It's a special
honor to be asked to present a lecture in honor of Dr. Ralph
Bunche during the centenary of his birth. Dr. Bunche was a
remarkable man. He was a great scholar. He was a tireless
worker for civil and human rights. He was a diplomat par
excellence of both the State Department and of the United
Nations, and winner --- the first time for a black person ---
of the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize.
I was just a
boy then. I was 13 years old in 1950 when Dr. Bunche won the
Nobel Peace Prize. When he came back from Oslo, the City of New
York threw a tickertape parade for him. I remember it very well
and I remember reading all about his exploits and his
achievements.
Back in those
days, celebrity heroes for young black kids were mostly
musicians, entertainers and athletes, wonderful people like Nat
King Cole or Jackie Robinson or Joe Louis. And there was also
one black general that we knew about, General Benjamin O.
Davis.
But Ralph
Bunche was something different, quite unlike everyone else. He
was brilliant. He was a Ph.D. He had taught at Howard
University and he had taught at Harvard University. And he was
hands-on. He had worked during World War II in that famous
intelligence agency, the OSS. And then he was tapped to become
an Assistant Secretary of State, a very rare thing for a person
of color.
The very
existence of a man like Ralph Bunche opened our minds up there
in the Bronx. He showed us that there was more to hope for,
more to work for, than perhaps we had ever thought. We could be
smart, we could be brilliant, and we could matter, just as
Ralph Bunche mattered. There were new ways, therefore, for us
perhaps to make our parents proud of us, maybe one day to make
our children proud of us as well.
Ralph Bunche
was not foremost in my mind, however, when I first set foot on
this campus about four years after that tickertape parade. My
parents were on my mind. I knew that all my parents' hopes, all
of their dreams, all of their aspirations, were bound up in
their children. And that they believed education to be the key
to making their dreams for us come true.
As you heard,
my parents came to America from Jamaica. They were immigrants,
like all of our parents were at one time. They worked hard,
they saved and went without, all so that my sister and I would
be educated. And so that we would in due course be able to
educate our children, both for material success and for its own
sake. For the love of learning, and the refinement that
learning brings to our lives and brings to our society.
Ralph Bunche
knew the value of education, too, far more than most people.
But here's something you may not have known about Dr. Bunche.
At a critical point in his education, he was awarded a
scholarship, the Rosenwald Fellowship, which he held at Harvard
in 1932 and 1933.
That
scholarship, which enabled Ralph Bunche to do dissertation
research abroad, was not only critical to his doctoral degree.
It opened his eyes to the world. It set the course for his
remarkable career.
Now you can see
why the Powell Center, and especially the Maud and Luther
Powell America's Promise Scholarships, mean so much, so very,
very much, to me. These scholarships, and others like them, are
keys for young people to a better future. I know that there are
future Ralph Bunches in the CCNY student body. Some of them are
probably sitting in this hall tonight. Some may be among the
eight that we mentioned earlier. There are future Ralph Bunches
elsewhere in this country, and for that matter, all around the
world. All waiting for and wanting an education.
There's an old
story about a man by the name of George Ellis whose job it was,
back in 1908, 1909, to clean up every day. He was a janitor. He
cleaned up after a remarkable man by the name of Daniel Chester
French. He was the man who carved that wonderful and giant
statue of Abraham Lincoln that sits at the center of the
Lincoln Memorial in Washington. And every day, that old man
swept up the granite rubble that the sculptor's work produced
every evening, barely exchanging more than a "hello"
or a "good evening" with Mr. French as the artist
left for the day and George arrived to do his work. But George
Ellis watched, and watched every single day, every week, every
month, as Mr. French continued his work.
And late one
afternoon, when the sculptor was nearly done with Mr. Lincoln,
the old man said: "Mr. French, can I ask you a question?
" "Certainly", said the sculptor, "What is
it?" George said, "Well, what I want to ask, sir, is
how you knew all along that Mr. Lincoln was sittin' inside that
block of granite?"
It was not a
silly question. It was a profound question about how to
recognize potential and how to chisel that potential into
being, how to chisel it into reality.
