ICAS

Annual Liberty Award Luncheon




The Honorable Elaine L Chao
United States Secretary of Labor


Friday, March 19, 2004
12:00 Noon - 2:00 PM


Park Hyatt Philadelphia at the Bellevue

Broad and Walnut Streets, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania


The ICAS Liberty Foundation
seeks to promote the cause of humanity, peace, prosperity and security
through cultural, educational and research activities.

www.icasinc.org






Dear Friend:

We are pleased to share with you that The Hon Elaine L Chao has been nominated for the ICAS Annual Liberty Award 2003 for her "distinguished achievements advancing the great American values; life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, and her outstanding courage and leadership in the government during a time of crisis"; and that Secretary Chao will be honoured at the ICAS Annual Liberty Award Luncheon

Elaine L Chao is the nation's 24th Secretary of Labor, representing a new generation of American leadership. Since her confirmation by the United States Senate on January 29, 2001, she has been dedicated to carrying out the Department of Labor's mission of inspiring and protecting the hardworking people of America. She is respected as an effective and articulate champion of the nation's contemporary workforce, acting quickly to focus the Labor Department on the modern realities of workers' lives.

When President George W Bush nominated Elaine L Chao, the first Asian-American woman appointed to a President's cabinet in the U S history, he described her as an individual with "strong executive talent, compassion, and commitment to helping people build better lives."

Secretary Chao's compassionate nature stems from her own background as an immigrant to this country at the age of eight. Her family's experience transitioning to a new country, supported by one another and the kindness of friends and neighbors, taught her that encouragement is the key to fostering independence, and that Americans are naturally compassionate people. This inspired her to dedicate most of her professional life to ensuring that people have the opportunity to pursue lives of dignity and financial independence.

As Director of the Peace Corps, she was one of the first Americans to personally embrace the people of the former communist bloc into the family of democratic nations, establishing Peace Corps programs in the Baltic nations of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union. Later, as President and Chief Executive Officer of United Way of America, she restored public trust and confidence after the organization was tarnished by mismanagement and financial abuse, thus preserving the nation's largest institution of private charitable giving.

The experience she gained at the United Way helping communities address their local needs prepared her to mobilize the Department of Labor to promote pathways to economic freedom for individuals and families working to achieve the American Dream. She describes her vision for America's workforce as "one in which everyone can participate where jobs and opportunities are available for those leaving welfare, job training is accessible for those left behind, disability never bars a qualified person from the workplace, and where parents have an easier time balancing the responsibilities of work and home."

Secretary Chao's previous government career includes serving as the Deputy Secretary at the U S Department of Transportation, Chairman of the Federal Maritime Commission, and Deputy Maritime Administrator in the U S Department of Transportation. She brings a wealth of business experience to the post, having worked as Vice President of Syndications at BankAmerica Capital Markets Group and a banker with Citicorp. Prior to her nomination as Secretary, she expanded her study of policy as a Distinguished Fellow at The Heritage Foundation, a Washington-based public policy research and educational institute. She was selected as a White House Fellow in 1983.

Secretary Chao received her MBA from the Harvard Business School and her undergraduate degree in economics from Mount Holyoke College. She also studied at MIT, Dartmouth College, and Columbia University. Active in many volunteer activities, Secretary Chao has received numerous awards for her professional accomplishments and community service. She is the recipient of 21 honorary doctoral degrees from colleges and universities around the world.

Secretary Chao is married to the Assistant Majority Leader of the United States Senate, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.


