The American
And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.” Now, I would humbly add this to the President’s inaugural address: that what we can contribute to the betterment of our country should not be based solely on the physical fruits of our labor, that as important as the new bridges, civic centers and schools that are to come is the means by which we will join together to build them, and that the participation in that effort should be the responsibility of every American, regardless of their race, religion and creed, yes of course – but also regardless of their location. We have wonderful groups and organizations in our overseas community, and they cater to many needs, but look among them all and you will find we have no public forum at which they can all come together, on a regular and timely basis, to represent their members, to hear the representations of others, and to debate the issues affecting, and responsibilities required of, the American expatriate community in Great Britain. We need such a forum, and in the spirit of laying “a new foundation for growth” there is no better time than now to establish one.
New embassy , new opportunity
The movement for change in America is the first catalyst for establishing such “town meetings.” And the construction of a new US embassy building is the second. It should not – it must not – be without the provision of facilities in which such meetings could take place. We have come to accept the truth that the business exhibitions, reference library, and auditorium for hosting cultural events (all of
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Battersea Power Station in South London, the new embassy’s next door neighbor Photo: Oxyman
which were at Grosvenor Square just two decades ago) can no longer be available to the public because the security precautions required today were not envisioned when that building was constructed. It is equally true that the embassy was never intended to be a diplomatic Bastille and the present lack of a facility for the common, legitimate use of the expatriate community is a temporary situation. A fortress sealed from its citizens is not the status quo of a fully functioning American embassy, though a generation of diplomats and public living with the current precautions has almost led us to expect it to be so. But not quite. There are still a few people who, though fully aware of the need for security against the most determined enemy, have also seen the considerable good that those activities once did for our commerce, culture and community. I count myself among them, and will not accept that the State Department
does not have the reason or ability to create a viable alternative for resurrecting those same activities in the future embassy building. Give us the facility in which to conduct town meetings, to bring our community together for a common purpose, and I believe the rebuilding that is beginning in America will also extend to our community in Britain. And if you don’t believe me, then listen to the inaugural words of our new President: “What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility – a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task. “This is the price and the promise of citizenship.” H