In our case,
education is the chisel. That's what CCNY does: it recognizes
potential, and it works to carve that potential into a living
reality. As you all know, CCNY was founded in 1847 "to
provide higher education for the children of the working
class." The children of the blue-collar laborers. The
children of the immigrants. And what a job it's done and what a
job it continues to do.
My class, just
celebrating its 45th anniversary, produced doctors and lawyers
and technicians and scientists, nurses, teachers, and among
other callings it produced soldiers, soldiers like me and
soldier classmates of mine who gave their lives in the service
of their country. I am very proud, so very proud, of my alma
mater. And I am proud to be the son of a city and state that
knew the value and importance of educating all its citizens.
Once again, I say to New York, thank you, thank you.
As we meet here
tonight, on this Veterans Day eve, another generation of
soldiers is serving this nation in far-flung places around the
world and in two active combat theaters, Iraq and
Afghanistan.
We went to
Afghanistan two years ago to defeat the al-Qaida murderers who
destroyed the World Trade Center and left a hole in the heart
of this wonderful city. We went to remove the despotic Taliban
regime that gave al-Qaida sanctuary and allowed their country
to be used as a mass production platform for worldwide mass-
casualty terrorism.
That terrible
regime is now gone and al-Qaida is on the run and in hiding. A
new government, led by a gifted man, President Hamid Karzai, is
hard at work. It is putting in place a new political system
resting on a foundation of democracy. Afghanistan's society
will be faith-based, but it will allow participation in civil
life of all citizens, including women, especially women.
Afghans have
just finished drafting a new constitution. It will be voted on
later this year and will lead to elections next year.
The Afghan
economy is starting to rebound. Hundreds of thousands of
refugees have returned to their homeland. The infrastructure of
the country is being rebuilt. The international community is
speeding up its financial contributions to help the people of
Afghanistan succeed in rebuilding their country.
Yes, there are
still dangers there, to be sure. Taliban remnants want to turn
the clock back. They don't like what they see. They don't want
to see their country moving in this direction. Some regional
leaders are still resisting the central government. The former
will be dealt with, the latter will also be dealt with, but
they both have to know that Afghanistan is going to be moving
forward. Much more work needs to be done, but so much has been
accomplished in the two short years since we have been helping
President Karzai and his people. We should be so proud of what
we have done, what we have done to give hope to the Afghan
people.
And we haven't
done it alone. Dozens of countries are working alongside us as
partners in this vital work. NATO has taken over security
responsibility for the capital city of Kabul. Other nations
have sent troops to join US troops in securing the countryside.
The United Nations has played an indispensable role. If, as
some critics charge, American policy is "unilateral,"
it certainly is the funniest kind and the weirdest kind of
unilateralism I have ever seen when I look at how the
international community is working together in Afghanistan.
Nevertheless,
the reality is that the American GI --- their presence --- is
the backbone of this effort. Thousands of wonderful young men
and women, your fellow citizens, are serving so well, serving
with such distinction. And they're serving for a simple
purpose: to bring freedom and peace to people who have not
known such freedom and peace for decades. This is America at
its very best.
In Iraq
tonight, over 130,000 American troops are serving with equal
distinction. Another despotic regime is gone. Saddam Hussein,
along with his cabal of thugs and murderers, had gassed their
own people. He filled mass graves. I've seen those graves. He
tortured and mutilated people. I've seen some of them. He
invaded his neighbors and he gassed them, too. He consorted
with terrorists and he himself is a terrorist. He squandered
his nation's wealth for over 35 years on weapons and on
palaces. He was a threat to the region. He invaded those
neighbors. He was a threat to the world. The UN warned him for
12 years, repeatedly, to no avail.
President Bush
would not ignore the threat and acted, and he acted in concert
with over 30 other nations.
Remnants of the
old regime remain to be defeated. They cause us casualties on a
regular basis. They are attacking our troops, troops who are
there to restore peace to a people who desperately want peace.
All they want is a chance to rebuild their own country --- a
country that will be based on democracy, a country that will
have a desire to live in peace with its neighbors. The remnants
of this old regime, the terrorists that are moving in, are
murdering their fellow Iraqis.
But let there
be no doubt about the outcome. The defeat of those remnants is
certain. So is the defeat of terrorists from abroad who are
coming to Iraq to visit their hatred and fear of progress on
the Iraqi people and those who are trying to help them. We will
find them wherever they are. And they will be destroyed.