Synja P Kim
President and Chairman
ICAS Liberty Foundation
February 11, 2004

 












The Board of Founders and Officers of
The ICAS Liberty Foundation
respectfully invite you to


ICAS Liberty Lecture


by


The Honorable Elaine L Chao
United States Secretary of Labor


Friday, March 19, 2004
12:00 Noon - 2:00 PM


Park Hyatt Philadelphia at the Bellevue
Broad and Walnut Streets, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania


Reply card enclosed
RSVP by March 10, 2004
     Business Attire
Non-transferable







Host Committee

Chair
Synja P Kim

Honorary Chairs

Britton Chance
Lawrence R Klein
Martin Meyerson
Jerome J Shestack
Alfred West
Co-Chairs

Julia K Han
Paul Hyon
Sang Hun Kim
Sang Joo Kim
Il Hwan Kim
Grace L Shu
Seon Mi Sim
Mina Yi
Choon Ki Yoo
(list in progress)

ICAS Liberty Award Recipients

Viet D Dinh
Becky N Dunlop
Tony P Hall
Charles Kartman
Jeong H Kim
Lawrence R Klein
Harold Hongju Koh
Jerome J Shestack
Richard L Walker
Alfred P West
John C Yoo






The ICAS Liberty Foundation
965 Clover Court, Blue Bell, Pennsylvania 19422
610 277 9989 * www.icasinc.org






ICAS Annual Liberty Award Luncheon

This Year’s Recipient
The Honorable Elaine L Chao
United States Secretary of Labor

Friday, March 19, 2004
The Park Hyatt Philadelphia at the Bellevue




-MENU-


SALAD

Tossed Baby Lettuce with Candied Walnuts,
Seedless Grapes, Crumbled Roquefort, and
Roasted Bell Peppers
Dressed with White Balsamic Vinaigrette
Tossed Tableside

ENTRÉE
Grilled New York Sirloin Paired with a Maryland Jumbo
Lump Crabcake Resting on a Galette of Potatoes Lyonnaise
With Port Wine Demi Glace

DESSERT
Crème Caramel with Fresh Berries
Coffee, Tea, and Decaffeinated Coffee




ICAS Annual Liberty Award Nominee 2003

The Honorable Elaine L Chao

Nominated for her distinguished achievements in advancing the great
American values - life, liberty and pursuit of happiness - and her outstanding
courage and leadership in the government during a time of crisis.


Special tribute by

David Kim
Concertmaster, Philadelphia Orchestra




News Release


U.S. Department of Labor
Office of Public Affairs
Washington, D.C.
USDL
For Immediate Release
March 19, 2004
Contact: Angie Tang
(212)337-2387


U. S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao Receives Liberty Award
from Institute for Corean-American Studies Liberty Foundation


WASHINGTON -- U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao today received the Annual Liberty Award from the Institute for Corean-American Studies at a ceremony held at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Philadelphia. The Secretary received the award for her distinguished achievements in advancing American values, life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, and her outstanding courage and leadership in government during a time of crisis.

"It is with great humility that I am here to receive this award from the Institute for Corean-American Studies Liberty Foundation," said Secretary Elaine L. Chao. "Asian Pacific Americans are among the fastest growing populations in America. Asian Pacific Americans have more opportunities than ever before. We need to take pride in our ethnic heritage and cultural background. We have much to share with mainstream America - our values on education, family, hardwork and discipline. Throughout my tenure as Secretary of Labor, I have fought to create more opportunities for people of all color and backgrounds."

"We congratulate Secretary Chao on the recent additions to her life-long accomplishments as a leader in public service," said Ms. Synja Kim, President and Chairman of the Institute for Corean-American Studies Liberty Foundation who presented the award to Secretary Chao. "She is indeed the epitome of great American heritage and embodies true American values and national spirit."

Secretary Chao emigrated to New York from Taiwan at the age of eight with her mother and two sisters, not knowing a word of English, to join her father who had arrived in America three years earlier. She earned her undergraduate degree in economics from Mount Holyoke College and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. She also studied at M.I.T., Dartmouth College, and Columbia University. Active in many volunteer activities Secretary Chao has received innumerable awards for her professional accomplishments and community service. She is the recipient of 2 1 honorary doctoral degrees from colleges and universities across the United States. President George W. Bush appointed Secretary Chao the nation's 24 Secretary of Labor on January 12, 2001, wherein she became the first American woman of Asian descent ever appointed to a President's cabinet in U.S. history.

