A Personal Reflection on America's Birthday

Dear Friends,

On this July 4th, I feel a need to reflect more deeply on what it means to be an American. We mourn the more than 130,000 Americans who have died of Covid19, many of whom have worked their entire lives to give us the America we are today. We celebrate and give thanks to the women and men who are working tirelessly as first responders, front line healthcare workers, and those who defend our country and place their lives at risk every day to preserve our Nation. We fear for our economy and the livelihood of the millions of displaced American workers. The most recent actions by so many Americans who have taken to the streets peacefully to demand racial equity and remedy the structural barriers to equal opportunity once again brings us to the recognition that we have fallen far short of our ideals, and we must act now to do more and do better as a nation.   All these Americans deserve our most profound thanks for what they have done and are doing to make our country the best it can be.

I was honored to have given the Commencement address to the Johns Hopkins School of Education back in early May, prior to many of our most recent happenings. On this July 4th weekend, I would like to share a section of the speech and attach a link to the last speech that Ronald Reagan gave as President of the United States. Regardless of one’s political beliefs, he chose that singular moment at a time of transition from 8 years as President to speak from the heart, about the America he loved. America is much more than the words in the personal story in my speech and it is far larger than the words chosen by President Reagan, but permit me to add my story to the American fabric at a time of deep reflection.

From the Commencement speech:

“It may seem from the materials distributed that I could speak about how luck, passion, conviction, and hard work coupled with entrepreneurship is the path to an impactful life. In fact, my true north was set by my parents, their journey, and the central role that educators have played. I grew up in Baltimore in the late ’60s and ’70s at a time of profound social change and was a bit of an outsider. I was a first-generation, bi-racial kid from a unique family when conformity was considered a virtue. My parents were new Americans, outsiders, who looked and sounded different. They were WWII survivors from two distant cultures who shared a love of family, of the American dream, and an abiding commitment to education.

The world in the two decades prior to WWII was one of huge promise and transformation and a time not dissimilar to our past couple of decades. From electricity and refrigeration in homes to cars and telephones, technology was transforming the globe. The go-go ’20s were a period of great wealth and inequity as innovators and entrepreneurs were financially rewarded and a period of a soaring stock market. Yet, 1929 brought the Great Depression, which would send the world into despair leaving one out of four Americans out of work by 1933, the year that Adolf Hitler ascended to Chancellor of Germany and six years before Germany started WWII.

Both of my parents grew up during the war, my father in Yugoslavia, and my mother around the world in China. The war was a terrible time of near starvation and personal tragedies. My grandfather in Yugoslavia was a prominent local businessman and became a leader in the underground Partisan Resistance movement working to oppose the Nazis. My father’s older brother was killed early in the war, and my grandfather’s involvement in the Partisans Resistance was discovered later in the war and he was publicly executed in 1944. The end of the war brought additional burdens as the Communist strongman, Tito took over Yugoslavia and forcibly nationalized all land, homes, and businesses, leaving our family destitute.

My mother’s family lived in Shanghai during the Japanese occupation of China. Imperial Japan was a brutal regime and the family would barely survive. With the end of the war, the Communist leader Mao would ascend to power, and like Tito, the Chinese Communists would brutally nationalize all property and the family was forced to leave the country. 

Fears of the “yellow hoard” when Chinese labor was brought to this country to build the railroads and when the term “Chink” was coined sometimes ascribed to the sound of hammer on steel while building the railroads had resulted in the Chinese Exclusion Acts and limited Chinese immigration to about 100 people per year. Restrictions were partially lifted during WWII and full citizenship rights only ultimately given in the mid-’60s which allowed my family to find refuge and make their lives as Americans.

My parents would make their way to America, a place of Democracy, of opportunity, and for all its imperfections, a place of undeniable hope in a devasted world. 

My mother’s family came to the US steerage class on the USS Cleveland into San Francisco harbor and would settle in Blacksburg, VA, then a town of 1,700. My Grandfather worked to assimilate joining the local Lions club and would teach at Virginia Tech. My Grandmother spoke very little English her entire life, never drove a car, but sought to join into local activities and raise the quintessential American family. My mother was 12 at the time and spoke no English. Though they knew little of America, the family resolutely believed that education was the simple and unambiguous path to success. While one might lose all of one’s possessions, face the most profound of challenges, education was the one constant, the one thing that could never be lost. 

Using the terms of the day, the local public school labeled my mother as “slow” having failed at her schoolwork for cultural and language reasons. Yet, a dedicated teacher, Margaret Beeks, volunteered her time to work with my mother after school to learn English. She spent months and untold hours working with my mom, giving her the most valuable of gifts. Many, but not all of us, have had the chance to experience a Margaret Beeks who finds the spark in us, who inspires us and whose selfless service to others changes our lives. My mother found this. She would eventually graduate from Johns Hopkins Medical School as one of three women in her class and my four uncles would become university professors. Margaret Beeks’ service and contribution are recognized through the works of generations of teachers at the Margaret Beeks Elementary School in Blacksburg, VA.

My mother would meet my father, a medical educator, and practitioner and also a survivor of the war. And while the world of America in 1960 made their nontraditional relationship a challenge and kept them from marrying in Virginia because of anti-miscegenation laws, they fought through barriers to marry, raise children, and live a life of service. My mother spent decades as the medical director at Villa Maria helping children from the most damaged families. My father would spend 49 years at Hopkins teaching the next generation of doctors. I grew up knowing that no challenge was too great, that educators change the world, and that inequities were the clarion calls to act and make a difference. It was an educator who changed the life of a 12-year-old girl from China who spoke not a word of English. Education gave my parents the path through adversity and to make a better life for our family.

I have spent a career attempting to build sustainable, impactful ways of changing the trajectory of peoples’ lives through education. Today, so many are hurting, and certainty has been cast aside. During times of turmoil, the one unassailable truth is that educators can change lives.

Each and every one of you represents the hope for the future. The very fact that you are Hopkins graduates speaks to your unique combination of potential and dedication. I would issue a challenge. You’ve been given the gifts of a Hopkins education and possess the spirit and drive to make a real difference. Do not accept the status quo and do not let bureaucracies and traditions be excuses for inaction. Education needs leaders who are undeterred, who embrace change, who are dedicated to changing lives and not adhering to orthodoxies. You have the gift. Be a Churchill. Be an MLK. The world needs you more than ever.”

Please watch Ronald Reagan's speech.

And to borrow from him, “It is bold men and women, yearning for freedom and opportunity, who leave their homelands and come to a new country to start their lives over. They believe in the American dream. And over and over, they make it come true for themselves, for their children, and for others. They give more than they receive. They labor and succeed. And often they are entrepreneurs. But their greatest contribution is more than economic because they understand in a special way how glorious it is to be an American. They renew our pride and gratitude in the United States of America, the greatest, freest nation in the world -- the last, best hope of man on Earth.”

On this July 4th, I am deeply grateful for being an American and despite the very real challenges we face as a nation, the distance between our ideals and reality, the despair felt by so many, and the fear felt by all, I know in my heart that we can come together as Americans and find within ourselves the compassion, humanity, empathy, and commitment to make America a place of opportunity for all Americans.