In the
meantime, we're not just standing still. The work of
reconstruction goes on. The Coalition Provisional Authority,
under Ambassador Bremer, is working with the Iraqi Governing
Council to build a democracy. Groundwork is being laid for the
drafting of a new constitution. Iraqis are taking on added
security responsibilities. Democratic town councils are being
formed. And we are working as hard and fast as we can to
prepare Iraqis to resume full sovereignty over their
country.
UN Resolution
1511, supporting our approach, was passed by the Security
Council unanimously last month. The recent $20 billion
supplemental passed by Congress, and the $13 billion pledged at
the Madrid conference just two weeks ago show that the
international community, so fractured over the issue of going
to war, is now coming together to build the peace. This is as
it should be, and as it must be for, ultimately, the form of an
Iraqi government must be acceptable to Iraqis, to Iraq's
neighbors and to the international community at large.
There is no
question that we are being tested in Iraq. We're being tested
politically as well as militarily. It is a test that we must
and will win. We will win. Of that, there is absolutely no
doubt in my mind.
Afghanistan and
Iraq are two theaters in the global war on terrorism. President
Bush said after 9/11 that this would be a long, difficult and
costly war. For the sake of civilization, and for our own
security, we must have the patience, we must have the
determination to stay the course and pay the price in the
certain knowledge that we are doing the right thing. History
will be our judge, and we are already sure of history's
verdict.
Our success in
Afghanistan and Iraq will fundamentally reshape those two
connected regions. Afghanistan can become an example to the
nations of Central Asia, and Iraq can become a model for the
Arab world and the entire Middle East.
Why shouldn't
they be? Why should the sweep of democracy and freedom be
denied to those nations who would so benefit from joining the
sweep of history?
As President
Bush said last week at the National Endowment for Democracy,
"The advance of freedom is the calling of our
timeÖOur generation has witnessed the swiftest advance of
freedom in the 2,500 year history of democracy." And that
advance shows no signs of stopping.
I see that
advance of freedom every day as I go about my work as Secretary
of State. It is a joy to sit in my office and meet with leaders
from countries who, just a few years ago, were imprisoned
behind an Iron Curtain or were under some form of dictatorship
in other parts of the world. They now all come and visit me as
representatives of free nations, asking for partnership, asking
for partnership and help in embedding forever in their
societies the concepts of freedom, democracy, human rights and
market economies. Why do they do that? Why do they come and
talk about these issues? Because they learned that these are
the values that are going to work in the 21st century.
Last week, I
visited Panama and Nicaragua, two countries that 14 years ago,
when I was National Security Advisor to President Reagan, were
wallowing in dictatorship and despair. As Chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, I directed the invasion and liberation of
Panama. As National Security Advisor to President Reagan, I
supported the Contras and I got money for the Contras in
Nicaragua as they tried to overthrow the Sandinista regime.
Ironically,
when CCNY some years ago decided to award me an honorary
doctorate, it was done in my office at the Pentagon rather than
at commencement. The reason for that was a great concern over
student demonstrations against what we had done in Panama, the
invasion of Panama.
But last
Monday, almost 14 years after that invasion, I was warmly
welcomed in Panama City, welcomed by a democratically elected
president who was getting ready to give up office next year to
another democratically elected president. I stood on the
reviewing platform with President Moscoso to observe the parade
celebrating the 100th anniversary of Panamanian
Independence.
A few hours
later, I was in Managua, Nicaragua, and my reception by the
democratically elected government in Nicaragua was just as
warm. As I landed and my plane came to a halt, when I came out
of my plane, down to the bottom of the ramp, I stood there at
attention as a military band played the Star Spangled
Banner.
I hope to come
back here to CCNY at some time in the future. And I know that
there are young people across the street who are exercising
their right to demonstrate, and I admire them, I appreciate
that they have these feelings. But I hope that when I come at
some point in the future they will recognize that we have given
to two more countries the rights to have a democratic form of
government, market economies and a system founded on the basic
essentials of human rights.
