I am here today to take you on a journey
this is a journey based on my own
personal experiences and my own naked
thoughts nothing I say here today should
be interpreted as being the views of the
United States government this journey is
about love and obligation towards two
different mothers in two different homes
our journey begins over 30 years ago at
a small elementary school just outside
of Detroit Michigan in the United States
and it’s lunchtime at this school the
kids whose parents have paid for the
school lunch are very excited because
they’re lined up today and they know
what’s on the menu it’s pizza applesauce
and their choice of juice and chocolate
milk you know most of them will pick
chocolate milk now on the other side of
the lunchroom
there’s a smaller group of kids and
these are the kids that were sent to
school with a lunch from home this is
what we used to call the brown paper bag
kids and these kids in the brown paper
bags will have peanut butter and jelly
sandwiches bologna sandwiches cold pizza
potato chips good old-fashioned American
lunch food amongst these kids is one
very nervous and very lonely little boy
he’s nervous because he’s afraid the
other kids will see what’s inside his
brown paper bag and he made himself
lonely so he could hide from them so as
he cautiously opens up that bag he pulls
out a bundled up small towel and he
feels like the eyes of all the other
kids are on him because they are because
as soon as that towel opens up one boy
stands and points what is that
it’s bucket the author Cassavetes
Albanian white cheese and bread and
cucumber and maybe even tomato is
delicious but it’s not a very cool thing
to bring to an elementary school in
Michigan in the 1980s in America we have
this saying that if something is very
American it’s as American as baseball
and apple pie well I was as American as
baseball
Boogedy off an apple pie growing up in a
in Detroit as a young Albanian kid and
throughout my life was a lot like having
two mothers on the one head I had the
United States
this was my surrogate mother the one
that raised me the one that put a roof
over my head and then there was Albania
my blood mother but the one I never met
and the one I only heard about now in
many ways I was a very all-american kid
okay that means I played American
football that’s the football with the
funny ball I also celebrated the 4th of
July and when I wasn’t eating book ID
off I loved hamburgers and french fries
I still love hamburgers and french fries
I’m also a big sports fan so every two
years I was really excited when the
Olympics came around because it was
either the summer Winter Olympics it
didn’t matter because I would sit in
front of that TV set and I would look
and watch and from beginning to end
opening ceremonies until the end it was
USA USA because I wanted America to
always come out on top
in the medal counts that was important
to me now living in America is a first
generation kid I was also very
appreciative of the opportunities that
she gave me my parents raised four kids
put him through college I went to law
school I was rewarded for my own
individual achievements I also very much
admired people that served America like
police officers and firefighters and
teachers and the military and my mother
America though she had rules and living
under her house
I respected them for example you know
she was serious about justice that means
if you do something wrong you’re gonna
get in trouble but she was also serious
about fairness and equality that means
you’ll be treated fairly anyways and she
was about fairness and equality for
everyone in her community whether it was
the rich and privileged or the poor and
the less fortunate you see in America
justice in her house was like that warm
blanket that every mother has in their
home available for their kids when
they’re in the coldest and they need it
the most
now during this time of course I grew up
and I went to law school and I had the
privilege of actually joining the
Justice Department in the United States
this was a huge day for me I was very
proud my parents were very proud and you
know what I was even prouder because I
was one of the first federal prosecutors
to be Albanian America that meant a lot
to me why did that mean a lot to me well
because my whole life I was constantly
reminded of Mother Albania and if I
wasn’t reminded of her I felt like I was
always searching for her you know the
first instance my first language is
Albanian
that’s what we spoke in my house even
though I was born there it’s no longer
my best language I’ll admit that
but it’s still my first language and I
also had another reminder this is not a
very All American name if you didn’t
realize you know how they say this in
America they say good John John kitch
John John Koch mr. junk junk in your eye
if I went to the doctor’s office and
somebody came out with a list and they
waited and they pause and they looked at
the name that’s me
that was always a constant reminder and
as an Albanian American kid though you
know we also celebrated things that
Albanians did in Albanian all over the
world like face stuff now Modi’s the
28th of November this was a big deal in
my house where I come from in the
Michigan area of Metro Detroit area the
Albanian Americans there are very proud
always have been so it wouldn’t be
unusual to be walking down a street
anywhere in the Detroit area and see
somebody with an Albanian Eagle tattoo
on their arm or they might be wearing an
Albanian Eagle shirt or they might be
wearing an Albanian Eagle hats and you
know what you don’t even have to know
