Remarks by U.S. Congresswoman Anna G. Eshoo at Narsai's Taste of the Mediterranean, a fundraiser for Assyrians of Iraq, held on November 14, 2009 in San Francisco, California.

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Thank you very much. Isn't that nice! I wish my children were here to see that. I can't wait to tell them! What a great great reception.

Shlamalokhon!

It really is a great and wonderful honor to be here this evening with all of you. I can't tell you how grateful I am to each one of you that have come up to me and have said such loving things to me. Long time friends, people that are really part of my extended family. I see June, Narsai's first cousin, I think of both of your mothers who were sisters, how beautiful they were. I see Victoria and Joseph who came all the way from Fresno, dear dear friends of my family. I can go table by table, I really could. And I know that there is a whole contingent, Pierre and his family are all here, from Los Angeles. All of the people that have come from San Jose, from the Central Valley, from Turlock, and if there is a city or town that I am not mentioning, don't hold it against me.

Modesto! Alright. Turlock, I should have said Modesto, that's right, all the hot spots where the Assyrians live.

I am really really delighted, I feel enormously honored, and especially because we are here together to do something for our own people. That is what is so special about it.

And no one is more special or extraordinary in terms of the genius of this effort of the Assyrian Aid Society than Narsai David. I think I am going to say this right: Narsai eleh makhebane d'nashe d'ganooh. He loves his people so much and this is a great great manifestation of that love that he has. But he has other great loves in his life; certainly Venus, his family, food, great friends, and great wines. I haven't finished, you don't have to finish my sentences! How typical of us right, Assyrians! You can do half of the speech, how is that! Those are all of his passions, but I think the greatest passion that he has is for his own people, and his pride in his heritage. I don't think there is anyone that really makes me prouder of being an Assyrian-American than Narsai, because everyone knows Narsai David. People say to me, "Oh you are the same nationality as Narsai David!" He is the one who has truly keyed the door and opened it. And he is respected throughout the Bay Area, throughout California, throughout the country for all of his achievements and his accomplishments. But in our community his name is blessed around the world. Realize for a moment what this man has done in terms of the dollars that have been raised in the entire work of the Assyrian Aid Society, and all of you donors deserve so much credit. Narsai has raised more than eight million dollars for the Assyrians in Iraq, imagine that, including more than one million dollars from this annual event which we are all attending this evening. I work for the federal government where there is obviously huge sums of money that we are responsible for. Because the Congress is the one that holds the purse, that is why Congress has so much power, amongst other things. Imagine these sums of dollars and what they are doing for our people.

These are very very tough economic times, and yet tonight you have demonstrated, we all have, the generosity that comes from a very deep place. A very deep place, and that is a love for our culture, a love for our own people and to know that even though we are so blessed here in our country, how much suffering there is amongst our people today. So this is extraordinary, and it is significant, and it is compassionate, and it is important, and it is critical. And I doubt that any one of us would have the profound feeling of gratification, I don't think there is any more gratification in knowing that we have done something for our own. In fact, it is our responsibility too. It is not just an act of charity; it is who and what we are; it is who and from whom we come.

These are very very difficult times for the Assyrian community, but for centuries, when hasn't it been a difficult time, when you think about the history of our people? Our history, dating back to the very foundation of civilization carries with it names that ring out from ancient times. Nineveh, Babylonia, Mesopotamia, the Tigris, Euphrates. Names that sound the march of history across centuries of time and turmoil as well. And names that form an unbroken chain of history back to the beginning of humankind. We have suffered brutal, I mean really brutal and barbarous treatment and we have risen from the shadows of those dark times. We have endured genocides and cruel conquerors and we have kept alive our heritage and lived up to the unique responsibilities that come with being the world's first civilization. We have survived all of this to reach this point, when our future is in doubt and where our challenges are the greatest we have ever faced. It is extraordinarily painful to follow what is happening today in Iraq and through that entire region. It is a repeat of what my grandparents, my grandmothers told me and their stories of what they endured in their time. So it is yet another repeat of history. And we are obviously such a small minority and in many ways victims of geography. Not considered first class citizens, at best second-class citizens, I don't even know if it's been that. But in our ancestral lands it is safe to say that we have faced hostilities at every turn sanctioned by cruel factions and hostile governments whose brutalities rival the barbarians of ancient times. History does repeat itself unfortunately as it is today. The population of Assyrians in Iraq has fallen from as many as one-and-half or 1.4 million Assyrians in 2003 to only about half-a-million today according to reliable data that was compiled just a few months ago.