Indeed, we have
no choice. History calls us to act on behalf of liberty and
freedom, and no one answers such calls like Americans. We
always have; we always will. We are answering it now. In his
speech last week, President Bush laid out a vision for the
whole Middle East. It is a speech that Ralph Bunche would have
understood, and he would have applauded.
The United
States has put forward a way of approaching the world that is
quite different, and Bunche would have understood this
perfectly. Ralph Bunche received his Nobel Peace Prize in 1950
for getting the Arabs and Israelis to reach an armistice
agreement in 1949. It was a dangerous assignment that he had.
His predecessor had been assassinated. It was difficult. He had
to persevere, to cajole, to shout, and to reason with others.
He needed to balance patience with persistence. But he did, and
he succeeded.
Over a half a
century later now, there's still violence, regrettably,
especially between Israelis and Palestinians. American
diplomats are still at work trying to stop it.
The United
States has put forward a roadmap that can break the spiral of
fear and revenge and hatred. That roadmap can put the parties
on a path leading to a Palestinian state, living in peace with
Israel and all its neighbors. I hope that the new Palestinian
government will act to end terrorism, the terrorism that erupts
in its midst, end that terrorism so that we can press both
parties to march down this road to peace once and for all.
But the
President's vision goes beyond just this conflict between the
Israelis and Palestinians. It goes beyond the efforts we are
exerting with our many partners in Afghanistan and in Iraq.
It is a vision
of success, not just for Americans and global security, but for
the peoples of the Middle East, and of the entire world. That
vision is about justice. It is about prosperity. It is about
freedom. And it is about, above all, peace.
But what do we
mean, more specifically, by success --- and how are we going to
achieve it? Let me start explaining it this way.
We have helped
to free the peoples of Afghanistan and Iraq from the tyrannies
that held them down. But even more important, is what we want
to free them, and their neighbors, for. We want to help Middle
Eastern nations and other nations to prosper, to be
independent, and to be free, just as we're doing with Iraq and,
in Central Asia, Afghanistan --- to be free and thereby, with
that freedom, to enjoy the twin blessings of liberty and peace.
And they are indeed twins. For peace invariably comes to us on
the wings of liberty.
We want this
for its own sake, for the peoples of the Middle East, because
it is right and good. But we know these goals also to be in the
enlightened self-interest of the United States, its allies and
its friends.
We live in a
world that is becoming almost entirely seamless with regard to
security. There have always been failed and failing states. But
until fairly recently, the implications of tyrannies like those
of the Taliban and the Iraqi Baath Party were local or at most
regional.
The United
States, protected by two great oceans and blessed with
civilized and friendly neighbors, cared about such tyrannies
out of an obligation to our basic sense of humanity. But remote
political tragedies and the people who cause them did not
directly threaten America.
Now they do.
Such people cast their murderous shadow right here in New York
City on September 11, 2001. They cast it that same day on the
Pentagon and on a field in Pennsylvania.
Clearly, the
nature to the American people of the threats, the nature of the
threats to the American people, has changed. The main threat is
obvious, or should be. It is the potential for terrorist
methods to link up with the proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction. But if the threat is new, we also see new
opportunities, as well.
And those
opportunities are ultimately greater than the threats. The
essence of them is what the President spoke of last week: the
advance of freedom.
Just as the
economic ministers of the world have finally come to a
consensus on what works in the world of economic growth, so
political thinking and political leaders have come to a
consensus on what works in the world of governance. Democracy
works. Freedom works. Liberty works.
We cannot
persuade everyone on this planet that this is so overnight. It
requires of us a generational commitment. And it requires all
the tools of American statecraft, and the energies of the
American people in their private business activities, their
philanthropy, and in their prayers.
As the
President emphasized last week, there is nothing inherent in
Islam that is anti-democratic, that is anti-freedom.
Indeed, outside
of the Arab world, the majority of the world's 1.3 billion
Muslims live in countries with democratic or democratizing
governments, with the rule of law firmly established in
constitutional foundations.
This reality is
spreading. We see it every day. Jordan held historic elections
this past summer, building on work started by the late King
Hussein. His son, King Abdallah, is just as determined on the
issue of reform, and we are determined to help him as much as
we can.
