[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 30, Number 14 (Monday, April 11, 1994)]
[Pages 663-665]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's Radio Address

April 2, 1994

    Good morning. For my family, and I hope for yours as well, this is a 
time for reflection, renewal, and rededication. At the start of 
springtime, nature reminds us of new beginnings and forgotten beauty, 
and most Americans celebrate holy days of redemption and renewal, from 
the Christian Easter to the Jewish Passover to the Muslim Ramadan.
    Tomorrow on Easter Sunday, those of us who are Christians celebrate 
God's redemptive love as manifested in the life, the teachings, and the 
sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Easter 
symbolizes for us the ultimate victory of good over evil, hope over 
despair, and life over death.
    At this season, we're reminded that Americans are a people of many 
faiths. But most of all, we are a people of faith. The Bible I carry to 
church on Sunday says, ``Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the 
conviction of things unseen.'' America is a special nation because it is 
the product of that kind of faith in the future to which so many have 
held fast in spite of fearsome obstacles and great hardships. Always we 
have believed

[[Page 664]]

that we could do better, conquer injustice, climb new mountains, build a 
better life for ourselves and a future of infinite possibility for our 
children, always we have believed we can keep the promise we call 
America.
    Last Thursday I visited the Zamorano Fine Arts Academy, an 
outstanding public school in San Diego, to sign Goals 2000, the new 
education law which challenges all our schools and all our students to 
meet the highest standards of educational achievement by setting world-
class educational standards and promoting grassroots reforms to achieve 
them in every school for every student. That school reflects the 
marvelous diversity that is now America. The students there come from at 
least six different racial and ethnic groups. Like our Nation, they can 
trace their heritage to every continent, every country, every culture.
    As I thought of the parents, the students, and the teachers at that 
school, I couldn't help but believe that the things that make them 
different from each other are ultimately far less important than the 
things that bring them together: their love of learning, the joy they 
share in arts and athletics and family and friends, and their dreams of 
the future in which they can make the most of the gifts that God has 
give them.
    The greatness and glory of America is that we define ourselves not 
by where our families came from but by our common values, our common 
goals, our common sense, and our common decency. Two days from now, 
we'll honor the memory of a man of faith who stood for and struggled for 
what is best about America. On April 4th, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr., 
gave his life for every American's right to live and work in dignity. In 
his last Sunday morning sermon, one week before Easter, speaking in the 
National Cathedral in Washington, DC, 26 years ago, Dr. King reminded us 
that time is neutral, it can be used constructively or destructively. 
Dr. King used his time on Earth as well as anyone. He was only 39 when 
he died. He never held public office, but no one ever did more to redeem 
the promise or stir the soul of our Nation. In spite of unearned 
suffering, unreasoning hatred, and unprovoked violence, he never lost 
faith that he and we would overcome the frustrations and difficulties of 
the moment.
    A quarter century later, each of us faces the challenge to use our 
time creatively and constructively. For this is a time of historic, 
sometimes wrenching, social and economic and technological change. The 
fabric of our society has been strained by the hopelessness caused by 
the flight of jobs from too many of our communities and the fear and 
suspicion resulting from the epidemic of crime and violence, especially 
among our young people.
    And at this time of uncertainty, there are demagogs of division who 
would set us against one another. Too many powerful forces today seek to 
make money or even more power from our common misery, when what we most 
desperately need is to work together to solve the problems that plague 
us all and to build a stronger American community.
    There's much that we can do as a nation to prepare our people for 
these changes and to do better. We can, we must create more jobs, 
finally provide health care security for all our people, improve our 
education and training so that we can compete and win in this global 
economy, and make our people safer in their homes, their streets, and 
their schools. But we must also, each and every one of us, accept 
greater personal responsibility for ourselves and our families and 
extend a hand of friendship to our neighbors.
    We must raise our own children with responsibility and faith. We 
must reject those who would divide us by race or religion. We must 
always remember that, as Dr. King declared the night before he died, 
``Either we go up together, or we go down together.'' Essentially, all 
human condition can only be transformed by faith: faith in ourselves, 
faith in each other, faith that we can do better if we hold firm to the 
ultimate moral purpose in life, keep our eyes on the prize, and refuse 
to be dragged down.
    I have issued a proclamation asking Americans to observe this 
Monday, the anniversary of Dr. King's tragic assassination, as a day of 
reconciliation, a day when we look beyond hatred and division and commit 
ourselves anew to reducing crime and violence and bringing out the best 
in each other. Some

[[Page 665]]

Americans may use that day to teach their children about the meaning of 
the life and death of Dr. King and his legacy and lessons for our time. 
Others may answer the call of the organization he founded, the Southern 
Christian Leadership Conference, and turn on their automobile lights as 
part of a national day of witness against violence. Still others may 
make a commitment to work with their neighbors to keep their communities 
free from crime and drugs and guns.
    In our own lives, in our own way, this Monday and on every day of 
this year, let us rededicate ourselves to the spirit of Easter, of 
Passover, of Ramadan; to the mission of Martin Luther King; and to the 
common values that must make America a land of limitless hope and 
opportunity for all of our people for all time to come.

Note: The address was recorded at 2:15 p.m. on April 1 at a private 
residence in San Diego, CA, for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on April 2. A 
tape was not available for verification of the content of this address.