第1篇 威*王子在2019非法野生动物贸易会议招待英语演讲稿
your excellencies,ladies and gentlemen,
it's a great pleasure to be here tonight and it's incredibly encouraging to see such anunprecedented gathering of heads of government, ministers and experts from around theworld. and i'd like to particularly thank jackie chan again for his unwavering support of thisissue and for coming all this way tonight. i feel enormously grateful that you have asked meto address you – this room is full of people whom i admire immensely and i feel humbled to behere.
my father, the prince of wales, who will also be attending the london conference tomorrow, hasalways been a passionate advocate of wildlife conservation – as has my grandfather, theduke of edinburgh, who has championed the cause for decades. we are, as a family, sohonoured to be part of this movement. we will stay the course with you until you succeed.
tonight we are here with a single, shared purpose–to use our collective influence to put a stopto the illegal killing and trafficking of some of our world's most iconic and endangered species.
never before has a group like this come together – in these numbers – to stop the illegal tradein wildlife. all of us in this room have a duty to make sure that tomorrow, 13th february, is adate that marks the beginning of the end of this despicable trade.
the conference will bring together leaders from around the world who will pledge to reduceboth the supply and the demand driving this trade. let's not for a second underestimate howimportant this step is.
the illegal wildlife trade is now the 4th most lucrative transnational crime after drugs, armsand human trafficking. it is estimated to be worth between 10 and 20 billion dollars each year.some might imagine it is a crime without human victim, but over 1,000 rangers have beenkilled in the past 10 years. every week, another two rangers are murdered by poachers. there isalso evidence that poachers' activities are funding international terrorism.
the scale of the trade continues to increase dramatically and is becoming ever moresophisticated. poachers now operate in highly organized, international criminal gangs.technology is also being exploited for the sale of these goods, with illegal products openly andeasily available online.
but we need to believe in our ability to turn the tide. we need to tackle wildlife crime with aconcerted global response as vigorous and forceful as the trade itself. we need to setaside differences, speak with one voice and act as one global community. i am delighted thatthis is happening.
as president of united for wildlife, i am proud that seven of the world's largest field-basedorganisations, and my foundation, have taken the first steps to create a powerful globalalliance, addressing both demand and supply issues. united for wildlife recognises five specificareas which need to be addressed.
if i may, i will briefly list them:
first, we must strengthen protection for endangered species through the use ofsophisticated new technology, including gps trackers and drones.
secondly, by working with experts in marketing, youth leaders and policy makers, we can workto reduce the consumer demand for illegally traded products.
thirdly, legal systems are key to fighting wildlife crime. we need to support the judiciary andlocal authorities to combat trafficking, and to shine a spotlight on successful law enforcement.
fourthly, we need to encourage the private sector–including shipping companies and others –to declare a 'zero tolerance' approach to the illegal wildlife trade.?
finally, and perhaps crucially, we need to support local communities to ensure their livelihoodsimprove as a direct result of these conservation efforts.
the united for wildlife organisations are committed to these five pledges, which have beendrawn up because they are achievable. i know that all of you in your own ways are alreadyhelping to implement these pledges, too.
let me say again what i said a few moments ago: tonight is an unprecedented gathering. thefact that we are all here gives me faith that we can turn the tide against the illegal wildlifetrade. let's turn tonight's goodwill into action, and, please, let's be part of the movementthat can tell our children and grandchildren that we saved these extraordinary species forthem.
thank you so much for being here tonight.
第2篇 联合国秘书长潘基文在国际埃博拉恢复会议英语演讲稿
thank you, helen clark, administrator of undp, for moderating this very important meeting.
i would like to thank the presidents of the affected african countries – the president of guinea,the president of liberia, and the president of sierra leone – and i would also like to thankpresident mugabe who is participating in his capacity as president of the african union.
and i would also like to thank dr. margaret chan, director general of the who for herleadership.
thank you all ministers and dignitaries who have taken such very valuable time to be with us,to be with the people of africa particularly affected by ebola.
i think we can overcome this one, and i think we are now overcoming it but we have to gountil the end, until we see the last patient cured and there will be no further cases.
