President George W. Bush

The East Room 3:04 P.M. EDT THE PRESIDENT: Please be seated. Thank you. Rachel, thank you. Thanks for coming. Thanks for the introduction, and thanks for representing the United States. Proud to have you here. I want to welcome you all right here to the people's house. I'm pleased you could join us for this annual celebration of Black Music Month. This is an event I've always looked forward to. It's a chance to listen to some good music -- (laughter) -- and to be with some good friends. It's an opportunity for us to thank artists whose work inspire our country. And so thanks for coming. I hope you enjoy the day as much as I do. I appreciate the fact that Alphonso is with us, Alphonso Jackson and Marcia. He's the Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Dr. Dorothy Height is with us. I'm proud you're here, Dr. Height. Thanks for joining us. (Applause.) My friend, Bob Johnson has joined us. He knows a little something about black entertainment. (Laughter.) Thanks for coming. (Applause.) Roslyn Brock, Vice Chairman of the NAACP -- I'm proud you're here, Roslyn. Thank you for coming, thank you for joining us. Dyana Williams, President of the International Association of African American Music Foundation -- she knows something about music. (Laughter.) I appreciate Kevin Liles, Executive Vice President of the Warner Music Company. Thank you for coming. And Jonathan Platt, Senior Vice President of EMI Music Publishing and Virgin Records. Appreciate you all being here. Thanks for coming. (Applause.) Most of all, thank you all. Thanks for taking time out of your day to come. One of the best things about living here is that some of the best musicians come to play. It's amazing what kind of talent you can draw here at the White House. (Laughter.) And over the years American Presidents have seen some fantastic African American musicians here on the White House stage. President Chester Arthur -- you might remember Chester -- (laughter) -- he welcomed the first black choir to perform at the White House, the Jubilee Singers from Fisk University. President Benjamin Harrison hosted one of the first black soloists to play at the White House, Sissieretta Jones, who was the daughter of a slave. President William Howard Taft invited Joseph Douglass -- grandson of Frederick Douglass -- to perform here. Franklin Roosevelt hosted the great Marian Anderson, when she performed "Ave Maria" for the King and Queen of England. President Ronald Reagan hosted Mikhail Gorbachev, and invited the legendary Pearl Bailey to entertain. And when he introduced her, he just simply said -- simply, "our Pearl" -- welcome "our Pearl." (Laughter.) I hope the translator got that right. (Laughter.) And Laura and I had some incredible entertainers and Americans sing for us and our friends. We've had Eartha Kitt, Patti Austin, B.B. King, Irwin Mayfield, Aaron Neville, just to give you a taste of what happens here at the White House. Each of the performers has inspired people across the world with their talents, and each performer has brought great pride to the United States. It's really a great country that can produce a diverse group of musicians that can serve as ambassadors about what's right about America. And we're proud to welcome some new musicians here to the White House today. We're just keeping in a long trend of Presidents who have welcomed some of our great musicians here to the White House. So as we honor Black Music Month, it makes sense to bring some talent here to entertain us. Karina Pasian grew up in New York City. She's the child of immigrants from the Dominican Republic. Her parents are both teachers in the New York Public School System, and early on it became clear that Karina had an incredible gift for music. At age 3 -- that's the definition of "early on" -- (laughter) -- she was singing and studying piano. By age 12 she was performing at the Coliseum in Rome before a television audience of more than a half-million people, alongside Alicia Keys and Stevie Wonder, and Andrea Bocelli. Today she's 15 years old. She's already rec