[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 38 (Monday, September 25, 2000)]
[Pages 2137-2139]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks to the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts

September 19, 2000

    Well, first of all, let me say thank you for the welcome. I thank 
the members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus who are here and other 
Members of Congress and the people from our administration who are here. 
I want to thank Jimmy Smits and Felix Sanchez. And I want to 
congratulate your honorees, Sara Martinez Tucker and the Hispanic 
Scholarship Fund for 25 years of service. I want to say a special word 
of appreciation to all the Latinos who have been part of our 
administration, including Maria Echaveste, Mickey Ibarra, Brian 
Barretto, Aida Alvarez, Bill Richardson, and all the others.
    Let me say, I'm sorry I'm not in proper attire tonight. [Laughter] 
But Jimmy Smits called me this afternoon, and I only had two other 
things I was supposed to do, and so he said I had to show. [Laughter] 
And I want you to know I am here in spite of the fact that Jimmy Smits 
called me. [Laughter] And I'll tell you why. If I have to hear Hillary 
say one more time, ``That is the best looking man I have ever seen,'' I 
think I will die.
    So, right before I was here, I went over to the Kennedy Center. And 
there's a magnificent event at the Kennedy Center that Kerry Kennedy 
Cuomo is having about her book on human rights activists, and artists 
from all over our country and human rights heroes from all over the 
world are over there tonight. And so, I went from there to a book party 
for my friend Paul Begala. And I'm on my way over here, and everybody 
wanted to know where I was going. And this NBC television reporter said, 
``Jimmy Smits, that's the best looking man I ever saw in my life.'' 
[Laughter]
    So, I said, ``Well, what can I tell you? I've been to war for 8 
years now, and I don't look very good anymore.'' [Laughter] He will 
never forgive me for embarrassing him like that. [Laughter]
    I want to say something seriously. Felix, I appreciate what you have 
done so much with this foundation. And I want to say, I made fun of 
Jimmy Smits tonight, but I want you to know that becoming a friend of 
his has been one of the real joys of being President. He has been so 
kind to my wife and to me, to our family. He's been to the White House 
many times, and he's always been there for a good cause. And I hope 
you'll forgive me for pulling your leg tonight, Jimmy, but I'll never 
forget you for being our friend. Thank you very much.
    I want to thank the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts for 
giving young people a chance. From the silver screen to the Broadway 
stage, kids with talent and dreams need a chance. That's what we've 
tried to do for 8 years now for all America's children. And the Vice 
President and I owe those of you who have done so much to help us do 
that a profound debt of gratitude, and I thank you.
    Tonight I came mostly just to do that, just to say thank you, for 
all you do for the arts, for all you do for the Hispanic community, and 
for all you've done to help America move forward in the last 8 years. We 
now have the lowest Hispanic unemployment rate we've ever recorded, the 
lowest Hispanic poverty rate in a generation, a million new homeowners 
in the last 6 years. The earned- income tax credit has been doubled, and 
it's lifted over a million Hispanics out of poverty. The minimum wage 
helped 1.6 million Hispanic workers, and it's time to raise it again and 
help more.
    The Hispanic Education Action Plan to encourage Hispanic youth to 
stay in school and go to college, along with our scholarship initiatives 
and other things, have contributed to the fact that the college-going 
rate among Hispanic young people is up over 50 percent in the last 7 
years. And--listen to this--a report which was issued last week said 
there has been a 500 percent increase in the number of Hispanic students 
taking advance placement courses in high school to prepare for college.
    Under the Vice President's leadership, we've reduced the 
naturalization backlog at INS. And under Aida Alvarez's leadership, 
loans to Hispanic entrepreneurs by the SBA have increased by 250 
percent.
    We have all been enriched by your work. And I know that because of 
your work, we'll have more great singers, more great writers, more great 
actors and actresses. I know we've

