[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 82 (Friday, June 24, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 24, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                     GALLAUDET: A NATIONAL TREASURE

                                 ______


                          HON. DAVID E. BONIOR

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, June 24, 1994

  Mr. BONIOR. Mr. Speaker, last month, President Clinton gave a 
stirring address for Gallaudet University's 125th commencement. As a 
trustee of Gallaudet, I was deeply moved by the President's words. I am 
honored to share a copy of his speech with my colleagues:

       The President: Thank you. Thank you so much for the warm 
     reception and for the honorary degree.
       I must tell you at the beginning that I have been deeply 
     moved by the wonderful statements of your students, Jeanette 
     and Andre. I think they have already said everything I could 
     hope to say as well or better. And I wish only that I could 
     say it to you in their language as well. (Applause.)
       I'm delighted to be here with Dr. Jordan, whom I have 
     admired so much; and Dr. Anderson, a native of my home state; 
     with my great friend and your champion, Senator Tom Harkin--
     (applause); with many Members of Congress, including Major 
     Owens, who will receive an honorary degree; Congressman David 
     Bonior; Congressman Steve Gunderson; and your own 
     representative in Congress, Eleanor Holmes Norton. 
     (Applause.)
       I honor, too, here the presence of those in the disability 
     rights community, the members of our own administration, but 
     most of all, you the class of 1994, your families and your 
     friends. You have come to this extraordinary moment in your 
     own life at a very special moment in the life of your country 
     and what it stands for.
       Everywhere, nations and peoples are struggling to move 
     toward the freedom and democracy that we take for granted 
     here. Our example is now over 200 years old, but it continue 
     to be a powerful magnet, pulling people toward those noble 
     goals. This week we all watched and wondered as a former 
     prisoner stood shoulder to shoulder with his former guards to 
     become a president of a free and democratic South Africa. 
     (Applause.)
       Yet, each day across the--from Bosnia to Rwanda and 
     Burundi, and here in America in neighborhood after 
     neighborhood, we wonder whether peace and progress will win 
     out over the divisions of race and ethnicity, of region and 
     religion, over the impulse of violence to conquer virtue. 
     Each day we are barraged in the news as mutual respect and 
     the bonds of civility are broken down a little more here at 
     home and around the world.
       It is not difficult to find in literature today many who 
     suggest that there are large numbers of your generation who 
     feel a sense of pessimism about the future. People in my 
     generation worry about that. They worry whether young people 
     will continue to try to change what is wrong, continue to 
     take responsibility for the hard work of renewing the 
     American community.
       I wish everyone who is worried about America could see your 
     faces today and could have heard your class speakers today. 
     Our whole history and our own experience in this lifetime 
     contradict the impulse to pessimism. For those who believe 
     that nothing can change I say, look at the experience of 
     Rabin and Arafat as the police representing the Palestinians 
     begin to move into Gaza and to Jericho. (Applause.)
       For those who proclaim there is no future for racial 
     harmony and no hope in our common humanity, I say look at the 
     experience of Mandela and de Klerk. For those who believe 
     that in the end people are so vulnerable to their own 
     weakness they will not have the courage to preserve democracy 
     and freedom, I say look to the south of our borders where 
     today of almost three dozen nations in Latin America, all but 
     two, are ruled by democratically-elected leaders. (Applause.)
       Here at home, with all of our terrible problems, for every 
     act of craven violence, there are 100 more acts of kindness 
     and courage. To be sure, the work of building opportunity and 
     community of maintaining freedom and renewing America's hope 
     in each and every generation is hard. And it requires of each 
     generation a real commitment to our values, to our 
     institutions and to our common destiny.
       The students of Gallaudet University who have struggled so 
     mightily, first for simple dignity and then for equal 
     opportunity--you have built yourselves and in the process, 
     you have built for the rest of us, your fellow citizens of 
     this country and the world, a much better world. You have re-
     given to all of us our hope. Gallaudet is a national 
     treasure.
       It is fitting, as Dr. Anderson said, that President Lincoln 
     granted your charter because he understood better than others 
     the sacrifices required to preserve a democracy under 
     diversity. And ultimately, Lincoln gave his life to the cause 
     of renewing our national rights. He signed your first charter 
     in the midst of the Civil War where he had the vision to see 
     not just farmland and a tiny school, but the fact that we 
