LIVE: Biden Delivers Remarks at White House Diwali Reception

Hi everyone! Happy Diwali! So glad that you're all here. Today I am particularly grateful to President Biden and to Dr. Biden for hosting our celebration because they understand what really matters in Diwali. The people we love and the community that we build together. Everyone who works with them knows that they always put family first and they encourage all of us to do the same. Nearly half a century ago, my family left India and eventually settled here in the United States. We missed our family in India, especially my grandparents, who had endured great hardships to make my parents' journey possible. My grandparents' faith sparked my own. It sparked my parents' faith. It helped us believe that what we lacked in money and connections, we could make up for in determination, hard work, and love. When we first arrived in Miami, my father worked overnight shifts to make ends meet. My sister and I missed him and on many of those nights, my mother would gather us up and light the diya in the small closet that doubled as a puja room, as a prayer room in our house. By doing that, she reminded us that we were never alone, that an unwavering source of light was always around us and within us. In the years that followed, my parents built a medical practice where they cared for patients as though they were members of their own family. And over time, we built that extended family of neighbors, friends, and classmates who made America feel like home. I will always remember the time President Biden swore me in as Surgeon General when he was Vice President. It was then that he spoke with my grandmother backstage. He knelt down beside her wheelchair. He held her hand. He pointed toward the crowd that had assembled. And he said, Grandma, look at what you did. Years later, I told President Biden how much it meant to me that he understood my family's sacrifices and their journey. But he told me that I had forgotten what he said to my grandmother next. He said, Thank you for choosing us, the United States of America, to be your home. That is the opportunity that we are faced with today. To choose America as our home over and over again. To look at people of different backgrounds and see them as neighbors with shared hopes and dreams. To see the imperfections in our country, but still work hard to build a community where everyone cares for one another. That is the nation whose light draws and inspires millions. As we celebrate Diwali, the triumph of light over darkness, let us remember that choosing this light starts with each of us. I know that darkness can sometimes feel overwhelming. I know that. I have felt that myself. But during my years as Surgeon General, I have also seen people creating the light that we need. Families who don't have much left after a storm, but still bring food to their neighbors. Students who notice lonely classmates and decide to reach out. Parents who are stretched thin, but pitch in to take care of each other's kids. People who encounter anger and anxiety on their commute, but choose to be kind because you never know what someone else is going through. When we make these choices together, we create the kind of world that we want for ourselves and for our children. That is the message of Diwali. Choose light. Always. Whatever the future may bring. Whatever the future may bring. It is our light and our fierce commitment to one another that will see us through to a better day. Now it is my honor to introduce a community member who has literally reached for the stars. Her father immigrated from India, her mother from Slovakia. She attended the U.S. Naval Academy before becoming a naval aviator and a record-setting NASA astronaut. Her message comes to us by video because she is currently at the International Space Station where she is conducting science experiments and managing the station's day-to-day operations while flying at 17,500 miles per hour, also known as five miles per second. And by the way, she knows a little something about light because she observes 16 sunrises and sunsets each day. Ladies and gentlemen, Sunita Williams. Greetings from the International Space Station. I'm NASA astronaut Sunita Williams and I want to extend my warmest wishes for a happy Diwali to everyone celebrating the Festival of Lights today at the White House and around the world. This year, I have the unique opportunity to celebrate Diwali from 260 miles above the Earth on the ISS. On this day, I specifically think about my father who immigrated to the U.S. from India. He kept and shared his cultural roots by teaching us about Diwali and other Indian festivals. Diwali is a time of joy as goodness in the world prevails. I am so thankful to have grown up in a multicultural household where our parents encouraged us to seek opportunities and reach for the stars. Thank you to the President and the Vice President for celebrating Diwali with our community today and for recognizing the many contributions of our community. Distinguished guest, the President of the United States, accompanied by Shristi Amula. Afternoon and happy Diwali everyone. My name is Shristi Amula and I'm a freshman at Georgetown University. As I look around