As the
President noted last week, Qatar has a new constitution. In
Oman, the vote has been extended to all adult citizens. In
Bahrain, there is now a popularly elected parliament for the
first time ever. There is a multiparty political system taking
root in Yemen. Saudi Arabia is committed to the gradual
introduction of elections, starting at the local level.
Outside the
Arab world, too, we see change. The Iranian people want their
freedom back, of this there can be no doubt. They do not want
to banish Islam from their lives. Far from it. They want to be
free of those who have dragged the sacred garments of Islam
into the political gutter.
They have been
imprisoned for wanting this. They have been gagged for wanting
this. They have been intimidated and threatened for wanting
this. Some have already died for wanting this. And yet when
Shirin Ebadi returned home to Iran just a week or so ago, this
year's Nobel Peace Prize in her hands, tens of thousands of
Iranians came out to greet her.
We all know
what this means. Ralph Bunche certainly would have known what
it means. The hidebound clerics of Iran know what it means,
too. Should they be worried? Does morning follow night? They
should be.
President Bush
was exactly right to point out last week the rulers of non-
democratic societies in the Muslim world really have only two
choices: lead the way to democratic change, or be destroyed by
it, be left behind. For the sake of their own people, we hope
they choose well.
Why is all this
happening? Is it mainly because of public American and Western
pressure? No. Is it because we have given secret, threatening
orders to the rulers of these and other countries? No. Is it
because, by some strange coincidence, a large and growing group
of regional leaders have discovered the work of John Locke and
James Madison and Thomas Jefferson? Not likely.
It's because
the people of these and other countries in the Middle East, and
not just the Middle East, because they feel the bracing winds
of freedom on their faces. Dictators and despots can build
walls high enough to keep out armies, but not high enough to
keep those winds from blowing in.
Even those
without experience of genuine democratic and constitutional
government know in their bones what freedom is all about. They
know exactly what equality of opportunity is when they don't
have it. They have a deep appreciation of freedom of speech and
assembly, because they don't have it and they see the
consequences. They know what human dignity is, because Islam
exalts it and demands that it be respected, even when those who
rule in its name try to take that dignity away.
So reform is
welling up in the Arab and Muslims worlds. Every tear shed from
the oppression and injustice of decades is now collecting
together, building up an ocean of hope --- an ocean whose waves
are beginning to slap up against the wharfs of stagnation and
injustice.
Momentum for
reform is building not least among women and women's groups ---
a true barometer of positive change in the Muslim world. And
here the vanguard of change is Morocco, where King Mohammed
himself is taking the lead.
Indeed,
pressure for reform is growing from the Atlantic straight
across to the Indian Ocean, from the Straits of Gibraltar to
the Strait of Hormuz. And we hope that the example of a
successful and democratic Iraq will add to that pressure.
Liberty and
peace are coming to the Middle East, and we want to help that
process along. But how exactly to best go about it?
We know where
to begin. We take our bearing by recognizing the non-negotiable
demands of human dignity. The National Security Strategy of the
United States, put forward last September, lists eight such
demands of human dignity. They are our lodestone for strategy
as we approach the Middle East, and beyond.
Here they are:
The rule of law; limits on the absolute power of the state;
free speech; freedom of worship; equal justice; respect for
women; religious and ethnic tolerance; and respect for private
property.
These are nice
sounding words. They are words that move me every time I hear
them, and no matter how many times I hear them. But ladies and
gentlemen, they are not just words. They form the lodestone of
our policies, and we are executing these policies. Some
examples.
Last December
the President announced the Middle East Partnership Initiative,
a program to support educational, economic, legal and political
reform throughout the Arab world. Though still a new program,
this Partnership is already achieving impressive results.
Its Partnership
for Financial Excellence, for example, is helping banks provide
credit and financial services to medium and small private
enterprises. Success depends on, and demands, the rule of law
for this kind of activity.
Its Commercial
Law Development Program is providing technical assistance to
enhance the protection of property rights. We are building
respect for private property.
A few weeks
ago, we held our first regional forum on judicial reform in
Bahrain. At that forum, US Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day
O'Connor led a team of American jurists in a series of
workshops with the region's most senior judges and justice
ministry authorities, a workshop on issues such as human rights
and legal procedures. That's how we are promoting the concept
and the practice of equal justice before the law.
