This is full of lies and half-truths , it is shameful
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> From: "USUN, PRESS" <USUNPRESS_at_state.gov>
> Subject: Remarks by Ambassador Susan E. Rice, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, At Howard University's 145th Convocation, September 28, 2012
> Date: September 28, 2012 1:11:03 PM EDT
> To: "USUN, PRESS" <USUNPRESS_at_state.gov>
>
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> USUN PRESS RELEASE #198
> September 28, 2012
> AS PREPARED
>
>
>
> Remarks by Ambassador Susan E. Rice, U.S. Permanent Representative to
> the United Nations, At Howard University's 145th Convocation, September
> 28, 2012
>
>
>
> Good morning, everyone! Thank you for that warm welcome. Thank you,
> Chairman Rand, for your kind introduction and, especially, for your
> service to Howard and to America's seniors. Reverend Richardson, we are
> grateful for your moving invocation. And, President Ribeau, we salute
> you for all you do to make the great and historic Howard University ever
> greater.
>
>
>
> I'm thrilled to be here -both for the honor of addressing Howard's 145th
> Convocation and for the honor of being made a Doctor of Laws. I must
> admit that feels pretty good: the school year has barely started, and
> I've already graduated.
>
>
>
> I now join the ranks of my other family members who have proudly
> received accolades from Howard. The difference is, they earned theirs
> -- my Uncle Leon A. Dickson, Howard Medical School Class of '39, and my
> cousins, Carolyn Whitfield Broome, now Associate Professor of
> Biochemistry, and Leon Dickson Jr., Associate Professor of Biology.
>
>
>
> This is a big day for the whole Howard community - but it's a
> particularly important day for the outstanding young men and women of
> the Class of 2016. So, let me begin by congratulating the freshmen for
> making it to Howard and for all that you will contribute long after your
> Howard experience.
>
>
>
> With your arrival on campus and now formally with this Convocation, you
> are part of the Howard tradition of leadership and excellence. That
> means living up to some very high standards. Because, as Scripture tells
> us, "For unto whomever much is given, of him shall be much required: and
> to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more." So,
> remember: with Howard's tremendous opportunities come real
> responsibilities. Those who have a higher education also have a higher
> obligation-to give back and help keep America strong.
>
>
>
> To compete and lead in our rapidly changing, interconnected world,
> American needs universities like Howard and exceptional students like
> you. In 2007, President Obama, then Senator Obama, spoke in Selma about
> the transition between generations. He began with what he called the
> Moses generation-the great civil rights generation that ripped down the
> barbed and twisted structure of Jim Crow, the generation that parted the
> waters and marched out of Egypt.
>
>
>
> In my own family, that legacy of oppression overcome weighed on my late
> father, Emmett Rice. He was a brilliant, proud man-an economics
> professor, a senior official at the Treasury Department and the World
> Bank, and a Governor of the Federal Reserve Board. But his life of
> service came despite ferocious odds. My dad grew up between the wars in
> segregated South Carolina, and he never forgot the sting of separate and
> unequal. He served our country proudly in World War II, as an officer
> with the Tuskegee Airmen, but he forever resented the irony and inequity
> of fighting for freedom in a stubbornly segregated military. Dad had to
> learn to believe in himself by himself, to dismiss the taunting message
> of Jim Crow that he was somehow less of a man. He overcame that
> trauma-but he never forgot that he had to endure it. Throughout his
> career, Dad sought to lift up others so they could seize the
> opportunities he was almost denied.
>
>
>
> In 1912, my mother's parents emigrated from Jamaica to Portland, Maine.
> With little formal education, my grandfather took the best job he could
> get-as a janitor. My grandmother was a maid and a seamstress. But my
> grandparents managed to scrap and save to send all five of their
> children to college -- four sons to Bowdoin and my mom, Lois, to
> Harvard-Radcliffe where she was student government president. Mom, in
> turn, devoted her distinguished career to making higher education more
> accessible to all.
