[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 3 (Monday, January 23, 2006)]
[Pages 76-77]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at Georgetown University's ``Let Freedom Ring'' Celebration

January 16, 2006

    Thank you all. Thanks for the kind introduction, and thanks for the 
invitation to be here. It's an honor to join you on this national 
holiday celebrating one of America's most important lives: Martin Luther 
King, Jr.
    Every year on this day, we reflect on the great movement for civil 
rights that transformed our country. We remember leaders like Rosa 
Parks, who today is being honored with the John Thompson, Jr., Legacy of 
a Dream Award. And we recommit ourselves to working for the dream that 
Martin Luther King gave his life for: an America where the dignity of 
every person is respected; where people are judged not by the color of 
their skin--by the content of their character; and where the hope of a 
better tomorrow is in every neighborhood in this country.
    I'm sorry Laura is not with me. She's leading a delegation to 
Liberia for the swearing-in of President Johnson Sirleaf, who, by the 
way, is the first elected woman President on the Continent of Africa.
    I want to thank Dr. DeGioia and the good folks at Georgetown 
University. I want to thank the members of my Cabinet who are here. By 
the way, Condoleezza Rice is not here, because she's with Laura. 
[Laughter] I want to thank Majority Leader Bill Frist and his wife, 
Karyn, other Members of Congress who are here. I appreciate Bruce 
Gordon, the president of the NAACP, for his strong leadership.
    It is such an honor always to be in the presence of Dorothy Height. 
And I want to thank Tiffany Thompson for being here to represent her 
good dad--wondering where your brother was. [Laughter] DeGioia hired 
him, and he's working. [Laughter] Thank you all for being here.
    When our Founders declared America's independence, they invoked the 
self-evident truth that all men are created equal. Our Constitution was 
written to put the principles of a free and equal society into practice. 
It is a living document. It required amendment to make sure that promise 
was fulfilled, amendments like the abolishment of slavery, the guarantee 
of equal protection, and the right to vote for all Americans. Dr. King 
called these documents America's great ``Charters of Freedom,'' and he 
continued to trust in their power even when the practice of America did 
not live up to their promise.
    As children of the South, Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks both 
came to the civil rights movement with long personal experience of the 
evils of discrimination and segregation. Dr. King called the daily 
humiliations endured by black Americans ``the jangling discords of our 
Nation.'' And Rosa Parks famously experienced it when that bus driver 
had her arrested for refusing his order to give up her seat to a white 
man.
    But Mrs. Parks and Dr. King shared a deep belief in a hopeful 
future. They strongly believed that segregation could not stand once it 
was held up to the light in all its ugliness. And because of their 
spirit and their work, the cruelty and humiliation of Jim Crow is a 
thing of the past.
    As well, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mrs. Parks' faith in the 
future reflected their faith

[[Page 77]]

in a Higher Being. Martin Luther King and Mrs. Parks both believed that 
the answer to hate and discrimination was love. Dr. King once wrote, 
``It is quite easy for me to think of a God of love, mainly because I 
grew up in a family where love was central and where lovely 
relationships were ever-present.'' Mrs. Parks was a devout member all 
her life of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and a woman who saw 
the face of God in every human being. These two leaders knew that 
freedom was not a grant of government but a gift from the Author of All 
Life.
    So when they made their appeal to equal rights, they aimed straight 
for America's soul, and they roused the dozing conscience of a 
complacent nation. By calling us to be true to our founding promise of 
equality, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mrs. Parks helped African 
Americans gain their God-given rights.
    As leaders, Martin Luther King and Mrs. Parks believed their calling 
was to be involved, to be active, to work for change. Long before Mrs. 
Parks refused to move from her bus seat, she'd been active in community 
efforts to advance opportunities for African Americans and to register 
them to vote.
    At the dawn of this new century, America can be proud of the 
progress we have made toward equality, but we all must recognize we have 
more to do. The reason to honor Martin Luther King is to remember his 
strength of character and his leadership but also to remember the 
remaining work. The reason to honor Mrs. Parks is not only to pay homage 
to her strength of character but to remember the ideal of active 
citizenship. Active citizens in the 1960s struggled hard to convince 
Congress to pass civil rights legislation that ensured the rights of 
all, including the right to vote. And Congress must renew the Voting 
Rights Act of 1965.
    Martin Luther King did not live to celebrate his 40th birthday. Yet 
in the short time he walked upon this earth, he preached that all the 
powers of evil are ultimately no match for one individual armed with 
eternal truths. And one evening, on a bus ride home from work, a tired 
but brave woman named Rosa Parks proved that Dr. King was right.
    And so today we honor Dr. Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks. We ask 
for God's blessings on their legacy, and we ask for God's blessings on 
our great Nation.
    Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 3:50 p.m. at the John F. Kennedy Center for 
the Performing Arts. In his remarks, he referred to President Ellen 
Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia; John J. DeGioia, president, Georgetown 
University; civil rights leader Dorothy I. Height; and former Georgetown 
University head men's basketball coach, John Thompson, Jr., and his 
daughter Tiffany and son John Thompson III.