Established in 1973, the Institute for Corean-American Studies is an educational and research organization that promotes pertinent relations and conducts appropriate activities to enhance cooperation and to pursue peace and prosperity in association with people of mutual interests, with a special emphasis on multilateral relations between the United States and Asia-Pacific rim nations.

Speaking at today's Award Luncheon were Mr. Sang Joo Kirn, Vice President and Senior Fellow of the Institute for Corean-American Studies and Mr. Gabriel L I Bevilacqua, Chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association who offered congratulatory remarks. ###



U S Labor Department news releases are accessible on the Internet at www.dol.gov. The information in this release will be made available in alternate format upon request (large print, Braille, audio tape or disc) from the COAST office. Please specify which news release when placing your request. Call 202-693-7773 or TTY 202-693-7755.






ICAS Liberty Foundation

honors

The Honorable Elaine L Chao

United States Secretary of Labor

March 19, 2004

Park Hyatt Hotel at Bellevue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania


Welcome and Introduction

Synja P Kim
President and Chairman


- Luncheon -


Congratulatory Remarks

Gabriel L I Bevilacqua
Chancellor Philadelphia Bar Association


ICAS Annual Liberty Award 2003 Presentation

ICAS Liberty Lecture


The Honorable Elaine L Chao
"Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness"

Special Tribute

David Kim
Concertmaster Philadelphia Orchestra

Meditation from the opera "Thais" - J. Massenet
Carmen Fantasy - P. Sarasate


Concluding Remarks

Sang Joo Kim
Executive Vice President

Adjourn


Floral arrangements from this Luncheon will be donated to
Magee Rehabilitation Center Philadelphia




ICAS Liberty Foundation seeks to promote the cause of humanity, peace, prosperity and security
through cultural, educational and research activities.







Host Committee

Chair
Synja P Kim

Honorary Chairs
Britton Chance
Lawrence R Klein
Martin Meyerson
Jerome J Shestack
Alfred West
Co-Chairs
Shanlin Cheng
Paul Hyon
Sang Joo Kim
Grace L Shu
Julie Wong
Choon Ki Yoo




Julia K Han
Il Hwan Kim
John Lee
Seon Mi Sim
Mina Yi
Acknowledgement

Council for America My Country
Heritage Foundation
ICAS Golf Classic Invitational
ICAS Youth Excellence Program
Prudential Fox & Roach Realtor
SK Enterprises International
Sports Connection





ICAS Liberty Award Recipients

Elaine L Chao
Viet D Dinh
Becky N Dunlop
Tony P Hall
Charles Kartman
Jeong H Kim
Lawrence R Klein
Harold Hongju Koh
Jerome J Shestack
Richard L Walker
Alfred P West
John C Yoo









Congratulatory remarks for luncheon honoring U. S. Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao:


Gabriel L I Bevilacqua
Chancellor Philadelphia Bar Association




President Kim and members of the Institute for Corean-American Studies, it gives me great pleasure to bring you greetings on behlaf of the 13,000-members of the Philadelphia Bar Association and to congratulate our very distinguished guest of honor, United States Secretary of Labor, Elaine L. Chao.

Secretary Chao, you and I have something in common.

I understand that you arrived here in America from foreign shores at the age of eight, with your family. And I arrrived from foreign shores at the age of seven, with my family. We came from different nations. We came from different backgrounds. You arrived from China. I came from Italy.

But we have so much in common -- not just with one another -- but with so many in this room and, indeed, with so many Americans everywhere. Becuase, you see, nearly all of us who call ourselves "Americans" came from somewhere else -- or we are the children or grandchildren of those who came from somewhere else. This is our story -- and it is a universal story. It is the story of America.

And it is a story that resonates for all who dream of a better life.