>
>
>
> I am here today because of these profoundly American stories of struggle
> and success. I wish my grandfather could have imagined, as he bent over
> his broom, that his granddaughter would someday serve in the cabinet of
> the first African-American President of the United States. For
> President Obama and I come from the next generation-what the President
> calls the Joshua generation. Our generation didn't just look out over
> Canaan. We crossed the river and entered the Promised Land. We are
> working, as Dr. King put it, to redeem the promissory note from the
> architects of our republic.
>
>
>
> That is a profound shift. Despite all his achievements, my father never
> stopped believing that segregation had kept him from being all he could
> be. He was determined, above all, that his children not bear that same
> psychological baggage. And, thankfully, we did not. Between generations,
> after the dogs of Birmingham and the buses of Montgomery, America
> changed. For my brother and me, for the President and First Lady, we of
> the Joshua generation came of age believing the old limits didn't apply.
> New doors were open. And, we've seen African-Americans become secretary
> of state, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, attorney general, Fortune 500
> CEOs, Supreme Court justices, astronauts and, of course, President of
> the United States. And as you well know, many of these trailblazers are
> proud Howard alumni.
>
>
>
> Today, nothing is impossible. When I look at you all, I see yet another
> generation, bursting with confidence and promise. I see the generation
> after Joshua. If the Moses generation was about breaking the chains of
> Egypt, and if the Joshua generation was about crossing over Jordan, then
> your generation is about thriving in the Promised Land. It's about
> finding your own way on the soil your grandparents only dreamed of
> walking-about making your own path unburdened, as people for whom
> slavery and segregation are history, not a shackle or a scar.
>
>
>
> So, what I have come here to ask is: what will you do? What will your
> generation contribute? How will you carry on the legacy of service to
> your country and your world?
>
>
>
> In the Bible, after Joshua comes Judges. It's a sprawling, challenging
> book about a time of great change, about the shift from revolution to
> evolution, about the struggles for justice and opportunity that follow
> the struggle for freedom. And perhaps that's not a bad way of thinking
> about the country you're going to inherit and lead.
>
>
>
> The generation after Joshua, your generation, will confront challenges
> of governance and sovereignty-persistent inequality, stubborn poverty,
> unresolved conflicts - as well as new possibilities driven by technology
> and trade. A world where threats don't stop at borders and education
> doesn't stop at graduation.
>
>
>
> At Gettysburg, President Lincoln demanded that we dedicate ourselves,
> and I quote, "to the unfinished work which they who fought here have
> thus far so nobly advanced."
>
>
>
> We've still got unfinished work to do to expand the reach of democracy,
> human rights and human dignity around the world. We've got unfinished
> work to do so long as terror threatens our people and our brave troops
> are risking their lives in Afghanistan to keep us all safe. We've got
> unfinished work to do when half of humanity lives on less than $2.50 a
> day. And we've got unfinished work to do when wars still rage and
> hatreds still smolder.
>
>
>
> Truly, we've got unfinished work to do when American children go to
> sleep with rumbling stomachs and go to school in crumbling classrooms.
> We've got unfinished work to do when fellow citizens are still shackled
> by poverty or held back by bigotry. We've got unfinished work to do to
> recover from the worst economic crisis since the Depression. We've got
> unfinished work to do to help neighbors who've lost their homes and
> friends who've lost their jobs. We've got unfinished work to do to
> buttress the bonds of citizenship and ensure every American has the
> opportunity to fulfill their true potential.
>
>
>
> So let us rededicate ourselves today to this great, unfinished work-to
> coming together to redeem our republic and to mend our imperfect world.
>
>
>
> Yes, we've come far. We should be proud of what we've accomplished-but
> we cannot allow progress to become an alibi for apathy. Achievement can
> never become a pretext for selfishness. And success must never be an
> excuse for complacency. Nor can we look to the leadership of any one
> man or woman to substitute for the collective and individual
> responsibilities we must bear.
>
>
>
> You are each here because this legendary American university sees a
> spark of potential in you. And, it's your job to fan that flame so it
> warms us all. We need you to be everything you can-extraordinary young
> leaders, fired up with passion and patriotism, determined to be not just
> good students but great citizens.
>
>
>
> To compete in a global marketplace and to lead in our complex world, we
> need you each to excel and to serve. We need you to become engineers and
> scientists who will cure modern-day plagues and save our warming planet.