We have an
international visitors program for the Middle East devoted to
Women as Political Leaders. This builds capacity for government
and leadership in the region, and by so doing engineers respect
for women.
We have a
program, in partnership with the private sector here and
abroad, devoted to the Arabic Early Reading Program. That
program encourages independent reading, and with it independent
thinking and analysis. We thus encourage the energies that one
day will spring forth in free speech.
In Yemen, we
have begun a program to link high schools to their American
counterparts using the Internet. We are creating a
collaborative learning network to benefit both Yemeni and
American students.
And by doing so
we hope to engender respect for difference, for minorities, and
for freedom of worship among people of different religious
traditions.
We also seek a
free trade area with the Middle East, as the President
announced in May, an area that would stretch from Morocco to
Iraq, resting on the basic principle of free and open trade.
And as we work toward that goal, we are developing free trade
arrangements as the opportunities to do so come at hand.
We have a free
trade agreement already with Jordan, and in the fairly short
time it has been in force trade between Jordan has increased
exports to the United States, resulted in increased exports to
the United States six-fold. American companies have increased
exports to Jordan by more than 30 percent. Jobs have been
created both here and in Jordan.
Deep economic
reforms in Jordan set the stage for that agreement, showing yet
again how economic reform and freer trade work hand-in-hand.
Free trade, and the reforms that are prerequisite to it, thus
encourage the growth of civil society, and that growth of civil
society, in turns, places limits on the absolute authority of
the state.
We hope to
replicate the pattern we have set with Jordan with Morocco,
Bahrain, and other countries as well. And not just in the
Middle East. We seek a freer trade and investment climate all
around the world.
In February,
too, the President announced the birth of the Millennium
Challenge Account, a revolutionary change in how we go about
stimulating economic development in the world's poorer
countries. The MCA, as we call it, takes the form of a contract
based on the genius of the free market itself. It is not a
charity account but an incentive system for building good
governance. Create good governance, good economic and political
governance, give your people the tools for their own
prosperity, and we will support you generously.
You're not
eligible for MCA money because you are not yet on a firm
foundation of democracy and human rights? Come talk to us. We
will help you. We will show you how to become eligible for
these funds.
The MCA applies
very much to the Arab world, to the Middle East, and to the
developing world beyond. We do all this so that the enormous
potential of the Middle East --- I am talking about people, not
natural resources --- so that enormous potential will not be
frustrated and wasted.
As the
President said last week, "The prosperity and social
vitality and technological progress of a people are directly
determined by the extent of their liberty. Freedom honors and
unleashes human creativity --- and creativity determines the
strength and wealth of nations."
The President
is exactly right. Economic and political reform cannot be
imposed. It must come from within, from the people themselves
freely using tools of their own prosperity. Liberty must be
earned. But the friends of liberty can make a loan, so to
speak. A loan of experience. A loan of encouragement.
A loan of
money, too. The MCA, if fully funded by the Congress, will
represent the largest increase in US aid since the Marshall
Plan --- indeed, it is even bigger than the Marshall Plan.
We're not
literally providing loans with the MCA, but grants. We're
giving the money away. But we'll get every penny back and more.
The dividends will be in dollars in the form of expanded trade.
But the dividends will also come in the form of the stability
and peace that economic development ultimately encourages, in
the Middle East and will also encourage elsewhere. For us, for
our own security, that's far more important than just a
monetary return on investment.
We've made a
good start. But we're still building our policies as
appropriate to opportunities as they arise. It will take time.
It will not be easy. But we will not stop until we have helped
the nations of the Middle East each go through their democratic
revolution, their democratic process.
We will not
stop because we are inspired by Ralph Bunche. Ralph Bunche
never stopped either. He could have just stayed a scholar, or
just dedicated himself to educating others. That would've been
fine, particularly at a time when so many doors were still
closed to him. Everybody would have understood if that's all he
did. But he refused to be limited. He went on to serve his
country with great distinction as a high State Department
official.
