    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book I)]
    [May 17, 2002]
    [Pages 818-821]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on the Observance of Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month
    May 17, 2002

        The President. Elaine, thank you very
    much. Welcome to your house--[laughter]--the White House. I want you to
    know, Norm, I welcome Republicans, Democrats--[laughter]--people who
    don't care--[laughter]--all Americans. You're welcome here. I am honored
    to welcome you. I didn't realize you sponsored the legislation that my
    dad--we call him ``number 41''--signed, which permanently made the
    celebration of Asian and Pacific American culture a month-long event.
    And that's what we're honoring today.
        I'm so proud to be the President of a diverse nation, a nation with
    13 million Americans of Asian or Pacific Island heritage. What a great
    country, to welcome such diversity. Whether you're here by birth, or
    whether you're in America by choice, you contribute to the vitality of
    our life. And for that, we are grateful.
        I also appreciate service to our Government and our country. I
    picked two fabulous members of my Cabinet from Asian Pacific
    backgrounds. You've seen them both. One lady
    who wasn't born in America, yet because of the dreams of her mother and
    father and because our country can be a welcoming country, was able to
    get a good education, and here she sits in the Cabinet of the President
    of the United States.
        Another man, a man not of the same
    political party as I am but a man who loves his country just as much as
    I do, a person who, as a young boy, was interned in a camp for Japanese
    Americans on our own soil--a moment that is not a good chapter in our
    history--and yet had the courage to fight for change and for the dignity
    of every American, and now sits in the Cabinet of the President of the
    United States. I am fortunate to have them in my Cabinet. I appreciate
    their advice, and I appreciate the great job they're doing on behalf of
    all Americans--all Americans.
        I want to thank Senator Inouye for
    being here. He's one of the fine distinguished Members of the United
    States Senate. He's an ally when it comes to defending our Nation. He
    understands what it means to serve your country and be prepared for the
    defense of America. Senator, you're doing a great job. Thank you for
    coming. I also want to thank Congressman David Wu
    from Oregon for being here as well.
        I want to thank Delegate
    Faleomavaega. [Laughter] Did I even come close? [Laughter] Well, at
    least I gave it my best shot, Eni. [Laughter] How about just Eni? Thank
    you for coming from the American Samoa.
        We've got friends of ours from Guam, the Guam Senate: Senate Leader
    Edward Calvo and the House Speaker, Tony
    Unpingco. Thank you all for coming. I'm
    honored you both are here. You are welcome.
        I want to thank Susan Allen, the president
    of the U.S. Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce. Thank you, Susan,
    it's great to see you again.
        Richard, I want to thank you for
    filling this room and the whole house with incredible music. Man, what a
    talent. And I appreciate you sharing it with us. You help make a special
    day more special. And Lisa, thank you for bringing
    your beauty here. [Laughter]
        I'm looking around for Dat Nguyen. Is he
    here? He's supposed to be here.
        Audience members. [Inaudible]
        The President. Yes, he's a Texan. [Laughter]
    He's a mighty Texas A&M Aggie, middle linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys,
    came from a Vietnamese family. He's a great story, and I just wish
    they'd win a couple more games. [Laughter]
        I want to thank John Tsu, the Chairman of the
    White House Initiative on Asian

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    Americans and Pacific Islanders. John, thank you very much, and Russell
    Wong, a great actor, for being here as well.
    And welcome to you all.
        The history of Asian Pacific Americans is really a history of great
    patriotism, people who were willing to sacrifice. Incredibly enough,
    Asian Pacific Americans fought in the Civil War and, of course, World
    War II and the war on terror.
        It's a story of hard work. Many of you have had relatives who came
    here early, early on in our country, that worked the railroad, helped
    build the infrastructure necessary for America to grow. It's a story of
    great achievement and great success. I mean, look at our Olympic teams,
    Asian Americans on our Olympic teams, helping a unified country achieve
    in sports. It's a story of great business success, great cultural
    success. It's a story of influence on our society, scientific influence,
    architectural influence, music, art--significant contribution to our
    country. And for that, all of us are grateful.
        Sadly, one of the greatest contributions, Asian contributions to our
    Nation was destroyed on September 11th. The Twin Towers of the World
    Trade Center were designed by Seattle architect Minoru
    Yamasaki. He and his partners designed the
    towers. For 30 years, they stood as a testament to American ingenuity
    and prosperity. They served as a symbol--now, perhaps, as a symbol of a
    more innocent time.
        But for me, I can assure you, it's a reminder, a symbol, that we
    must never forget there are people in the world who hate what we stand
    for, people who can't stand the thought that a diverse nation can be a
    free nation, people who hate freedom, freedom of religion, freedom of
    thought, freedom of press. They can't stand it. And I can't stand the
    thought that they hate us, and we're going to run them down one by one
    to protect our homeland.
        They don't understand us. Mr. Senator,
    they just didn't understand us. They thought we were so weak and
    materialistic, we must not have believed in much, that all we'd do is
    kind of roll over and say, ``Well, that's just what happens, you know,''
    and go about our business. But that's not America. See, we defend our
    values and our freedom.
        We fight for peace, and I want you to know, I long for peace--that's
    my dream, for peace. But we also fight for values that we hold dear. We
    believe strongly in America that each person needs to be judged on his
    or her individual values, abilities, and talents, that each life has
    dignity--has dignity--each individual matters, no matter where you're
    from, no matter how you were raised. That's what we fight for.
        And as we fight for a safer world and a peaceful world, we've got to
    work for a better world here in America. One of the great traditions in
    our Asian communities is the understanding and love for education. It's
    amazing how well and how hard Asian youth work in school to get ahead.
    It is an unbelievably good example for all of us. Educational excellence
    must be the standard for every child in America. Access to good
    education must be the goal for every single child. In order to have a
    better tomorrow, we've got to continually work to make sure that every
    child gets educated--I mean every child.
        In order to make sure there is a better tomorrow, we've got to make
    sure the entrepreneurial flame continues to shine brightly in America,
    that we're known as entrepreneurial heaven. I was pleased to see that
    there are nearly a million small businesses in America owned by Asian
    Pacific Americans. That's a lot. That's good news for our country. It
    means that people are willing to take risk and own their own business,
    which is a powerful part of the American experience. The role of
    Government's never to create wealth; it's to create an environment in
    which anybody from any background who's got a good idea can work and
    achieve the dream of owning your own business--and therefore, by the
    way, employing more people.

