American Valor Quarterly Issue 10 - Summer 2013 | Page 18

www.presidentialinauguration.org

I was just a son of two immigrants
who came here on banana boats from
Jamaica in 1920 and 1924 and they
came here not because they wanted
to, but because there was hope and
opportunity in this great country that
they couldn’t find in Jamaica. They
married, raised two children: one a
soldier, one a teacher, and all they had
for us was expectations that we would
do better than them. I don’t think
we’ve ever done better than them
even though they lived very modest
lives. But the point I want to make is
that this is such a great country
because that story is not unique: it’s
repeated a zillion times. I saw it
yesterday with the fellows who came
to see me from CCNY 50 odd years
after I’d left: 80% minority, 50% of
them were born in another country,
50% came from somewhere else. Not
the children of immigrants: they are
immigrants. And you should see,
they’re like you. They’re as good as
you. They’re as qualified as you.
They’re hungry. They wanna do well
in this country of ours and they’ll be
allowed to do that. Wherever I go, I
give the message that this is a unique
place on the face of the Earth. We
don’t have to brag about it so much.
You know, the Bible says, “Let your
light so shine before you.” You don’t
have to shout it to the rooftops.
Everybody knows this a unique place,
a unique country. (sighs) People say,
“Well you know it’s not like it was a
few years ago. We’ve dropped down
in standing.” It’s not so much we’ve
dropped down in standing but a lot
of other nations have come up. That’s
good. I want to see nations come up
because when they come up they
bring people up out of poverty. So
hundreds of millions of people have
been brought out of poverty in the
last 20 years in China — in places all
over the world. More nations are under
democratic leadership than ever
before. Twenty odd years a