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Kickoff for the 2005 India Jazz and Heritage Tour Indians and Americans Together Against HIV/AIDS


Secretary Colin L. Powell
Treaty Room
Washington, DC
December 14, 2004

10:00 a.m. EST

SECRETARY POWELL: Well, thank you very much, Christina, for that kind introduction, and thank you for taking the initiative to bring us all together.

Ambassador Sen, ladies and gentlemen, good morning and welcome, everyone, to the State Department and to our Treaty Room. I'd like to extend special greetings to Debra Lee of Black Entertainment Television, to Dinaz Patel of Air India, to Tom Carter of the Thelonius Monk Institute and legendary musicians, Earl Klugh and Ravi Coltrane.

But last, and certainly not least, special greetings to Paxton Baker at BET Jazz, along with the folks at MTV India, who are the driving force behind this year's India Jazz and Heritage Tour. A warm welcome to you all.

MTV has a special place in my heart, and I shouldn't be picking out any particular media outlet. But MTV gave me the largest audience I have ever had as a public official when I spoke to several hundred million young people. Don't anybody tell my son that I have talked about a particular network or anything of that nature. (Laughter.)

Those of us in government who are working in programs like this, we need dedicated partners like you all to help us advance the fight against HIV/AIDS in India, here in the United States and elsewhere in the world. HIV/AIDS is the worst weapon of mass destruction on the face of the earth. Thankfully, your outreach efforts are helping to restore hope to the lives of millions of people who are living with this disease.

This year's jazz tour will help to highlight the importance of fighting HIV/AIDS and it will do so in the world's largest democracy, India. But the tour will accomplish so much more than that. Music, especially jazz music, has the power to lift the human spirit in its quest to overcome adversity. Jazz was born from the American people's struggle to conquer prejudice and stigma in our society.

This struggle continues to this day, as we work to honor America's most audacious dream: Our belief that all of God's children are free by nature and are equal in dignity. No one should be stigmatized or looked down upon.

This dream, of course, is not America's alone, just as jazz is not the single heritage of the American people. The spirit of jazz transcends our nation and points toward a profound human truth. Jazz shows us that human beings are more than individuals, that they are individuals who are given certain rights by God, and they're free to live their own lives as they please.

We are also members of communities, broader families that shape our identities as citizens or as artists. We are all entitled to our solos, but we are also called upon to serve our group or our community. We support our fellow players and they support us. Whether the goal of our partnership is beauty or justice, we are all responsible for the success and the wellbeing of our community -- and I mean community in the broadest sense. And when our community is suffering, whether it's our community here in the United States or our community in India or elsewhere in the world, whether from sickness or oppression, we have a moral obligation to do everything we can to help.

Today, HIV/AIDS is ravaging communities everywhere, killing over 8,000 people every single day. This pandemic affects countries all across the globe, and it is taking a particularly grim toll in India. So many Indians have died already. And we must do everything we can to stem the spread of HIV/AIDS in this great nation.

The United States is committed to helping the government and people of India turn the tide against HIV/AIDS. Through President Bush's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, we contributed over $20 million directly to India this year to prevent new infections; to treat those already infected; and to care for those the disease leaves behind. We are also devoting $15 million to support Indian medical researchers in their efforts to learn more about the disease and to discover new ways to fight it.

Our strategy rests on a strong foundation of partnership. In Tamil Nadu, for example, we helped local partners transform an entire wing of a hospital into an HIV/AIDS family counseling center. Whole families now come from across that state to get tested together and learn how best to care for loved ones who are living with the disease.

As the United States continues to advance the fight against HIV/AIDS, we need the help of private groups whose message of hope resounds far beyond the apparatus of government. We need partners who believe as we do that the art of diplomacy and the diplomacy of art resonate together, like the chords of the same melody. We need the support of people like you, and we are grateful to have it.

My friends, the jazz tour you are about to embark upon embodies the noblest spirit of jazz, the willingness of concerned men and women to look beyond their individual desires and devote their time and their talent to advance the common good.

Your fellow Americans and the millions of grateful people in India whose lives you will touch thank all of you for your commitment to the betterment of mankind.

And so on behalf of all of the men and women of the Department of State, I thank you. Have a wonderful trip; and Paxton Baker, the stage is now yours.

(Applause.)

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[End]


Released on December 14, 2004
  
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