I can't help
but get a little personal at this point when I think about
Ralph Bunche, when I think about the State Department I am
privileged to command. To think of the doors that were closed
to men of genius like Ralph Bunche. And I think about that and
I think about those days, and I think about the great waste of
human talent that was caused by prejudice, intolerance and
injustice. From the block long balcony on the eighth floor of
the State Department, I can walk along and I can look over that
balcony and see the most incredible view of downtown
Washington. Close by I can see the Lincoln Memorial, where
Daniel Chester French and George Ellis had that remarkable
conversation back in 1909.
And I can look
across the Potomac River and see Virginia. I can see the Custis-
Lee mansion above the row of crosses in Arlington National
Cemetery. I can see other memorials. I can see houses,
apartment buildings, parks and roadways. It looks quite
idyllic, and it surely looked that way when Ralph Bunche worked
in the State Department. But do you younger members of this
audience tonight realize that for a decade and half after Ralph
Bunche won the Nobel Peace Prize, that place across the Potomac
that I can see from my office, that state Virginia that Ralph
Bunche could also see in those days, was still horribly
racially segregated?
There are
members of my staff still in their early 50s who grew up over
there, who, as I do, remember the two drinking fountains and
the three bathrooms at their neighborhood drug store's lunch
counter.
Ralph Bunche
lived in that time. It is not ancient history to me. It is
still of my generation. He overcome all such obstacles. So many
of us did. And now those obstacles, for the most part, have
gone away. There are other obstacles that are there, but those
obstacles are gone. But think of how many men and women of
great talent weren't given the chance to overcome. They
couldn't. Think of the terrible waste.
Ladies and
gentlemen, the forms of social prejudice, intolerance and
injustice that still pervade many societies in the Middle East
and other places around the world are different in their
history, different in their nature, different in their
appearance from the crisis of intolerance that marked the days
of segregation in this country. But prejudice, intolerance and
injustice always have the same effect in the end.
Prejudice
destroys human dignity. Intolerance destroys social peace.
Injustice destroys hope. All three plant the seeds of fear,
resentment and violence. All three destroy the future.
Ralph Bunche
refused to give in to such a fate. And he worked his whole life
to make sure others didn't have to give in either. We must
refuse to give in, as well.
We too must
work to change fate --- not just the fate of others, in the
Middle East and elsewhere. But through them we'll change our
own fate, our own future, for the better, as well.
Yes, Ralph
Bunche could have been satisfied with being a high State
Department official, but he wasn't. He went on to be a champion
of civil rights, and of human rights in his service to the
United Nations.
In the mission
to spread liberty and peace to the Middle East, we can take a
valuable lesson from Dr. Bunche.
Are there
dangers? Yes, but that won't stop us. Is it difficult? Very
difficult, but that won't deter us. Will we too have to
persevere, cajole, shout, and reason with others? You can bet
on it. Will we have to balance patience with persistence? No
doubt. Will we too succeed? The answer is a resounding yes.
After winning
the Nobel Prize, Dr. Bunche could have retired to a life of
lecturing and teaching. But instead he helped lead the civil
rights movement along with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and he
went back to work for the United Nations as Under Secretary for
Special Political Affairs and then Under Secretary General.
Ralph Bunche,
throughout that long, distinguished career of his, never
stopped trying to help others, never stopped serving others.
That's what made him happy. The harder he worked, the happier
he became. And he worked up until the day he died.
And so, CCNY
family, and especially CCNY students, who I would like to say a
special word to, you want to be happy? It's no secret how to do
it. Happiness cannot be achieved solely by amassing possessions
or power. Real happiness is a by-product of serving others.
So, my young
friends, just look around you in this city. In this country. In
this Middle East. In this whole big, beautiful, but unfinished
world. A lot of people need you. Lots of work needs to be done.
Liberty's work. Freedom's work. Noble work.
Do that work,
serve others by it, and you'll be happier than you can imagine.
Maybe as happy as Ralph Bunche was when he was helping others.
Maybe as happy, in my own smaller way, as I am. Thank you all,
very much, and thank you, CCNY.
Also in this
section:
Leis, Decentralization and
citizen participation
Gore, Freedom and
security
Powell, Ralph Bunche's
legacy and US foreign policy
Nader, Heightened awareness
of the marine environment
Girvan, Caribbean ties to
Central America's Atlantic side
Jackson, Systemic meltdown?
