WASHINGTON–Gen. Colin L. Powell, the first Black U.S. secretary of state who held leadership positions in several Republican administrations and who died earlier this week at age 84, also shared his thoughts on leadership, international diplomacy and more in remarks to credit unions.
Powell, who died from complications from COVID-19, addressed CUNA’s GAC in 2017 where he was a headlining keynoter.
In those remarks, Powell, who also served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs, called for an end to the “ugliness” that has come to the forefront in politics, telling credit unions that only “we the people” will be able to do something about it.
Speaking to CUNA’s GAC, Powell said the credit union audience was “typical” of other groups he has spoken to, where he senses a “great deal of concern and anxiety” over what is taking place in the country. He called much of the dialogue taking place “troubling.”
“But at the same time I see confidence and optimism. I want to take that confidence and pour it over the heads of our congressmen,” he said. “I am deeply concerned about our government. We can talk about the White House, but I’m more concerned about Capitol Hill not getting anything done. We are increasingly pushing our legislators to the far right or the far left. There is ugliness in our public dialogue. If you dare depart from the positions of the far left or far right you get tweeted to death for it.”
If The Constitution Required Just Three Months...
Powell reminded credit unions that the founding fathers of the country spent three months in Philadelphia in 1787 arguing, but also talking, with each other, and at the end of the process had written “this wonderful Constitution.”
“If they were able to do that in just a few months, how is it we have 525 people who can’t even pass an appropriations bill?” he asked, getting one of numerous rounds of applause. “We deserve better than that. It’s only going to be fixed by you. We the people are the ones who are going to change it. We the people are the ones who are going to have to push back against the polarization. This ugliness is not us. We must push back against this. This anti-Semitism, this black vs. white. That’s not us. People ask me ‘As a black man, are things getting better?’ Yes. When I graduated from high school I couldn’t go to some places. Now we’ve had a black president.”
Powell’s full comments can be found here.