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Skriven 2005-02-08 23:45:48 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0502089) for Tue, 2005 Feb 8
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President Celebrates African American History Month
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
February 8, 2005

President Celebrates African American History Month
The East Room

President's Remarks
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˙˙˙˙˙In Focus: African American History Month

3:19 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon and welcome to the White House -- the
people's house. Laura and I are pleased you're here, so we can celebrate
together the 79th Celebration of African American History Month. We're here
today because of the dedication and persistence of a man named Dr. Carter
G. Woodson.

In the 1920s, Dr. Woodson argued that if African Americans were to take
their rightful place in society, young Americans of all races needed to
learn about the black contribution to our history and culture. So in 1926,
he launched the first black history week. Today, a movement that began in
black churches and schoolrooms is observed all across America -- including
the White House. Welcome. (Applause.)

The Civil Rights pioneers of Dr. Woodson's era also had another dream: a
national museum to celebrate the history and achievements of African
Americans. On December 16, 2003, I was proud to sign legislation that will
create the National Museum of African American History and Culture within
the Smithsonian Institution. (Applause.) Laura and I are pleased to welcome
to the White House so many who were instrumental in the passage of that
legislation, and those who will help us make the museum a reality.

I welcome members of the Congress: Senator Chris Dodd, thank you for
coming; Rick Santorum; Sam Brownback; and Barack Obama. Welcome.
(Applause.) Congressman Mel Watt, the Chairman of the Congressional Black
Caucus is with us. Thank you for coming, Mr. Chairman. (Applause.) Eleanor
Holmes Norton, delegate from the District of Columbia. (Applause.) Jack
Kingston from the state of Georgia. Welcome, Congressman, thank you for
coming. (Applause.) And, finally, Congresswoman Carolyn Kilpatrick. Now,
I've got a report for you: today I was with her son, the Mayor of Detroit,
who looked mighty special. (Laughter and applause.) Welcome.

It's such an honor to be with Dr. Dorothy Height -- you look great. Thanks
for coming, Dorothy. (Applause.) Members of the Council of the National
Museum of African American History and Culture, thank you for serving.

Today is the first day in which folks are able to contribute to the
building of the museum. Laura and I want to be one of your first
contributors, and so I -- (applause.) You know where to find me.
(Laughter.)

I'm honored that members of the original Tuskegee Airmen have joined us;
we're proud of your service. (Applause.) I told the members of the Tuskegee
Airmen how important the example they set for those who wear our uniform
today and it is a shining example. And you've just got to know that you've
made a huge difference in the lives of a lot of people.

I also want to welcome Mary Moore, or "Rosie the Riveter." Thank you for
coming; we're proud you're here. (Applause.) Frederick Douglas IV, and his
wife, B.J., are with us. Thank you for coming. And Cicely Tyson -- the
ever-beautiful Cicely Tyson (Applause.)

As we celebrate this month, we must remember a great actor, Ossie Davis,
who passed away on Friday. Laura and I, and many in this room, were honored
to salute Ossie and his remarkable wife, Ruby Dee, at the Kennedy Center
Honors last December. The entire Davis family are in our prayers, may God
comfort them in their sorrow.

I appreciate so very much the chance to have gone to Goree Island in
Senegal. Laura and I traveled there during my presidency. It was an amazing
experience for us. It was gut-wrenching to see the cramped cells where
Africans were held right before they began their journey to America in
chains. We stood in the "door of no return." I'll never forget that
feeling. It's a door through which so many innocent men, women and children
passed through. They would be loaded as cargo on the ships for the long
voyage across the Atlantic to a future of slavery and servitude.

You know, it reminded me, standing in that door, as I think back of
standing in that door, it reminds me how important the museum is going to
be, because young Americans study this shameful period in history in their
schools and they read their textbooks, but most young Americans will never
go to Goree Island or get the same sense that we felt.

And so when the National Museum of American History and Culture opens --
and it will open -- visitors will be able to have a much more vivid sense
of what slavery meant for real men and real women. It is important to know
-- and this museum is going to be a really important museum, because it's
important that our children know that there was a time in their nation's
history when one in every seven human beings was the property of another.
They need to know how families were separated, denied even the comfort of
suffering together. It's an important lesson of a shameful period that the
young must never forget.

And they need to know that bigotry and discrimination did not end with
slavery; that within the lifetimes of their own parents and grandparents,
Americans were still barred by law from hotels and restaurants; made to
drink from separate water fountains; forced to sit in the back of a bus --
all because of the color of their skin. We need to teach them about the
heroes of the civil rights movement, who by their courage and dignity
forced America to confront the central defect of our founding.

