, and from the experience of reporting and writing this story. It's been a privilege.

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