that person if you said oh yeah shupette
they say hey soup it we were tight we
were proud where we came from and I
always wondered why we were so tight in
Detroit they would say we had each
other’s backs so I thought to myself why
is that you know maybe maybe it’s a
matter of statistics humanity right now
is about 7.5 billion people Albanians
were just point 1 3 percent about if you
say we’re ten million this is me right
here that tiny little dot I thought I’m
in this tiny tribe against the entire
world of course we’re tight or maybe it
was a matter of history you know what I
knew who Jorge Castillo theis kinder
Bale was before I knew who George
Washington was he was a man on a horse
with a few loyal people liberated this
country from the world’s most powerful
empire so he could raise an Albanian
flag for the first time he was proud of
where he came from
now that flag if you look at the course
of history didn’t stay up very long but
when it came down the pride of the
Albanian people didn’t come down with it
because for hundreds of years Albanians
State Albanians and they weren’t
satisfied until the flag went up again
in 1912
so you can see that my experience with
Albania his for 40 years of my life was
a very emotional one it was never a
physical contact one with my motherland
so imagine the excitement that I felt
when I got the opportunity to come to
Albania and it’s what I did a little
over two years ago when my wife and
family packed up most of our things and
we moved it’s Rana this was a huge
moment for me imagine hearing about a
mother you never met for 40 years and
walking into her house and looking
around and being surrounded by Albanians
my brothers and sisters the bakers
Albanian the police officers all painted
the crazy drivers in Tirana are all
Albanian and I love them
and I noticed a few other things though
that didn’t surprise me Albanians in
Tirana and throughout Albania are just
as bid is kind and hospitable to their
guests and their friends the people that
visit them as the Albanians are in
Michigan where I’m from I also realized
that the food here is amazing there’s
more to eat than just the good job and
the one thing that I didn’t expect was
this mother Albania of mine she is
drop-dead gorgeous from her Alps in the
north to her crystal blue waters in the
south the Ionian Sea God has given this
woman every beautiful characteristic you
can imagine in this tiny little place
but as I sit and sat with you know this
blood mother of mine I was able to spend
more time with her I was able to hold
her hand to touch her face and to look
into her eyes and the more I sat there
and the more I looked in her eyes the
more I saw sadness and tears and she
cried because too many of her young and
talented and beautiful children are
leaving her home to find homes elsewhere
because society has failed them in too
many ways you know in over 15 years of
the Justice Department I have seen the
effects of corruption where I’m from in
Metro Detroit I’ve seen it there too
we’ve lived through it as well and I
think we’ve pretty much defeated it but
nowhere have I seen so many innocent
victims left unprotected and without
recourse in the justice system as I’ve
seen here Albanians deserve better I
have a confession to make I spent so
many days in so many hours trying to
figure out what I would say to you this
last one or two minutes all the way up
until late last night way too late last
night
and it occurred to me that you know what
don’t be complicated John you’re talking
to your your family your tribe your
brothers and sisters Albanians have
different experiences we come from
different places but when our mother’s
sad and she needs us the most we know
how to come together we have throughout
our history so I want to be honest with
you and Express raw and pure emotions
with you and I have to one is I’m very
ashamed I’m ashamed of the few people as
we would say where I come from off dude
who have caused so much pain and have
been so unfair to people in so many
sectors of their life whether it’s
health care whether it’s the education
system whether it’s someone who wants to
go to school and really do well and be
hired because of their own merit and
their own accomplishments as opposed to
who they know or how much money they’re
gonna pay for a job and I’m especially
ashamed because they have no more faith
in the justice system because it has let
them down too much but I have a second
feeling I want to share with you and
that is hope as I said before Albanians
we know how to come together okay if a
man on a horse can liberate Albania from
the world’s greatest empire then a few
Albanians all of us Albanians I should
say can liberate it from a few shameless
ones that want to steal it from within
that can only be done if we all come
together
now look laws have been changed recently
we read about it in the papers and we
know that our friends are here to help
us well this is an Albanian problem only
we can take the sadness out of our
mother’s eyes and we have to act if
you’re in a position to act act you
don’t have to be a government worker and
if you are now’s the time to serve the
country instead of those few people you
can think about what you can do in your
own life one thing is for sure we all
have a voice
and it’s time to use it we are many and
they are few for over 100 years
Albanians have raised a flag now it’s
time to raise a country a country that
Albanians everywhere can be proud of
Albanians everywhere and I mean
Albanians from the courtrooms of Tirana
to the lunch rooms of Detroit thank you
[Applause]
