    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book II)]
    [October 20, 1996]
    [Pages 1870-1872]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey
    October 20, 1996

        Thank you. Thank you so much, Reverend Carter, Reverend Thomas,
    Congressman Payne, Mr. Mayor, Mayor Collins, Congressman Torricelli.
        Ladies and gentlemen, first of all I'd like to say, you know, about
    this time of year people in our line of work are tired on Sunday
    morning. [Laughter] They hurt from head to toe. I'm not tired anymore.
    [Laughter] I thank the choir for its magnificent music. And I'm glad to
    see all of you out here in this historic church. Dionne Warwick, it's
    good to see you.
        Now, when Reverend Thomas said I lived in America's house and he
    made that remark about the White House--[laughter]--well, that got my
    attention. But I've tried to make it your house, too.
        I want to say a special word of thanks to this church for something
    else, and that is that the chief operating officer of our whole national
    campaign is a member of this church, Ted Carter, and he's here with me
    today. Ted, where are you? Stand up. Where's Ted? There he is, back
    there. He's a very modest person that has such an important job, but you
    raised him up right here. Congratulations.
        Ladies and gentlemen, the message we have already heard is the most
    important message

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    we will hear today. But when he was alive, President Kennedy used to say
    that we must always remember that here on Earth, God's work must be our
    own. And there are many questions before us now in this last
    Presidential election of the 20th century, and the first Presidential
    election of the 21st century. You know them all: Will we have more jobs;
    will we have better education; will we continue to expand health care;
    will we give the little children that came to the airport to visit me
    today a cleaner environment to grow up in, whether they're in the inner
    city or in small towns?
        But there are two great questions in which all others can be
    answered. The first is whether we're going to keep trying to go forward
    to build a bridge to the future together, a bridge that everybody can
    walk across, or are we going to say, ``You're on your own, New Hope; I
    hope you do well. I'll come back and see you every now and then''? Or
    are we going to say, ``No, no, no, we're all in this together; we're
    going forward together''? We have to decide that.
        The great British poet John Donne once said that ``No man is an
    island. Every man's death diminishes me. Never send to know for whom the
    bell tolls; it tolls for thee.'' We have to ask whether we believe that.
    I believe that. And I believe that all of us will be better when each of
    us has a chance to live up to our God-given capacity.
        I am glad that there are 10\1/2\ million more people working than
    there were 4 years ago, but I'm not glad that there are so many million
    who still want to work who don't have jobs. And I won't rest until they
    do. I'm glad that there are more educational opportunities than there
    were 4 years ago, but I'm sad that there are still so many children who
    don't have what they need in their schools and for their future. And so
    I say to you, this will be a better country if that bridge to the future
    is wide enough and strong enough for everybody to walk across. Our
    obligation is to help each other live up to what God meant us to be.
    That's our obligation.
        The second thing we have to do is to decide whether we think it is a
    blessing or a curse that we're all so different. That's really the
    meaning of the pastor's reference to the White House. [Laughter] You
    know, when Hillary and our daughter, Chelsea, and I went to open the
    Olympics in Atlanta, it was a wonderful thing. Maybe you saw it on
    television, where they're all walking out there and there were all these
    groups were going by, holding their flags, in their different uniforms.
    They were from 192 different nations and national groups. In our biggest
    county, Los Angeles County, in one county in America there are people
    from over 150 of those places. It used to be in America all the racial
    issues were black and white. Now, like everything else in life, it's
    hard to see black and white. That's another reason we need to show up in
    church, to be reminded what some things are.
        So there we have it. Now, you look at the whole world. Pick up the
    paper this morning. Where are they fighting and killing each other
    around the world? Where are they even killing each other's children
    because they're of different religions, different races, different
    ethnic groups, different tribal groups? Is it in the Middle East, is it
    in Bosnia--no more, thank God--is it in Rwanda and Burundi, where tribal
    battles led people to slaughter each other's children and parents, or
    Northern Ireland, where the Catholics and the Protestants still fight
    over what happened 600 years ago?
        And people say to me, why are you so upset because a few little
    churches burned in the South? Because I know that deep inside every
    heart there is a dark spot with a capacity to define ourselves and our
    lives not by who we are, as children of God, but by who we are not: Who
    can we look down on today, who can we feel better than today. It's a big
    issue in this country today. And everything I have said about every
    issue, whether it was affirmative action or immigration or education,
    has been driven by my vision that this country is blessed by God to have
    so many people in it from different places, different races, different
    religions, different points of view.
        We are living in a global society. It won't be very long before the
    children in Newark will be getting on computers and they will be able to
    research their papers when they're in high school out of libraries in
    Australia or Asia. The world is getting smaller. What better place to
    live than the greatest democracy in human history that has people from
    everywhere in it, when the only thing you have to do to be American is
    to say, ``I believe in the principles of the Constitution and the Bill
    of Rights. I will obey the law, and I will show up tomorrow for work.''
    That's the other big question.
        Now, whether it's me or Mr. Torricelli or Congressman Payne or the
    mayor or anybody

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    else, there's a thousand different issues. But the real question is, as
    we look toward that tomorrow of the 21st century, whether we're all
    going to go there together or just let those who already have it go
    there, and whether we believe that we still are one nation under God,
    even though we're one nation of many different faiths and religions and
    creeds and tribes and backgrounds. And if we make those two decisions
    right, everything else will come out all right. We'll make all the other
    decisions right.
        This preacher up here preached a message today. He doesn't have to
    tell you the answer to every question. He told you, ``You get the first
    question right, everything else will come out all right.''
        God bless you. On November 5th, be there. It is your responsibility.
    It is your responsibility. It is your responsibility.
        Thank you.

    Note: The President spoke at 12:32 p.m. In his remarks, he referred to
    Rev. Joe A. Carter, assistant pastor, New Hope Baptist Church; Rev.
    Vincent L. Thomas, pastor, First Gravel Hill Baptist Church, Smithfield,
    VA; Mayor Sharpe James of Newark; and singer Dionne Warwick. A tape was
    not available for verification of the content of these remarks.