04-11-2012 Mayor Pete Buttigieg State of the City of South Bend

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SpU TH 8F � G z s 1865 CITY OF SOUTH BEND PETE BUTTIGIEG, MAYOR OFFICE OF THE MAYOR • Yet despite all this effort, one thing that has become painfully clear to me is that many in this community still do not feel that they have an equal place at the table when it comes to enjoying the life of our city and steering the direction of our community. • And let's face it, this isn't just people's feelings, it's in the data. Graduation rates, poverty rates, incarceration rates in our community, and personnel measures in our most important institutions, including government, show us that we do not live in a post-racial society. • So how else can we move in the right direction?What will it take for us as a community to move closer to a reality we all believe in, one in which the opportunity and freedom to be a full participant in our society is not at all constrained by being in any minority? • There is no easy answer, but it seems to me that the question of diversity is inseparable from the idea of unity. I believe we need to have a richer concept of what it means to be a united community. At my inauguration I implored the community to come together, because it is the only way we can survive. I'll repeat now what I said then: we know what we are up against, and it is not each other. • Our diversity must become our strength,just as diversity has been the strength of our country. That we are a nation of many stripes has challenged us in many ways. But it also makes us who we are, and out of those challenges we have developed new ideas and a vibrancy that has made us the most innovative and creative country in the world. • The same is true for South Bend, an extraordinarily diverse place. Our diversity is linked to many challenges, but it is a treasure and we have to see it that way. 1400 COUNTY-CITY BUILDING•227 W.JEFFERSON BOULEVARD•SOUTH BEND,INDIANA 46601 PHONE 574/235-9261• FAx 574/235-9892