    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1999, Book I)]
    [June 15, 1999]
    [Pages 941-942]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 941]]

    Remarks Honoring Rosa Parks at the Congressional
    Gold Medal Award Ceremony
    June 15, 1999

        Thank you so much. Mr. Speaker, Mr.
    Gephardt, Senator Daschle, Representative Carson,
    Senator Abraham, Representative
    Clyburn, Representative Watts, to all the Members of the House and the Senate here, and
    those not here, who supported this resolution, I thank you for what you
    have done. Dr. Ogilvie, Dr. Ford, Reverend Jackson,
    members of the Cabinet and the civil rights community who are here, Dr.
    Height.
        I'd like to say a special word of welcome to two members of the
    Little Rock Nine who came here to honor Rosa Parks: Minnijean Brown
    Trickey and Robert Jefferson, welcome to you. I want to thank
    the Howard University Gospel Choir and the incomparable Jessye
    Norman for their wonderful, wonderful music.
        The previous speakers have spoken with great power, eloquence, and
    truth. In less than 200 days now, we will mark the end of another
    century. They have told you the story of one brave woman and the ripples
    of impact she had upon all the millions of people who lived in the
    United States. It is, in many ways, the quintessential story of the 20th
    century, a time with trials and tribulations which still, fundamentally,
    is the story of the triumph of freedom, of democracy over dictatorship,
    free enterprise over state socialism, of tolerance over bigotry.
        It was a fight waged on the beaches of Normandy, on the islands of
    the South Pacific, at Checkpoint Charlie, behind the Iron Curtain, and
    countless known and unknown, large and small villages across the globe;
    here, at home, a fight waged in classrooms, lunch counters, and on
    public buses in the segregated South. For us, what has always been at
    stake is whether we could keep moving on that stony road, closer to the
    ideals of our Founders, whether we really could be a country where we
    are all equal, not only endowed by our Creator with, but in fact living
    with, the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
        Forty-four years ago Rosa Parks reminded us all that we were a long
    way from those ideals, that for millions of Americans, our history was
    full of weary years, our sweet land of liberty bearing only bitter fruit
    and silent tears. And so she sat, anchored to that seat, as Dr. King
    said, ``by the accumulated indignities of days gone by and the countless
    aspirations of generations yet unborn.''
        Rosa Parks said, ``I didn't get on that bus to get arrested. I got
    on that bus to go home.'' [Laughter] In so many ways, Rosa Parks brought
    America home to our Founders' dream.
        You know, when we look across the history of the civil rights
    movement, we celebrate President Lincoln and the Congress of that era--
    for Constitutional amendments. We celebrate William Lloyd Garrison and
    Frederick Douglass. In our own period, we celebrate President Eisenhower
    and sending the troops to Little Rock, the commitment of John and Robert
    Kennedy, the magnificent legislative achievements of President Johnson
    and that Congress, reaching across party lines.
        But we know that in a funny way, people who have no position or
    money and have only the power of their courage and character are always
    there before the political leaders. We know that.
        When Rosa Parks got on that bus in Alabama, I was a 9-year-old boy,
    living in Arkansas, going to segregated schools, riding public buses
    every single day, where all the colored people sat in the back. My
    family got a television when I was 9 years old, just a few months before
    it became worldwide news that Mrs. Parks had gotten on the bus. I
    thought it was a pretty good deal and so did my friends. And we couldn't
    figure out anything we could do, since we couldn't even vote. So, we
    began to sit on the back of the bus when we got on. [Laughter]
        It seems like--I say this--now, this is a little thing. I say it
    only to say we must never, ever, when this ceremony is over, forget
    about the power of ordinary people to stand in the fire for the cause of
    human dignity and to touch the hearts of people that have almost turned
    to stone.
        I thank the Congress for honoring Rosa Parks. I was honored, Rosa,
    to give you the Medal of Freedom, and I was thrilled during the State of
    the Union Address when you got that enormous bipartisan ovation here.
    But remember, my fellow Americans, freedom's work is never

    [[Page 942]]

    done. There are still people who are discriminated against. There are
    still people--there are still people that because of their human
    condition are looked down on, derided, degraded, demeaned. And we should
    all remember the powerful example of this one citizen. And those of us
    with greater authority and power should attempt every day, in every way,
    to follow her lead.
        God bless you, Mrs. Parks, and God bless America.
        Now--[applause]--thank you. Now, I would like to--again, this is my
    errand for Congresswoman Carson and Senator
    Abraham and the Speaker and Mr. Gephardt and
    the other leaders here. I understand the actual medal has not been
    struck yet, but a ``gold line'' copy of the resolution that authorizes
    the medal has been struck, or prepared, for Mrs. Parks. And I'd like to
    ask all of you to look to my left, to your right, for a glimpse of the
    proposed design for the medal.
        Could we--Julia, why don't you go down there, and you and Spence
    can--[laughter]--wow, it's beautiful. Really beautiful, isn't it? Let's
    give a big hand to Artis Lane, who was the artist
    who prepared this. Didn't she do a wonderful job? [Applause]

    Note: The President spoke at 4:10 p.m. in the rotunda at the U.S.
    Capitol. In his remarks, he referred to Representative Julia Carson and
    Senator Spencer Abraham, sponsors of the legislation to authorize award
    of the medal, Public Law 106-26; Lloyd J. Ogilvie, Chaplain of the
    Senate; James David Ford, Chaplain of the House; civil rights leader
    Rev. Jesse Jackson; Dorothy Height, chairman of the board, National
    Council of Negro Women; Minnijean Brown Trickey and Jefferson Thomas,
    members of the Little Rock Nine, students who integrated Central High
    School in Little Rock, AR, in 1957; soprano Jessye Norman; and artist
    Artis Lane, who submitted the design for the medal.