     could use education to tear down the walls between us, to 
     touch and improve lives and lift the spirits of those who for 
     too long had been kept down.
       Over the years, pioneers have built Gallaudet--sustained by 
     generations of students and faculty, committed to the 
     richness and possibility of the deaf community, and the 
     fullness of the American Dream. This school stands for the 
     renewal that all America needs today.
       Lincoln's charter was an important law. But let me refer to 
     another great president to make an equally important point--
     that just as important as laws are the attitudes that animate 
     our approach to one another. The president that I'm referring 
     to is approach to one another. The president that I'm 
     referring to is your president, King Jordan. (Applause.) When 
     the Americans with Disabilities Act passed, he said--and I 
     quote--we now stand at the threshold of a new era for all 
     Americans--those of us with disabilities and those of us 
     without. He went on to say that in this pursuit, as in every 
     pursuit of democracy, our task is to reach out and to educate 
     each other about our possibilities, our capabilities and who 
     we are.
       I ran for President because I thought we were standing on 
     the threshold of a new era, just as President Jordan says. I 
     felt we were in danger of coming apart when we ought to be 
     coming together; of arguing too much about going left or 
     right, when we ought to be holding hands and going forward 
     into the future together.
       I grew weary of hearing people predict that my own 
     daughter's generation would be the first generation of 
     Americans to do less well than their parents. I was tired of 
     hearing people say that our country's best days were behind 
     us. I didn't believe it in 1992, and I sure don't believe it 
     after being here with you today.
       My responsibilities to you and your generation are 
     significant. That's why all of us have worked hard to restore 
     the economy, to reward work, to bring down the deficit, to 
     increase our trade with other nations, to create more jobs; 
     why we've worked to empower all Americans to compete and win 
     in a global economy through early education and lifetime 
     training and learning, through reforming the college loan 
     program, to open the doors of college to all Americans; why 
     we have worked to strengthen the family through the Family 
     and Medical Leave Act; why we have worked to create a safer 
     America with the Brady Bill, and the ban on assault weapons, 
     and putting more police on the street, and punishing and 
     preventing more crime as well. (Applause.)
       But I say to you that, in the end, America is a country 
     that has always been carried by its citizens, not its 
     government. The government is a partner, but the people, the 
     people realize the possibility of this country and ensure its 
     continuation from generation to generation.
       I think there is no better symbol of this than the program 
     which I hope will be the enduring legacy of our efforts to 
     rebuild the American community, the National Service Program. 
     Six Gallaudet students, including four members of this class, 
     will be part of our National Service Program, Americorps' 
     very first class of 20,000 volunteers. I am very proud of you 
     for giving something back to your country. (Applause.)
       By joining the Conversation Corps and committing yourselves 
     to rebuild our nation, by exercising your freedom and your 
     responsibility to give something back to your country and 
     earning something for education in return, you have embodied 
     the renewal that America must seek. As King Jordan reminded 
     us, government can make good laws, and we need them. But it 
     can't make good people. In the end, it's our values and our 
     attitudes that make the difference. Having those values and 
     attitudes and living by them is everyone's responsibility and 
     our great opportunity.
       Look at the changes which have occurred through that kind 
     of effort. Because previous generations refused to be denied 
     a place at the table simply because others thought they were 
     different, the world is now open to those of you who graduate 
     today. Most of you came here knowing you could be doctors, 
     entrepreneurs, software engineers, lawyers or cheerleaders. 
     (Laughter.)
       Because over the years, others spoke up for you and gave 
     you a chance to move up. And you have clearly done your part. 
     You have made a difference. You have believed in broadening 
     the unique world you share with each other by joining it to 
     the community at large and letting the rest of us in on your 
     richness, your hearts, your minds and your possibilities. For 
     that, we are all in your debt.
       Perhaps the greatest moment in the history of this 
     university occurred in 1988 when the community came together 
     and said, we will no longer accept the judgment of others 
     about our lives and leadership in this university--these are 
     our responsibilities and we accept the challenge. In days, 
     what was known as the ``Deaf President Now'' movement changed 
     the way our entire country looks at deaf people. The nation 
     watched as you organized and built a movement of conscience 
