Ambassador's Speeches

Martin Luther King Day Program (20 Jan 09)

Your Excellency the First Lady, Madame Sia Koroma
Your Excellency the Second Lady,
Your Honor the Chief Justice, Madam Umu Hawa Tejan Jalloh,
Honorable Ministers and Members of Parliament,
Members of the diplomatic corps,
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome.

Thank you so much for joining us here today.  The song that we’ve just heard, the Star Spangled Banner, is a stirring reminder of the history that has brought us, as Americans, to this day.  Throughout our history, in the worst times, the times when we were threatened, the times when we were on the edge of disaster, we found hope.  The Star Spangled Banner was written by Francis Scott Key at such a time, during the American Revolution, when British bombs illuminated the sky off the Eastern seaboard.  Every time a bomb blasted, Key saw, not a devastating blow to the cause of independence, but a light by which the star spangled banner waved.

We gather today to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who saw in one of America’s most harrowing periods the dream of a better future.  Like his namesake Martin Luther, he had the courage to look around him and see the possibilities of tomorrow rather than the darkness of today.  It is this ability to rise above our own inclination to self pity that has pulled America through the tough times.  It is the obstacles to our goals that spur us to fly our flag ever higher.

In times of crisis, we have heard our leaders tell us that “this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom,” that “we have nothing to fear but fear itself,” that we must “ask not what our country can do for us, but what we can do for our country.”  As always, we must challenge ourselves to reach beyond that which seems impossible to make it possible.
Today, as the world faces war, famine, economic depression, environmental disaster, and a host of other mountains that seem insurmountable, Americans again have dared to hope.  We have elected a leader who believes that our hope is legitimate, that our faith is justified by what we have done in the past, by what we know we can do in the future. 

Today, we will honor a man who had a dream, and taught us all a great deal about how to believe that we can do better.  Then, we will watch a man who has come through his own battles, who dared to reach for heights unthinkable only a generation ago, attain his dream.  Tomorrow, we will set to work reaffirming the belief of our forefathers.

Thank you.