    [[Page 820]]

        Talked about the tax cuts--Elaine talked
    about the tax relief. I viewed the tax relief that we passed as an
    incredibly important part of small business formation. Most small
    businesses are not incorporated; they pay income tax at the personal tax
    level. And therefore, when you reduce the personal income taxes, you
    help small businesses all across America.
        As you know, we're working hard to make sure our homeland is more
    secure. The best way to make--the best defense is a good offense, no
    question about that. But you need to also understand that I'm mindful of
    American traditions, and as we work to make our borders more secure, for
    example, people will be treated fairly. Our INS must do a much better
    job of identifying who's coming into our country and why, but they've
    also got to do a better job of processing paperwork. It's inexcusable,
    the endless delays of paperwork that really do make it hard for families
    to function and to stay together.
        I'm a strong believer that our Nation must pass what they call
    245(i), immigration reform which will allow families to stay together.
    People who are here and applying for different paper shouldn't have to
    go back to their country and then come back if one of the members is
    here legally with cards. It just doesn't make any sense. We need to be
    mindful of the dignity of each person in our country. And I know we can
    achieve that goal--good homeland security, better border control--and at
    the same time treating people with respect who are here in our land.
        I also very much appreciate the bridge that our Asian Pacific
    community provides America to an incredibly important part of the world.
    And those are the nations of the Pacific. I spent some time there, and I
    gave a speech in China and Japan and South Korea where I said, ``This is
    going to be the Pacific century.'' And I believe that. We are a Pacific
    nation, America. We've got a lot of incredibly important ties with China
    and Japan, Korea, the Philippines; all the nations represented in this
    room are an incredibly important part of our future.
        We've got to work on trade issues, issues that open up trade between
    our respective nations, so that we're able to better exchange goods and
    services. That's to the benefit of not only workers here in America, of
    course; it's also to the benefit of workers in countries with whom we
    trade. We've got to continue dialog; we've got to make sure that we work
    closely together to promote peace, to fight off this scourge called
    terror.
        And the Asian Pacific Americans of our country make those ties
    incredibly important. Not only do you help Americans understand the
    cultures in the countries, you, yourself, by your presence, export
    American values so that those countries understand us better.
        And so it's my honor to welcome you all to this magnificent house,
    to welcome your contributions to the greatest land on the face of the
    Earth, to tell you how proud I am to be the President of a diverse
    nation in which people make contributions, all kinds of fantastic
    contributions, to let you know that as we fight, we do so with peace in
    our mind and that we do so to make the world a better place here at
    home.
        I often say that if you want to join in the war against terror, do
    some good. If you want to fight evil, love your neighbor like you'd like
    to be loved yourself. That's a universal call. That's a call that is
    exhibited in neighborhoods all throughout America. See, the great
    strength of our country really isn't in the halls of government, Senator
    and Congressmen; it's in the hearts and souls of our citizens. That's
    what makes our country unique and strong and vibrant, is the great
    citizens of America.
        And it's my honor to welcome such citizens to the White House. May
    God bless you all. And may God bless America.

    Note: The President spoke at 3:23 p.m. in the East Room at the White
    House. In his

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    remarks, he referred to Labor Secretary Elaine Chao; Commerce Secretary
    Norman Y. Mineta; and television personality Lisa Ling. The Asian/
    Pacific American Heritage Month proclamation of May 1 is listed in
    Appendix D at the end of this volume.