Remarks of Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson Memorial Day, Gettysburg, PA May 30, 1963
On this hallowed ground, heroic deeds were performed and eloquent words were spoken a century ago.
We, the living, have not forgotten--and the world will never forget--the deeds or the words of Gettysburg. We honor them now as we join on this Memorial Day of 1963 in a prayer for permanent peace of the world and fulfillment of our hopes for universal freedom and justice.
We are called to honor our own words of reverent prayer with resolution in the deeds we must perform to preserve peace and the hope of freedom.
We keep a vigil of peace around the world.
Until the world knows no aggressors, until the arms of tyranny have been laid down, until freedom has risen up in every land, we shall maintain our vigil to make sure our sons who died on foreign fields shall not have died in vain.
As we maintain the vigil of peace, we must remember that justice is a vigil, too--a vigil we must keep in our own streets and schools and among the lives of all our people--so that those who died here on their native soil shall not have died in vain.
One hundred years ago, the slave was freed.
One hundred years later, the Negro remains in bondage to the color of his skin.
The Negro today asks justice.
We do not answer him--we do not answer those who lie beneath this soil--when we
reply to the Negro by asking, "Patience."
It is empty to plead that the solution to the dilemmas of the present rests on the hands of the clock. The solution is in our hands. Unless we are willing to yield up our destiny of greatness among the civilizations of history, Americans --white and Negro together--must be about the business of resolving thechallenge which confronts us now.
Our nation found its soul in honor on these fields of Gettysburg one hundred years ago. We must not lose that soul in dishonor now on the fields of hate.
To ask for patience from the Negro is to ask him to give more of what he has already given enough. But to fail to ask of him--and of all Americans--perseverance within the processes of a free and responsible society would be to fail to ask what the national interest requires of all its citizens.
The law cannot save those who deny it but neither can the law serve any who do not
use it. The history of injustice and inequality is a history of disuse of the law. Law has not failed--and is not failing. We as a nation have failed ourselves by not trusting the law and by not using the law to gain sooner the ends of justice which law alone serves.
If the white over-estimates what he has done for the Negro without the law, the Negro may under-estimate what he is doing and can do for himself with the law.
If it is empty to ask Negro or white for patience, it is not empty--it is merely honest--to ask perseverance. Men may build barricades--and others may hurl themselves against those barricades--but what would happen at the barricades would yield no answers. The answers will only be wrought by our perseverance together. It is deceit to promise more as it would be cowardice to demand less.
In this hour, it is not our respective races which are at stake--it is our nation. Let those who care for their country come forward, North and South, white and Negro, to lead the way through this moment of challenge and decision.
The Negro says, "Now." Others say, "Never." The voice of responsible Americans
--the voice of those who died here and the great man who spoke here--their voices say,
"Together." There is no other way.
Until justice is blind to color, until education is unaware of race, until opportunity is unconcerned with the color of men's skins, emancipation will be a proclamation but not a fact. To the extent that the proclamation of emancipation is not fulfilled in fact, to that extent we shall have fallen short of assuring freedom to the free.
It appears that this is going to be a lovely 3 day week end. Yesterday was excellent and today has a good start toward excellence. 
Checking in my forums this morning. I found this description of someone's children. The poster had it in her signature line. So cute and very descriptive, don't you think? It made me smile.
lovely children"
Checking my online mail and reading news before my morning really starts. I have received a e-mail from the Ragshop with their printable coupons. It is so strange, they give you two coupons. However, if you have a problem and the coupons don't show, you can click on another link to get them. The thing is, you can get four coupons instead of two. I have learned to go directly to the clickable link.
Yep. A disappointing day for me. I had hoped that I had a new client, but it fell through. Even when you feel in your heart that you have it right, the bottom line is not your call. Ya gotta respect people, they know what they want. I know that I need to get past my "What are you thinking?" stage. After the let down, I returned home instead of picking up my mail. 