So the threats are very real, and they are daily. That is why in Washington I continue to speak out for the Assyrian people in the Halls of Congress. A Republican colleague of mine, Frank Wolfe, a lovely gentleman from Virginia, someone that has played a key role in the Congress in terms of human rights and the persecution of religious minorities, he is the gentleman that I approached to found a caucus, and that is a special issue group that is carved out in the Congress where you invite other members, out of the 435 in the House, to form a caucus on religious minorities in the Middle East. And we did that a couple of years ago, we founded that caucus. And together we work to address the great needs and the issues that are affecting ethnic-based religious communities of the world including the Assyrians. We have to continue to draw attention to a people that have been long oppressed and very very often overlooked. I work with my colleagues to ensure that the state department provides adequate support to the Iraqi Assyrian-Chaldean-Syriac Christians residing in the Nineveh plains region.

We work to hold tight to a promise, let me say this again, we are working tight to hold to the promise of twenty million dollars in aid to displaced refugee populations that are in desperate need of our help to insure their safety and well-being and to insure that they have the basic necessities of life. Even this week we work to protect those in desperate need we can and we must work to help rebuild the lives of those who have returned to their native lands and those who have also stayed. Because they have endured so so much. That is why I am pressing the State Department to develop a specific plan, not just any old plan or no plan. I don't know how much they like coming into my office but they have really gotten an earful. To develop a specific plan that focuses on an assured security for our people, providing resources for the creation of new businesses and industries, the continuing support and the growth of agriculture, providing for the building of, so importantly, schools and hospitals and also to continue to work towards a free society in which all people are able to practice their faith and celebrate their history. We can't count on the Iraqi government to do this for our people. They have not matured to that point; I hope someday they will. But I think this work is truly our work to be done.

That is why I continue to press the State Department to identify and to empower agencies and institutions that are independent of the government. As Narsai said to you earlier this evening and I hope that you were all listening, the Assyrian Aid Society is listed as a 501 (c) (3), as a non-partisan, and a non-profit organization that can be chosen by the State Department to deliver services as needed. That's a very very important status for an organization to have. And because of the work that is being done by the Society, that is the case. And I congratulate you for that, and I think everyone needs to have a deep appreciation of what that means. Every 501 (c) (3) non-profit is not listed on that list, I want you to know. Of course everyone does not want to go to Iraq to help people either. But it is very important that the Assyrian Aid Society is. And they know that it is an organization that it is committed to fairness and that they are committed to the basic principles of human rights. So whatever is invested in this organization, the dollars are very highly directed with very very little cost to do it. Because there is not a bureaucracy, there are no middle-men, there are not a lot of salaries, high salaries that are paid, this is truly a non-profit organization directed towards helping our people.

And we continue to press the State Department to ensure that the funds that are promised to the Assyrians go to the Assyrians, as well the other oppressed ethnic-religious minorities like our people that are fighting for their survival there. Next week when the Congress starts up on Monday evening, next week I am introducing along with my colleagues from this caucus, and other colleagues in the House, we are introducing a resolution in the United States House of Representatives expressing our support for all of these activities. So it will become the official record of the Congress of the United States. It will also be authored in the United States Senate by Senator Durban and many others, I can't remember all the other names. He is from Illinois and I have seen to it that he takes great interest in the Assyrian-American community that he represents in the great state of Illinois. So I think that this expression from both houses of Congress will send a very strong message to the Administration and the State Department that the Congress understands this issue and that the Congress is committed to this issue and I have no doubt that they are going to get that message.

Now we do all these things obviously in the spirit of the Assyrian Aid Society which has really shown the way in this humanitarian effort to do so much and keep alive the generation that will in turn keep our heritage alive. Someone said to me one day in Congress, "Why?" Why do you do this? Why do you do this? it is a very good question, it is a legitimate question. We can also pose the question, why does Narsai David work so hard? Why does the Board work so hard? Why do all of you give your time, your talent and treasure, especially in this tough economic time to this cause? Why do this? Why? Assyrians are very small people on this globe, on the planet. There are so many that don't understand what our bloodline is. They don't understand where we come from. They don't even know that Assyrians are all Christians. And as I instructed my colleagues over the years and said yes they are in fact the oldest Christians in the world. It was like the opening of these giant doors because they had no idea who and what the Assyrians are.

There are places in the world that many times it looks to me like God has abandoned. And I think that in these extraordinarily tough times not only here for us in our own country, we can't compare, we can not compare for an instant what is happening here which has affected everyone, and it really has affected everyone in some way shape or form, with the suffering of the extension of our own family, our own people. We can never ever compare that with whatever the shortcomings may be in our own economy.