Secretary Chao, the award that you receive today could not be presented by a finer group; could not be received in a more appropriate city; could not be accepted by a more worthy recipient and could not be more aptly named. The Liberty Award is given here in the cradle of liberty, our nation's birthplace. And it is presented by a group, ICAS, which is dedicated to enhancing understanding among peoples of all nationalities, races and backgrounds. And it is presented to an extraordinary public servant who has dedicated herself to creating pathways to economic freedom for individuals and families working to achieve the American Dream.

Someone once said that justice is the true mission of democracy. Secretary Chao, in working for a just society full of hope and opportunity, you are acting as a genuine champion of democracy.

We congratulate you and salute you and ICAS.

Thank you!






ICAS ANNUAL LIBERTY AWARD


Elaine L. Chao
Secretary
U. S. Department of Labor



Madame Chairman, thank you very much for that very kind introduction. I want to thank you so much for bestowing upon me this wonderful honor. It's great to be back within the Asian-American community and to see all of you and thank you all so much for coming out.

I also want to acknowledge the contributions of Mr. Sang Joo Kim. Your active participation in our community and your very visible presence in so many community events and affairs is a hallmark of how Asian-Americans are now becoming more and more involved in mainstream activities. And I think as Mr. Kim has demonstrated, not only is it fun, but it's also very important for our community to have an active presence as well. So Mr. Kim, thank you for all that you do for our community.

I'm also delighted to be here because what a lovely surrounding. It's just beautiful here, and I remember when I was growing up, most of the meetings and the meeting halls that I attended - I very seldom got to go to a fancy place like this! So I want to thank everyone for being here, but once again, it's a reflection of the continual advancement of our community and the fact that we are becoming more and more mainstream. And I am so happy to see that.

This afternoon, if I could, I wanted to share with you a little bit about what the Department of Labor is doing to help people live out the great American dream of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The fundamental basis of our democracy is that each person is valued as an individual, and each person is free to pursue his or her own dreams. And work is a vital part of that equation because it provides the opportunity for most people to reach for and also achieve their full potential.

The Department of Labor is actually one of the smaller departments in the U.S. Government. It only has a budget of about $72 billion - your tax dollars at work, so we thank you very much! And a personnel complement of about 17,500 people. But what we do is to help Americans, help workers prepare for, find and also succeed at meaningful work. So that we means that we administer ERISA, and all employer based benefits including healthcare benefits. We protect workers long term, pension security. We set workplace health and safety standards through OSHA. How many of you have heard of OSHA? We administer OSHA. We can be quite fearsome.

We ensure that workers are paid a full day's wage for a full day's work through our division called the Wage and Hour. And we also help people who are out of work and this is our most important mission. We provide unemployment insurance benefits to people who are out of work, training and other income support services. The Department administers, once again, a $15 billion public employment and training system that you fund. This is all your tax dollars at work, which is why I want you to understand what your contribution is to helping those who are less fortunate amongst your midst.

Through the system, the Workforce Investment System, we have provided Pennsylvania workers with more than $864 million in assistance over the past year alone, just in this State. $864 million. Now, our nation has called upon these resources a great deal as we have worked our way from the edge of a recession into recovery.

If we can just go back a little bit and remember that the stock market peaked in March of 2000. The manufacturing sector hit the doldrums in August of 2000. When President George W. Bush took office, our country was already in a recession although it was not widely reported at the time. And President Bush's first tax reduction helped to shorten and soften the impact of the recession on our people. Our economy was just beginning to recover when the devastating attacks of September 11 occurred. Those attacks not only robbed our country of nearly 3,000 precious souls, but they were also responsible for contributing to the loss of 1.5 million jobs. The war on terror and subsequent corporate scandals exacerbated our economic challenges and the President's two tax reductions were critical to jump-starting the economy.

