Remarks and a question-and-answer session at Kramer Junior High School

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Feb 7, 1994

February 3, 1994

The President. Thank you very much. Give Carlotta another hand. Didn't she do a good job? |Applause~ She was nervous. I told her there was nothing to it. She did a great job. Thank you, Carlotta. Thank you, Mr. Poles. I'm very, very glad to be here.

I wanted to come here the day after I gave the State of the Union Address last week, but I lost my voice. And as you can hear, I haven't quite gotten it back. But I think I can at least say what I came to say and hopefully answer some of your questions.

Every year the President gives the State of the Union Address to report to our whole country on the accomplishments and goals of the country and of the Government. But I came to Kramer this morning because I wanted to say something else. And that is that the future of our Union depends not just on the President and the Congress, on what I do or don't do, it also depends on you, every boy and girl in this school and every person like you all across this country, in the biggest cities, in the smallest towns and all the places in between, on how well you prepare for your life and how well you're able to lead it. That will shape what kind of country America is, and it will affect all the rest of us as well.

I think all of you know this, but this school has produced two graduates who are now part of what I do at the White House. And I want to formally introduce them. First, the Assistant Agent-in-Charge of my Secret Service detail, a person in charge of protecting me, Mr. Danny Spriggs. Stand up, Danny. He graduated from this school, went on to the University of New Mexico, and played football for the Dallas Cowboys, and then came back to the Secret Service and progressed through the ranks to his present, very important position. Second, I'd like to introduce one of my very talented White House photographers, also a graduate of this school, Ms. Sharon Farmer. Sharon, where are you? There she is, down in front. She graduated from this school, went on to Ohio State University where she was elected president of the student body, then became a photographer, and is so good at what she does that she is on the staff of the President. I'd also like to tell you that the head of our Secret Service detail, Rich Miller, grew up in this neighborhood. So there was a lot of interest in Kramer. The Secret Service agents every year who protect the First Family give the President and the First Lady a Christmas gift. I don't know what those gifts have been in the past, but this year I got a letter from my Secret Service detail saying that because I had emphasized service so much and worked so hard to pass a national service bill, which gives young people like you the chance to earn some money to go to college by serving in their community, that they wanted their gift to me to be the adoption of this school. They wanted the people on the Secret Service detail to come into this school, to work with the young people, to try to make it a healthy, safe, growing place where you could learn more and where you could have contact with them, some very good people who have led very interesting lives. I can tell you, for my money, it was the best Christmas present I got this year. And I am very, very grateful for it. When these two people who work for me went to this school years ago, our country had some problems then, too; the bigotry, the racism that then existed in our country was more overt than it is now. And they had some hills to climb to achieve what they have achieved in life.

In the years since, some of that open injustice has gone away, but all of you know now we have a whole set of new problems, our problems that were maybe there then but are worse now. There are too many neighborhoods where it seems that nobody has a job, too many places where families don't stay together, and too many places where kids are literally at risk of being shot or beat-up going to and from school and sometimes in school. To correct this problem we've got to work together. I've got to do my part, and you've got to help to create safe schools where learning occurs and to make sure that we have the kind of neighborhoods and the kind of futures that all of you deserve.

I know that a lot of you have lived with violence. I know you've seen it up close. I imagine some of you have people in your own family who have been hurt. And maybe you know people who have given up on themselves and given up on our country, who've dropped out and are just angry all the time, doing their best to live from day to day, not thinking much about the future.

The first thing I want to ask of you is not to give up. Don't give up on yourselves, and don't give up on your country. I very much want you to go to school in safety, where you learn things and can look forward to a brighter and richer future. I want you to feel that you should and that you must stay off drugs and graduate from high school and go beyond. I want you to believe that you can do as much with your life as Danny Spriggs and Sharon Farmer have, or for that matter, that if you work hard and you really care enough about it, you might someday be in the United States Congress like Eleanor Holmes Norton or maybe even be running for President.