And really no one else is going to raise their voice and help them as we can and we should. We do it because of the pride instilled in us by our parents and our grandparents. We all know that. We all know that this runs very deep. It goes to the core of our being. One of the joys tonight was to hear so many of you come up to me and speak to me so lovingly in Assyrian. It was as if my mother and father were speaking to me, and my grandparents. I do understand everything that you say. Ena khabre lena jalde jalde betaya al bali. So you have to forgive me. But we know that this runs very deep in us because they were the ones that taught us about our roots with all of their pride, with all of their pride. They told us who they came from. They always knew and valued family, that great great sense of pride. It wasn't about money, it wasn't about who was wealthy, it was about who was the most refined from inside, and who extended the greatest hospitality. And families' reputations really rode on that, one generation after another, and they understood love and they understood loyalty, and they were always always always rooted in their faith. Alaha have menokhon. My grandmother would say to me, "Alaha have menakh."

So this is why we have such a responsibility. That is why this evening when the cards went up and the auction took place, that is what it all is, it is a wonderful beautiful party. But it is about us and we do it because we know that if you wipe off the earth a community whose ties date back to antiquity, that the world is the lesser for it. We do it because we are also Americans. We as Americans believe in the stirring words that everyone is entitled to the unalienable rights, chief among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. So dollars that are raised will go exactly toward that, to uphold the dignity that our people have always had. Our people are not takers, they are givers. We have had a stake in helping to build this country, for how many generations now. And in every community where there is an Assyrian-American community, they are respected for what they have done. In business, in industry, regardless of whatever it is, our people are respected. This dates back and so those that are still in the ancestral lands need us now more than ever.

And we do this because it is who we are, and it is what we've been taught, and we have a responsibility to do that. It's not just the kind thing to do, it's not just the Christian thing to do, it's not just a wonderful thing to do, it's not just makes-you-feel-good to do. We have a responsibility, and it is a very serious one.

I wish that there were five thousand people here this evening, and there are more than five thousand Assyrian-Americans that live throughout the Bay Area and in the Central Valley. And so I think that each one of us has to work harder to get the word out. And we also do this obviously, because they, in another part of the world, are us. They are us, we are just as connected to them as each generation has been connected to one another, and again we have a responsibility. So I think that this is an extraordinary work. It is extraordinary because for all the obvious reasons. But it is extraordinary because people are in such great need.

All you have to do is, did you all look at the calendar that was given out? Did you see the faces of the children? I don't know about you but they all look just like my two children, they really do. Shedrane 'na, shapire 'na. They deserve to know that there are people especially in this blessed land that love them and care about them. And we know because our faith instructs us that if we do that, then God will reward each one of us a thousand-fold. We are all God's children, we are one family, and certainly for such a small ethnic group but so distinguished in the earliest of times.

Imagine, being the earliest Christians! When I explain that to my colleagues in Congress, they are in awe of the history. They very typically think that anyone who has ancestors that come... [Aside after being given a glass of water: I need a hanky more than I need the water, but thank you very much.] They very often and for the most part think that everyone that comes from or who has ancestors from the Middle East are Arabs. Now there is nothing wrong with Arabs, as I said we are all God's children. But they [my colleagues] have no appreciation, very little understanding, but they are learning.

So I know that you did not come to hear me go on and on, and I know that it is late. I am the last act tonight. But I want you to know how much of an honor it is. Narsai has asked me since, and Lisa, beautiful Lisa Mirza Grotts, they have asked me from the very beginning of this effort to be here and it usually is a Friday night. I arrive in San Francisco airport when the dinner is over from Washington DC. So this year Narsai said we have to set a date when you really know that you are going to be here. So Narsai, thank you for your patience in waiting all these years for me to come. It is a wonderful honor.

And I want to thank you all for sharing what you have with those that really are part of us and that need us. The distance should not be thought of. If we had Assyrian families, Assyrian children here that were in great need and suffering, we would all band together to help them. So now is the time, that is what the Assyrian Aid Society is about, how proud I am to be associated with it. I want to thank everyone that donated this magnificent magnificent artwork and the bronzes, the work of human hands that is so extraordinary in order to turn them into dollars to help our own.

And I want you to know that as long as I am in the Congress I will be known as the Assyrian-American, obviously how proud I am of my heritage. But none of us can be proud of who and what we are unless we really act on it. You can't just stop with saying how proud we are to be what we are. The real act is the act of love that will extend our arms, and what this magnificent Society is doing. So what I want to say is Aalaha have menokhon and haviton raba raba basime. Libbi ptakhele when I see all of you and to hear you and to see that you have traveled such a distance to come to be here this evening not only obviously to see and hear me but most importantly to continue the work that really must be done.

God bless you Narsai, God bless you Venus, thank you to everyone here, thank you for your generosity. God bless all of us and God bless our people around the world.

Thank you.