http://romania.usembassy.gov/policy/remarks/amb_10312009-en.html Ambassador's Remarks Remarks By Ambassador Mark H. Gitenstein On The Occasion Of Hallowen Charity Ball
Maria Gheorghiu, Leslie Hawke, Ethan Hawke and distinguished guests: I hope this doesn't embarrass Ethan but I want to begin my remarks tonight with an anecdote that involves him. Fifteen years ago he appeared in a movie, Reality bites, which at least in my mind was the beginning of his meteoric rise as an international star. He was asked a question by the character played by Winona Ryder: "What is irony?" she asked. He answered in his deadpan way: "It is when the actual meaning is the direct opposite of the literal meaning." With that definition in mind, I would like to spend a few minutes tonight talking about irony, indeed a terrible irony, a terrible irony that applies to Romania and which plagued my country as well. That irony is when Romanians and we Americans say one thing about our aspirations for fellow citizens, especially those who are disadvantaged, and particularly disadvantaged young people, but really mean something else. I grew up in the deep south of the United States, in Alabama, in the 1950s. I can remember very vividly in 1954 when the Supreme Court of the United States decided the most important decision of my lifetime, Brown v. The Board of Education, a decision that purported to end once and for all the despicable practice of educating African-American children in completely different and inferior schools. In that decision the Supreme Court was trying to end a terrible irony. We had claimed in our founding documents - in the Declaration of Independence -- that all men are "created equal," and in our Constitution that all persons are to be treated equally before the law. But the awful truth was that while we described the reality as "separate but equal" schools, when we segregated black people into sub-standard schools we really provided them with a significantly inferior education. Only a quarter of African-Americans aged 25-29 had completed high school, half the rate of whites. And where I grew up they received on average four years less schooling then we whites did. I was 8 years old and in second grade. I remember it clearly, as if it was yesterday. My second grade teacher stood before me and said to us: this Supreme Court decision was outrageous. She said black people were inferior; they should not attend school with us white kids, and then she asked us: "can you think of a single distinguished Black American --- a great composer, a great athlete, an artist, a great leader?" We could not. I went home and told my parents who were outraged with what she said. Fortunately that racist attitude did not prevail and I now stand before you as Ambassador of the United States, the personal representative of the first African-American president of the United States. He would be the first to say, and has said, that we still have a long way to go. While we made real progress in the 60s and 70s, since the 1980s the gap in educational achievement between African-Americans and whites has actually gotten worse. You have been struggling with your own terrible irony for the past twenty years. Your version of the Brown decision came here in the streets of Bucharest with the revolution of December 1989. Like our historic Supreme Court decision, your revolution is still being realized. In your case, the irony was as stark as ours. In 1989 your communist constitution promised full equality in all aspects of economic, political, and cultural life to all working people regardless of nationality, race, or sex and the right to an education. It guaranteed freedom of speech, the press, assembly, public demonstration, and worship. You were guaranteed protection from arbitrary arrest, personal privacy, and the secrecy of the mails. Ethan, I'd say everybody in this room knows all too well that would meet the definition of irony. You've made tremendous progress in the past 20 years but let's focus this evening on the "right to education." Fourteen years ago your parliament adopted a law that promises universal public education for all children over the age of six. And a law passed five years ago seeks to make that promise a reality. I am sorry to say that the literal meaning of that policy, like our Brown decision, is still not a reality. There are almost five million children in Romania. According to research conducted by Ovidiu Rom almost 20% of those children, mostly Roma, do not get an equal education. The average Roma child here only spends 6.8 years in school, almost five years less than the average Romanian child. Over 80% do not go beyond the 8th grade. This is not only unjust and belies the promise of your policy enactments but threatens your very future. Romania will not be able to realize its revolution and build the foundation for a strong vibrant economy with one fifth of your future workers unable to function in the 21st-century workplace. Education is closely linked to development, and nothing means more for the future of Romania than raising the median level of education. At the United Nations, we collectively made a global commitment as part of the millennium development goals to lay the foundations to provide all children, both boys and girls, with the opportunity to complete primary schooling, and we pledged to achieve this goal by 2015. The United States is very serious about this issue: just last month, President Barack Obama pledged to establish a two billion dollar global fund for education so that every child around the world can attend school. In many parts of the world, this means reaching out to the marginalized population of girls and young women. It is worth noting that Mr. Obama's top economic advisor, Lawrence Summers, noted that "educating girls yields a higher rate of return than any other investment available in the developing world." To underscore this phenomenon, a 100-country study by the World Bank found specifically that women's education is a key component of economic growth, for all countries around the world, regardless of wealth, geography, or culture. No society that leaves half of its population uneducated will see economic progress or democratic development. When we commit ourselves to empowering people, we need to understand where the shortfalls in education lie. Here in Romania, the European Union has estimated that 15% of Roma children have never been enrolled in school, and the EU recently identified "education as a key issue to fight against exclusion and discrimination of Roma." Without a doubt, prejudice plays a role in the marginalization of the Roma, just like it did with blacks where I grew up. But if we are to integrate this community and empower a generation with their basic right to education, we must move past the frozen dialogue of prejudices. Blame does not bear results. I heard all that from my second grade teacher and her kind over 50 years ago in the Deep South. Fortunately, I had parents who set me straight and we had leaders like Presidents Kennedy and Johnson who had the courage to take on the racists. In Romania you have leaders in and out of government who see the need for action. Leslie and Maria and their colleagues have put together a detailed plan of action. It calls for a public-private partnership, both government and civil society, to ensure that there are trained teachers, a relevant curriculum, and safe and functional schools to ensure that each student can achieve his or her full potential. We in America have tried many of these ideas and they do work. Our work in America is far from finished and so is yours. As President Obama said, "we live in a time when our destinies are shared. The world is more intertwined than any time in human history." In this shared reality, we have a responsibility to deliver hope and opportunity to our children. These Roma children here in Romania just like the poor and disadvantaged children in America are all of our children. Each child is a precious part of this future--my future and yours-- and as we dedicate ourselves to their future, we honor our democratic legacy and secure our own future. Thank you. (C) Embassy of the United States ---------------------------- Vali "Noble blood is an accident of fortune; noble actions are the chief mark of greatness." "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace." Aboneaza-te la <mailto:[email protected]> ngo_list: o alternativa moderata (un pic) la [ngolist] Please consider the environment - do you really need to print this email?