i would also like to thank the world bank president, and the imf managing director and themany international and regional development banks, including the african development bankand the islamic development bank, and the european union.
it is a great honour to have you. thank you for accepting my invitation to participate and toshow your solidarity for the people affected by this ebola virus.
excellence, mesdames et messieurs,
merci de participer à cette conférence internationale sur le relèvement après l'ebola.
la tâche qui nous attend est immense: il s'agit de concrétiser nos promesses de solidaritéconcrete, tournés vers l'action.
je vous demande de vous joindre à moi pour apporter un soutien durable aux populations despays touchés par l'ebola.
let me begin by thanking the many donors who have come together, along with governments,civil society organizations, national and international responders, development banks andfoundations, as part of a broad-based global coalition to support the nationally-led responseefforts.
i applaud the african union and its plan to convene an international conference on africa'sfight against ebola later this month in malabo.
i commend the african union for galvanizing african leaders, businesses and communities insolidarity with the affected countries. this regional unity has been essential to bringing theoutbreak under control – and will be critical to effective recovery. i commend the morethan 800 african volunteers who deployed through the au ebola support mechanism.
i also thank the countries that answered my call to send in logistical support, medical teams,crisis managers and aid for safe and dignified burials.
thousands of women and men from within and outside the countries put their lives on the lineto slow the advance of this disease.
thanks to these partners – and too many others to name – we have come a long way incontaining the outbreak.
the general assembly took decisive action, endorsing the un mission for ebola emergencyresponse – unmeer. i thank his excellency sam kutesa, president of the general assembly, forhis continued leadership in keeping the membership seized with this issue.
as unmeer prepares to close next month, the un will maintain the dedicated high-levelleadership under who together with the un country teams, in its support to help the affectedcountries get to zero.
the strategy to end the outbreak is working – but the final stretch of the response remainsparticularly challenging.
cases in guinea and sierra leone have been reduced considerably. the response is being fine-tuned to focus on increasing engagement, awareness and contact tracing in the remainingaffected communities.
new cases in liberia show the need for continued vigilance given the regional risks. theliberian government's proactive actions also underscore how the response strategy haseffectively reinforced national capacities and knowledge to be activated for future outbreaks.
but the impacts of the ebola crisis have been far-reaching and much work is needed to supportthe countries.
the outbreak has eroded progress on peace and development. it has disrupted health andsocial services.
many major economic sectors have been affected: agriculture, mining, trade, tourism,transport, fisheries and livestock. the functioning of schools, hospitals and other publicinfrastructure has suffered.
all of these disruptions have had a negative impact on the economies of all three countries –which were, prior to the ebola outbreak, on a positive growth trajectory.
this negative impact – on economies, livelihoods and more importantly lives – demands thatthe global community continues to prioritize recovery from ebola even long after the crisissubsides. this will be essential to “stay at zero” in order to strengthen resilience towithstand future shocks.
your continued generosity will help the affected countries carry out their plans for recoveryover the next two years.
our shared goal is to build back stronger, safer and more resilient capacities for preventionand response. that means access to health services everywhere – not just in capitals. it meanshealth services equipped to not only respond to extraordinary outbreaks like ebola, but toaddress malaria, cholera and other common ailments.
investing in guinea, sierra leone and liberia will yield global dividends in preventing localoutbreaks from becoming national emergencies and regional pandemics.
that is why today is about more than speeches and pledges – it is a chance to forge apartnership for a better future – a future that is full of opportunity and free of ebola.
our task is also to learn from our shortcomings and translate the lessons learned from this crisisin building back better. to do anything less would compound the tragedy.
i particularly welcome who's lessons learned process and its plans for reform. just this week,who welcomed the report from the independent ebola interim assessment panel. who hasindicated that it is already moving forward to implement a number of the panel'srecommendations.
in addition, i have appointed a high-level panel on the global response to health crises,headed by his excellency president kikwete of the united republic of tanzania.
the panel is now working on the pressing question of how to strengthen national andinternational systems to prevent and manage future health crises. i look forward to itsrecommendations.