> We need you to become lawyers and judges who will fortify our liberty in
> law. We need you to become business leaders who will create prosperity
> that works for all Americans. We need you to become innovators who will
> create not just new jobs but new industries. We need you to become
> doctors who will bring health to the hurting. We need you to become
> ministers who will give strength to suffering souls. We need you to
> become teachers and professors who will instill a love of citizenship
> and learning in the next generation. We need you to become journalists
> and activists - truth-tellers who hold our leaders accountable. We need
> you to become mayors and ambassadors, justices and governors-and
> presidents.
>
>
>
> Freshmen, use your time at Howard to decide where your personal passion
> lies and how you can best fulfill your unique, God-given potential.
> Spend time trying to divine what success looks like to you and then work
> backwards. Figure out what skills and experiences you need to acquire
> while here at Howard in order to reach your goal down the road. If you
> want to be a civil engineer, go to Kenya with Howard's Engineers without
> Borders and help design clean water systems. If you want to teach,
> spend an "Alternative Spring Break" helping adults in Detroit learn to
> read.
>
>
>
> As you wrestle with how you might best contribute, I hope some of you
> will consider the course of the great Ralph Bunche. Bunche founded
> Howard's Political Science Department, helped draft the UN Charter, and
> won the Nobel Prize for negotiating armistices between Israel and its
> Arab neighbors. Think about a career in diplomacy or development. Join
> the Foreign Service, master international law, or design a new vaccine
> to reduce preventable childhood death. In our 21st-century world, we
> need to draw on our unique diversity and our full national talent as we
> make the toughest decisions about America's national security. If we
> don't have everyone on the field-Americans of all faiths, creeds and
> colors - then we are competing with one hand tied behind our back. We
> are short-changing our potential and ceding our comparative advantage.
>
>
>
> Whatever path you choose, set the bar high. It's not enough just to
> reach a level or two beyond those who came before you. Even if you are
> the first in your family to go to college, don't let your Howard degree
> become your greatest achievement. Just because you graduate from a
> great school, don't think you've made it. Strive to accomplish something
> big that will leave a lasting impact on others.
>
>
>
> And when you succeed, as I know you will, we need you to turn back, give
> back, and bring others up with you. As our tremendous First Lady
> recently said, "when you've worked hard, and done well, and walked
> through that doorway of opportunity, you do not slam it shut behind you.
> No, you reach back, and you give other folks the same chances that
> helped you succeed."
>
>
>
> Now, more than ever, we must understand that, as we tackle great
> challenges at home and abroad, we are all in this together. It's not
> enough just to believe in yourself. You've got to believe in something
> bigger than yourselves. You have got to believe in each other. You have
> got to believe in our great country. You've got to understand that all
> of us are diminished when one of us falls behind. A few weeks ago,
> President Obama reminded us of that deeply American truth. He said: "We,
> the People, recognize that we have responsibilities as well as rights;
> that our destinies are bound together; that a freedom which asks only
> what's in it for me, a freedom without a commitment to others, a freedom
> without love or charity or duty or patriotism, is unworthy of our
> founding ideals, and those who died in their defense."
>
>
>
> Progress depends on each of us and all of us. No one person, however
> talented, however visionary, can forge great change alone. Never
> forget: change does not just happen. Change comes when we, the people,
> demand it. Change comes when each and every one of us lifts our voices,
> organizes, registers and votes. Change comes when Americans from all
> stages of life and all ages of life unite in common cause. Change does
> not get handed down on a platter from above. Change boils up from below.
> Change comes when citizens decide they will not be denied.
>
>
>
> You. Me. Him. Her. All of us.
>
>
>
> I cannot wait to see what the generation after Joshua will do.
>
>
>
> I know it will be worthy of you and of our ancestors.
>
>
>
> Go tackle that unfinished work. Go forward with the great work of
> perfecting our union. Go forth and make the world safer, more just and
> more free.
>
>
>
> Let's finish what we started.
>
>
>
> That's the Howard way, and that's the American way.
>
>
>
> Thank you, and God bless you.
>
>
>
> ###
>
>
>
>
>
Received on Fri Sep 28 2012 - 23:13:04 EDT