Thanks to the President's economic leadership, our economy has turned the corner and is getting stronger every day. Interest rates are at 40 year lows. Inflation is at 40 year lows. Productivity growth rates last year surged to the highest annual levels in over 50 years. Consumer spending and wages and benefits are all increasing. But as we all know, job growth is not as strong as we would like, and we're very concerned about that. The President has said on many occasions that one worker out of work is one worker too many. And that's why he has a 6-point economic plan to keep our economy going forward.

I think it's important to know and to remember that the government doesn't create jobs. But what the government can do is to create the environment through which job creation can occur. And so therefore, the President's plan is focused on reducing excessive government regulations which impede the growth of new jobs. The President's plan would also reduce taxation and litigation that is stifling job creation and inhibiting economic growth. His plan will decrease the cost of health care and increase access to quality, affordable health care for our people and for small business people and their employees. The President's plan will also ensure a stable energy supply and make the tax reductions permanent so that families and businesses and workers can plan for the future. All these initiatives will help the economy grow and create more jobs.

President Bush is also committed to ensuring that Americans continue to work with the world and that we're not isolating ourselves economically. Economic isolation should have special significant for an audience such as this because so many of us come from countries outside of America. We are recent immigrants, or are children of recent immigrants with strong ties back to our ancestral lands, and we know that we are part of a worldwide society, worldwide community, and a worldwide economy. And isolationism, economic isolationism is a strategy of fear and of resentment. And again, we of all people should understand the need to engage internationally, and that economic isolation may potentially cause, in fact, a loss of 6.4 million jobs held by Americans hired by foreign companies here in America.

The President's vision is one of optimism and confidence, one that trusts in our country's hopeful values and believes in our ability to lead the world. But a prosperous world must also be a secure world, and President Bush is deeply committed to keeping American safe and secure. The President is taking the war on terrorism to our enemies so that we don't have to fight it here in the streets of America. Many of us, as I mentioned, were born in foreign countries, or children of those who were born in foreign countries. Many of the foreign countries in which we grew up, or our parents grew up, were beset by foreign invasion or civil war. So we have seen the horrors of attacks on native soil. Anyone in America or elsewhere who says that we are not safer than we were two years ago, like on September 12, 2001 for example, is ignoring the good that has come from fighting the enemies of freedom on their home ground. Thanks to the leadership of President George W. Bush, the terrorists regimes that destroyed the lives of so many innocent people in Afghanistan have been expelled from power. Little girls and women are now free to go on the streets, girls are able to go to school, women are able to go to work. And thanks to the President's leadership, Saddam Hussein and his brutal regime are no longer in control of Iraq. We have taken a country that had been brutally oppressed by a vicious tyrant and put it on the path to democracy.

I recently came back from Iraq and found that our men and women in uniform and the civilians who work with them are so proud of what they are doing over there, but they're also concerned that so little of what they're doing, all their good works, are not being reported in the press. And they know that much needs to be done, but they also wish that more Americans knew of their good work.

Thousands of people in Iraq were complicit in Saddam Hussein's reign of terror, and some of these vicious people are still at large. We cannot and will not allow these people to sabotage the hopes of 24 million people, Iraqis, people who want the same things we do, to find good jobs, to put food on the table, to send their children to school, to hope for brighter beginnings for their children. And we cannot and will now allow these vicious loyalists of Saddam Hussein's regime to sabotage the hope for democracy in the Middle East and stability for the rest of the world. It is in the interest of the United States and the international community to see that democracy succeeds in Iraq and the Middle East because that is the key to peace and stability around the world.

I think this audience knows more than most that America is a beacon to the rest of the world. It's a beacon for hope and opportunity, freedom and liberty. And so it's vital that Americans of all backgrounds have the opportunity to live out these values here at home. And I'm pleased to tell you that the President has done a great deal to reach out to our community and to ensure that Asian-Pacific Americans are sharing in the American dream.