more broadly, we have to learn from the ebola outbreak responding to the crisis phase is notenough. with any outbreak, we have to do more than end the caseload. we must lay thefoundation for true health security by going the extra distance – as we pledge today – tocreate strong health systems that can prevent any recurrence and withstand any futureoutbreak.
presidents condé, koroma and johnson sirleaf have shown admirable statesmanship.
thanks to your support, we can largely be proud of what we have achieved in responding to thisunprecedented crisis.
yet we cannot breathe a sigh of relief – instead, let us collectively take a deep breath andresolve to finish the job.
i call on you to be part of this historic push to end the ebola outbreak in west africa andsupport the leaders and people of guinea, liberia and sierra leone in returning to a path ofsustainable development.
together, let us jumpstart a robust recovery over the next two years, and usher in a betterfuture for generations to come.
thank you for your support and leadership. thank you very much.
第3篇 美国国务卿克里在美国-东盟部长级会议英语演讲稿
well, everybody, my apologies for being delayed, and i thank everybodyfor their patience and look forward to a very interesting and comprehensive discussion thisevening. i want to begin by thanking foreign minister lwin and the government of myanmar,which has done a very solid job of leading asean as chair this year. and i also want torecognize our new ambassador to asean nina hachigian, who was confirmed just in time tobe here today. (laughter and applause.) we’re delighted to have nina on board, and i know allof you will really enjoy working with her.
the united states remains deeply committed to engaging the asia pacific region. i thinkyou’ve heard us talking about our rebalanced asia and the deep involvement that we havethere, working for the trade agreement, working with respect to security issues and globalclimate change – particularly important. i had occasion to be in the philippines and see theimpact directly of typhoon haiyan. and so we have a lot of work to do, and we are deeplycommitted. president obama has reinforced again and again his intention to keep the unitedstates front and center in the region. i’ve already traveled there – i think it’s five or six timesin a year and a half. the president’s been there several times. we’re looking forward to beingback there shortly for the meetings in october, november, and there’s obviously a lot tocontinue to work on.
asean and its centrality is essential to upholding the rules-based system throughout the asiapacific, and it is the best way to ensure that all countries big and small have a voice as we worktogether to address the challenges and take advantage of the opportunities. that’s why theunited states continues to invest so much in the relationship. it’s why we’re deepening our tiesamong our people-to-people programs, like president obama’s young southeast asian leadersinitiative and the u.s.-asean fulbright program. and it’s why we fully support the formationof the asean economic community in 2019.
president obama and i are very much looking forward to being at the east asia summit, but inthe meantime we’re happy to discuss a few of the challenges that we’ve partnered on, includingour maritime security and the global threat of climate change. i hope we can discuss thisevening how best to work on some of the other global issues that we also face today – forexample, the growing numbers of foreign fighters from all over the world who have chosen to goto isil and join in their activities and present a danger and risk to all of us. we also obviouslyface the challenge of ebola in west africa, and we need everybody to be involved in the effortto contain it.
so i thank you all for carving out time in what has been an extraordinarily busy week here innew york. we’ve got some very important conversations to have, but before we turn to that, iwant to recognize foreign minister lwin for his opening comments.
foreign minister lwin: thank you very much, mr. secretary. excellencies, at the outset letme express my sincere thanks to secretary kerry and the government of the united states ofamerica for hosting this important meeting, taking the opportunity of all our aseancolleagues’ presence here in new york as we are attending the 69th general assembly of theunited nations.
i am delighted to see the progress in asean-u.s. dialogue relations that encompasses all threepillars of the asean community. we appreciate u.s. role in maintaining peace and securityin the region, as well as providing technical assistance for socio-economic and socio-culturaldevelopment in asean member-states.
we are confident that asean and the u.s. can further strengthen cooperation through theeffective implementation of the plan of action to implement the joint vision statement ofasean-u.s. enhanced partnership.
asean-u.s. economic ministers meeting was held on 28 august overseeing the progress ofasean-u.s. economic cooperation and finding ways to move forward on the outstandingaspects of e3 initiative, particularly on nonbinding shared principles of asean-u.s. investment.i hope we could be able to see progress on those matters during the upcoming second asean-u.s. summit in november.
