Speaking at a news conference where he released the initial report of the U.S. to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Koh said the United States had "played a leading role in developing and drafting the International Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, signing it in 1992." It was ratified by the United States in 1994.

"The report represents our government's unqualified commitment to fulfilling its obligations under the race discrimination convention," Koh continued. Although the United States was founded on the notion that "all men are created equal," he acknowledged that the road "from vision to implementation has been long and difficult."

Koh was specific in citing numerous instances of where the U.S. has fallen short in the area of racial discrimination and he recognized the efforts of nongovernmental organizations and leaders, such as Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King, and Thurgood Marshall, who helped bring about progress in the country.

"As our report chronicles, the American struggle to secure racial equality remains incomplete," Koh noted. "But at the same time, our nation's progress in closing these gaps can also be measured," he added, remarking on the growing African American middle class and other signs of progress.

Koh also said that President Clinton "has made issues of racial diversity and equal opportunity core elements of his administration's agenda," noting that in 1997, Clinton established the President's Initiative on Race, a national education effort encouraging a country-wide dialogue on race. "Our experience demonstrates that committed democracies can make strides to overcome the legacy of racism," Koh said.

Bill Lann Lee, assistant attorney general at the civil rights division of the Justice Department, said that the U.S. report does not just document history, it also demonstrates "a substantial enforcement effort," on the part of the U.S. government to stamp out discrimination. It details not just the problems, "but what is being done," he added.

Lee said that 30 percent of the United States is now non-white. "We think we've learned some lessons," he said. Asked if the United States has a better record on race than other countries, despite the shortcomings of the past, Koh said, "We have never ranked countries and we don't rank ourselves."

In addition to being released today at the State Department, the U.S. report also was released in Geneva to the International Convention's 18-member Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination. Under the terms of the Convention, parties are required to report to the treaty's committee of experts regarding their efforts to comply with their obligations under the Convention.

The report, over 100 pages, is a comprehensive look at discrimination in America from the dawn of the Republic to the present day. It does not mince words about wrongs past and present but says the U.S. is making a concerted effort, both governmentally and nongovernmentally, to extinguish the vestiges of discrimination.

Koh said that the United States intends to play an active role in the upcoming World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance, which will take place next year in South Africa. A White House task force already has been established to prepare for that meeting. Four preparatory meetings will precede the main event.