And we all need to learn more about the men and women whose determination
and persistent eloquence forced Americans of all races to examine our
hearts, revise our Constitution and laws, and make America into the nation
it was always supposed to be.

The theme of this year's African American History Month is the 100th
anniversary of "the Niagara Movement." Led by W.E.B. DuBois and John Hope
and William Monroe Trotter, the Niagara Movement rejected any accommodation
with discrimination, and challenged our nation to grant its African
American citizens the same rights enjoyed by other Americans. In so doing,
it helped lay a foundation for the civil rights movement that would change
America in the decades that followed.

Like Dr. Woodson, W.E.B. DuBois placed his hopes in our youngest citizens
-- those who had not yet been taught to hate. So he directed his call to
them. He said, "We appeal to the young men and women of this nation ...
Stand up for the right, prove yourselves worthy of your heritage and ...
dare to treat men as men." His appeal echoes across a century, doesn't it?
It made sense then; it makes sense now. And serves to remind us that while
slavery has been abolished and segregation outlawed, the struggle for
justice and equality has not yet ended.

At the start of this new century, we will continue to teach habits of
respect to each generation. We will continue to enforce laws against racial
discrimination in education and housing and public accommodations. We'll
continue working to spread hope and opportunity to African Americans with
no inheritance but their character -- by giving them greater access to
capital and education, and the chance to own and build and dream for the
future. In this way, African Americans can pass on a better life and a
better nation to their children and their grandchildren, and that's what we
want in America. (Applause.)

We're making progress, but there's more work to be done. Today, American
schools are no longer separate, but they're not yet equal. Too many of our
children still face what I have called the soft bigotry of low
expectations. With the No Child Left Behind Act we've raised expectations.
We believe every child can learn and we expect every school to teach. And
we measure. And guess what's happening? Test scores are going up. There's
an achievement gap for minority children that is closing in America.

Today, the minority home ownership rate in America is at an all-time high.
That's incredibly good news. I love it when more and more people open the
door to their house and say, welcome to my home -- not just, welcome to
where I live, but, welcome to my home. And we'll continue to expand
opportunity for home ownership in America.

We'll work to strengthen families. Children from two-parent homes are less
likely to end up in poverty or drop out of school. It's important that
families be strong in America. HIV/AIDS brings suffering and fear into so
many lives, and so we need to focus on fighting this disease among those
with the highest rates of new cases -- African American men and women. We
need to give our young people, especially young men in inner cities, better
options than apathy or gangs and jail. And I want to thank Laura for taking
on this incredibly important initiative to help young men realize a great
future in America. (Applause.)

You know, in the last half-century, the cause of liberty has made great
strides in this country, and around the world. At each stage, and on every
front, African Americans have helped to lead this advance. African
Americans struggled peacefully for their own freedom on the streets of
Birmingham and on the Mall here at Washington, D.C. Some of you were
probably there. They have fought for America's freedom on distant
battlefields -- and at this moment many are serving bravely in Afghanistan
and Iraq, And we respect their courage and we honor their sacrifice.

They know, as we do, that success of freedom on the home front is critical
to its success in foreign lands. As I said in my inaugural address, we
cannot carry the message of freedom and the baggage of bigotry at the same
time. (Applause.)

We've made progress, and our work is not yet done. But we can proceed with
faith in our country and confidence in our cause. See, history moves toward
freedom because the desire of freedom is written in every human heart. As
W.E.B. DuBois declared nearly a century ago, "The battle for humanity is
not lost or losing ... The morning breaks over blood-stained hills. We must
not falter, we must not shrink. Above are the everlasting stars."

I want to thank you all for coming. Thank you for helping us celebrate this
month, as well as to make it clear to our fellow citizens we have a chance
to build a fantastic museum, right here in the heart of Washington, D.C.,
on the Mall -- (applause) -- to stand proud -- and I'm confident there will
be an appropriate web page -- (laughter) -- for people to be able to tap
in. Perhaps you should start, if you're interested, in going to the
Smithsonian web page, and I suspect there may be an avenue that will direct
you toward this important museum and cultural center, that will enable our
fellow citizens to participate in helping to build it.

There will be a reception at the end of the hall here. We're really
thrilled you're here. And may God continue to bless our great country.
(Applause.)

END 3:34 P.M. EST

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