Governor Ridge Remarks from 2002 Sons of Italy Foundation Annual Gala
ADDRESS
BY GOV. TOM RIDGE
Sons of Italy Foundation Awards Gala
"Securing the American Dream"
Wednesday, May 22, 2002 / Washington, D.C.
Thank you, Sam. It is grand to be introduced in this town
by a living Washington monument!
I want to thank the Sons of Italy Foundation for giving me the opportunity to spend a little time with you this evening.
There was a very active Sons of Italy organization in my home community in Northwestern Pennsylvania, and I was very proud to be associated with the membership and spent many a wonderful evening as they, too, got together to pursue their favorite cause, educational scholarships for members of their community. So it's a great pleasure for me to join you tonight.
It's a pleasure to join the national organization in public celebration of the extraordinary work you do in support of medical research, disaster relief, scholarships and the preservation of your heritage and culture. You have truly earned the accolades that so many send your way, and I congratulate you for your extraordinary effort.
But as we celebrate your success tonight, you know that you obviously share the credit with the individuals that built the organization before you. You know that you don't stand alone.
The Sons of Italy and this country stand on the shoulders of those who came before us: our parents' generation, and their parents' generation the people who supported us through good times and tough times those who encouraged us and supported us to achieve the American Dream.
The Dream the promise of a better life in America the Dream that has attracted so many great people to our shores people who worked to make sure their children and their children's children would have every opportunity to benefit from America.
I suspect that you were blessed with parents and grandparents who sacrificed a little bit and did a little bit more so that their sons and daughters and their grandsons and -daughters could enjoy even more of America, more of its educational opportunity, more of its economic opportunity. So in many respects we all have shared in the American Dream, and shared in the work and sacrifice of previous generations.
I couldn't help but think coming over here this evening that as a Congressman, I went and visited a refugee camp in Hong Kong Harbor that was occupied by Vietnamese refugees. It is an interest that I've had because of the area that I've worked, I worked with a lot of Vietnamese soldiers, and so I've had an interest in the people and the culture.
There was a refugee camp in the middle of a piece of volcanic rock about an hour-and-a-half outside of Hong Kong. And on the day I arrived a fisherman had come in on this rickety old boat across the South China Sea. It's a pretty long sail, and he didn't have very much equipment, and he had a motor that probably sputtered out a couple of times. And basically, he brought some of his family members to this piece of volcanic rock.
And I asked the interpreter to ask the fisherman, why did you risk everything that you had? Why did you risk your life? Why did you leave everything that you had? Now he came from a dirt-poor world; there was nothing in our material world that we could relate to. But in his world it was absolutely everything he had, and in fact, he left that and he left some family members.
He pulled out a yellow piece of parchment; it was a letter that had been written to him; the son had written to the father and said, father, if you ever get a chance to break away, if you can find a way to come to America, take it. And he did.
And if you visit Ellis Island, there is a wonderful, wonderful exhibit there of suitcases. It's an extraordinary exhibit. And you stand there and you're mesmerized by the number, and you start dreaming, wondering who the family was, and what precious possessions did they take from Italy, from their home, and pack into that one suitcase because they probably didn't have room for many more, to bring to this country to rebuild their lives?
So as a country of immigrants, when we celebrate the heritage of one group, I think we celebrate the heritage of all groups, and we ultimately celebrate the heritage of this country. Because this country's been built on their backs and their sacrifice and their heroism and their courage. And I don't care if you're coming across the South China Sea in that rickety old boat, or across a horrible North Atlantic November or December storm in a freighter to get to this country, they did it, and we now all enjoy the benefit of that kind of sacrifice. The kind of sacrifice and the kind of contribution you recognize tonight with your honorees.
I had a chance to talk to Martin Maddaloni. Think of what he represents. You honor him, but you honor a group of men and women, artisans and artists and craftsmen and people who worked in our factories and in our mills. And they built cities and they built communities. They built this country and they also built lives.
And you think of celebrities that we recognize, but it's wonderful that you recognize Martin, people who built America. And we know the Tommy Lasordas and we know all these athletes, and we celebrate the public contributions of people like Geraldine Ferraro and Rudy Giuliani. There are so many reasons that as a community you can be proud of what these people have done.
But I wonder if you ever knew, ever heard of a Sgt. John Basilone?
(applause)
You understand who he is. So you've got hundreds of thousands of men and women who labor to build America, and you have hundreds of thousands of Italian-Americans who fought in wars to defend this freedom and defend the right to enjoy the Dream. For those of you who don't know, he's the only enlisted Marine in World War II to receive the nation's two highest military honors: the Navy Cross and the Congressional Medal of Honor. He died fighting on Iwo Jima. And he is still very much remembered today.
And again, when you celebrate him and what he contributed, you celebrate the hundreds of thousands of other citizen-soldiers of Italian-American ancestry that have contributed to the protection and defense of this country. I'm told that drill instructors at Camp Pendleton teach his name to new recruits, upholding him as an example of "honor, courage and commitment."
Like the good sergeant, I think we have a duty to put our honor, courage and commitment to good use in securing the homeland as well.
