[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 24 (Monday, June 21, 1999)]
[Pages 1111-1113]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
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

[[Page 1112]]

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 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

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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? 
[Applause]
    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 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; soprano Jessye Norman; Representative Julia 
Carson and Senator Spencer Abraham, who sponsored the act to authorize 
award of the medal, Public Law 106-26; artist Artis Lane, who submitted 
the design for the medal; and Minnijean Brown Trickey and
Jefferson Thomas, members of the Little Rock Nine, students who 
integrated Central High School in Little Rock, AR, in 1957.