

			    THE WHITE HOUSE

		     Office of the Press Secretary
		   

________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                      April 2, 1994


		     REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
		  IN RADIO ADDRESS TO THE NATION
	     
	     


	     THE PRESIDENT:  Good morning.  For my family, and I 
hope for yours as well, this is a time for reflection, renewal 
and rededication.  At the start of springtime, nature reminds us 
of new beginnings and forgotten beauty.  And most Americans 
celebrate holy days of redemption and renewal, from the Christian 
Easter to the Jewish Passover to the Muslim Ramadan.  
	     
	     Tomorrow on Easter Sunday, those of us who are 
Christians celebrate God's redemptive love as manifested in the 
life, the teachings and the sacrificial death and resurrection of 
Jesus of Nazareth.  Easter symbolizes for us the ultimate victory 
of good over evil, hope over despair, and life over death.  
	     
	     At this season, we're reminded that Americans are a 
people of many faiths.  But most of all, we are a people of 
faith.  The Bible I carry to church on Sunday says, faith is the 
assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things unseen.  
America is a special nation because it is the product of that 
kind of faith in the future to which so many have held fast in 
spite of fearsome obstacles and great hardships.   Always we have 
believed that we could do better -- conquer injustice, climb new 
mountains, build a better life for ourselves and a future of 
infinite possibility for our children; always we have believed we 
can keep the promise we call America.
	     
	     Last Thursday, I visited the Zamorano Fine Arts 
Academy -- an outstanding public school in San Diego -- to sign 
Goals 2000, the new education law which challenges all our 
schools and all our students to meet the highest standards of 
educational achievement by setting world-class educational 
standards and promoting grass roots reforms to achieve them in 
every school for every student.   That school reflects the 
marvelous diversity that is now America.  The students there come 
from at least six different racial and ethnic groups.  Like our 
nation, they can trace their heritage to every continent, every 
country, every culture.
	     
	     As I thought of the parents, the students and the 
teachers at that school, I couldn't help but believe that the 
things that make them different from each other are ultimately 
far less important than the things that bring them together --
their love of learning, the joy they share in arts and athletics 
and family and friends, and their dreams of the future in which 
they can make the most of the gifts that God has given them.
	     
	     The greatness and glory of America is that we define 
ourselves not by where our families came from, but by our common 
values, our common goals, our common sense and our common 
decency.  Two days from now, we'll honor the memory of a man of 
faith who stood for and struggled for what is best about America.  
On April the 4th, 1968, Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his life for 
every American's right to live and work in dignity.
	     
	     In his last Sunday morning sermon -- one week before 
Easter -- speaking in the National Cathedral in Washington, 
D. C., 26 years ago, Dr. King reminded us that time is neutral -- 
it can be used constructively or destructively.  Dr. King used 
his time on Earth as well as anyone.  He was only 39 when he 

died.  He never held public office, but no one ever did more to 
redeem the promise or stir the soul of our nation.  In spite of 
unearned suffering, unreasoning hatred and unprovoked violence, 
he never lost faith that he and we would overcome the 
frustrations and difficulties of the moment.
	     
	     A quarter century later, each of us faces the 
challenge to use our time creatively and constructively.  For 
this is a time of historic, sometimes wrenching, social and 
economic and technological change.  The fabric of our society has 
been strained by the hopelessness caused by the flight of jobs 
from too many of our communities; and the fear and suspicion 
resulting from the epidemic of crime and violence, especially 
among our young people.
	     
	     And at this time of uncertainty, there are 
demagogues of division who would set us against one another.  Too 
many powerful forces today seek to make money, or even more 
power, from our common misery; when what we most desperately need 
is to work together to solve the problems that plague us all and 
to build a stronger American community.
	     
	     There's much that we can do as a nation to prepare 
our people for these changes and to do better.  We can, we must 
create more jobs; finally provide health care security for all 
our people; improve our education and training so that we can 
compete and win in this global economy; and make our people safer 
in their homes, their streets and their schools.  But we must 
also -- each and every one of us -- accept greater personal 
responsibility for ourselves and our families, and extend a hand 
of friendship to our neighbors.
	     
	     We must raise our own children with responsibility 
and faith.  We must reject those who would divide us by race or 
religion.  We must always remember that as Dr. King declared the 
night before he died -- either we go up together, or we go down 
together.  Essentially, all human condition can only be 
transformed by faith -- faith in ourselves, faith in each other, 
faiths that we can do better if we hold firm to the ultimate 
moral purpose in life, keep our eyes on the prize, and refuse to 
be dragged down.  
	     
	     I have issued a proclamation asking Americans to 
observe this Monday, the anniversary of Dr. King's tragic 
assassination, as a day of reconciliation; a day when we look 
beyond hatred and division and commit ourselves anew to reducing 
crime and violence and bringing out the best in each other.  Some 
Americans may use that day to teach their children about the 
meaning of the life and death of Dr. King and his legacy and 
lessons for our time.  Others may answer the call of the 
organization he founded -- the Southern Christian Leadership 
Conference -- and turn on their automobile lights as part of a 
national day of witness against violence.  Still others may make 
a commitment to work with their neighbors to keep their 
communities free from crime and drugs and guns.
	     
	     In our own lives, in our own way, this Monday -- and 
on every day of this year -- let us rededicate ourselves to the 
spirit of Easter, of Passover, of Ramadan; to the mission of 
Martin Luther King; and to the common values that must make 
America a land of limitless hope and opportunity for all of our 
people for all time to come.
	     
	     


			       END