[[Page 2138]]

got a long way to go, too, because still Latino characters are only 
about 3 percent of those that appear on prime-time television. I just 
left Rita Moreno, and I told her that I enjoyed watching her as a nun on 
her television series. [Laughter] And we were laughing about it. And I 
think that you will see, if you keep working, though, more and more of 
our movies and our television shows and our Broadway shows reflecting 
the rich diversity of America.
    And that's the last point I want to make. I have said on many 
occasions, and I'll just say one more time tonight, that if I could have 
only one wish for America, believe it or not, it would not be for a 
continued unbroken economic prosperity. It would be that somehow we 
would find the wisdom to live together as brothers and sisters, to truly 
be one America across all the lines that divide us.
    And to--just sort of a little picture of how fast America has 
changed; you may see the advertisements today for--they're on television 
now--for Denzel Washington's new movie about the integration of T.C. 
Williams High School over in Alexandria, Virginia, and its football 
team, which occurred--what--almost 40 years ago, not such a long time 
ago once you've reached my age, anyway. [Laughter] Now, a little over 
three decades later, that high school is in a school district which has 
students from over 180 different racial and ethnic groups, parents 
speaking over 100 different native languages. It's the most diverse 
school district in America.
    And I think it's sort of fitting that this movie, coming out in the 
new millennium, talks about something that to most of these kids is 
ancient history, that we hope they'll never forget. But it's sobering to 
look at the profile of them and realize that they are both the great 
opportunity and the great challenge of the future: Can we figure out a 
way to give them all a world-class education, with all their diversity? 
Can we figure out a way to make sure that every single child, every 
family, every faith in America is profoundly proud of its roots, 
understands them, and yet believes deep in the core of being that our 
common humanity is even more important than our unique characteristics? 
These are very big questions.
    Not so long ago, a number of you in this room came to the White 
House for a showing of ``Mi Familia,'' the movie. Remember, you saw it; 
you were there. And so I was thinking about that tonight and feeling 
sort of nostalgic. And I think the central question that all of us have 
to ask ourselves, both within and beyond our borders now, is who is in 
our family anyway?
    There is an astonishing new book out, been out a few months, by a 
man named Robert Wright, called ``Non Zero,'' kind of a weird title 
unless you're familiar with game theory. But in game theory, a zero-sum 
game is one where, in order for one person to win, somebody has to lose. 
A non-zero-sum game is a game in which you can win, and the person 
you're playing with can win, as well. And the argument of the book is 
that, notwithstanding all the terrible things that happened in the 20th 
century--the abuses of science by the Nazis, the abuses of organization 
by the Communists, all the things that continue to be done in the name 
of religious or political purity--essentially, as societies grow more 
and more connected, and we become more interdependent, one with the 
other, we are forced to find more and more non-zero-sum solutions. That 
is, ways in which we can all win.
    And that's basically the message I've been trying to preach for 8 
years here, that everybody counts; everybody deserves a chance; we all 
do better when we help each other. We have to have an expanding idea of 
who is in our family. And we in the United States, because we're so 
blessed, have particular responsibilities to people not only within our 
borders who have been left behind but beyond our borders who otherwise 
will never catch up if we don't do our part, because we are all part of 
the same human family and because, actually, life is more and more a 
non-zero-sum game, so that the better they do, the better we'll do.
    Now, I believe, because of the history and culture, because of the 
pain and the promise of the Hispanic community in the United States, you 
are uniquely qualified to make sure America learns this lesson now.
    And so that's the last thing I'd like to say from the heart. You 
have made being President this last 8 years a joy. It has been an

[[Page 2139]]

honor for me to work with so many of you. If our country is better off 
because of anything I did, I am grateful. But all the best stuff is 
still out there if we can learn to preserve what is special about us and 
our clan, our tribe, and our faith, and do it while affirming our common 
humanity. Do that for America, and the best is still out there.
    Thank you, and God bless you.

Note: The President spoke at 9:50 p.m. at the Renaissance Mayflower 
Hotel. In his remarks, he referred to actor Jimmy Smits; Felix Sanchez, 
president and founder, National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts; Sara 
Martinez Tucker, president and chief executive officer, National 
Hispanic Scholarship Fund; and actress Rita Moreno. A tape was not 
available for verification of the content of these remarks.