the asean-u.s. business summit was successfully convened in naypyidaw on 28 august,providing opportunities for our business people to interact and build networks. i look forward toseeing increased business activities between asean and the united states. socio-culture andpeople-to-people ties are also the areas that we should focus to promote better understandingbetween the peoples of asean and u.s.
the u.s. supports on the citylinks pilot partnership, which provide capacity building andtechnical (inaudible) programs on climate change adaptation among cities, is timely andeffective as we urgently need to tackle the negative effects of climate change. in this respect,we’ll work with the u.s. for the asean-u.s. joint climate change statement to be issued atthe second asean-u.s. summit.
i look forward to have a fruitful discussion today to further address asean-u.s. engagementin a more comprehensive way. thank you, mr. secretary.
第4篇 奥巴马总统在联合国埃博拉疫情防控高级别会议英语演讲稿
mr. secretary-general, thank you for bringing us together today to address an urgent threatto the people of west africa, but also a potential threat to the world. dr. chan, heads of stateand government, especially our african partners, ladies and gentlemen: as we gather heretoday, the people of liberia and sierra leone and guinea are in crisis. as secretary-general banand dr. chan have already indicated, the ebola virus is spreading at alarming speed.thousands of men, women and children have died. thousands more are infected. ifunchecked, this epidemic could kill hundreds of thousands of people in the coming months.hundreds of thousands.
ebola is a horrific disease. it’s wiping out entire families. it has turned simple acts of love andcomfort and kindness -- like holding a sick friend’s hand, or embracing a dying child -- intopotentially fatal acts. if ever there were a public health emergency deserving an urgent,strong and coordinated international response, this is it.
but this is also more than a health crisis. this is a growing threat to regional and globalsecurity. in liberia, in guinea, in sierra leone, public health systems have collapsed. economicgrowth is slowing dramatically. if this epidemic is not stopped, this disease could cause ahumanitarian catastrophe across the region. and in an era where regional crises can quicklybecome global threats, stopping ebola is in the interest of all of us.
the courageous men and women fighting on the front lines of this disease have told us whatthey need. they need more beds, they need more supplies, they need more health workers, andthey need all of this as fast as possible. right now, patients are being left to die in the streetsbecause there’s nowhere to put them and there’s nobody to help them. one health worker insierra leone compared fighting this outbreak to “fighting a forest fire with spray bottles.” butwith our help, they can put out the blaze.
last week, i visited the centers for disease control and prevention, which is mounting thelargest international response in its history. i said that the world could count on america tolead, and that we will provide the capabilities that only we have, and mobilize the world the waywe have done in the past in crises of similar magnitude. and i announced that, in additionto the civilian response, the united states would establish a military command in liberia tosupport civilian efforts across the region.
today, that command is up and it is running. our commander is on the ground in monrovia,and our teams are working as fast as they can to move in personnel, equipment and supplies.we’re working with senegal to stand up an air bridge to get health workers and medicalsupplies into west africa faster. we’re setting up a field hospital, which will be staffed bypersonnel from the u.s. public health service, and a training facility, where we’re gettingready to train thousands of health workers from around the world. we’re distributing suppliesand information kits to hundreds of thousands of families so they can better protectthemselves. and together with our partners, we’ll quickly build new treatment units acrossliberia, guinea and sierra leone, where thousands will be able to receive care.
meanwhile, in just the past week, more countries and organizations have stepped up theirefforts -- and so has the united nations. mr. secretary-general, the new un mission for ebolaemergency response that you announced last week will bring all of the u.n.’s resources tobear in fighting the epidemic. we thank you for your leadership.
so this is all progress, and it is encouraging. but i want us to be clear: we are not moving fastenough. we are not doing enough. right now, everybody has the best of intentions, but peopleare not putting in the kinds of resources that are necessary to put a stop to this epidemic.there is still a significant gap between where we are and where we need to be. we know fromexperience that the response to an outbreak of this magnitude has to be fast and it has to besustained. it’s a marathon, but you have to run it like a sprint. and that’s only possible ifeverybody chips in, if every nation and every organization takes this seriously. everybody herehas to do more.
