He preached this message to the people living under Communist tyranny in Poland, in Czechoslovakia, in Nicaragua and in China - "Be not afraid." He preached it to the Africans facing death from marauding tribes and murderous disease - "Be not afraid." And he preached it to us, warning us how easy it is to be trapped in a "culture of death" even in our comfortable, luxurious country - "Be not afraid."
Listen to the truths that lie within your hearts and be not afraid to follow them wherever they may lead. Those three little words hold the power to transform individuals and change the world. They supply the quiet resolve and unvoiced courage necessary to endure the inevitable intimidation.
Today we are not called upon to risk our lives against some monstrous tyranny. America is not a barbarous country. Our people are not oppressed and we face no pressing international threat to our way of life, such as the Soviet Union once posed. Though the war in which we are engaged is cultural, not civil, it tests whether this "nation: conceived in liberty ... can long endure." President Lincoln's words do endure:
It is for us, the living ... to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us - that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to the cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion - that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain - that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom - and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
The Founders warned us that freedom requires constant vigilance and repeated action. It is said that when asked what sort of government the Founders had created, Benjamin Franklin replied that they had given us "a Republic, if you can keep it." Today, as in the past, we will need a brave "civic virtue," not a timid civility, to keep our republic. So, this evening, I leave you with the simple exhortation: "Be not afraid." God bless you.
conclusion of the Be Not Afraid Speech by Clarence Thomas
American Enterprise Institute, Washington, D.C. - February 13, 2001
Link to a recording of the full speech:
http://publicradio.org/tools/media/player/americanradioworks/features/sayitplain/cthomas