Guest Editor's Introduction: Black Clergy and U.S. Policy in the Middle East and North Africa
R. Drew Smith Saturday, 1 March 2008
As the 20th century ended, there were hopeful signs of U.S. political progress on global conflicts between religious, racial, and ethnic groups. This was symbolized, in one respect, by President Clinton's 1994 trip to Israel and Jordan, during which he delivered a speech in Jordan's parliament and witnessed the two countries sign an unprecedented peace treaty. There was also Clinton's 1998 Africa tour, which included a visit to Rwanda, where he pledged American resolve in preventing further genocide in the world, and to Senegal, where he visited a slave castle and openly acknowledged America's legacy of racial oppression. Clinton's Israel visit was the first by a U.S. President in 15 years; his Jordan speech was the first by a U.S. President in an Arab parliament; and his Africa visit was the first in history by any sitting U.S. President.
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