international organizations have to move faster, and cut through red tape and mobilize partnerson the ground as only they can. more nations need to contribute critical assets andcapabilities -- whether it is air transport, or medical evacuation, or health care workers, orequipment, or treatment. more foundations can tap into the networks of support that theyhave, to raise funds and awareness. more businesses, especially those who already have apresence in the region, can quickly provide their own expertise and resources, from access tocritical supply chains to telecommunications. and more citizens -- of all nations -- can educatethemselves on this crisis, contribute to relief efforts, and call on their leaders to act. soeverybody can do something. that’s why we’re here today.
and even as we meet the urgent threat of ebola, it’s clear that our nations have to do more toprevent, detect and respond to future biological threats -- before they erupt into full-blowncrises. tomorrow, in washington, i’ll host 44 nations to advance our global health securityagenda, and we are interested in working with any country that shares this commitment.
just to emphasize this issue of speed again. when i was down at the cdc -- and perhaps thishas already been discussed, but i want to emphasize this -- the outbreak is such where at thispoint more people will die. but the slope of the curve, how fast we can arrest the spread ofthis disease, how quickly we can contain it is within our control. and if we move fast, even ifimperfectly, then that could mean the difference between 10,000, 20,000, 30,000 deathsversus hundreds of thousands or even a million deaths. so this is not one where there should bea lot of wrangling and people waiting to see who else is doing what. everybody has got to movefast in order for us to make a difference. and if we do, we’ll save hundreds of thousands of lives.
stopping ebola is a priority for the united states. i’ve said that this is as important a nationalsecurity priority for my team as anything else that’s out there. we’ll do our part. we willcontinue to lead, but this has to be a priority for everybody else. we cannot do this alone. wedon’t have the capacity to do all of this by ourselves. we don’t have enough health workers byourselves. we can build the infrastructure and the architecture to get help in, but we’re goingto need others to contribute.
to my fellow leaders from liberia, sierra leone and guinea, to the people of west africa, to theheroic health workers who are on the ground as we speak, in some cases, putting themselvesat risk -- i want you to know that you are not alone. we’re working urgently to get you the helpyou need. and we will not stop, we will not relent until we halt this epidemic once and for all.
so i want to thank all of you for the efforts that are made. but i hope that i’m properlycommunicating a sense of urgency here. do not stand by, thinking that somehow, because ofwhat we’ve done, that it’s taken care of. it’s not. and if we don’t take care of this now we aregoing to see fallout effects and secondary effects from this that will have ramifications for a longtime, above and beyond the lives that will have been lost.
i urge all of you, particularly those who have direct access to your heads of state, to make surethat they are making this a top priority in the next several weeks and months.
thank you very much.
第5篇 希拉里·克林顿在2019年美国市长会议英语演讲稿
thank you! thank you all so much.
it's great to be here with all of you. i'm looking out at the audience and seeing so many familiarfaces, as well as those here up on the dais.
i want to thank kevin for his introduction and his leadership of this organization.
mayor lee, thanks for having us in your beautiful city.
it is for me a great treat to come back to address a group that, as you just heard, i spent a lotof time as senator working with – in great measure because of the need for buttressinghomeland security, as well as other challenges within our cities during the eight years i servedin the senate.
and it was always refreshing to come here because despite whatever was going on in congressor washington with respect to partisanship, a conference of mayors was truly like an oasis inthe desert. i could come here and be reminded of what mayor laguardia said, "there's norepublican or democratic way to pick up the garbage. you pick it up, or you don't pick it up."and i loved being with people who understood that.
i've learned over the years how important it is to work with city hall, to try to make sure we areconnected up as partners and to get whatever the priorities of your people happen to beaccomplished.
so it pays. it pays to work with you, and i am grateful to have this opportunity to come backand see you.
when i was senator from new york, i not only worked with the mayor of new york city, ofcourse, i worked with creative and committed mayors from buffalo to rochester to syracuseto albany and so many other places.
and i was particularly happy to do so because they were always full of ideas and eager to worktogether to attract more high-paying jobs, to revitalize downtowns, to support our firstresponders, to try to close that skills gap.
and i want you to be sure of this, whether you are a democrat, a republican or anindependent: if i am president, america's mayors will always have a friend in the white house.