First of all, President Bush has appointed more Asian-Pacific Americans to the highest levels of the federal government than any other president in United States history. Under President Bush's leadership, more than 150 Asian-Pacific Americans have been appointed to high level offices including 19 requiring Senate confirmations. These are what's called Presidential Appointees-Senate-Confirmed appointments. They are the top levels of our government, the highest levels. And for the first time, obviously, the President has appointed two Asian-Pacific Americans to the United States Cabinet.

At the U.S. Department of Labor, this administration has appointed 18 Asian- Pacific Americans to top leadership positions, the highest number of any federal government department. At the Department of Labor, Shinae Chun who has spoken to your group, is the first Asian American Director of the Women's Bureau, and Shinae is right here and I'm going to ask her to stand up and please give her a round of applause. We're so proud of her! And Shinae is a PAS - that's a Presidential Appointee with Senate confirmation.

We also have Sam Mok who's the first Asian-Pacific American Chief Financial Officer. And I also have here, if she's available, Angie Tang. Angie is right over there. Angie was the Secretary's representative in the region of New York, and she has very kindly agreed to help out with outreach and liaison with our Asian-Pacific American media community as well, because I want them to know about mainstream America. I want the rest of our community to know about mainstream America, to know about the opportunities and also to know how the government works and how mainstream society works. Because before we can get into mainstream society and mainstream community, we have to understand what it is. So, Angie, I want to thank you for helping out so much as well.

But helping Asian-Pacific Americans and all Americans access the American values of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness continues to be among the Department's top priorities. I just want to list of few things that we've done for our community. The Department of Labor hosted the first nationwide Opportunities conference to foster the small businesses and community organizations serving the Asian-Pacific and Hispanic American communities. This May, the Department is hosting the third annual Asian-Pacific American Federal Career Advancement Summit. These summits help Asian-Pacific Americans acquire the skills necessary to advance to senior management positions within the federal government.

We have also established a summer internship program at the Department to encourage future Asian-Pacific American leaders to learn about our nation's government. So if you have college-aged relatives interested in an internship at the U.S. Department of Labor, please go on our website - www.dol.gov, or call Melissa Naudine (?), at 202-693- 6000. We're very serious about extending this invitation. We have internships throughout the whole year as well. And I want to encourage Asian-American kids and other kids to come and see how the federal government works so that they can understand the opportunities, but also the responsibilities and obligations of the federal government to our citizens.

The Department has also launched a number of other initiatives to assist the Asian-Pacific American community. Small businesses are the growth engines of the U.S. economy and a very important avenue of opportunity for Asian-Pacific Americans. So this administration launched a $9 million project with the Small Business Administration to help Asian-Pacific American entrepreneurs, including those here in Philadelphia, access seed capital to start their own businesses. We're also translating our publications and the Labor Department websites on health, safety and fair compensation into multiple languages. So we're translating a website of all of our manuals into all different kinds of Asian languages including Korean, Chinese and Japanese. We're also hiring interpreters to help workers who call our department, and that's another challenge for us as well, because we want to reach out to the under-served communities. And so when someone calls us, we want to make sure that we have interpreters and speakers who speak the language of the caller. So we have hired interpreters to help callers who don't speak English access the Department's many programs and resources.

As some of you may know, one of the Department's highest priorities is to ensure that vulnerable immigrants are protected. So we have launched an outreach program to explain the Department's many, many rules and regulations. If the government - in our view, if the government requires the regulated community - let me start that again - if the government requires businesses or the regulated community to obey the rules, then we believe that the government has a responsibility to make its rules understandable. That apparently is something very new in the federal government.

To also better serve the Asian-Pacific American community, I have asked that the Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics, which turns out the monthly unemployment numbers, to start for the very first time in 2003, to begin to include specific and separate employment data on Asians and Asian Americans. So along with the great American values that I know all of us share, we are doing all that we can to ensure that Asian Americans and all Americans know about the resources within the federal government and that we are serving all populations and we're going out and aggressively engaging in outreach and liaison with traditionally under-served communities. And we have a lot of resources that we want the Asian American community to know about as well.

