so it is my great honor today to be able to present an award, this award, to general mattson. i will be making it directly to the general. it is appropriate he received the award. as tom said, he had surgery and could not be here, but general esin has played a huge role in u.s.-russian relations and the nuclear arsenal. ,e headed the russian strategic provided strong leadership. will be accepting the award -- [indiscernible] he served in the soviet and russian defense ministries for over 40 years. he was the commander of the 12th named directories, general staff from 1992 to 1997, acting as the person responsible for all munitions and security. in 1993, when president boris yeltsin ordered military forces into the parliamentary building, russia and the former soviet republics were in a violent .tate of upheaval ever vigilant, general mattson conducted aggressive testing of the nuclear response program throughout russia ensuring any terrorism would be countered by exhaustive safeguards and ironclad preparation. general mattson's absolute accountability for the testing, rail tra

ingrid mattson and dr. sherman jackson, will help us identify the disparities that exist within our own muslim communities and will explore ways that we can strengthen our bonds despite them or because of them. we will start with dr. rami. dr. rami has served as the executive director of the inner city muslim action network, or iman here in chicago since its incorporation almost 20 years ago. dr. rami has a ph.d. in sociology from the university of chicago and is a visiting professor at the chicago theological seminary. dr. rami is a speaker both nationally and internationally on a variety of matters impacting the american muslim community. in 2009 chicago public radio identified dr. rami as one of the top ten chicago global visionaries. in 2014 the center for american progress identified him as one of 14 faith leaders to watch in 2014. dr. rami has been identified as one of the 500 most influential muslims in the world. please help me welcome dr. rami. [ applause ] >> [ speaking foreign language ]. peace a