Remarks by Ambassador Samantha Power, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Introducing Malala Yousafzai for CNN’s “The Bravest Girl in the World,” October 10, 2013
Thank you and greetings to all of you.
A year ago this week, in Pakistan’s SWAT valley, a masked gunman boarded a school bus. Waving his firearm at the students, he demanded to know; “Which one is Malala? Which one is Malala? Tell me or I will shoot you all.”
When a bus full of frightened eyes revealed the truth; the gunman approached 15 year old Malala Yousafziand – at point blank range — shot her twice, with bullets piercing her head and neck.
For days young Malala was unconscious; part of her skull was removed to relieve the swelling; amid the pain and dreams, she became uncertain whether she was alive or dead; but in Malala’s own words, quote: “I think death didn’t want to kill me. And God was with me…and the people prayed.” End quote.
Here in the United States, we’ve had more than our share of experiences with gun-related violence, including attacks on school children; often we characterize such tragedies as senseless, caused by inner demons, a personal grievance, a petty theft.
But Malala Yousafzai was shot for a reason. And that reason was fear – fear of knowledge, fear of freedom, fear of truth, and fear of change.
Years before that terrible day, this young woman had already become her country’s leading champion of the right of girls to attend school; when the Pakistani Taliban tried to deny that right – she fought back with the only tools she had – her voice, a blog, and defiance of the repeated death threats made against her.
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