The decisions we make today as a country and as individuals will determine whether future generations will live in fear or live in freedom. The actions we take can help secure the American Dream for those who succeed us.
The world is just as dangerous today as it was on September 11th, if not more so. The global terrorist threat is just as real. The terrorists will not stop in their quest to take innocent lives and try to undermine and destroy our way of life. And the number one target for their "blessed terrorism," as it was so chillingly called [by Osama bin Laden], is America.
I'm reminded of what New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia said to his friend Rex Tugwell as America edged closer to war: "Rex, what shall we do? I can't stay here with the world falling to pieces." Shortly thereafter, he went to Washington as the first director of the Office of Civilian Defense.
I don't know, Sam, do you think he was called on to testify?
(laughter)
But if the threat is strong, our defense has become stronger.
In just over seven months that I've had the opportunity to serve my President and my country in this capacity, I have seen very positive changes firsthand, ladies and gentlemen, and they are very, very significant. Many people have taken to heart my suggestion that the only turf we should be worried about protecting and defending is the turf we stand on.
I've seen it in Washington, and I've seen it in state capitols and in cities. We've talked to mayors and we've talked to people in technology companies and national labs. And I just want to reassure you that not a day doesn't go by that literally hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Americans are working, not just at the federal level but everywhere around this country to strengthen our security and protect the freedoms and liberties that we enjoy.
[The threat] is a permanent condition to which we must permanently adapt. But it's most important to remember that we can adapt that we are adapting to this enduring vulnerability and that every American can do something about it. And organizations like yours are pointing the way.
Tonight you'll award $100,000 in scholarships to students who will undoubtedly be excellent students; they wouldn't be getting the scholarships if they weren't. But I suspect that because of your support they will also become community leaders, just as committed as you are to giving back to their communities.
And I suspect that perhaps in time they will have an opportunity to give back in another way through homeland security.
You know, the ability to dream and to realize the fruit of your labors in pursuit of those dreams are among this country's most precious gifts. And homeland security gives you the opportunity not just to do well with your gifts and talents, but to do good.
We need young people perhaps one of these students in the intelligence field who can speak foreign languages so we can become more aware of the threat. We need people in broadcasting and the arts, like Joe Mantegna, who can help not only communicate the threat to the American people, but perhaps more importantly communicate the ideals that make America such an extraordinary place. We need experts in science and technology who can detect the threat and help us protect ourselves against it. We need researchers and doctors, like Dr. Robert Gallo, who can save lives should the threat turn into reality.
Sgt. Basilone's generation saw remarkable and lasting achievements from the terrible conflict they had to endure. Achievements such as the world's first computer, our efforts to defeat polio, rockets that put man on the moon.
The President has asked me to look at America through the lens of security, to make it a safer country. But he has also told us to be alert to the ideas, investments and applications that might make us not only a safer country, but a better country, a healthier country, a stronger country...
® We can use our proposed $3.5 billion investment for first responders not only to help police and firefighters protect against terrorist threats, but to make your communities safer.
® We can use our investment in biodefense to help researchers like Dr. Gallo not only deal with the microbes of infectious disease that a terrorist might throw at us, but the microbes of infectious disease that Mother Nature brings to our families and communities every day.
® We can use technology to identify and capture the small number, the minuscule number of criminals and terrorists on our shores, and show America and the rest of the world that the vast number of immigrants are interested not in attacking America, but in sharing our Dream.
We are an open and a welcoming country. I gave a commencement address in Pittsburgh on Sunday, and the graduates hailed from more than 80 different countries! And we must remain an open and welcoming and trusting country.
Our openness and diversity are strengths, not vulnerabilities. Immigrants are the backbone of our society, and have been historically the engines of progress. So we must secure America without compromising the freedoms and the spirit of enterprise that helped define us as a nation.
So with your help, we will protect lives and our way of life without sacrificing either liberty or the pursuit of happiness. We will remain America.
One final thought: as we guard the American Dream, we must also guard against prejudice. Your forefathers and foremothers certainly experienced the physical and emotional pain associated with intolerance and discrimination. Follow the words of President Bush: "We are in a fight for our principles, and our first responsibility is to live by them. No one should be singled out for unfair treatment or unkind words because of their ethnic background or religious faith."
(applause)
Our shared duty as Americans is to make those words come to life.
The world was becoming smaller, for a variety of reasons, before 9-11. But now, even more it seems as if we are all neighbors. The generosity and sympathy Americans received after the attack were truly special. Think of the Buckingham Palace Guards playing the Star-Spangled Banner as we mourned and the Mayor of Rome offer[ing] to give up Rome's bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics if New York City wanted to have it.
So we mourned together. Now we must act together and overcome together, as citizens of the world.
I truly believe, because I've lived the experience, that the American Dream is more alive, more real, and more valued by freedom-loving people than ever before. This organization and your community of Italian-Americans have helped keep that Dream alive for decades and for generations. And we must work together and do our very best to guard that Dream for generations to come.
And with the focus of the Sons of Italy Foundation on community and service and young people, you have helped show us the way. I'm privileged and honored to have the opportunity to share in the celebration of your success, achievement and contributions tonight.
Thank you.
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