now, as i was preparing to come here, i couldn't help but think of some of those who aren'twith us today.
tom menino was a dear friend to me, and to many in this room, and i certainly feel his loss.
today, our thoughts are also with our friend joe riley and the people of charleston. joe's a goodman and a great mayor, and his leadership has been a bright light during such a dark time.
you know, the passing of days has not dulled the pain or the shock of this crime. indeed, as wehave gotten to know the faces and names and stories of the victims, the pain has onlydeepened.
nine faithful women and men, with families and passions and so much left to do.
as a mother, a grandmother, a fellow human being, my heart is bursting for them. for thesevictims and their families. for a wounded community and a wounded church. for our countrystruggling once again to make sense of violence that is fundamentally senseless, and historywe desperately want to leave behind.
yesterday was juneteenth, a day of liberation and deliverance. one-hundred and fifty years ago,as news of president lincoln's emancipation proclamation spread from town to town across thesouth, free men and women lifted their voices in song and prayer.
congregations long forced to worship underground, like the first christians, joyfullyresurrected their churches.
in charleston, the african methodist episcopal church took a new name: emanuel. "god is withus."
faith has always seen this community through, and i know it will again.
just as earlier generations threw off the chains of slavery and then segregation and jim crow,this generation will not be shackled by fear and hate.
on friday, one by one, grieving parents and siblings stood up in court and looked at that youngman, who had taken so much from them, and said: "i forgive you."
in its way, their act of mercy was more stunning than his act of cruelty.
it reminded me of watching nelson mandela embrace his former jailers because, he said, hedidn't want to be imprisoned twice, once by steel and concrete, once by anger and bitterness.
in these moments of tragedy, many of us struggle with how to process the rush of emotions.
i'd been in charleston that day. i'd gone to a technical school, trident tech. i had seen thejoy, the confidence and optimism of young people who were now serving apprenticeships withlocal businesses, black, white, hispanic, asian, every background. i listened to their stories, ishook their hands, i saw the hope and the pride.
and then by the time i got to las vegas, i read the news.
like many of you, i was so overcome: how to turn grief, confusion into purpose and action?but that's what we have to do.
for me and many others, one immediate response was to ask how it could be possible that weas a nation still allow guns to fall into the hands of people whose hearts are filled with hate.
you can't watch massacre after massacre and not come to the conclusion that, as presidentobama said, we must tackle this challenge with urgency and conviction.
now, i lived in arkansas and i represented upstate new york. i know that gun ownership ispart of the fabric of a lot of law-abiding communities.
but i also know that we can have commonsense gun reforms that keep weapons out of thehands of criminals and the violently unstable, while respecting responsible gun owners.
what i hope with all of my heart is that we work together to make this debate less polarized,less inflamed by ideology, more informed by evidence, so we can sit down across the table,across the aisle from one another, and find ways to keep our communities safe while protectingconstitutional rights.
it makes no sense that bipartisan legislation to require universal background checks wouldfail in congress, despite overwhelming public support.
it makes no sense that we wouldn't come together to keep guns out of the hands of domesticabusers, or people suffering from mental illnesses, even people on the terrorist watch list. thatdoesn't make sense, and it is a rebuke to this nation we love and care about.
the president is right: the politics on this issue have been poisoned. but we can't give up. thestakes are too high. the costs are too dear.
and i am not and will not be afraid to keep fighting for commonsense reforms, and along withyou, achieve those on behalf of all who have been lost because of this senseless gun violencein our country.
but today, i stand before you because i know and you know there is a deeper challenge weface.
i had the great privilege of representing america around the world. i was so proud to shareour example, our diversity, our openness, our devotion to human rights and freedom. thesequalities have drawn generations of immigrants to our shores, and they inspire people still. ihave seen it with my own eyes.
and yet, bodies are once again being carried out of a black church.
once again, racist rhetoric has metastasized into racist violence.
now, it's tempting, it is tempting to dismiss a tragedy like this as an isolated incident, tobelieve that in today's america, bigotry is largely behind us, that institutionalized racism nolonger exists.
but despite our best efforts and our highest hopes, america's long struggle with race is far fromfinished.
