Juan Williams at Being an American Essay Contest Gala

0:00 good evening to you all I’m delighted to be with you here tonight I’ve been involved with the Bill of Rights institute’s being an American essay contest since the very beginning and I’m delighted to serve as your MC for the fifth annual Awards dinner you know it’s interesting coming in here

0:21 tonight there’s so many people who greeted me in the lobby of the hotel on the way down the steps on the escalator people when I used to work in radio would say it’s good to put a face with the voice that they heard over the radio to which I would always offer a wise crack simply saying you know what I

0:41 didn’t know what you look like either now that I work for TV people are often say to me it’s good to be able to put a body with the face that’s a little different I support the Bill of Rights institute’s efforts to educate young people about

1:01 the Constitution and America’s Civic values as I read about this year’s student winners I can see just how successful these educational efforts have been this year students chose a wide variety of Civic values let me list some of them for you

1:22 civility respect initiative courage patriotism honor integrity determination freedom of speech industry self-reliance responsibility and sacrifice to name a few

1:44 these students that we honor here tonight have Heroes including Thomas Jefferson George Washington Abraham Lincoln Abigail Adams Frederick Douglass Thomas Payne Benjamin Franklin James Madison and Martin Luther King Jr

2:05 As We Gather tonight I think back to the time when I was in high school certainly wasn’t among the superstars that we have in this room but I think back to the experience of the Bill of Rights as a student as a high school student it’s such an abstraction at that point

2:27 to talk about civility respect freedom of speech self-reliance but I can tell you now that at my age I’m having an unusual experience the abstraction of freedom of speech is no longer something thin and Gauzy something that

2:50 a teacher is telling me about but in my life now I’m experiencing but tremendous value the tremendous pleasure the treasure that I as an American am able to hold up when we talk about freedom of speech

3:20 it’s no longer an abstraction when you have people calling you a bigot for simply saying what you feel it’s no longer an abstraction to talk about freedom of speech when you lose your job

3:41 for speaking honestly not intending to be provocative or simply stir the pot but simply trying to advance debate in an open Society it’s not an abstraction it’s not something for the textbooks when you understand that people not only

4:03 will punish you but that they will attempt to humiliate you to suggest that you should be seeing a psychiatrist or that you are so imbecilic that you need to be told what to say to be saying by a publicist

4:24 or you know it’s just unbelievable when you stop and think about it but this is the reality this is a reality that you can come up against even here in the United States and it’s at that point you realize that you can be punished in terms of

4:47 losing some professional affiliation some income but thank God for the Bill of Rights thank God for the United States of America where we believe and protect the idea of freedom of speech and that’s why when I am with you here tonight

5:09 I don’t come simply to offer some kind words I’m not trying to Gill the Lily when it comes to talking about the importance of the Bill of Rights I come here as someone who deeply and profoundly understands what it means to be an American

5:32 what it means to have these rights these rights protected and to be able to speak honestly in service to democratic principles in service to our national debate so that we as an American people can reach rational

5:52 decisions build consensus find common ground but not do so by repressing thought not do so by eliminating speech but in fact by encouraging vigorous and full-throated dialogue in our society these are precious things

6:14 and all the young people here tonight no doubt understand the principle but I can assure you the principle of freedom of speech is alive in America and I’m here still standing as evidence that we live in America

6:41 my mom brought three kids to the United States from Panama when I was four years old I was just a little baby but she really brought the kids here because my sister was then ready for high school and what she wanted for my sister was an American Education and tonight as we are talking about

7:03 the value the value of the Bill of Rights we also talk about the value of Education and I can tell you my mom used to bring me newspapers off the subway in New York City and newspapers introduced me to so many of the principles

7:25 elucidated in that Bill of Rights and in our constitution understanding of how power operates in America who really benefits from the operation of government budgets deficits Finance public policy legislation

7:48 all of this is part of what it means to be fully educated so you can fully participate as a citizen in our Republic again it’s not about abstractions it’s not about being good students so you can get good grades and get into the very best college

8:08 in fact it’s about being educated to know your rights so you can fully become invested in what is a tremendous story an ongoing story of the Great American experiment and we educate young people in this Society so that they can become leaders

8:31 and we have an example of budding leadership and the young people who have won the essay contest this year these are truly extraordinary young people and my senses from reading the essays that they are well on their way to being the kind of people who understand

8:52 that what they’ve been writing about what they’ve been thinking about goes well beyond abstraction these are young people who will stand up and be Paragons of these virtues be examples to others and maybe more importantly be willing to defend a scoundrel like me so thank you all very much