this beautiful room, I am truly grateful to the President and the First Lady for opening up their home to us for this special celebration. And thank you to Dr. Murthy and Sunita Williams for their opening remarks. Like so many of you here today, my family and I have a special story of what this country means to us. My parents came here to the U.S. from India in 2001 and moved to Maryland where my brother and I were born and raised. Growing up, Diwali was not just an occasion marked by lights and colors. It was a celebration that brought together family and community. It reinforced a deep sense of belonging and connection to our truly beautiful multicultural community. I'm so inspired to see people like me reflected in our country's leadership. From the first ever South Asian Lieutenant Governor Aruna Millers, from my my home state of Maryland who is here today, and to the first ever South Asian Vice President Kamala Harris. And it is a real honor to be here with President Biden, who started out around the same age that I am now, inspired by what was going on in the world around him. For my generation, it's the same thing. Seeing the impacts of climate change and food insecurity in my community, it led me to founding Rise and Shine Foundation, a youth-led non-profit aimed at reducing food across the state of Maryland. Six years later, we have provided over 350,000 meals, mobilized over 5,000 volunteers, and have worked with Maryland legislators to pass a bill that gives over $1 million to start compost programs across our state. Our celebration today is a chance to reflect on our personal stories and a journey of our community as a whole. No matter the challenges we face or the challenges facing our world, there is always opportunity and light. This is all that Diwali is about. And so it's inspiring to have a leader who truly sees us, believes in us, and has opened up his home to us once again. So it is with great joy and utmost respect that I ask you to join me in welcoming the President of the United States, President Joe Biden. Well, Madam President, thank you. Thank you for that introduction. You know, you just promised me when you were President one day and they say Joe Biden is in the waiting room in the morning. My wife Jill wanted to be here today, but she's traveling to Wisconsin. And Kamala couldn't be here today because she's traveling as well. They both send their love. You know, I selected Kamala to be my running mate for many reasons. She's smart. She's tough. She's trusted. A district attorney, an attorney general in California, United States Senator, now Vice President of the United States. There's more experience that she has than the whole of that other guy she's running against. But most importantly, and I mean this sincerely from the bottom of my heart, she has character. She has character. One of the things we bonded over was the role of each of our mothers played in our lives. They come from different places, different generations, different lives, but they shared a basic belief about America. Only in America is anything possible. Only in America. We just heard a great Surgeon General and the vexed become a friend. Talk about the journey that he of that belief, the journey of hard work, education, entrepreneurship, belief in family, faith and service. Contributions have come from all walks of life. Factory workers, caregivers, business owners, drivers, teachers, police officers, firefighters, artists, entertainers, and so much more, including members of Congress, three of whom are here today. And the Vice President, we just heard how far that journey can take you as you watch Suni Williams wish her a happy Diwali from the International Space Station. Now, we were going to do a live video, but as we pointed out already, she's traveling 17,000 miles an hour, five miles a second, and she's going to see 16 sunrises and 16 sunsets, all while the very precise experiments are being done. It's incredible. We couldn't figure out when the hell she'd show up. You watch the video and you see NASA's mesmerizing images of Earth and notice something simple and profound. Astronauts talk about that thin blue line that separates Earth from space, life from destruction, lightness from darkness. And we thought, we thought, what a wonderful way to celebrate the Festival of Lights at the White House by looking up into the heavens, to keep our heads high as we seek the spirit of Diwali, knowledge over ignorance, goodness over hate, unity over division, to look up focused on the North Star of our nation. Unlike any other nation in the world, we're unique in the world. We're the only nation not based on race or religion or geography. America is based on an idea. Literally, the only nation in the world based on an idea. The idea is that we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all women and men are created equal, endowed by their creator, et cetera. We mean it. We haven't always throughout our lives. We've never fully lived up to that. We've never walked away from it either. That's because of you and generations before you. You've thousands of years of heritage, tradition to give shape and meaning to American life. And I mean it sincerely. The first South Asians