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Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs
Remarks by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at the Naturalization Ceremony April 23, 2007
(12:18 p.m. EST) SECRETARY RICE: Thank you very much. Thank you, Emilio, for that wonderful introduction. I have to say that I had the great pleasure of working with Emilio when he worked for me at the National Security Council. And you're doing a fine job in your current work and you are yourself a very good example of why America continues to be a welcoming place for immigrants and a place that's strengthened by their presence and so thank you for your work. Thank you also to Greg and to Ray for being here. I'm just honored to be the first to have a chance to congratulate all of you on being Americans. You began your journey as American citizens in an auspicious year, for it was exactly 400 years ago in 1607 that the first settlers arrived on the shores of Virginia, weary and tired from the long travel, longing for deliverance, but filled with hope, the hope that they sought here in the New World. It was nothing less than the promise of a new beginning for humankind to the spectacular possibility that all individuals, regardless of their class or their background, could find redemption here in the New World away from the iniquities and the wants of the Old World and that instead, they might experience equality and justice and prosperity, and what President Lincoln would later call, “a new birth of freedom.” It was this dream that the first Americans enshrined in a place called Jamestown. The journey that began there was filled with great promise, but for many who arrived on those shores, and for some already here, the promise of the New World was long denied. Because you see, when the Founding Fathers spoke of “We, the People” they didn’t mean my ancestors. My ancestors and thousands others like them, were considered three-fifths of a man. But you see, the genius of America was not that it was perfect at birth. The genius was that our Founders, given their ability to recognize that all human beings, themselves included, were flawed and fallible creatures created institutions of government that would eventually help us to form a more perfect union. And so our Founders enshrined within our Constitution grand and enduring ideals -- individual liberty, equal dignity, inalienable rights, natural rights. This allowed future generations of Americans -- impatient patriots like Frederick Douglass, and Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King -- to work within our democratic institutions, and to lead our nation closer to that perfect union. This is a journey that goes on to this day, a journey whose end we will not see, but a journey to which all of you here now have the opportunity, indeed the responsibility, to contribute. America has never been united by blood or by birth or by soil. As President Bush has said, "We are bound by ideals that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests, and teach us what it means to be citizens. Every child must be taught these principles. Every citizen must uphold them. And every immigrant, by embracing these ideals, makes our country more, not less, American.” Today, we honor four such individuals, men and women, like you, who arrived in this country as strangers, who became citizens with the same oath that you have sworn and who, by their actions, have earned the honor that they will receive today, as “Outstanding Americans of Choice.” Indra Nooyi, whose journey to America began in India and continues to this day, as president and CEO of Pepsico, one of the world’s largest and most successful countries *. (Applause.) Farooq Kathwari, who departed his home in Kashmir, nearly forty years ago, and today serves as the chairman, president, and CEO of Ethan Allen Interiors, as well as a respected voice in international affairs. (Applause.) M.J. Khan, a native of Pakistan, now a citizen of Texas, who is an accomplished engineer, a successful businessman, a community leader, and a member of the Houston City Council. (Applause.) And of course, Dina Habib Powell, who as my Assistant Secretary of State for Education and Cultural Affairs, is helping America to connect to the peoples of the world, including those of her native Egypt. (Applause.) These individuals are an inspiration to all Americans, but perhaps especially to those of you who have sworn the Oath of Allegiance today. It is to you, in particular, our newest Americans, that I would like to leave one final idea. In a sense, America asks very little of you. You may speak, and think, and associate, and worship as you please. We ask only that you obey the laws, pay your taxes. But in a broader sense, America also asks everything of you. For if liberty is to be more than mere license, if we as a nation are truly to be “one out of many” then we must also look to our responsibilities: to treat one another with civility and fairness, to work together to protect this great land and the precious things that we hold in common, to honor and understand our nation’s past, so as to better navigate the present and to chart a better future and last but not least, to serve as a just and principled leader in the events beyond our borders. You have all come to America in search of different things, but from this day forth, you are now citizens of the world’s most powerful nation, and with that power comes a unique and special obligation – an obligation to be a partner to the millions of men and women in the world, especially the weakest and the least fortunate who now look to you as Americans to help them strive in their own nations for the enduring ideals of a New World: a safer life, a freer life, a life that is better for themselves and for their children. I would ask each of you, my fellow citizens, to reflect on what role you can play in this other American journey, our journey in the world. Because you see, America stands as a shining example that difference does not have to be a license to kill. Difference can be a source of strength. Because you know now that from today forward, it matters not that you are Ethiopian-American or Russian-American or Mexican-American or Korean-American, you are just American. And you know, too, that it did not matter from where you came, it matters where you're going. That is what it is to be essentially American. Congratulations to all of you. I wish you the best of luck. And now it's my pleasure to lead you in saying something that every schoolchild says, the Pledge of Allegiance. [The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.] Congratulations. (Applause.)
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