Words, Deeds and the Work We Still Know Little About
![handle is hein.journals/stlr5 and id is 469 raw text is: WORDS, DEEDS AND THE WORK WE STILL
KNOW SO LITTLE ABOUT
MARK ANDREW SHERMAN
[Miore than anyone else, Martin Luther King lived and died in the
fight to remind us of what is the greatest struggle in our lives in
the present day - how to close the gap between our words and
our deeds.1
I. INTRODUCTION
This Article addresses the Clinton Administration's words regard-
ing affordable housing and community development, the corresponding
deeds it and its supporters must undertake, and the challenges these
words and deeds pose for the legal community. During the 1992 presi-
dential campaign, candidate Clinton battered the electorate with ideas
about how best to reinvigorate the long-term economy. As a new-style
Democrat, he used the rhetoric of the civic republican tradition, empha-
sizing the need to give people greater control over their lives; the im-
plication being that the role of government is to assist people in lead-
ing secure, prosperous lives rather than to prevent that through heavy-
handed, paternalistic programs which engender dependence.
With regard to neighborhood enterprise, candidate Clinton empha-
sized investing in communities.2 He proposed creating a nationwide
network of community development banks to spur business and housing
* Clinical Fellow in Advocacy, The Harrison Institute for Public Law, Georgetown University Law
Center. Member, District of Columbia Bar. I thank Sara Case for teaching me how to be a
community-based lawyer and for the many stimulating conversations which provoked me into writing
this article. This article is dedicated to my mother, Elaine Sherman.
1. Loose Lips: Clinton's D.C. Revival, WAStt. CITY PAPER, Jan. 22, 1993, at 6 (excerpt
from President-Elect Clinton's Address at Howard University on Martin Luther King Day, Jan.
18, 1993).
2. BILL CLINTON & AL GORE, PUTING PEOPLE FIRST 55 (1992) [hereinafter PurrING
PEOPLE FIRsT]. During the campaign, Clinton also spoke favorably of some of the affordable
homeownership and community empowerment programs initiated by United States Department of
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Jack Kemp.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/stlr5&div=27&collection=journals&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Words, Deeds and the Work We Still Know Little About
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