arrived in America in the late 1700s, but even into the 1800s and 1900s, this diverse community contributed to the growth of this nation. Even serving this nation in uniform, they were denied citizenship and equal rights. By the time I was elected United States Senator in 1972, when I was 29 years old, a new wave of South Asians were even more welcome. You all know the stories. Many of you were the first of your families to get a formal education. They scraped together their life savings for the first flight ever, which was across the world to America. Far from family, far from home, with just a single suitcase and a few dollars in their pockets. Teaching themselves English by watching television, listening to the radio. Befriending neighbors of every background and lend a hand to help. Planting seeds of a new life in big cities, small towns all across America, and growing into something remarkable. The South Asian American community enriched every part of American life, and that's the truth. And that is among the fastest growing, most engaged community in the country. On this day in America, you think about that journey of life. Early in our nation's founding, generations before, in the shadow of suspicion, now in the time of all is celebrated openly and proudly here in the White House. And by the way, this is not my house. No, it really is. It's the people's house. Every time they give the interview. We also know today we face an inflection point on a serious note. One of those rare moments will only come once every several generations. But the decisions we make today will determine the future to come for decades, literally. Every generation has been called to move us forward to the nation we say we are. But only once in every few generations are we reminded not to take the idea of America for granted, because it's never guaranteed. That moment is now. American democracy in a country as diverse as ours, we debate, we dissent, as we forge a path forward through compromise and consensus. But the key is we never lose sight of how we got here and why. For me, 50 years of public service comes with that comes the clarity of confidence in America. We're a nation with a heart and soul that draws from old and new. In America, everything runs deep, especially the courage to serve and protect, to heal and to bear witness, to immigrate, to dare to dream. In my presidency, I've tried to channel that American spirit by bringing to bear all my experiences and wisdom we gained from it to get us through one of the most difficult periods in our nation's recent history and to be a bridge between generations, like in memory and imagination, joined by our histories and with faith in our futures, a future with a new voices. Now it's your turn to use your voice. Talk with family and friends. Talk to people you work with, you pray with, you go to school with. Remind them we're all part of something bigger. I mean this from the bottom of my heart, something special. In fact, the story goes that when President Kennedy set the bold goal to send an American into space, that inspired pictures like Sonny Williams to become an astronaut. President Kennedy went to NASA headquarters. He asked a maintenance worker what his job was. And here's the janitor respond. He said, I'm helping send America to the moon. I'm helping send America to the moon. Folks, no matter who you are, what you do, or where you come from, we all have a role to play to keep the American experiment going. America of your dreams needs you now, quite frankly, more than ever. Let me close with this. In late November 2016, a dark cloud formed from hate and hostility toward immigrants, including South Asian Americans, that we hear once again in 2024. It was then that Jill and I hosted the first Diwali reception, and it was at the vice president's residence. An Irish Catholic president, vice president at the time, opened our home for holiday celebration by Hindus, Buddhists, Jainists, Sikhs, and more. How America reminds us all of our power to be the light, all of us. Now, as president, I've been honored to host the biggest Diwali receptions ever at the White House. To me, it means a great deal. As senator, vice president, president, South Asian Americans have been key members of my staff. Dr. Murthy, there's so many of you here today. I'm proud that I kept my commitment to have an administration that looks like America. Looks like America. Taps into the full talents of our nation, including a record number of South Asian Americans at every level across our entire government. I was honored to have just lit the and several of them, as Jill and I have done each year in office. You'll see it shortly in the blue room. It was a chance to wish my staff happy Diwali, but it was also a chance to thank you for your service to our country. Just as often, my thanks and gratitude to all of you that are here tonight. Together, we may show the power in the gathering of light, the light of knowledge, the light of unity and truth, the light of freedom for democracy, for America, America we share and cherish. Only in America is everything possible. So, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for being here. Welcome to your home. Happy Diwali.