this is a journey based on my own
personal experiences and my own naked
thoughts nothing I say here today should
be interpreted as being the views of the
United States government this journey is
about love and obligation towards two
different mothers in two different homes
our journey begins over 30 years ago at
a small elementary school just outside
of Detroit Michigan in the United States
and it’s lunchtime at this school the
kids whose parents have paid for the
school lunch are very excited because
they’re lined up today and they know
what’s on the menu it’s pizza applesauce
and their choice of juice and chocolate
milk you know most of them will pick
chocolate milk now on the other side of
the lunchroom
there’s a smaller group of kids and
these are the kids that were sent to
school with a lunch from home this is
what we used to call the brown paper bag
kids and these kids in the brown paper
bags will have peanut butter and jelly
sandwiches bologna sandwiches cold pizza
potato chips good old-fashioned American
lunch food amongst these kids is one
very nervous and very lonely little boy
he’s nervous because he’s afraid the
other kids will see what’s inside his
brown paper bag and he made himself
lonely so he could hide from them so as
he cautiously opens up that bag he pulls
out a bundled up small towel and he
feels like the eyes of all the other
kids are on him because they are because
as soon as that towel opens up one boy
stands and points what is that
it’s bucket the author Cassavetes
Albanian white cheese and bread and
cucumber and maybe even tomato is
delicious but it’s not a very cool thing
to bring to an elementary school in
Michigan in the 1980s in America we have
this saying that if something is very
American it’s as American as baseball
and apple pie well I was as American as
baseball
Boogedy off an apple pie growing up in a
in Detroit as a young Albanian kid and
throughout my life was a lot like having
two mothers on the one head I had the
United States
this was my surrogate mother the one
that raised me the one that put a roof
over my head and then there was Albania
my blood mother but the one I never met
and the one I only heard about now in
many ways I was a very all-american kid
okay that means I played American
football that’s the football with the
funny ball I also celebrated the 4th of
July and when I wasn’t eating book ID
off I loved hamburgers and french fries
I still love hamburgers and french fries
I’m also a big sports fan so every two
years I was really excited when the
Olympics came around because it was
either the summer Winter Olympics it
didn’t matter because I would sit in
front of that TV set and I would look
and watch and from beginning to end
opening ceremonies until the end it was
USA USA because I wanted America to
always come out on top
in the medal counts that was important
to me now living in America is a first
generation kid I was also very
appreciative of the opportunities that
she gave me my parents raised four kids
put him through college I went to law
school I was rewarded for my own
individual achievements I also very much
admired people that served America like
police officers and firefighters and
teachers and the military and my mother
America though she had rules and living
under her house
I respected them for example you know
she was serious about justice that means
if you do something wrong you’re gonna
get in trouble but she was also serious
about fairness and equality that means
you’ll be treated fairly anyways and she
was about fairness and equality for
everyone in her community whether it was
the rich and privileged or the poor and
the less fortunate you see in America
justice in her house was like that warm
blanket that every mother has in their
home available for their kids when
they’re in the coldest and they need it
the most
now during this time of course I grew up
and I went to law school and I had the
privilege of actually joining the
Justice Department in the United States
this was a huge day for me I was very
proud my parents were very proud and you
know what I was even prouder because I
was one of the first federal prosecutors
to be Albanian America that meant a lot
to me why did that mean a lot to me well
because my whole life I was constantly
reminded of Mother Albania and if I
wasn’t reminded of her I felt like I was
always searching for her you know the
first instance my first language is
Albanian
that’s what we spoke in my house even
though I was born there it’s no longer
my best language I’ll admit that
but it’s still my first language and I
also had another reminder this is not a
very All American name if you didn’t
realize you know how they say this in
America they say good John John kitch
John John Koch mr. junk junk in your eye
if I went to the doctor’s office and
somebody came out with a list and they
waited and they pause and they looked at
the name that’s me
that was always a constant reminder and
as an Albanian American kid though you
know we also celebrated things that
Albanians did in Albanian all over the
world like face stuff now Modi’s the
28th of November this was a big deal in
my house where I come from in the
Michigan area of Metro Detroit area the
Albanian Americans there are very proud
always have been so it wouldn’t be
unusual to be walking down a street
anywhere in the Detroit area and see
somebody with an Albanian Eagle tattoo
on their arm or they might be wearing an
Albanian Eagle shirt or they might be
wearing an Albanian Eagle hats and you
know what you don’t even have to know
that person if you said oh yeah shupette