i know this is a difficult topic to talk about. i know that so many of us hoped by electing ourfirst black president, we had turned the page on this chapter in our history.
i know there are truths we don't like to say out loud or discuss with our children. but we haveto. that's the only way we can possibly move forward together.
race remains a deep fault line in america. millions of people of color still experience racism intheir everyday lives.
here are some facts.
in america today, blacks are nearly three times as likely as whites to be denied a mortgage.
in 2019, the median wealth of black families was around $11,000. for white families, it wasmore than $134,000.
nearly half of all black families have lived in poor neighborhoods for at least two generations,compared to just 7 percent of white families.
african american men are far more likely to be stopped and searched by police, charged withcrimes, and sentenced to longer prison terms than white men, 10 percent longer for the samecrimes in the federal system.
in america today, our schools are more segregated than they were in the 1960s.
how can any of that be true? how can it be true that black children are 500 percent more likelyto die from asthma than white kids? five hundred percent!
more than a half century after dr. king marched and rosa parks sat and john lewis bled, afterthe civil rights act and the voting rights act and so much else, how can any of these things betrue? but they are.
and our problem is not all kooks and klansman. it's also in the cruel joke that goesunchallenged. it's in the off-hand comments about not wanting "those people" in theneighborhood.
let's be honest: for a lot of well-meaning, open-minded white people, the sight of a youngblack man in a hoodie still evokes a twinge of fear. and news reports about poverty and crimeand discrimination evoke sympathy, even empathy, but too rarely do they spur us to actionor prompt us to question our own assumptions and privilege.
we can't hide from any of these hard truths about race and justice in america. we have toname them and own them and then change them.
you may have heard about a woman in north carolina named debbie dills. she's the one whospotted dylann roof's car on the highway. she could have gone on about her business. shecould have looked to her own safety. but that's not what she did. she called the police and thenshe followed that car for more than 30 miles.
as congressman jim clyburn said the other day, "there may be a lot of dylann roofs in theworld, but there are a lot of debbie dills too. she didn't remain silent."
well, neither can we. we all have a role to play in building a more tolerant, inclusive society,what i once called "a village," where there is a place for everyone.
you know, we americans may differ and bicker and stumble and fall, but we are at our bestwhen we pick each other up, when we have each other's back.
like any family, our american family is strongest when we cherish what we have in common,and fight back against those who would drive us apart.
mayors are on the front lines in so many ways. we look to you for leadership in time of crisis.we look to you every day to bring people together to build stronger communities.
many mayors are part of the u.s. coalition of cities against racism and discrimination,launched by this conference in 2019. i know you're making reforms in your own communities,promoting tolerance in schools, smoothing the integration of immigrants, creating economicopportunities.
mayors across the country also are doing all they can to prevent gun violence and keep ourstreets and neighborhoods safe.
and that's not all. across our country, there is so much that is working. it's easy to forget thatwhen you watch or read the news. in cities and towns from coast to coast, we are seeingincredible innovation. mayors are delivering results with what franklin roosevelt called boldand persistent experimentation.
here in san francisco, mayor lee is expanding a workforce training program for residents ofpublic housing, helping people find jobs who might have spent time in prison or lost theirdriver's license or fallen behind in child support payments.
south of here in los angeles and north in seattle, city governments are raising the minimumwage so more people who work hard can get ahead and support their families.
in philadelphia, mayor nutter is pioneering a new approach to community policing to rebuildtrust and respect between law enforcement and communities of color.
in houston, louisville and chicago, the mayors are finding new ways to help workers train andcompete for jobs in advanced industries.
cities like cleveland and lexington are linking up their universities and their factories to spur arevival of manufacturing.
in denver and detroit, city leaders are getting creative about how they raise funds forbuilding and repairing mass transit.
providence is helping parents learn how to become their children's first teachers, and spendmore time reading, talking, and singing to their babies at critical stages of early braindevelopment.
kevin johnson, who has led both sacramento and this conference so ably, calls thisrenaissance of urban innovation "cities 3.0," and talks about "open-source leadership" andmayors as pragmatic problem-solvers.
that's what we need more of in america.