     unlike any other. You removed barriers of limited 
     expectations. And our nation saw that deaf people can do 
     anything hearing people can, but hear. (Applause.)
       That people's movement was a part of the American 
     disability rights movement. Just two months after King Jordan 
     took office, the Americans with Disabilities Act was 
     introduced with the leadership of many, including my friend, 
     Tom Harkin. In two years it became law, and proved once again 
     that the right cause can unite us. Over partisanship and 
     prejudice we can still come together.
       For the now more than 49 million Americans who are deaf or 
     disabled, the signing of the ADA was the most important legal 
     event in history. For almost a billion persons with 
     disabilities around the world it stands as a symbol of simple 
     justice and inalienable human rights.
       I believe that being deaf or having any disability is not 
     tragic, but the stereotypes attached to it are tragic. 
     Discrimination is tragic. (Applause.) Not getting a job or 
     having the chance to reach your God given potential because 
     someone else is handicapped by prejudice or fear is tragic. 
     It must not be tolerated because none of us can afford it. We 
     need each other, and we do not have a person to waste. 
     (Applause.)
       The ADA is part of the seamless web of civil rights that so 
     many have worked for so long to build in American--a constant 
     fabric wrapped in the hopes and aspirations of all right-
     thinking Americans. As your President I pledge to see that it 
     is fully implemented and aggressively enforced--in schools, 
     in the work place, in government, in public places. It is 
     time to move from exclusion to inclusion, from dependence to 
     independence, from paternalism to empowerment. (Applause.)
       I mention briefly now only two of the many tasks still 
     before me as your President, and you as citizens. Our health 
     care system today denies or discriminates in coverage against 
     81 million Americans who are part of families with what we 
     call preexisting conditions, including Americans with 
     disabilities. It must be changed. (Applause.) If we want to 
     open up the workplace, and if we are serious about giving 
     every American the chance to live up to his or her potential, 
     then we cannot discriminate against which workers get health 
     care and how much it costs. If you can do the job, you ought 
     to be able to get covered. It's as simple as that. 
     (Applause.)
       And that simple message is one I implore you to communicate 
     to the Congress. We have fooled around for 60 years. Your 
     time has come. You are ready. You are leaving this 
     university. You want a full, good life and you do not wish to 
     be discriminated against on health care grounds. Pass health 
     care reform in 1994. (Applause.)
       The last thing I wish to say that faces us today also 
     affects your future. The Vice President has worked very hard 
     on what is called the information superhighway. We know that 
     America is working hard to be the technological leader of the 
     information age. The technologies in which we are now 
     investing will open up vast new opportunities to all of our 
     people. But information, which will be education, which will 
     be employment, which will be income, which will be 
     possibility, most flow to all Americans on terms of equal 
     accessibility without regard to physical condition. And we 
     are committed to doing that. (Applause.)
       Finally, let me just say today a personal word. A few days 
     ago when we celebrated Mother's Day; it was my first Mother's 
     Day without my mother. And so I have been thinking about what 
     I should say to all of you, those of you who are lucky enough 
     still to have your parents and perhaps, some of you who do 
     not.
       On graduations, it is important for us to remember that 
     none of us ever achieves anything alone. I dare say as 
     difficult as your lives have been, you are here today not 
     only because of your own courage and your own effort, but 
     because someone loved you and believed in you and helped you 
     along the way. I hope today that you will thank them and love 
     them and, in so doing, remember that all across this country, 
     perhaps our biggest problem is that there are too many 
     children, most of who can hear just fine, who never hear the 
     kind of love and support that every person needs to do well. 
     And we must commit ourselves to giving that to those 
     children. (Applause.)
       So I say, there may be those who are pessimistic about our 
     future. And all of us should be realistic about our 
     challenges. I used to say that I still believed in a place 
     called Hope, the little town in which I was born. Today I 
     say, I know the future of this country will be in good hands 
     because of a place called Gallaudet. (Applause.)
       For 125 years, young people have believed in themselves, 
     their families, their country and their future with the 
     courage to dream and the willingness to work to realize those 
     dreams. You have inspired your President today and a 
     generation. And I say to you, good luck and Godspeed. 
     (Applause.)

                          ____________________