So I'm very proud of what we have accomplished at the Department of Labor so far. But there's more to be done. You know, many times when I'm doing my job and traveling throughout the country, I sometimes feel a sense of great sadness and loneliness because I feel so blessed by God and entrusted with the responsibilities that this President has given me, I've seen so much of all that is wonderful and beautiful about America, that I wish more Asian Americans and other Americans can come join me and see. I come from a very large family. I come from a family of six girls, and so I always wish that I can share everything that I'm seeing with my community.

And what I'm seeing is a country that as so much opportunity. I see a country that has strong core values of generosity, compassion, safety, freedom, opportunity. And what I want to emphasize to the Asian-American community is that we have a chance at grasping that opportunity. We are so well positioned because we have core values with an emphasis on hard work, with an emphasis on family, and we also have a core value of self-reliance, independence, self-sufficiency, married with the opportunities in this country - I can see nothing that we cannot accomplish.

I also believe in the values of our community. It used to be that so many of us were so eager to go into mainstream America. When I first arrived in America, we were so eager to learn English that we may sometimes have forgotten to retain our native language. But I find that with new immigrants these days, more and more people are holding onto our ancestral cultural heritage, and I think that's good. That's good, because we should take pride in our ethnic heritage. We should take pride in all that we can offer to mainstream America.

You know, in my climb and advancement in my own personal career, it's not been easy, but I've never felt sorry for myself, and I never thought that I would be where I am today. I just wanted to: No. 1 - honor my parents. I think it's a sentiment that you can all empathize with. But I wanted to honor my parents, not disappoint my family, not disappoint my community, and I was also blessed with a tremendous sense of curiosity which my parents instilled in me. My father - as you may have heard - taught me English. He speaks English with a very heavy accent. So to some people - the thought that he taught me English was actually quite frightening! But he had tremendous - he had tremendous confidence in the possibilities in this country, so when we first arrived as immigrants, we didn't know anything. We never thought that we would be able to get anyplace. But we knew that we would survive, and that in this country we'd be given a fair shake if we worked hard, if we believed in ourselves, and we had optimism about this country. We had hope. So armed with optimism and hope, even though we had a very tough beginning, we knew that we were going to be all right.

And so my father always said to me that he can't tell me where I will go because his view of the world is so small. But he had confidence that even though he could not take me where I would ultimately go - by the way, he's alive and he's doing very well!! - but what I meant was that he could not - because he was not privy to so much of mainstream America, he couldn't tell me what was out there. He couldn't tell me where ultimately I can go. But he gave me the most empowering philosophy of all and that is that if I had courage, if I worked hard, if I helped other people - never forget that - if I helped other people, that the path ahead of me would be full of promise, full of hope, and full of joy. And I can say, looking back, that my parents who could not tell me what opportunities lay ahead, but yet had the confidence to tell me there would be opportunities ahead, have in fact laid a very, very good path for me.

As we talk about our country today, and we think about all that we have, we Asian Americans possess some of the most valuable core assets of life and that is to have a strong culture, to have strong family values, and to take care of one another, and to have a tremendous appreciation for education. So we have so much to share with mainstream America, and I hope that when young people are going on in their lives and getting on that they value our culture and that they feel enriched by having a combination of Asian and mainstream American culture.

So wherever I've been, I've always treasured deeply my Asian heritage and I've always felt that I've been very fortunate to have been the beneficiary of both cultures. I've been so overwhelmed by the tremendous outpouring of support from the Asian American community, and I want to let you know that I will never let you down; that your hopes and dreams are always with me and that I always hope to be worthy of your pride and that - please know, that I am working every day to ensure that Asian Americans and all Americans have an equal opportunity at the tremendous, tremendous possibilities that exist in this country.

So thank you so much for all of your support, I really appreciate it. Thank you very much. Thank you.




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