Remarks as Prepared for Delivery
For the Honorable Dirk Kempthorne,
Secretary of the Interior
Dedication of Little Rock Central High School
National Historic Site Visitor Center
Little Rock, Arkansas
September 24, 2007
Thank you, Mike [Madell, Park Superintendent].
In Washington, on our National Mall, the majestic white marbled Lincoln Memorial was re-dedicated in the hearts and minds of Americans on the day a black preacher stood on its steps and told America, “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal.’”
This Visitor Center, that keeps alive the history of Little Rock Central High School, must be dedicated not just here but in the hearts and minds of Americans across this nation.
We do that by dedicating ourselves to telling the lessons of Little Rock far and wide.
This Little Rock Memorial, like the Lincoln Memorial, must remain part of our rock-solid commitment to spreading the gospel of civil rights and equal opportunity.
All Americans must know the stories of those who persevered amid persecution and prosecution to promote equality. We need to know the names and stories of Thelma, Minnijean, Jefferson, Terrence, Carlotta, Gloria, Ernest, Elizabeth and Melba, the Little Rock Nine, just as we now know the name and story of our old friend Martin – Martin Luther King, Jr.
As a public official, I knew that even though Idaho was far from the epicenter of the Civil Rights Movement, the people of Idaho needed and wanted to know the story.
The first proclamation I signed as Mayor of Boise, established the official recognition of Martin Luther King, Jr. – Human Rights Day in our capital city.
As Governor, I signed legislation making Idaho the fifth state in the Union and the first state west of the Mississippi to recognize “Juneteenth Day.” On the third Saturday of June, we celebrate President Lincoln’s signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln signed the proclamation in January 1863. The celebration is called Juneteenth Day because it took months for many in faraway states to learn of their freedom.
I am honored to be here today as Secretary of the Interior overseeing the National Park Service as we dedicate this new visitor center. The National Park Service is our nation’s story teller. This Center is also part of the National Park Service’s own journey toward better telling the story of civil rights.
In 1957, there were only two National Park System sites dedicated to the history of African-Americans: one honoring George Washington Carver, the other Booker T. Washington. Today, we have parks across the country that tell the story.
In Manhattan, the African Burial Ground National Monument honors 400 Africans, enslaved and free, who toiled to build this nation during the 17th and 18th centuries.
The Boston African American National Historic Site commemorates the largest free African American community in the 19th century and the abolitionist cause to set free their brothers and sisters from the bondage of slavery.
The Cane River Creole National Historic Park in Louisiana, the Hampton National Historical Site in Maryland and many other sites tell the story of the injustice and degradation of slavery.
The Underground Railroad Network of Freedom. The Frederick Douglass National Historic Site. The Selma to Montgomery National Historic Site.
From Topeka, Kansas to Tuskegee, Alabama, from New Orleans, Louisiana to Atlanta Georgia, the National Park Service is telling the story.
It is not simply important that we tell the story, however. We must tell it the right way.
When the Park Service began to plan this new visitor’s center, we held meetings to ask the community its opinion. We asked the citizens of Little Rock: How do we tell this story?
They told us there were three themes that should be reflected in the Visitor’s Center. Three things that people who come here need to know.
First, that individuals can make a difference.
Second, that what happened here in 1957 did not happen in a vacuum – we needed to tell the larger story. What happened before. What happened afterwards.
Third, that what happened here was about courage. Remarkable, even unimaginable, courage.
The new Visitor Center captures all 3 of these themes.
Individuals can make a difference.
Scripture tells us that in the kingdom of heaven, the first shall be last and the last shall be first. Sometimes this also is true on earth. These nine remarkable Americans on this stage today were treated as though they were the last. They were scorned and cast upon in their youth for no other reason than the color of their skin. But today, on the very grounds of the high school where they were spurned, they are first among us. Their lives testify boldly that individuals can and do make a difference.
When you enter the new Visitor Center, you see a quotation on the wall from our keynote speaker, John Lewis, a national civil rights hero. He bears on his body the scars of the price that had to be paid in the battle against injustice and discrimination: “If not us, then who; if not now, then when?"
The exhibits are filled with faces of the many people who rose up and proclaimed in word and deed: “Let the time be now. Let it be I who stand up for what is right.”
Individuals made a difference in Little Rock in 1957. They make a difference today.
The desgregation of Central High School did not happen in a vacuum. Starting with the foundation of our nation and the drafting of the Constitution, the new Visitor Center tells the story of the struggle for equal rights not only of African Americans but also of women and other minority groups.
If you know nothing about the civil rights movement, here you can get a good education in a couple of hours. You can come to understand that what happened here in 1957 was part of a long journey America has taken and continues to take to achieve liberty and justice for all.
Finally, the Visitor Center tells the story of extraordinary courage. As you look out its panoramic front window at the high school across the street, you can’t help but imagine what it was like. What was it like to be a high school student dressed in a poodle skirt and saddle shoes surrounded by an angry mob and troops with bayonets? Why did such a high price have to be paid? Why did it have to be paid by those who were so young?
In the Visitor’s Center, you can learn about the remarkable courage of Daisy Bates, whose own mother lost her life to racial violence. She faced down threats and intimidation and became a driving force for desgregation of Central High School.
In large letters on the wall of the Visitor’s Center, Daisy Bates is quoted. “What is happening in Little Rock transcends segregation and integration,” she said. “This is a question of right and wrong.”
**Here in Little Rock in 1957, America witnessed the conflict between courage and prejudice. In the end, courage won. The question was answered. Right triumphed over wrong. This too is part of the story…The story of Little Rock Central High School and nine courageous individuals.**
Finally, I was delighted to learn that both the daughters of Minijean Brown Trickey and Christopher Mercer, a lawyer and civil rights activist who worked closely with Daisy Bates and drove the Little Rock Nine to and from school, are National Park Service rangers at the visitor’s center.
I would like to ask Spirit Trickey and Crystal Mercer to stand.
What an extraordinary tribute it is to your parents that you are here at Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site. What a gift it is to all of us that you are here telling the story.
Let us dedicate this great new visitor’s center. But let us also remember that at the end of day, of course, we all are charged to be story tellers.
There are some powerful words from the 14th Amendment of our Constitution affixed to the outside of the Visitor Center that now stands behind me.
“No state shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
The words of our Constitution are precious but they are not always easily achieved. But they are worth the effort of every American to dedicate themselves to their fulfillment.
It may require perseverance.
It may require courage.
It may require sacrifice.
But each time the words of our Constitution are achieved, America is closer to fulfilling its promise. Today we celebrate being a little closer to the promise.
And in a land of promise:
those with ambition…
those with personality…
those with opportunity…
and those with preparation…can achieve their dreams and live out the true meaning of our creed. We are all equal.
God bless America and each individual citizen.