Opening remarks on “Celebrating Our Diversity” ceremony
THE ENDS OF DIVERSITY
It is a great pleasure for me to have this opportunity to speak on Diversity Day and to share some thoughts about the important role diversity plays in American history and in our daily lives.
America has always been a diverse country, a land that has attracted and continues to attract people from around the world, people who come with many different values but who aspire to live in the one country where that diversity is not only possible but celebrated.
There is no community or country around the world, no matter how small or how distant, that is not now represented in the fabric of American life. There is no country on earth into which so many different people from so many different places continue to want to come. This diversity is one of the defining features of our national life. It is one that has always set us apart from others.
We are not a nation-state where one self-appointed group overwhelmingly controls the political landscape and claims special privileges. We are not an empire where one people dominates another.
Because this American approach represents such a radical departure from other political and social systems, we should not be surprised that the intolerant among us have at times been frightened by the power of diversity to defend the rights of the individual, and create the conditions for an open, tolerant society. Nor should we be surprised that extremists
