This year we celebrate America’s bicentennial, the two-

hundredth anniversary of our nation’s independence. It is also an

election year.

It is, then, a time uniquely situated for self-examination, for

redefining what America is all about, and for dealing with the

unfinished business of fulfilling the American Dream, the still -

to-be-completed promise embodied in our Declaration of Inde-

pendence that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by

their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are

life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

Those words shine like beacons through the ages, they have

inspired men in far-off countries, as they have inspired our own

people. They stand today as reminders that the barriers of race,

of poverty, and of joblessness should not be tolerated in the birth-

place of liberty and the fount of equality.

America’s birthday celebration is tarnished because it occurs in

a year of intolerably high unemployment, of rising poverty, and of

continued national economic recession. Thus, our bicentennial

must be the occasion not merely for self-congratulation but for a

critical appraisal of what must be done to extend our national

ideals to all of our citizens. The grim reality of unequal opportu-

nity for many millions of Americans should inspire us to positive

actions to reorder our national priorities and fulfill the aspira-

tions of all of our people.

There are today in America over  million people officially clas-

sified as poor, and some estimates place the number at  million

because the official poverty line has lagged behind rising prices.

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VERNON E. JORDAN, JR.

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