they say hey soup it we were tight we
were proud where we came from and I
always wondered why we were so tight in
Detroit they would say we had each
other’s backs so I thought to myself why
is that you know maybe maybe it’s a
matter of statistics humanity right now
is about 7.5 billion people Albanians
were just point 1 3 percent about if you
say we’re ten million this is me right
here that tiny little dot I thought I’m
in this tiny tribe against the entire
world of course we’re tight or maybe it
was a matter of history you know what I
knew who Jorge Castillo theis kinder
Bale was before I knew who George
Washington was he was a man on a horse
with a few loyal people liberated this
country from the world’s most powerful
empire so he could raise an Albanian
flag for the first time he was proud of
where he came from
now that flag if you look at the course
of history didn’t stay up very long but
when it came down the pride of the
Albanian people didn’t come down with it
because for hundreds of years Albanians
State Albanians and they weren’t
satisfied until the flag went up again
in 1912
so you can see that my experience with
Albania his for 40 years of my life was
a very emotional one it was never a
physical contact one with my motherland
so imagine the excitement that I felt
when I got the opportunity to come to
Albania and it’s what I did a little
over two years ago when my wife and
family packed up most of our things and
we moved it’s Rana this was a huge
moment for me imagine hearing about a
mother you never met for 40 years and
walking into her house and looking
around and being surrounded by Albanians
my brothers and sisters the bakers
Albanian the police officers all painted
the crazy drivers in Tirana are all
Albanian and I love them
and I noticed a few other things though
that didn’t surprise me Albanians in
Tirana and throughout Albania are just
as bid is kind and hospitable to their
guests and their friends the people that
visit them as the Albanians are in
Michigan where I’m from I also realized
that the food here is amazing there’s
more to eat than just the good job and
the one thing that I didn’t expect was
this mother Albania of mine she is
drop-dead gorgeous from her Alps in the
north to her crystal blue waters in the
south the Ionian Sea God has given this
woman every beautiful characteristic you
can imagine in this tiny little place
but as I sit and sat with you know this
blood mother of mine I was able to spend
more time with her I was able to hold
her hand to touch her face and to look
into her eyes and the more I sat there
and the more I looked in her eyes the
more I saw sadness and tears and she
cried because too many of her young and
talented and beautiful children are
leaving her home to find homes elsewhere
because society has failed them in too
many ways you know in over 15 years of
the Justice Department I have seen the
effects of corruption where I’m from in
Metro Detroit I’ve seen it there too
we’ve lived through it as well and I
think we’ve pretty much defeated it but
nowhere have I seen so many innocent
victims left unprotected and without
recourse in the justice system as I’ve
seen here Albanians deserve better I
have a confession to make I spent so
many days in so many hours trying to
figure out what I would say to you this
last one or two minutes all the way up
until late last night way too late last
night
and it occurred to me that you know what
don’t be complicated John you’re talking
to your your family your tribe your
brothers and sisters Albanians have
different experiences we come from
different places but when our mother’s
sad and she needs us the most we know
how to come together we have throughout
our history so I want to be honest with
you and Express raw and pure emotions
with you and I have to one is I’m very
ashamed I’m ashamed of the few people as
we would say where I come from off dude
who have caused so much pain and have
been so unfair to people in so many
sectors of their life whether it’s
health care whether it’s the education
system whether it’s someone who wants to
go to school and really do well and be
hired because of their own merit and
their own accomplishments as opposed to
who they know or how much money they’re
gonna pay for a job and I’m especially
ashamed because they have no more faith
in the justice system because it has let
them down too much but I have a second
feeling I want to share with you and
that is hope as I said before Albanians
we know how to come together okay if a
man on a horse can liberate Albania from
the world’s greatest empire then a few
Albanians all of us Albanians I should
say can liberate it from a few shameless
ones that want to steal it from within
that can only be done if we all come
together
now look laws have been changed recently
we read about it in the papers and we
know that our friends are here to help
us well this is an Albanian problem only
we can take the sadness out of our
mother’s eyes and we have to act if
you’re in a position to act act you
don’t have to be a government worker and
if you are now’s the time to serve the
country instead of those few people you
can think about what you can do in your
own life one thing is for sure we all
have a voice
and it’s time to use it we are many and
they are few for over 100 years
Albanians have raised a flag now it’s
time to raise a country a country that
Albanians everywhere can be proud of
Albanians everywhere and I mean
Albanians from the courtrooms of Tirana
to the lunch rooms of Detroit thank you
[Applause]
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