I went to the NJ Walk of Fame unveiling at the PAC last evening. It was really nice. Lots of inductee plaques. This is well worth a trip to the PAC. The list is fairly long, it includes: Frank Sinatra, Jack Nicholson, Susan Sarandon, Nathan Lane, Ernie Kovacs, Frederica von Stade; plus the names we are most familiar with; Sarah Vaughan, Judith Jamison, Wynton Marsalis, Jerry Lewis, Danny DeVito, plus many more. And of course Queen Latifah. The press release is here. 
Yesterday was such a long day, early a.m. until 6:30p meeting that ended sometime near 9pm. I was very happy to stay home today and read/clean my Work & Family e-mails. So many e-mails, so little time. I did a lot of reading, responding and deleating. I found one comment that was so sweet and so moving, that I would like to share with you. I wrote a short article about my recollections of my dad for Father's Day last year. The person who wrote this must have been surfing the web when she found the article last month. I responded to her today. I say "her" because the e-mail 'feels' female. Hey. Don't ask. 
Had a busy day, but I am in for the rest of the evening. Whew! I walked over to the library to see how the Teen event was doing. I arrived late, but I could see that it was going wonderfully well. Later the Chair suggested that we talk further concerning upcoming events, etc. What better place than Forno's patio to meet on such a lovely day. We had sangria. Yum. As always, Forno's was busy, when I walked out of the ladies room a party of nine was coming in. I love the excitement and ambiance of the places down neck.
I read most of my news online these days. I saw this in the Star Ledger, "A married Roman Catholic priest who battered his wife, bullied his children and fondled a boy was sentenced yesterday to six months in jail". I continue to be surprised at the level of disease that seems to plague the very people we are supposed to trust and seek guidance from. So scary. The wife never spoke up because she knew folks would not believe her. How scary and sad. The young NY man who killed his prominent physician dad has said in an interview that he wished he had not "gone that far" [to stop his dad's abuse]. I have never heard of a whole family who has no regret that their father is dead. It is hard for me to grasp. No tears from the family at the funeral, no "I will miss him."; no "He left us too soon." I am so sad for this family. I even feel sad for the father. What can make a person hurt family so badly and so deeply, that there is no regret when he is gone? Do we expect too much of people? I don't think so.
I went to the bank one day this week. 
--that was a bad thing. 
The Woman's Day Panel Discussion "The Next Bestseller: The ABC's of Creating a Children's Book" was just great. I am so delighted that I was invited and that I did attend this session. This morning I noticed that my invite stuff was posted on one of my member sites. You never know what is important and what is not to other people. 
Last week as I was heading to pick up my mail I saw a woman fall down across the street from me. People just walked pass her, I had to wait until traffic stopped before I could cross the street. Before I got there, I young woman in her 20's had come to the woman's aid but needed help getting the woman to her feet. I soon realized that she was intoxicated to the max, stinking drunk is a kind description. People around us murmured, "she's always drunk, always falling", etc. I ignored them as did this lovely young woman. I was surprised when she asked the woman if she were hungry; "Yes. I'm very hungry." The young woman gave the woman her lunch, while apologizing because she had taken a piece of chicken from the box. She also gave the woman a soft drink explaining that it was all natural. Of course tears came to my eyes before could stop them. Before leaving I hugged this sweet good samaritan and wished her well. She stayed on my mind most of the day. 
I'll attend this tomorrow. Anxious to hear what Whoopi Goldberg has to say. I really do have a lot of respect for her. I'm thinking that she is probably a very nice person. I enjoy Inside Edition and anchor Deborah Norville. It should be interesting to hear about her book, I am already somewhat familiar with Goldberg's children's book. I did not realize that Norville had written one also.
Boy, what a turn-a-round. Who woulda thunk it? I just read that Zacarias Moussaoui has requested to withdraw his guilty plea. The Judge denied his request. He is now saying that he lied about being part of the hijacking plot. I suspect that he hoped for the death sentence so he could continue the "I am Z. Moussaoui and I have won" show from his cell for all of the us weak Americans. 
Now that he has had a chance to think about those long years in solitary he is doing a back stroke. I would hope that we will not continue to hear from him, but I doubt that he will keep quiet. 