State of the Union AddressesBush, George W. (George Walker)
History
State of the Union Addresses
Bush, George W. (George Walker)
Presidents -- United States -- Messages; United States -- Politics and government -- Sources
Because one of the deepest values of our country is compassion, we must
never turn away from any citizen who feels isolated from the
opportunities of America. Our government will continue to support
faith-based and community groups that bring hope to harsh places. Now
we need to focus on giving young people, especially young men in our
cities, better options than apathy, or gangs, or jail. Tonight I
propose a three-year initiative to help organizations keep young people
out of gangs, and show young men an ideal of manhood that respects
women and rejects violence. Taking on gang life will be one part of a
broader outreach to at-risk youth, which involves parents and pastors,
coaches and community leaders, in programs ranging from literacy to
sports. And I am proud that the leader of this nationwide effort will
be our First Lady, Laura Bush.
Because HIV/AIDS brings suffering and fear into so many lives, I ask
you to reauthorize the Ryan White Act to encourage prevention, and
provide care and treatment to the victims of that disease. And as we
update this important law, we must focus our efforts on fellow citizens
with the highest rates of new cases, African American men and women.
Because one of the main sources of our national unity is our belief in
equal justice, we need to make sure Americans of all races and
backgrounds have confidence in the system that provides justice. In
America we must make doubly sure no person is held to account for a
crime he or she did not commit -- so we are dramatically expanding the
use of DNA evidence to prevent wrongful conviction. Soon I will send to
Congress a proposal to fund special training for defense counsel in
capital cases, because people on trial for their lives must have
competent lawyers by their side.
Our third responsibility to future generations is to leave them an
America that is safe from danger, and protected by peace. We will pass
along to our children all the freedoms we enjoy -- and chief among them
is freedom from fear.
In the three and a half years since September the 11th, 2001, we have
taken unprecedented actions to protect Americans. We've created a new
department of government to defend our homeland, focused the FBI on
preventing terrorism, begun to reform our intelligence agencies, broken
up terror cells across the country, expanded research on defenses
against biological and chemical attack, improved border security, and
trained more than a half-million first responders. Police and
firefighters, air marshals, researchers, and so many others are working
every day to make our homeland safer, and we thank them all.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account