I’ve got to say, for me, that the most remarkable moment wasn’t meeting the President and handing over the letter. It was everything that had gone before that, the talking about it, the realizing that across the country there are all these people who are so invested in what’s going on and really are committed to making a difference and that once you give people data, they’re likely to stand up and join you.
Leah Anthony Libresco is a High School Presidential Scholar from New York. Today on Democracy NOW! she appeared to discuss her recent decision to use her achievement to full effect by speaking the truth to George W. Bush during an award ceremony with him.
She was joined in her courageous action by her fellow Scholar Mari Oye, and by almost 50 other Presidential Scholars.
Excerpts and exposition follow on the flip, but I encourage you to go to the link and read what these American patriots did. (h/t to Amy Goodman and Democracy NOW! for telling this story).
Mari Oye and Leah Anthony Libresco are headed to Yale this fall. Before they went, however, they were to be honored as Presidential Scholars by the current occupant of the White House. This meant they would have a few seconds with the President while they shook his hand.
Showing leadership, they took that opportunity and maximized it to the fullest extent:
AMY GOODMAN: Explain the scene, Mari.
MARI OYE: Well, it actually took place outside on the White House lawn. We were facing the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, so that seemed like a good omen in some way. And we were all lined up. It was ninety-five degrees outside. The President walked in and said that -- gave us a short speech saying that as we went on into our careers, it was important to treat others as we would like to be treated. And he told us that we would have to make choices we would be able to live with for the rest of our lives.
I had the letter in my hand, and Leah had another copy. And so, I said to the President, “Several of us made a choice, and we would like you to have this,” and handed him the letter. He put it in his pocket and said, “I’ll have it.” And they took the photo. After that, he took it out and said, “Should I read it now, or should I wait?” And I said, “It’s up to you, Mr. President.” And he did read the letter to himself right there. And then we were able to talk about it very briefly.
AMY GOODMAN: And what did he say? How did he respond?
MARI OYE: He read down the letter. He got to the part about torture. He looked up, and he said, "America doesn’t torture people”. And I said, “If you look specifically at the points we made” -- because we were careful to outline specific things that are wrong with the administration’s policy. He said -- so I said, “If you look specifically at what we said, we said, we ask you to cease illegal renditions,” and then I said, you know, “Please remove your signing statement to the McCain anti-torture bill.” And then I said that for me personally, the issue of detainee rights also had a lot of importance, because my grandparents had been interned during World War II for being Japanese American.
At that point, he just said, “America doesn’t torture people” again. And another kid, actually, from Montana came forward and said, “Please make the US a leader in human rights.” And that happened in the space of about a minute, but it was a very interesting minute with the President of the United States.
AMY GOODMAN: Leah, you had the other letter in case Mari wasn’t able to do what she did. How did you plan this?
These leaders had a plan. They knew their time with the President was short. So, they each had a copy of the letter. What was incredible though, was that several of these patriots came to Washington, D.C. with the same idea:
LEAH ANTHONY LIBRESCO: Well, what happened was, I know I came down thinking if I’m going to be in the room with the President, I’ve got to say something, because silence betokens consent, and there’s a lot going on I don’t want to consent to. What was really remarkable is that when I came down for the perk and I met people like Mari, everyone wanted to -- a lot of the people wanted to say something to the President. People just kept saying, “Yes, we have to do something. We’re here.”
So when we started talking about the issues we wanted to address, the issue that really came out was torture, because it’s not a partisan issue, the issue of human rights, and we thought it was something everyone could get behind. And in a way it’s really a microcosm of some of the problems there have been in this administration, because we see here the secrecy that’s been going on with the way they’ve been hiding secret CIA prisons, the renditions to other countries, and also the disregard for the humanity of people we call our enemies that sort of has been the guiding principle in everything that’s been going wrong. So the more we talked about it, we wanted to write something, we wanted to say something. So we wrote a letter, and we finished it about 2:00 in the morning, the day before we met the President.
I encourage you all to read the entire transcript. I literally had tears streaming down my face at the courage and commitment of these high school students. I can think of no finer nor more-fitting tribute to Americans or America as our nation's Independence Day approaches.
Thank you Mari and Leah for your resolve and your creativity. We can restore America.
I hope that, on this July 4th, our leaders will consider the example set by these high school students as they lay a course to return our country to its founding principles.