and kevin is right, we need to reimagine the relationship between the federal government andour metropolitan areas. top-down, one-size-fits-all solutions rarely work.
we need what i'll call a new flexible federalism that empowers and connects communities,leverages their unique advantages, adapts to changing circumstances. and i look forward toworking with all of you to turn this vision into a reality.
i've put four fights at the center of my campaign:
first, to build an economy for tomorrow not yesterday;
second, to strengthen america's families, the foundation of everything we are;
third, to harness all of our power, our smarts, and our values to continue to lead the world;
and fourth, to revitalize our democracy back here at home.
mayors are vital for all four of these efforts. you know what it takes to make governmentactually work, and you know it can make a real difference in people's lives.
but you also know that government alone does not have the answers we seek. if we are going tore-stitch the fraying fabric of our communities, all americans are going to have to step up.there are laws we should pass and programs we should fund and fights we should wage andwin.
but so much of the real work is going to come around kitchen tables and over bedtime stories,around office watercoolers and in factory break rooms, at quiet moments in school and at work,in honest conversations between parents and children, between friends and neighbors.
because fundamentally, this is about the habits of our hearts, how we treat each other, how welearn to see the humanity in those around us, no matter what they look like, how theyworship, or who they love. most of all, it's about how we teach our children to see thathumanity too.
andy young is here, and i want to tell a story about him because i think it's as timely today asit was all those years ago.
you know, at the end of the 1950s the south was beginning to find its way into the moderneconomy. it wasn't easy. there were determined leaders in both government and businessthat wanted to raise the standard of living and recruit businesses, make life better.
when the closing of central high school in little rock happened, and president eisenhower hadto send in federal troops to keep peace, that sent a message of urgency but also opportunity.
i remember andy coming to little rock some years later, and saying that in atlanta when folkssaw what was going on in little rock and saw some of the continuing resistance to enforcingcivil rights laws, opening up closed doors, creating the chance for blacks and whites to studytogether, to work together, to live together, atlanta made a different decision.
the leadership of atlanta came together, looked out across the south and said, "some place inthe south is really going to make it big. we need to be that place." and they adopted a slogan, "the city too busy to hate."
well, we need to be cities, states and a country too busy to hate. we need to get about thework of tearing down the barriers and the obstacles, roll up our sleeves together, look at what'sworking across our country, and then share it and scale it.
as all of us reeled from the news in charleston this past week, a friend of mine shared thisobservation with a number of us. think about the hearts and values of those men and womenof mother emanuel, he said.
"a dozen people gathered to pray. they're in their most intimate of communities and astranger who doesn't look or dress like them joins in. they don't judge. they don't question.they don't reject. they just welcome. if he's there, he must need something: prayer, love,community, something. during their last hour, nine people of faith welcomed a stranger inprayer and fellowship."
for those of us who are christians, we remember the words of the scripture: "i was hungry andyou gave me food. i was thirsty and you gave me drink. i was a stranger and you welcomedme."
that's humanity at its best. that's also america at its best. and that's the spirit we need tonurture our lives and our families and our communities.
i know it's not usual for somebody running for president to say what we need more of in thiscountry is love and kindness. but that's exactly what we need more of.
we need to be not only too busy to hate but too caring, too loving to ignore, to walk away, togive up.
part of the reason i'm running for president is i love this country. i am so grateful for each andevery blessing and opportunity i've been given.
i did not pick my parents. i did not decide before i arrived that i would live in a middle classfamily in the middle of america, be given the opportunity to go to good public schools withdedicated teachers and a community that supported me and all of the other kids.
i came of age at a time when barriers were falling for women, another benefit.
i came of age as the civil rights movement was beginning to not only change laws but changehearts.
i've seen the expansion of not just rights but opportunities to so many of our fellow men andwomen who had been left out and left behind.
but we have unfinished business. and i am absolutely confident and optimistic we can getthat done.
i stand here ready to work with each and every one of you to support your efforts, to stand withyou, to put the task of moving beyond the past at the head of our national agenda. i'm excitedabout what we can accomplish together.
i thank you for what you've already done and i look forward to all that you will be doing in thefuture.
thank you. god bless you, and god bless america.
